Veteran's Rights: Amendment Proposal

Amendment 28:
 This Amendment refers to the well being of Veterans returning from active duty. These Veterans wolud be given a bonus depending on the years they served. Also they would get the right to a scholarship (this adresses the younger generation of Veterans) and the right to a loan for the use of buying a home.

Veteran's Rights: Change

     Veteran's were never really regarded as struggling victims, they were looked upon as war heroes justice personnel. But after WWI was over, the struggle for justice abruptly began manifesting itself until soon after the GI Bill got passed. The GI Bill will be shortly explained in the following.
     After WWI most Veterans had no were to go, most of them were young and had no were to live or a college education that could land them a good job. So the House of Representatives proposed the GI Bill, this gave soldiers returning from war, especially the younger ones, the rights to home loans, money for college and other expenses they faced upon arriving to the US. The GI Bill was officially passed June 22, 1944, so that soldiers returning from WWII could experience its benefits.
     The following briefly described the long history that is the GI Bill and how it has helped all Veterens returning from devastating war trauma.

Veteran's Rights: Struggle & Activism

     One of the more difficult and post-war struggles, came from the Vietnam war right around the 1960's. Many of the American Veterans felt guilty or basically tearing Vietnam apart for the US Government's own benefits. This was engraved in the minds of most Vets returning from Indochina which most of them suffer from PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). The following will exemplify the events that cause the outbreak of Vietnam Veterans' protest.
     The only war the United States of America ever lost in its 200 year history was the Vietnam war. This was one war Americans, including the war's veterans, would like to forget. The Vietnam war was one of many "titles", it was one of the most expensive wars the US had been a part of.
     The ones who suffered the most were the soldiers returning back from war. They were the ones that had to live with the fact of killing not only Vietnamese soldiers, but many also basically murdered random civilians. Another of the war's impact was felt several thousand mile from Vietnam, in the US, were many veteran's, as previously mentioned suffered with PTSD. This "sickness", among other things, still give us a grim look on the past, reminding us of the hardships Vietnam War veterans faced after landing in the US.
     The following exemplified how life was like during and after the war was over, and it gives us a chance to see the not so bright side of all these wars and fighting that went on back then and that is still going on now.

Links:
- http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/vietnam/postwar.htm
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/VNprotest.htm
      

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the G.I. Bill, June 22, 1944

Veteran's Rights: Oppression

     Veterans after WWI especially, didn't really have were to go after the war was done and they returned to the US. Most of them did not own a job, because they were mostly forced into the military, especially young people,   and they also lacked education of money to enter college. The following examples will demonstrate the oppression most of them faced after the war was over.
     One example of this "oppression", was the unpaid bonuses a group of veterans claims from the Bonus Act of 1924. The act states that a bonus was provided based on the number of years they served at war. When these bonuses went unpaid, that same group of veterans went marching down to Washington to make claim to the money and economic help they rightfully deserved. Although much of the money went unclaimed, because most of them left when they were not given the money and others were "kicked out" by US troops, this marked a chapter of unrest in the nations capital.
     The following was one example of the many hard times the veterans returning from risking their lives for their country and this is how they get paid in return. On the positive note the GI Bill was later passed and education, which was hard to come by during those times in the US, was offered for those returning from war.

Veteran's Rights: History

     The term "Veteran", could be defined in many ways, but most commonly referred as battle tested soldier. The fisrt veteran's rights were faught for after World War I, when the soldiers ruturning from home usually or the majority had no job, no way to maintain their families or in some cases no place to go, refering to home. The following will mention examples of acts and bills passed regarding Verteran's rights and how they were treated after the wars they came from.
     The first bills passed granted the soldiers a sad $60 and a train ticket home. Another most common and original acts conserning the Veterans was the Wolrd War Adjustment Act of 1924, most commonly known as the Bonus Act. This act provided a bonus determined by the number of year sthey had faced in war, but their was a catch, these soldiers didn't see a single penny for 20 years. This oppression carried on until after WWII, were the GI Bill was passed after beinng widely debated in the House of Congress for many months. This bill, in summary, gave veterans returning from WWII money for home loans, they would also pay for studies, because usually most of the soldiers were from the ages 18-25 respectively, among other benefits.
     The following examples give the idea and explain a little bit of the huge history regarding veterans and their rights, other more specific bills were passed after the Vietnam and Korean wars respectively, but those will be enter in detail later.

Review of Classmates' Blog: Immigration

http://www.imagineaheartshapedbox.blogspot.com/
 Paulette's post about her family immigration was very interesting because she could locate exactly where they came from (ex. England and Spain), keep in mind that she has a very distinct second last name in Haddock.

http://www.ssrivera.blogspot.com/
 Stephanie's, though a bit usual was pretty interesting also because it contained information, a lot of information, about her family's name and her Italian immigration diary was very entertaining.

http://qeehai.blogspot.com/
 Carlos's blog about Italian immigration was very interesting because it has a different perspective, being from a male instead of a female writer, especially in the diary part.

http://andres06-andy.blogspot.com/
 Andres's story about his cousin leaving for America depicts the typical immigration story, where she has problems in her home country and believes that fleeing or leaving to America would make all those problems just go away.

Review of Classmates' Blog: Native American Essays

http://keven0733.blogspot.com/:
 Keven's essay was very interesting beacause he stated a few very interesting points, like that of the Oglala Sioux and the point when he stated that they faced difficult times and broken promises.

http://www.cristianhistoryblog.blogspot.com/:
 Cristian's essay blog post is very truthful, all he wrote and mentioned was proceeded by facts and the pictures and photographs he included gave me a real undestanding of the hardships they faced.

http://www.imagineaheartshapedbox.blogspot.com/:
 Paulette's opinion about the Indians' assimilation with the white man was very compeling and the points she gives us were very truthfull, the details she had gave depth to the overall idea of the essay.

http://www.tefiruiz01.blogspot.com/:
 Stephanie's blog port about the Native Americans and the American Way gave me a real good idea abu\out what they had to go through to be accepted in the white American society.

http://qeehai.blogspot.com/:
 Carlos's essay/blog post about assimilation was realy interesting, especially the part about the Christian names was very interesting and also gave me examples(ex. John and Thoms etc.)

Religious Freedom: Native American Story

   The first white settlers came to America believing that the land was theirs to take, they wee in for a big surprise, but never the less, these white settlers took the land from the Native Americans as if they felt they had the right too. Since then, fights been instigated and a endless war has always lingered among the white man and the redskin. One of the most common issues has always been religion, which is pretty contradicting, regarding that "America" was based on a land of freedom and religious prosperity. The following examples will enlighten and explain the different types of religious discrimination the Native American faced by the white settler, including assimilation and the Ghost Dance.
    Americanization was basically the only options the Native Americans had in their battle against the white supremacist, but in this regard they would basically lose their native american identity. One of the most common ways of assimilation was first: the cutting of the hair, second: they had to gain some sort of citizenship, which is pretty ironic regarding they are NATIVE Americans and finally: the picking of the Christian name. Now this was pretty common among the white people, they would pick out a name from the bible (ex. John, Thomas.. etc.) and they would be very common names among the community. What they would do for these Native Americans, especially the children that would attend white schools, is that they would, like previously mentioned, pick a name out of the bible or out of a book that contains all the religious names.
    One other movement that the whites felt was an act of rebellion or downgrading act, was the Ghost Dance. The Ghost Dance was a type of religious movement which originated in Nevada in the late 1880's when the Indians faced a hard time with the american government. The dance/religious movement was originated by a Paiute shaman called Wovoka, son of Tavido, a very respected religious leader. In a short description, the Ghost Dance was basically what was believed by the Indians to be  the reincarnation of an Indian Messiah that would save them from the white rein and would get rid of the whit man once and for all. White officials were intimidated by the upbringing so they declared the religious movement illegal and many Indians were killed as a result of the religious restraints they were given by the white officials.
    The Sioux tribe was divided into seven groups and three main political units being, the Teton, Yankton and Santee. Of these seven groups, the vocal in their fight with the white man, were Red Cloud's group and Sitting Bull's group. The Sioux regarding religion were pretty "straight forward" in their beliefs. They believed in "The great Spirit" Wakan Tanka, which translated to "all that is holy and mysterious", they believed Wakan Tanka to be the creator of the universe, life and the earth. Regarding the afterlife, the Sioux men would prefer to die in battle than die of age and disease, and they would go with Wakan Tanka and become one with the earth and their fallen Sioux brothers.
    These examples give us greater understanding of what life was like religion wise for the Indians and the Sioux in particular, also the fact that no even religious tolerance was acceptable for the white race that came from other lands to claim one that was already inhabited. This leads to show us, and hint examples of what was to happen later in history like, Hitler and the Jewish intolerance and the Latin intolerance going on in the US today.

Perez: My Story

     The Puerto Rican culture is widely known to be a "mixed breed" of sort, since after Columbus came to the island a mix of Spanish, African and Taino has marked the island. Perez, at least, is of Spanish-Jewish from voyagers that came here with Columbus way back in the late 1800's. Although the Jewish religion never flourished in Puerto Rico many of its followers were forced by the Spanish church to become Catholics. As for my present family regarding immigration, most of my family lives in the US including close relatives like, uncles and grandparents, but non of them have problems with the US law system, which is common regarding the fact that Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the US, meaning we already have citizenship.

This has nothing to do with particularly German immigration, because most German immigrant move to northern states, but this still, I feel it depicts Latinos, because an officer won't stop a white, blue eyed, blonde ILLEGAL Swedish man. Why? Because he "blends in to American society"? That is my view on this matter and I really hope it gets solved soon.

Ulrich Schweinsteiger: From Germany to America

February 22, 1867

     Father came to us today with surprising news that we will be leaving for America in 1 month. I probably saw this coming,Northern Stuttgart is filled with many people and mother told us it was best to move the family to America: "The land of Opportunities". Our family consist of three, Phillip (3 years old), Thomas (7 years old), my  grandmother Annette and grandfather Karl and I, Ulrich (15 years old). Our family owned a bakery in the heart of the city but due to the taxation on water and light, the bill went up and father was forced to sell the bakery.

April 15, 1867

     Our second day on board and it finally hits me that we may never see our homeland once again. After being in England for weeks, I could see how people fled Germany to go to America by the thousands most were families and other consisted of young men. Many different people from other countries were also going to America, mostly from Wales and Ireland.

November 30, 1867

     After almost a month upon arriving in America we finally settle in a small German community in a house our Aunt Lara found us, outside of Bloomsburg in Pennsylvania. Aunt Lara had moved to America a few months before we did and kept in touch with father because he had explained to her that he wanted to open a bakery like the one we had back in Stuttgart. One other note, mother in now pregnant with her 4th child and he will be the first American born Schweinsteiger in the family, its a girl and she is due in January.

October 2, 1868

     Life in america has gone much better than in Germany , father's bakery is filled with costumers at all hours and Erika is growing up real fast. My two younger brothers are attending American school and me and father are handling the bakery quite well. It has been almost two years since we left for America and our luck has not looked down since then. Although I would want to return to Stuttgart when I get the chance, I would most certainly want to see how it has done since we left and visit old friends, but one thing is clear, I definitely do not regret moving to America.

  

To Leave: A German Story.

     Germans have been immigrating to America ever since the British, but a great abundance came during the mid-1800 (1850-1870), many came for different reasons, but for these times mostly because of the industrial boom happening in the United States. Most migrated to states like Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Another reason for their migration to the US was taxation, the economy was not very good in Germany and the population was growing at a high rate. Going to America, for many, was the only possible option.
     The most common route German immigrants took was by train or steam boat to Great Britain, then after arriving in Great Britain most would take a very crowded, often dirty, travel boat to America. One must keep in mind, most of these immigrants were looking for better life than the poor one they lived back in their homeland, and since they did not have that much money, they had to find the cheapest way to get to America, and this was how.
     Upon arriving in the US, most Germans as previously mentioned, moved to Northeastern United States. These states included Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Minnesota and Michigan, among others, and most of the Germans who moved there were farmers. Other Germans that did not move to the countryside included bakers, businessmen, butchers, cabinetmakers and distillers. Some adversities that these German immigrants faced was religious prejudice, unlike Latinos or Blacks that would we discriminated most often because of the color of their skin, the Germans would most often be judged because of the religion they practiced. Protestant was the most commonly practiced religion but it was not fully accepted, at least in the US until the late 1800's and by the 1930's the most commonly practiced religion in the US became the Protestant religion.
     Moving to the US must have been hard for the German people especially having to deal with all of the uncertain political standpoint in which the country was, and the poor living conditions the countryside of Germany was going through. Living in the US during the first and second World Wars must have also been a bittersweet time for these immigrants knowing what their country, which they use to call home, was going through.