Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz–Indigenous Peoples History of the US

Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz–Indigenous Peoples History of the US

Type of service:  Academic Writing

Work type:          Creative writing

Format:      APA

Pages:        1 pages ( 275 words, Double spaced

Academic level:  Undergrad. (yrs 1-2)

Discipline:  History

Title: History Assignment

Number of sources:     1

Paper instructions:     

Google the article “Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz–Indigenous Peoples History of the US “

Now that you have seen the 2 videos of 9/11 footage and read both the Challenge Editorial and Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz’s introduction, answer the following question: How is Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz’s definition of terrorism so different from the way we are taught to understand terrorism after 9/11? According to Ortiz, why would we call the corporations that controlled the World Trade Center the original and true terrorists? How has the US ruling class instituted a policy of terrorism since the founding of the colonies in British North America? Do you agree with the Challenge editorial’s assertion that the US ruling class indeed created the conditions that led to the 9/11 attack? Did anyone “benefit” from the effects of 9/11? How is your own response to 9/11 after seeing the  news footage impacted when you read the 2 readings that accompany this module? Give specific examples of the points that are made in both readings.

—  Quote from them — in your discussion posts;

Challenge Editorial, October 3, 2001: “Terrrorism Helps U.S. Bosses Pave Way For Oil War and Police State” The horrendous murders of thousands of innocent workers on September 11 have given U.S. bosses the excuse they need to:

•Drum up a flag-waving frenzy for a war that will slaughter millions to protect Exxon Mobil’s Middle Eastern oil empire;

•Disguise this imperialist aggression as a humanitarian crusade against terrorism; •Build political support within the military and society at large for the mass casualties their oil war will require;

•Blame terrorism for the economic recession their system faces and use the bombings as an excuse to eliminate more jobs, cut back on social services, and make workers and youth accept a police state;

•Wage a virulent racist campaign against Arab workers.

Communists must organize workers, soldiers and youth to smash anti-working class mass terrorism spawned by the profit system. Regardless of the individual perpetrators’ identity, the horrific attacks that slaughtered thousands of black, white, Latino, Arab and Asian workers and others in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on September 11 are consistent with the lethal logic of capitalism. These bombings mark an escalation of the contradictions that are hurling the world into fascism and war.The thousands who died in these attacks are war victims. But they are not the first. They join one million Iraqis killed over a decade of US bombing missions and economic sanctions. They join thousands of Palestinians, millions in Africa and Vietnam, and hundreds of thousands in Latin America. All these casualties belong to our class, the workers of the world. As long as the bosses hold power, workers will continue to reap what the billionaire terrorist war makers have sown. Organizing against terrorists big and small, from Kabul to Washington, DC, and building a mass international PLP, are the order of the day. Bush’s declaration of war is a challenge that revolutionary communists must answer everywhere. During imperialist war, communists must lead workers against their ruling class. Our job is to fight all the rulers, not to mobilize our class to choose sides among them. This is the task at hand, whether in the US, Afghanistan, Israel, Germany, Russia or Iraq. No worker should blindly follow any boss. We communists have the responsibility of uniting the workers of the world and marching forward on the road to communist revolution. This is necessary and achievable. Millions of workers all over the world hate U.S. imperialism. At present, this hatred is particularly virulent in Moslem countries. But hatred of one imperialist gang alone can’t destroy imperialism. Hatred must be converted into pro-working class politics. It can serve workers only if it becomes infused with a revolutionary communist outlook. The twin poisons of nationalism and religious fanaticism serve only to unite workers with one gang of bosses or another. As the “only super power,” the U.S. rules an increasingly unstable world. This growing instability is evident in Osama bin Laden’s and Saddam Hussein’s history as former allies of the US, former contract employees of the CIA. Saddam was used by the US to attack Iran after the overthrow of the Shah in 1979. Bin Laden is a former US “freedom fighter,” who was employed to prevent the Soviet takeover of Afghanistan. (See article ) The U.S. rulers are using their mass media to whip up patriotism, nationalism, racism and war fever. They can reach many more people than we can, and will temporarily have mass support. Many tests, including further deadly terror assaults on U.S. soil, lie ahead for the working class. A more emboldened openly right wing movement may emerge in the unions and on the campuses. Inter-imperialist rivalries will sharpen, and bosses on all sides will spill plenty of workers’ blood. U.S. rulers will use every weapon in their considerable arsenal to protect their profits, their political power, and their empire. Their anti-worker attacks will increase in viciousness. At some point they will single out our Party. None of these obstacles should stop the PLP from growing. The communist movement has always managed to thrive under the direst conditions. The only answer to mass terror, regardless of the source, remains: Build the Party. Fight for communist revolution. Do whatever needs to be done, however long it takes and whatever the cost, to help move all the world’s workers together into a collective struggle against all the world’s bosses. We must not be swayed or intimidated by the difficulty of our task. We must have confidence that we can win the working class to internationalism and revolution. Our confidence will grow as we wage an aggressive struggle in our shops and factories, schools and campuses, neighborhoods and barracks. A mass base for PLP and CHALLENGE can give political leadership to tens of thousands more. As you will see in these pages, our Party has answered the bell, and this process has made a modest beginning. “Workers of the World, Unite!” Capitalism Has Brought Centuries Of Mass Murder — U.S. Bosses Lead By Far In The Body Count. Here is a brief, incomplete summary of the working class blood shed to feed the profit system in North America:

● Hundreds of millions of Native Americans wiped out through warfare or disease since 1492;

● Tens of millions of Africans brutalized and murdered in 400 years of slavery;

● Billions of workers devastated throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America by U.S. imperialism’s drive for maximum profit;

● A status quo of racist economic and police terror against black and Latin workers within the U.S.;

● The nuking of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 when Japan was already going to surrender;

● A 45-year long “Cold War,” in which U.S. rulers backed scores of fascist dictators in a worldwide anti-communist “crusade;”

● The CIA-backed slaughter of nearly a million Indonesian workers in 1965 as part of this crusade;

● A genocidal war in southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s that murdered at least three million Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians;

● Support for death squad regimes in Central and South America, whose CIA-trained thugs murdered hundreds of thousands in El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, and Colombia.

● The butchery of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi workers in Bush Sr.’s 1991 “Desert Storm” to protect U.S. oil interests;

● The subsequent murder over the ensuing decade of a million more Iraqis—mostly children—by U.S.-imposed sanctions, a price Clinton’s Secretary of State Albright said she was “willing to pay” in defense of Exxon Mobil et al.;

● A campaign of nearly daily air bombing against Iraqi workers since 1998 by U.S. and British imperialists;

● An ongoing reign of terror against Palestinian workers by U.S.-backed Israeli bosses;

● A nearly three month-long campaign of “humanitarian” terror from the air over the former Yugoslavia in 1999 to make Caspian-related pipeline safe for U.S. and British energy giants.

Applying course concepts to a contemporary issue – Seattle Police Department disproportionately targets Blacks and Indigenous people for stop and search

Applying course concepts to a contemporary issue – Seattle Police Department disproportionately targets Blacks and Indigenous people for stop and search

You are required to read the instruction and answer Essay 2. “Analyzing a contemporary issue through course concepts.”You must follow every single instruction while writing your two page paper. Do not bid if you have not specialized in Sociology

Essay Assignment  

Write TWO short essays. Each essay should be 2-3 pages long, double-spaced.

Essay 1: Applying course concepts to a contemporary issue

Your aunt works for the Seattle City Council, and she just read this article (Links to an external site.) discussing research showing that the Seattle Police Department disproportionately targets Blacks and Indigenous people for stop and search. She heard that you are taking a course on criminal justice issues, and she asked you for help to understand why these disparities exist.

Write your aunt a memo, in which you explain how sociologists have explained such racial disparities in stop and search practices. If you use sociological concepts, define them (your aunt has never taken a sociology class!). On the basis of your explanations, give her a sense of what policies the City Council might consider, in order to reduce racial disparities in policing. 

You can format your memo in the way you like: it can be a letter (“Dear Auntie…”) or a more formal memo, written in a way that she could forward to colleagues at the City Council for example.

Essay 2: Analyzing a contemporary issue through course concepts

In an analytical essay, discuss Joe Biden’s criminal justice platform (Links to an external site.), using concepts and theories we learned about in class. Your essay should

  1. Briefly describe the political orientation of Biden’s proposals: are they closer to the “crime control” rhetoric, or the “social welfare” one? In what ways?
  2. Based on the course material, explain Biden’s previous endorsement of tough-on-crime policies (Links to an external site.). What might explain that he endorsed these policies in the 1980s and 1990s? To do this, you should draw on the theoretical perspectives we learned about in class (you can rely on just one perspective, or on more than one).
  3. Discuss possible reasons why Biden shifted his policy position recently. Again here, you should draw on the theoretical perspectives we studied in the module on criminal justice expansion, and discuss how these perspectives can help explain Biden’s position today. You don’t need to have all the answers, what matters is raising the right questions (eg. Marxian scholars would pay attention to X and ask Y. they might explain Biden’s recent shift by drawing attention to Z).
  4. End your essay with reflections on the potential of Biden’s proposals: do you think the proposals will effectively reduce mass incarceration? Why or why not? Specifically: what obstacles might the Biden administration face when attempting to pass these policies? Again, for this section, you should draw on the course material.

Tips for writing the essays

  1. Read the essay prompt carefully
  2. Read the article(s) linked in the prompt. As you read, underline or highlight the points that will be relevant when you address the essay questions.
  3. Go back to your course notes and figure out which concepts or theories will help you write the essay.
  4. If needed, go back to the readings you will rely on most.
  5. Once you have a good idea of what you want to argue, write a detailed outline of your essay. The outline should include all the issues you must address (return to the essay prompt to make sure).
  6. Write the essay. Each essay should include
    1. An introduction, where you introduce the topic and the main questions you will address in the essay.
    1. The body of the essay – this is where you address the issues in the essay prompt. This part can be divided into sections, but it doesn’t have to.
    1. A conclusion, where you wrap up and summarize the main argument of your essay

You do not need to use a formal citation style or to include a bibliography, but you must always reference the sources you use in your essays

  • DO cite authors’ names or theoretical perspectives when you describe their argument,
    • eg: “Charles Epp and his colleagues argue in Pulled Over that…”
    • eg: “Marxian sociologists like Loic Wacquant argue that, to understand criminal justice expansion, we must pay attention to…”
  • DON’T use concepts without saying who coined or defined them
    • Eg: “Workfare is xyz” à you must mention that Loic Wacquant coined and defined this term.

Grading checklist

A good or excellent essay (90-100)

  • Addresses all the points included in the prompt
  • Is organized with an introduction, a body, and a conclusion
  • Develops a clearly spelled argument, which draws on course concepts and theories, and effectively connects them to the issue being analyzed
  • Defines sociological concepts accurately when needed
  • Supports the arguments made with material from the course

An adequate essay (80-89)

  • Addresses all the points included in the prompt
  • Is organized with an introduction, a body, and a conclusion
  • Develops an argument, which draws on course concepts and theories, but the connection to the articles is not always clearly spelled out
  • Defines some (but not all) of the sociological concepts accurately
  • Sometimes (but not always) supports the arguments made with material from the course

An insufficient essay (<80)

  • Is missing some of the points included in the prompt
  • Is missing an argument
  • Doesn’t draw on course concepts, or does so in a way that misunderstands the concept or theory
  • Does not define the sociological concepts used, or does so inaccurately
  • Makes arguments solely based on the student’s personal opinion without supporting them with course material

Note:

You do not need to draw on each module in each of the essays. In contrast to the quiz, this assignment is not meant for me to assess how much of the course material you know. Rather, I want to see how well you’re able to use one piece of the course material to think through real-world problems. So try to focus on the material most directly related to the essay question and go in depth with it: make sure you define key concepts and explain how they apply to that particular issue. For example, it’s totally okay, for the letter to your aunt, to focus only on Epp’s reading (institutionalized practices). You may rely on one of the earlier readings to give your aunt an idea about how these policing practices are embedded in a larger criminal justice expansion that had X causes, but don’t spend all your (short) essay on this, and make sure you spend most of the essay on the readings/concepts that most directly help you address the question of racial profiling in policing.

In the same way, the essay analyzing Biden’s policies can rely squarely on criminal justice expansion, and not draw on the other modules. The most important thing is to explain the theories and concepts well and to explain how they can help us understand Biden’s policy proposals in the 80s and today.

In other words, when I say “use sociological perspectives” I don’t mean just the classical theories we started with, everything we learned and read in this class is sociological.