Confederate Controversy

Should these Confederate monuments stay or should they go?

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This Changes Everything

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

The COVID-19 crisis has really screwed up a lot of teenaged lives. In this episode, six students from Talawanda High School, in Oxford, Ohio, talk about how the pandemic has affected them—academically, socially, mentally—and what the experience might mean for Generation Z as a whole. The group also looks at how local, state, and federal officials have responded to the crisis and asks, "What can we learn from all this?" Episode producer and host Eliot Berberich is a freshman at Talawanda High School, but already an experienced student journalist and podcaster. Interview recorded May 8, 2020, with everyone calling into Eliot Berberich's home studio via Google Meet.


1) What have you liked about our 'Online Learning' experiment?

2) What would you change? Why?

3) What are you 'nostalgic' for (do you miss) from the way school was before? Explain.

4) Given the choice would you rather keep learning this way or go back to school in the Fall? Why?

5)  Decades down the line will do you think you will look back on this as a defining moment in your lives? Why?

6) What predictions do you make for how this will affect 'Generation Z' as a whole?

Democracy & Z is a student podcast, developed in collaboration with our friends at Elementz. The podcast features young people from communities across our listening area, sharing their unique Gen-Z perspective on current issues.

Face Mask Fears

Lawmakers are recommending that residents wear face masks in several major cities including New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia, but many African Americans fear they could be labeled a threat if they cover their faces to protect themselves. Jericka Duncan speaks to some black men who believe they were profiled by police while wearing face masks to combat coronavirus.

Sadly this is not the only story where black men have been unjustly profiled.

In Chapter 10: 'The Matrix In Me' we learned that we all have 'Implicit Bias,' or unconscious prejudice, whether we are aware of it or not. But if we consciously agree with what our unconscious minds reveal we can deal with it.

1) Why were the black men in both instances questioned in the first place?

2) Were the white men/ officers in these stories racists? Why or why not?

3) What is the difference between 'racism' and 'bias?'

4) What could have been done to change the outcome if anything?

5) What do these stories reveal about the deeper problem of race in America?

Drone Shot of My Yacht

The coronavirus, we are sometimes told, is a great equalizer, preying on both the elite and the ordinary, the well-heeled and the downtrodden.

"It doesn't care about how rich you are, how famous you are," Madonna assures us in her latest video, sitting naked in bathwater laced with rose petals.

But being rich sure does let you ride out the pandemic in much more pleasant surroundings.

Hollywood billionaire David Geffen recently told his Instagram followers that he was hanging out in the Caribbean to escape the virus. He hoped everyone was keeping safe, he wrote.

For good measure, he included a picture of his 454-foot super-luxurious yacht, the Rising Sun, apparently shot from a drone.

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1) How has the Corona Virus exposed the huge divide between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' in America? 

2) Is the 'cure worse than the problem itself' as the President argues? 

3) What are the risks if we DON'T reopen the Economy?

4) Who is most at risk if we DO reopen the economy: the rich or the poor? Why?

5) If you were the President would you push to reopen the Economy?  Why or why not? Is it his power to do so?

6) Is Coroan really the 'great equalizer?'  Why or why not?

The coronavirus strikes both rich and poor people, but waiting out the pandemic is a lot easier if you've got a yacht. Ellen DeGeneres and other stars have been called insensitive about COVID-19.

Life Immitates Art

During a period when art lovers can't simply visit a museum or gallery, a new social media phenomenon has arisen as a creative outlet. Participants isolating at home amid the pandemic are encouraged to recreate a prominent work of art using everyday objects.

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Visit these online art museums and pick one painting to recreate.  

Snap a photo and email it to me for extra credit.

 

Don't Give Up the Ship!

On Monday, Capt. Brett Crozier, the commander of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, sent a letter to the Navy pleading for permission to unload his crew, including scores of sailors sickened with Covid-19, in Guam, where it was docked. The Pentagon had been dragging its feet, and the situation on the ship was growing dire.

“We are not at war,” he wrote. “Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our sailors.”

After the letter was leaked to The San Francisco Chronicle, the Navy relented. But on Thursday, it relieved Captain Crozier of his command.

Do you agree with the decision?  Why or why not?  What Would you have done?

Read the opinion of professor Tweed Roosevelt,  Great Grandson of Teddy Roosevelt for whom the aircraft carrier is named, and then type your response in the comments below.

Corona Jesus

Solid Rock (Big Butter Jesus) Church in Monroe, visible from Interstate 75, continued to hold public worship services Sunday despite a request not to from the Butler County Health Department.

Bringing together a large number of people during a pandemic increases the pace at which the Coronavirus spreads, overwhelming our hospital systems, posing a significant risk to members within the congregation, and the public at large.

The church issued a statement saying, “As Christians, we are charged by Jesus Christ to obey the laws of our land. Therefore, if the laws of our nation should ever change with respect to our First Amendment right to assemble, thereby restricting us from having our church doors open, we will willingly comply."

Read the rest of the article and then answer these questions on https://classroom.google.com/h Googleclass.

1) What do you think?  Should the church be allowed to continue services despite the obvious health risk?  If you were the Governor would you shut them down?  Why or why not?

2) Should church be considered an 'essential business?'   What about liquor stores?  What businesses are truly essential?  Which are not?

3) Can you think of other examples we've studied this year where 1st Amendment rights (speech, press, assembly) have been limited by the Government?  What was the important precedent set by Schenk vs. the US?

4) What about the 2nd Amendment?  What rights does it protect and why are we so reluctant to limit them despite the public risk?