There were 2 main topics that were discussed this week by our blog members. The first was that at this point in time, African Americans didn't have the right to vote, and they should according to the constitution. President Johnson pointed this out in his speech and mentioned that by trying to to limit people from voting was unconstitutional. This is a very good point because it is absolutely true! The constitution and bill of rights say that everybody has a right to vote and should have a say in what happens where they work and live. This topic was reflected on in everyones blogs. The second big issue was that the issue being addressed (the violence in Selma, Alabama) was not just an issue there, not just an issue in the south, but an issue in the United States as a whole. This is a very good point, because this was at a time in the US where there was a lot of controversy between different states and sections of the US.

"We Shall Overcome" Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson's "We Shall Overcome" speech had many important points. The part of the speech that really stood out to me was the section about how we have been been fighting for equal rights for 100 years, and still it is lacking. The statement below is a quote directly from the speech that explains this:
"A century has passed--more than 100 years--since equality was promised, and yet the negro is not equal. A century has passed since the day of promise and the promise is unkept. The time of jusitce has now come, and I tell you that I believe sincerely that no force can hold it back." This statemtne goes on to say:
"How many white children have gone uneducated? How many white families have lived in stark poverty? How many white lives have been scarred in fear because we wasted energy and our substance to maintain the barriers of hatred and terror?"
I think this was an important piece because, it shows how long we have been fighting for equal rights, and even though today the United States says everyone has equal rights, there is still discrimination. I think this is an on going battle in this country and in other countries as well. Lyndon B. Johnson's speech I think opened many eyes about the ongoing problem we had then, and still have today. The link I have provided just tells a little about the civil rigths movement and what steps were taken. http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_(1955%E2%80%931968)
The quest for equal rights has produced some famous names that will be remembered for a lifetime. This shows how important this is to everybody.

“We shall overcome” speech contains several key points however I believe the most important points this speech contain are:
“There is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long denial of equal rights of millions of Americans. But there is cause for hope and for faith in our Democracy in what is happening here tonight. For the cries of pain and the hymns and protests of oppressed people have summoned into convocation all the majesty of this great government--the government of the greatest nation on earth.” This is important because this occurred during a time when this nation’s government failed to enforce equality among its citizens. This began a changing point towards the act of voting in this country.
“There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem.” The first step of making a change is observing the wrong and looking at it as a whole. As the quote states, “there is only an American problem”. This was the first step of moving away from discrimination.
“We have all sworn an oath before God to support and to defend that Constitution. We must now act in obedience to that oath.” This quote speaks for itself.

PS 214 Sec C - Group 4: "We Shall Overcome" Speech

PS 214 Sec C - Group 4: "We Shall Overcome" Speech: "


The speech given by Lyndon B. Johnson was on Monday, March 15, 1965, a week after deadly racial violence had erupted in Selma, Alabama, as African Americans were attacked by police while preparing to march to Montgomery to protest voting rights discrimination. Civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and over 500 supporters had planned to march from Selma to Montgomery to register African Americans to vote. In his speech towards the end he brought up the civil rights bill and I thought this was a very important part of the speech that gave all races and citizens privileges. "The bill im presenting to you will be known as a civil rights bill. But in a larger sense, most of the program I am recommending is a civil rights program. Its object is to open the city of hope to all people of all races, because all Americans just must have the right to vote, and we are going to give them that right." He also went on and stated,"All Americans must have the privileges of citizenship, regardless of race, and they are going to have those privileges of citizenship regardless of race." Right there I thought was very strong words on Lyndon's part and made a huge impact on all citizens of the country. I like the fact how Johnson had stated throughout his speech about what the African Americans have done for the country and what and who they represent in the United States. They are like any other American in this country and "WILL" be treated like any other person. After two attempts at marching into Montgomery, on Sunday, March 21st 1965, the march to Montgomery finally began with over 3,000 participants.

"We Shall Overcome" Speech

This speech given by former president Lyndon B. Johnson on March 15th, 1965 was about the killing of a man in Selma, Alabama because of the African Americans trying to march for the right to vote. Johnson talks a lot about the Constitution and our rights as Americans. He also talks about Democracy quite a bit as well. Johnson thinks it's unfair to keep African Americans from voting because our rights as American citizens allows us the right to vote. He states "The Constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or color." Johnson stresses the fact that by not allowing the Negros to vote, Americans are disobeying the Constitution and everything the country stands for. At the end of his speech Johnson informs everyone that he is going to issue "a law designed to eliminate illegal barriers to the right to vote." Which means that after the bill has gone through Congress and been passed, African Americans will then have the right to vote.

Week 2 Summary

Chris Brought up a very good point to start off the week. He talked about how the man involved with the shooting in Tucson was mentally ill and how as citizens of the United States we have a right to health care for these issues. He brought forward the question of whether or not Arizona did anything to help this man with his illness and this whole situation could have been avoided.

Celina then talked about how there isn’t much known about the shooters motive yet, so we don’t have a lot of information on him. As for our Governors comment made toward the NAACP she mentioned how unprofessional it made him look and it also reflects on the citizens of Maine because we elected him.

Brandon brought up a very good point about the shooting in Tucson: the state of Arizona didn’t have good security for these representatives. Anybody can have a gun and walk around with it, even a mentally ill person, so they should have better security protecting officials like this. Brandon also brought up a very good point on the comment of our governor to the NAACP. He brought to everyone’s attention that the governor had already made plans for something very important that day and had repeatedly declined the NAACP’s offer, but they wouldn’t leave him alone so he reached a breaking point and just snapped. This was very good information to bring to the groups attention.

Following these interesting points Kellie mentioned that she doesn’t think that shootings like what happened in Tucson can’t be 100% preventable because people can always find ways around security and some people just aren’t good citizens sometimes. Kellie agreed with Celina’s comments about the governors comments making him and us as Maine citizens look bad. She raised the question that his comment may make people wonder when it comes to his comments to certain things and people.

Week 2 Blog: Two Important Events

1) Brandon made a good point about the security for the state of Arizona, but I'm not convinced that it definitely would have prevented the shootings. Although there is a better chance that it would have been prevented, I think these types of things can never be 100% preventable. People always know how to get around security. I also agree with Celina's comment about the shooter not being a good citizen. Someone who is going to shoot another person, especially a congress woman, obviously isnt too concerned about the well being of others or respecting the laws of this country. The questions asked by Chris are good ones to think about. We wonder what Arizona did as a precaution to prevent something like this from happening, if anything at all. I think the shooter being mentally challenged doesnt make this any less of a crime, but I definitely think people should be given more help in these types of situations.

2) Celina's comments about the governor I think were stated very well. I think his comments made him seem careless and ignorant. You're suppose to be representing people, and his comments made us look bad. He is expected to be more professional than that. Maybe he should have taken the time to explain himself. This may make people question him when it comes to his committment to certain things and people.

Two important events occuring in the last week for thinking about citizenship

Both Celina and Chris made good points regarding both questions but you have to look both them differently as well.

The first question has to deal with the recent Tuscon shootings. I believe that this could have all been some what avoided if the state of Arizona would have had a much stronger security system set up for those U.S. Representatives when out and about. Instead an individual that was supposively "unstable" had a gun and just went on a shooting spree for no apparent reason and due to the fact people were severely injured and killed. All inocent lives when the state could have avoided it. Now that it has all happened and the state has found the man who did it they are trying to say that he is menatlly unstable and thats the reason he did what he did. But you know what if you know to take a gun load it and shoot people with it you are capable of doing the crime abd should be punished just the same as any other criminal that has done a severe crime.


The next question was the remarks that our current govenor had made to the NAACP. Yes the comment that he had made wasn't the right way to answer the group. I do believe he could have gone another direction with the answer but the day of the NAACP's annual meeting that they were having govenor Lepage already had planned on attending a state troopers funeral in Vasselboro and he had told the NAACP repeatedly that he wasn't gonna be able to make it to there meeting and dinner in Portland. The group continued to ask him about going and attending and after telling them over and over again that he couldn't attend he had said some words that probably shouldn't have been said but the NAACP wouldn't listen to him the first time he answered them so Lepage hit a breaking point. Obviously his answer was alittle harsh and could have been handled better. Now that Lepage didn't attend the meeting they are applying that hes a racists when he is clearly not cause he had a previous commitment before that event.

Two important events occruing in the last week for thinking about citizenship

1. The Tucson Arizona shooting of January 8th was very tragic. There is very little know about Loughner's motive, and nothing has been identified yet. He is being charged with many federal charges, such as one count of attempted assassination. Commiting this crime isn't a very good example of being a "good" citizen.

2. Governor Paul LePage's "tell them to kiss my butt" comment to the NAACP on January 14th didn't make himself look very good. It made him sound ignorant and maybe even slightly racist. It was also disrespectful to not only african americans, but also to the celebration of Martin Luther King day. It makes him look unprofessional and it also reflects badly on Maine people and Maine as a state. Its a poor example of a "good" citizen as well, especially of a governor.

We've had two important events occur in the last weeks for thinking about citizenship -

1) the tragic shooting in Tucson on 1/8

What comes to mind when considering the shooting in Tucson Arizona? First thing you have to consider is the fact the crime was committed by a mentally challenge individual. Under the bill of rights Citizens of this country have the right of a health. Over the past several years this country has slack on providing mental challenge patients the proper healthcare needed. Yes a crime is a crime and people should be penalize for their crimes but in this situation you have to ask yourself if the state of Arizona did anything to prevent this from happening.

2) the much less tragic, but still newsworthy comments by our governor on 1/14
I’m not quite sure what happened on 1/14 I haven’t keep track of Maine’s governor

PS 214 Sec C - Group 4: Week 1 Blog

PS 214 Sec C - Group 4: Week 1 Blog: "There were many main points in this article, but one important one was Martin Luther King and his followers wanting to take a stand and figh..."

All three of our group members had some very good points in the article. Peasley had started this weeks article with a main point of Rosa Parks protesting on the bus in Montgomery and seeing that she was the perfect person for it cause of her belief in god and the good citizen that she is and her take in society. He had also brought up the fact that the speech wasnt illegal in any way and that they weren't there to advocate and violence, but to get there point across and what they believe is right in society.

Chris also mentioned how Martin Luther King had thought that Rosa Parks was the perfect person in the protest because of her social status and her integrity because of her strong beliefs in god and her moral rights. With her standing up for everyone during that incident she has changed history and soon after people looked at things differently and to that day things were different. Without Rosa's protest to this day negros might not have had the rights that they have in this day and age which would have changed society dramatically.

Celina mentioned that there was no reserved section for seating for negros and that negros should have been able to sit wherever they wanted without any trouble. But, due to the fact that the whites over powered the negros back then it didn't really matter whether there was a law or not they still enforced it.

All three are very good points and I agree with them. In my opinion it seems that with Rosa standing up for everyone it has changed the way society is today along with Martin Luther King. Just think of all the racial problems back then with the bus seating and schools back then. Without what Rosa and Martin Luther King had done we as a country and society today could still be having these same peoblems maybe worse. What those two have done was history and people thank them for that. That was what really gave negros rights the same as whites.

Week 1 Blog

There were many main points in this article, but one important one was Martin Luther King and his followers wanting to take a stand and fight for their rights as fellow citizens. The Negros just wanted the right to ride the busses in peace, just like all the white citizens. Martin Luther King states in the article, "We are here in a general sense because first and foremost we are American citizens, (That's right) and we are determined to apply our citizenship to the fullest of its meaning." (MLK Online)


A second important point in the article was, the fact that the reserved sections on the busses for the Negros was never clearly stated by the law. So there technically was no reserved section and the Negros should have been allowed to sit wherever they wanted, just as the whites could. As Martin Luther King addresses in the article, "....but i want you to know this evening that there is no reserved section. (All right) The law has never been clarified at that point. (Hell no) ....The law, the ordinance, the city ordinance has never been totally clarified. (That's right)" (MLK Online)

As Peasley mentioned in his earlier post "Martin Luther King States (MLK Online) '…I’m happy that it happened to a person like Mrs. Parks, (Yes) for nobody can doubt the boundless outreach of her integrity." The why I believe this is important is because if we take a deeper look in history you will in fact notice that Ms. Parks was not the first person to resist or perhaps refuse to give up her sit on a bus. away from the speech, the reason why people admire her is because of the bus driver she rebelled against.

one thing i like about the speech is Dr. Kings emphasis on the rights of citizens as he went on and states "just last Thursday to be exact, one of the finest citizens in Montgomery (Amen)—not one of the finest Negro citizens, (That’s right) but one of the finest citizens in Montgomery—was taken from a bus (Yes) and carried to jail and arrested." he then went on to talk about equality and justice.

one main point of this speech is when Dr. King states "You know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression."

Week 1 Blog (MLK)

This speech addresses a couple main points. The first is Mrs. Rosa Parks protesting on the bus in Montgomery. Martin Luther King states how good it is that Mrs. Parks was the one to protest because of her commitment to God and being such an outstanding citizen. It was good that she did it rather than a different person who might not have been such a good role model in society. Martin Luther King States (MLK Online) “…I’m happy that it happened to a person like Mrs. Parks, (Yes) for nobody can doubt the boundless outreach of her integrity. (Sure enough) Nobody can doubt the height of her character. (Yes) Nobody can doubt the depth of her Christian commitment and devotion to the teachings of Jesus. (All right) And I’m happy, since it had to happen, it happened to a person that nobody can call a disturbing factor in the community.”

The second main point of his speech is that the protest isn’t illegal or bad in any way. The group isn’t there to ”…advocating violence.” in any way. They are simply there to prove what should be right and just. Martin Luther King States “My friends, don’t let anybody make us feel that we are to be compared in our actions with the Ku Klux Klan or with the White Citizens Council. [Applause] There will be no crosses burned at any bus stops in Montgomery. (Well. That’s right) There will be no white persons pulled out of their homes and taken out on some distant road and lynched for not cooperating. [Applause] There will be nobody among us who will stand up and defy the Constitution of this nation. [Applause] We only assemble here because of our desire to see right exist.” (MLK Online) Kind didn’t want African Americans to break laws and hurt more people to show how they (as a race) felt. He wanted them to just protest and show that they were the “better” people because they weren’t going to stoop to the levels of other groups and organizations.

PS 214 Sec C - Group 4: What comes to mind when you think of the word citi...

PS 214 Sec C - Group 4: What comes to mind when you think of the word citi...: "Dave Doe, Christopher Jean-Michel -Freedom -loyalty -birthplace -taxes -voting"

-Rights
-Respect
-Freedom
-Opportunity

What comes to mind when you hear the word "citizenship"?

-Acceptance

-Rights

-Opportunity

We chose these three words because they directly relate to citizenship: acceptance is once you achieve citizenship, you get rights once you achieve citizenship, and opportunity is available when you are a citizen of the United States

What comes to mind when you think of the word citizenship

Dave Doe, Christopher Jean-Michel

-Freedom
-loyalty
-birthplace
-taxes
-voting