Miranda v. Arizona

In the last unit of Policy at GCE, we learned about the Judicial branch of the US Government. More specifically, we explored the similarities and differences between federal and state courts, looked at how court systems work, and talked about the supreme court and the duties it holds. As we got deeper into the unit, we learned about specific and notable supreme court cases like Brown v. Board of Education. For our Field Experience, we visited the Cook county criminal courthouse and got to see first hand the happenings in a courtroom. For this Action Project, we were asked to choose any supreme court cases, decide weather or not we though the decision that was made was just, and support our conclusion.

Redesigning an Urban Space

In my last unit of Urban Planning at GCE, we learned about the history and purpose of both modern and ancient cities. In our Internal Investigation, we experienced a more history focused unit to analyze what cities did to thrive and survive, what worked, and what did not. In our External Investigation, we chose a city and did research on its urban planning. Then, we compiled our findings and explained how we think the city could have done better. For this Action Project, we were asked to pick an urban area that we wanted to redesign and improve.

2016-2017 Service Learning Hours

Throughout my 2016-2017 school year at GCE, I pursued multiple opportunities to gain service learning hours. Most of my time was spent at school helping out and preforming school improvement activities. Some examples of this is hanging up art/sound panels, restoring broken or damaged areas, or cleaning up storage spaces and classrooms. Doing work around the school has taught me a lot about doing different kinds of handiwork and working with power tools. Hearing other students and staff members say that they appreciate the newfound organization and art that I helped put up made it much more fun to try to improve the school in many ways. Hopefully, as other students see what cool things they can do to help the school, they participate in making new and creative things to beautify the space.

LS. (2017) GCE Lab School

World War II: Policy and Justification

In the second unit of Policy and GCE, we learned more about the Executive branch of the US Government. In our Internal Investigation, we explored the powers of the Executive branch and what it has the right to do in the government according to the Constitution. During one FE to the Chicago History Museum, we went to a Spies and Espionage exhibit that had lots of information relating to the wars, conflicts, and policies we were studying in class. For this Action Project, we were asked to write an essay that speaks our opinion on weather or not we though a war of our choice in US history was justified.

CNN. (2016) German Troops Marching

As many know, World War II began with Germany invading Poland in 1939. The Germans, being upset from the outcomes of WWI and the Treaty of Versailles, were evidently not very happy with many parts of Europe. Using this hatred to fuel his rise to power, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party quickly became a large force in Germany (US Army). After the inciting incident in Poland occurred, it was not long before the world began splitting itself into different sides of the fight. While over 30 countries were involved in WWII, the primary conflict was split between the two major powers: Axis and Allies. The Axis powers included Japan, Germany, and Italy. The Allied powers included Britain, France, China, Soviet Union, United States, and others (History.com). One of the most important events for the US during WWII was the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. This was the primary reason that the US ended up entering the second World War. Because of it’s need to protect itself and defend the values it holds, the United State’s entry into World War II was justified.

The US president at the time of entry, Franklin D. Roosevelt, played a large part in both the US’s participation in WWII and generating support from other countries and the American people. According to History.com’s page on Roosevelt, “On December 8, 1941, the day after Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress, which declared war on Japan.” According to the Constitution, the power to declare war lies with Congress. As we can see, Congress was, in the end, the deciding factor as to whether or not the US participated in the war. However, it seems that Roosevelt appeared at the session of Congress to express his support for the country’s entry into the war. Later in that same History.com article, it says “Roosevelt spearheaded the alliance between countries combating the Axis, meeting frequently with Churchill and seeking to establish friendly relations with the Soviet Union” and “he spoke constantly on the radio, reporting war events and rallying the American people in support of the war effort”. Based on these two quotes, it is obvious that Roosevelt was at the helm of the War against the Axis powers, wanted the American people to rally behind his cause, and was a large influence on the other countries apart of the Allied powers.

Unfortunately, in Roosevelt’s efforts to protect his people, he made a mistake with a policy he implemented during the war. According to the Chicago History Museum (CHM), “In 1942, Roosevelt signed executive order 9066, authorizing the military to forcibly relocate and intern people it considered a security risk”. In the panic and fear of the recent attack on US territory, Roosevelt tried to contain any possible threat to the US. This would seem a reasonable action on a small scale. However, according to the same CHM info source “120,00 people of Japanese ancestry--most of them US citizens living on the West Coast--were interned primarily because of their ethnic origin”. What seemed to be a way to isolate and contain serious and legitimate risks to safety of American citizens turned into a fear-fueled witch hunt for any person who looked to be of Japanese descent. This executive order was both unjust and unconstitutional based on the fifth amendment. According to the Constitution, “No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”. People were being interned and promptly stripped of their liberty just because of their ancestry and without a proper trial or law process. Therefore, this executive order was unconstitutional and should have never been allowed to go into effect. Even though US’s entry into WWII was justified because of our need to protect ourselves, president Roosevelt should've gone to the length of creating an unconstitutional executive order to increase security.

Overall, it is understandable and reasonable to me why the US and president Roosevelt joined World War II. The attack on Pearl Harbor and the need to protect our country from the foreign threats of the war made it almost impossible to stay uninvolved. However, Executive order 9066 was not a just way of increasing the safety of Americans. In order to prepare our country from future threats and to equip ourselves with the right means to ensuring security, it is important for us to analyze both the successes and mistakes that have been made in the past.

Works Cited

"Franklin D. Roosevelt." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 21 May 2017.

N.d. Exhibit: Spies, Traitors, and Saboteurs. Chicago History Museum, Chicago.

U.S. Constitution. Amend. V.

US Army. "The Outbreak of War." Brief History of the U.S. Army in World War II. N.p.: U S Govt.

Printing Office, 1992. N. pag. Print.

"World War II History." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 21 May 2017.

Saving Energy

In the second unit of Urban Planning, we talked about the math, history, and applications of electricity. In our Internal Investigation, we learned about the war of the currents between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla. We also talked about the math behind electricity and used snap circuits to get a hands on experience. In our External Investigation, we did research about how things in our home use electricity and what some energy efficient alternatives are. For this Action Project, my partner LD and I made our own circuit and compared each part to energy efficient appliances you can find in a home.

Letter to a Government Represenative

In my first unit if Policy at GCE, I learned about the Legislative branch of the United States Government. In the Internal Investigation, I learned about the representatives that make up congress and what the process is of making a bill into a law. For the Action Project, I was asked to choose a bill that is currently in the process of becoming a law and write to a legislator that has the power to vote on that bill. For my project, I chose an Illinois state bill called the Reasonable Use of Force Act and decided to write to my local representative Sara Feigenholtz.

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LS
GCE Lab School
1535 N Dayton St.
Chicago, IL 60642

April 30, 2017

Representative Sara Feigenholtz
3223 N Sheffield Ave
Chicago, IL 60657

Everyday people across the world get abused by the power of the police force. We see it it the news what must feel like every other week. In order to prevent this brutality, we cannot just simply ask the world to stop. In order to fix this widespread issue, we have to start small and then push for larger action. I write to you today asking for your support of the Reasonable Use of Force Act. If this act is passed, we can take a step towards a future where police action is more regulated and in turn, the safety of the lives of those who are being policed increases.

As you may already know, the Reasonable Use of Force Act does many things to ensure that people being handled by an officer are done so more cautiously and appropriately. According to the Illinois General Assembly website, the act covers the following points:

• Peace officers shall only used the amount of force that is absolutely necessary to perform a lawful task, successfully perform an arrest, overcome resistance, control a subject, or protect themselves or others from harm

• Prohibits the officer from preventing a subject from breathing 

• Limits an officer's ability to place a subject on their stomach unless necessary for the safety of the officer or others 

• Prohibits the use of a choke hold unless deadly force has been authorized 

• States that officers must monitor and seek medical attention for an arrestee after control has been obtained

One of the most well known instances of excessive use of force by Illinois police officers was the brutal killing of Laquan McDonald in October 2014. According to CNN, during this incident, McDonald was shot 16 times while walking away from officers and not posing any severe threat. It should have been obvious here that using deadly force on a person who is not threatening the lives of any living thing around him would have been the wrong way to handle the situation. Maybe if the Reasonable Use of Force Act had been in place at that time, officers may have thought more about how to handle the situation before exerting force. According to Daily News, in another instance in 2014, 43 year old Eric Garner was killed after an altercation with police which he ended up in a choke hold. In the video evidence provided, it it clear that Eric Garner was no threat to the officer nor anybody around him. While arguing with one officer, another jumped from behind him and placed him in a choke hold to wrestle him to the ground. During this time, Garner repeatedly exclaimed that he could not breathe. After a while, officers let him go to see he was unconscious and later proclaimed dead. With the amount of officers surrounding Garner and the fact that he was posing no threat to any officer or person on street, there was no reason that the officer should have 1) put Garner in a choke hold and stopped his breathing 2) wrestled Garner to the ground and forced him on his stomach. Neither of these actions were warranted and both are prohibited in the Reasonable Use of Force Act. In order to prevent things like this from happening in the future, this Act needs to be passed.

Since I do live in Chicago, I’ve bared witness to many arrests and police encounters all over the city. However, one particular situation that I saw many years ago still sits sharp in my memory as if I had seen it minutes ago. At a park somewhere within the city my friends and I witnessed 2 men fiercely arguing. Some passerby must have called the police because within a few minutes they had arrived. Even though the men had not shown a distinct desire to physically hurt one another, the officers that arrived there thought it would be appropriate to use physical force on these people to force them away from each other. One of the officers practically tackled one of the men to the ground and began arresting him. The other officer, seemingly a bit more sensible, only pushed the other man away and held him at bay. While the situation wasn’t necessarily a violent one, as a smaller kid it really made me scared of the police. How could they so easily exert physical force upon people who didn’t seem to be doing anything wrong in the first place? Why were the people who were supposed to be keeping peace, so keen on inciting violence? Again, if this Act is passed in Illinois, these situations will have smaller chance of occurring.

Some people like President of the Fraternal Order of Police Kevin Graham, might say that this Act being proposed is just another way the public can criticize the Chicago police force or that this law would just be a way to take necessary power away from the police. According to Chicago Reader, Graham has said “In the past, the media has often not portrayed the Chicago Police in a good light. We want to make certain that our members and the citizens of Chicago realize that we are the good guys." and "We will no longer be victimized by a biased anti-Police media." It seems to me that people like Graham try to rally around trying to brighten the image of the police in the face of the public rather than reflecting upon their mistakes and trying to better themselves in the future. At this point in time, the way the public sees the police does not matter as much as how the police are are treating the public and keeping them safe. Instead of worrying about how people see his police force, Graham should be backing legislation like the Reasonable Use of Force Act and pushing for more ways to keep altercations between the police and the public fair and law abiding.

Overall, the ways that the police treat the public is still a massive problem all over the country. However, I write to you specifically because the Reasonable Use of Force Act is still an active bill in the Illinois General Assembly. I hope that after reading this letter, you have felt my passion for this issue and can empathize with me. Furthermore, I hope that as a woman with a seat at the General Assembly, you can take a stand with your power and push this bill through the process and into a law.

Building Bridges

In our first unit of our first course in Spring Term called Urban Planning, we learned about the structure and math behind bridges. During the Internal Investigation, we explored the different kinds of bridges that exist and when and why they are used in different situations. We also talked more about the math behind triangles and how they are used in certain types of bridges. In the External Investigation, we went and found a bridge somewhere in our city on our own time and did a small research assignment about it. For our Action Project, we were asked to build a bridge using only 60 popsicle sticks, glue, and the knowledge we've gained so far.