Beatriz Luelmo Essay

 

Beatriz Luelmo Montánchez

2ºA Infantil

June 7th 2012

 

Injustice, racism and solutions in the USA from the 40’s

Racism was a really important factor in the USA which labeled people through their nationality, especially from the 40´s. At that time, White people believed that Black people have to be considered less valued than the rest of the population. Although this situation has changed nowadays, the same problem happens with different colour skin, religion, personal beliefs as well as sexual persuasion.

My interviewee is Eva Gutierrez, a member of my family who emigrates from Cuba to the USA many years ago. Now she lives in Los Angeles City and she came to Madrid to write a book about emigration which tells different experiences among my family members from XIX century in Cuba. In addition, Eva has become a prominent writer in USA.

The reason why I have chosen her, is because it is a fantastic opportunity to practice English, and to learn more about the history of my family.

My cousin Eva Gutierrez Soteras was a five-year-old child when she and her mother Dra. Asela Gutierrez, went to Oklahoma, United States. Dra. Gutierrez, has recently divorced from my great uncle, Luis Soteras, who was going to work as the director of the Spanish Department in Oklahoma College for Women.

Was at 1949 when the southern states from USA were in the midst of the era of Jim Crow laws. This meant that Black people were routinely discriminated in almost every way, for instance, they had separated bathrooms, also different water fountains as well as schools. Although those laws were clearly unfair, they were accepted by the vast majority of white people.

An example of this situation was when an Eva´s classmate who was kind to her but had strongly bad feeling about black people, often making derogatory remarks about them. One day he even threw stones to a black girl, shouting at her: “go away nigger”. Eva was shocked by this situation due to she didn’t understood her classmate’s behaviour.

While Eva had lived in many Spanish-speaking countries, she was troubled by Jack’s cruelty to this little girl, and the injustices inflicted on African-Americans living around her.

It is not surprising that the Civil Rights movement to take hold during the course of that decade and continued into Sixties.

Eva said to me how those experiences impact her life: “I developed a strong sense of self both as a person, a Latina and as a Cuban-American. I realised that I was a privileged person to have been born into an educated family that had given me a sense of values and moral compass.” As well, the interviewee knows that her life’s work was to reveal the ugly nature of racism and prejudice in all its forms.

Furthermore in the United States of America existed racism between people from other country or races. I asked to Eva about an experience with personal racism. She told me that in 1952, she and her mother were invited to spend Thanksgiving holidays at a student’s ranch in Texas. They were prepared to spend the night before going to the ranch at the White Hotel. They arrived at the hotel and were been greeted politely by the management.

The manager’s attitude changed when Eva’s mother wrote her name on the hotel registration slip. He asked to her mother to pay the bill in advance, and when they asked why, he answered that: “All Mexican have to pay in advance”

Eva and he mother were so angry that they stormed out of the hotel and called her pupil to ask her to pick them up immediately.

On the other hand, she intervene in other acts of racism for example as an adult professional Eva worked in the newspaper field for many years covering stories on social issues including the rights of fair housing, issues between races and worked for AT&T developing programs to create better understanding between people in North and South America and Africa.

In the last ten years Eva was public Information Director for the Country of Los Angeles and worked specifically for the Human Relations Commission. In that position she worked to create harmony between various groups. For example, many Muslims were targeted after 9/11 and were victims of hate crimes.

Hate crimes carry a felony conviction in the USA and this can mean jail time. The Human Relations Commission of Los Angeles is a pioneer in this area, and has been since 1944 “Zoot suit wars” between sailors and Mexican-Americans when the Commission was formed.

In Los Angeles Country there are more than 165 languages spoken and this mixture of races, religions, sexual persuasion, and ethnic derivations creates the need for aggressive work within each community. It is vital for each to feel that they have a stake in the County and that their rights are being respected.

In her work with the Human Relations Commission, she monitored summits between Jews and Muslims, rival ethnic gangs, issues between African-Americans and Koreans and conflicts between Samoans and Tongans.

The predominant groups targeted for hate crimes remain African-Americans, Jews and transgender individuals.

To finish the interview I asked Eva if she had personally intervened against an act of racism. She said, “Both personally and professionally I have stood up against acts of discrimination and racism. I believe each of us needs to be judged, as Martin Luther King would say, on contents of our character and not our skin colour, religion, or sexual persuasion.”

As the result of her own trauma as a child, Eva has marched against hate and wars and feel strongly that each of us must make our voices heard to our political representatives.

Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s great patriots, once said: “We give you a Republic; it is up to you to keep it”.

At seventy years of age that is her mandate as it for everyone living in a Democratic country.

To conclude racism concept was much common in the USA from 40’s because many white people considered black people as a lower raze. Insults, not privileges as well as discrimination were been happening in the USA until not too much years ago when fortunately, Martin Luther King among other leaders changed the world through his morality about discrimination. From there, discrimination were been disappearing until nowadays that the president of the USA, Barak Obama, belongs to black skin.

Yaiza´s Essay

A sigth from the inside of the 23F

Talking about history it is difficult to specify the real event without subjective information. I will try to clarify some aspect of a very special point in history, to do that i took the help of my uncle. We all know the famous point of history called 23F. This coup d'etat was done by Fernando Tejero a Lieutenant Colonel of the “Guardia Civil”. He was a very authority person and comit power abuse to make an action against the spanish people. Without the consent of the Civil Gards involved, they were mostly deceived and they where arriving to the Congress and with all the desinformation that happend in all spanish state they have to continue with the circus.

My uncle was in the academy preparing to be promoted. An official come to them and he exactly say that an ETA comand dress-up like Civil Guards have kidnapped the Congress. He when to his house ( he didn´t know if it was real, if it was acoup d´etat or wherever). When he listened to the radio and only heared marcil march he realized that he was in front of a coup d´etat and thatin there there was more people implicated than just the Civil Guard. Sometimes in the radio they inform that all the forces of the state have to go to their respective destinations. It was at ten in the nigth three hours later of the new. He told his mother that he have to go and he give her a gun telling her “ i didn´t know what could happened. In this way he whento his destination, his mother was criying, may be remembering aobut the old times of the dictatorship.

He when alone to the street and take a taxi( There where no public transport and he had no car), when he sow the plate and told where he wanted to go , he took him for free. Through the Castellana only traveled police vehicles and police riding horses. That confirm him that ETA wasn´t the responsible.

When he arrived to the destination there were another mates there. The television was inroad by the army. One of his companions was informed that his fatherwas inside of the congress. In the free hours they go near the Congress to convinced his father to went out, only they were making the coup d´etat. At this time the tanks went to the streets of Valencia advising of the curfew ( Pased the time it was known that they didn´t have real ammunition, all was prepared)

When they arrivedto Neptuno it showed an atmosphere of mistrust between all and anyone did nothing. They pass a Police control that control the Civil Guard control and anyone stopped them (They were wearing usual cloth, not uniform), they had the official guns. It was incredible what he saw, everybody were armed looking at each other, without saying a word waiting for aparently nothing.

They arrived to the doors of the Congress, having passed 4 controls, without being stopped. His companion enter inside and my aunt waiting on the door, he feels like he was on a movie or something. From th inside anybody tells anything. He saw companions smoking out without knowing what to do.

Ten minutes later his companion when out. He had being spoke to his father and told him what happened at national level, that only some miliraty units rised up pacefully, but the Civil Guards keeped faithful to the Constitution. They when out of there astonishing again for not being sttoped one more time, they come back to their destination.

Some time after their arrival they saw on the TV that a military unit composed by 12 Police cars arrived to the Congress. They passed all the controls without being stopped and they openned the way, the “mandos” didn´t know how to react. There was an uncontrolled that let the people to suspect that that situation was rigged from the beginning.

Being a Civil Guard what he felt was infinity shame for being participated ( Taking into account the Civil Guards as a unit) in a role that was premeditatedand for had such a despotic controlers that took some men deceived to comit a crime against the people of spain. Once more as in the times of Franco the Civil Guards where used to realized a vandalic act of treason against the society. He realized that the “Benemerita” had a lot to change from the inside. That they may protect some Civil Guards if they disobey an order against the Código penal, either if they were military or civils, that frome other side even they didn´t know today. To the bad things sometimes they are military or they are Civilsandfor the bad things anybody remember them.

He didn´t know what will happened, From his inside he know that that was not real. As the nigth passed he confirm his idea that on the next morning all will have passed and thats it. He only felt some fear because he was worried about his mum. He was calmed until the point of walk around the congress as usual. He intuited that it was orchested from the higest positions.

To finish i have to add that, nowadays he still thinking that it was a deception to the society. The coup d´etat was done to clean some charges that in the future could done a real coup d´etatand the politician know it. He most politician where pupets of the global financial power and were at the service of the multimational instead of being democratic and stay by the side of the people.

Natalia´s Essay

Natalia Gómez Tera

2ºA de educación Infantil Bilingüe

7th June

 Social Sciences

 

The childhood in the Spanish Civil War.

Spanish Civil War was a battle bettwen the two political partys. In this war happende mainly in the little rural towns and in several cities as example Madrid and the town of my grandmother Granatula de Calatrava.

In this war was a terrible because dead many people and other more was killers but the one or other political party.

In this eassy I talk about the childhood of my grandmother in the spanish civil war and also how their life in this time.

Families during the spanish civil war used to work in the land. They mainly lived in towns and most of them were illiterate. Only a small part of the poppulation could have an opportunity to study. Families were big with an avere of children per family.

My grandmother ,Isabel, was born in 1932, in a village of Ciudad Real called Granátula de Calatrava, with a popopulation of 936 inhabitans. She is the youngest of a family of seven, 3 sister and 4 brother, she put me in the picture un a little conversation where she talked about her childhood, her education, her worklife and her daily routines during this period.

With 8 years, my grandmother used to get up very early, and she and her brothers went to work in the land to earn money for living, she also mentioned that they had a piece of land where they grew and sold them afterwards. In spite of working very hard throug this terrible period, they had a happy childhood.

As she was very young, she couldn´t remember the sound of the bombs, but they were aware of the danger. They could be shot by anyone at anytime. Also in the village there was a military airport where the plans landed. In this place the villager, hud goods in a hole to avoid anyone from stealing them.

These taugh years brought supplied problems and the villagers were starving, another the important problems that the villager had were the money because although they worked much never had enough money and the situation in these years were every day worse.

Nowdays the situation have changed for well but in this moment the economic situation is very difficult and the citiship don´t know can with our money and our job, but is true that not worse than in the these years.

During the Spanish Civil War, education was a priviledge for the rich althoug in the village there was a little school where the poor went to learn reading and writing. My grand mother and her sisters attend this school but thet never managed to learnt and noww she is trying again.

One of them my uncle Nieves and her brother Prado when did the military service, they learnt alone to read and to write, and when they finished this service, my uncle continus study and learnt new thing because he liked much.

The Spanish Civil War was very hard but through this my grandmother had a life very happy with her brothers and sisters and they did a several nauthiers as other children of their ager. But is true that the things changes a lot overall in the think of the families.

Firstly, we can said that the families in ourdays at least the son that they had of average are 2 o 3 per children and in the familes than my grandmother of my father they had of average was 7 o 8 per children and in many ocasition they could look for these children and they used to arrive the church were look for the preyant.

Secondly, the education was a priveledge for a little group of person than they had money for paid the teachers, and in ourdays, this thinking don´t appear because the education is forbid for all person and overall for all children.

In the other hand is important said that the population also have changed, because in the civil war the society mainly was rural and their work was in the land and they sold the goods that they grew.

This is a example of a population graphy of the village of my grandmother in these year that I talk:

In conclusion the childhood of my grandmother was a different a the ourdays and the economic situation changed in several points.

The research

Introduction

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’m going to introduce our project. We have been
done a research about what is the best neighborhood to live for sportsmen.
We were been investigating several zones: Vallecas, Chamberí, hamartín and Francos
Rodriguez.
Let me ask you a question: ¿What do you think are the most important aspects to live
for a sportsmen?
Well, in our opinion, the most important aspects are to find a good place for training,
specific shops for buy several materials.
Firstly, we are going to explain our methodology, then about the results. To finish, we
are going to tell our conclusions.

Methodoloy

The methodology used in the our research have been the used of the new tecnologys
that for examples internet and also asked the neighbor that lived in the different
neighboorhoods.

We also going to visit the different center where the people can be sport and also parks
where they can be running.

Factors and Indicators

As the main factor we investigate is the life of the sportmen.

Regarding the factors we considered in our investigation, we considered: Sports center,
sports shop, and supermarkets.

We consider as indicators the porcentage of each of these indicators that are
in different neighborhoods of the Community of Madrid
(Francos Rodriguez,Vallecas Chamartín, Chamberí).

We asked about other factors, for a more representative sample would
be considering more factors and indicators, but we finally opted for the afore
mentioned.We have carried out an approximation as possible of our study.

We thought it would be also interesting for future studies and research, ask
directly to sportmen and in such establishments.



Results

Conclusion

Vallecas is the best place to live for a Sportman.
This neighborhood win in two factors: Sport centers and Sport shops. This are the most important factor, because on one hand Sport Centers is where the most of Sportmen train and is important to find variety and on that way choose the best option. On the other hand Sport Shop are necesary to renew the cloth and things they use with their sports.


There was not taking into acount on the factors, but algo is the neighborhood that have bigger open areas.


You can say that Supermarket is important to have a healthy diet, but if therest of the factors fail the life of a sportman would not be the same.


Thanks for read this blog and we hope it was useful and entertaining.

Factors and indicators

As the main factor we investigate is the life of the sportmen.

Regarding the factors we considered in our investigation, we considered: Sports center, sports shop, parks and supermarkets.

We consider as indicators the porcentage of each of these indicators that are in different neighborhoods of the Community of Madrid (Francos Rodriguez, Vallecas Chamartín, Chamberí).

We asked about other factors, for a more representative sample would be considering more factors and indicators, but we finally opted for the afore mentioned. We have carried out an approximation as possible of our study.

We thought it would be also interesting for future studies and research, ask directly to sportmen and in such establishments.

Our proyect

We are going to talk about the best place to live in madrid. Our view is going to be focused on the sportists, taking into acount the places to do sport, restaurant to eat healthy,...

The neibourhood that we a re going to research, study and compare are: Francos Rodriguez, Chamartín, Chamberí and Vallecas.

The sociologists on this blog are:

Javier Lopez

Natalia Gomez

Beatriz Luelmo

Maria Gonzalez

Yaiza Pozas