Crimes Against Humanity Research/Action/Reflection Project

In groups of 3, you will research a crime against humanity. A crime against humanity is an injustice afflicted on a group or groups of people. The Holocaust was a crime against Jews, people with disabilities, gays, political prisoners, gypsies and many others. This project entails 3 steps: 1. Research: a. Gather Information: You will gather facts about the crime against humanity you have chosen. (Each group will choose a different topic.) You will do this by researching the Internet, books, magazines, newspapers and other media sources and taking notes on the information you find. b. Summarize and Educate Yourself: Using your notes, you will write a one page expository essay describing the crime against humanity. In the essay, the following questions should be discussed: Who is being targeted? Describe this population or group of people. How many people are being targeted? Why are they being targeted? If possible, tell us about one victims story? Who are the perpetrators, those committing this crime? How are the perpetrators able to commit their crime? What are they Are the victims able to fight back? If so, how are they going about it? Where is this crime taking place? When did this crime take place? Is it still going on? If it has ended, what are the effects of the crime? Are there still repercussions of this event? What aid or help is/was available to the victims? Who, if any, were/are the upstanders, those going out of their way to help victims? 2. Take Action! a. Create an Action Plan: Based on what you know about the situation, develop a plan to implement in your community or here at Thurgood Marshall to help those affected. This plan might include raising money to donate to an organization working with the situation or educating others about what is going on. In the past, Ive seen many creative projects. Think outside of the box! Make a list of steps to follow to carry out your plan. Include deadlines and delegate responsibility among the group members. Share the workload. b. Implement your plan. Carry out your plan. Follow the steps to your plan in a timely manner. 3. Reflection and Class Share Anusasanan, Freeland, OBrien, TMAHS

a. Reflect: How did your action work? Was it successful? Was it not? What were the obstacles you faced? What went well? What would you do differently? How did it make you feel? What would you like to do to improve on your plan? b. Prepare a Presentation: In the form of a power point presentation or a poster board, put together everything you learned to share with the class. You should include your research in an easy-to-understand format like bullet points of the main ideas. This will help educate your classmates about the situation. You should include your action plan and the results of your action. You should include your reflection of what you did. You should also let your classmates know how they can help the situation. c. Class Share: You will share your power point or posterboard with the class. Crimes Against Humanity Topics: Choose one from the menu below or talk to me about one not mentioned.
1. Darfur: Since 2003, the Sudanese government soldiers have been carrying out a genocide in Darfur. Over 200,000 civilians have died and over 2.5 million people have been forced out of their homes. Women and children have been raped and men killed. http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/alert/darfur/contents/01-overview/ Savedarfur.org 2. Proposition 8: On Nov. 4, 2008, California voters passed Proposition 8, banning gay marriage. The vote of yes on this proposition changes the California constitution so that marriage between gays is now illegal and unrecognized denying many people the freedom to love who they want. Since election day, tens of thousands have come out to the streets to tell the government to repeal Prop 8. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/05/BA3B13UM63.DTL http://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=California_Proposition_8_(2008) 3. Youth Violence in the Mission and Bayview: Violence afflicted on teens seems to be always present especially in the southeastern neighborhoods. This fall in the Mission, several teenage males were killed in the period of a few months. Over my 5 years at Marshall, I have seen so many students wearing RIP t-shirts or necklaces of loved ones they have lost to violence. Something needs to be done. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/c/a/2008/09/06/BAAG12OQP9.DTL&type=printable http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2001/12/16/MN232399.DTL

4. Congo Violence: A war during 1998-2002 killed 5 million people. Since then there has been a
lot of violence in Eastern Congo between rebels and pro-government militia and 300,000 people have lost their homes. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi? f=/c/a/2008/11/09/MNNJ14116R.DTL&hw=congo&sn=009&sc=353 http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/congojournal/ 5. Free the SF8: Eight former members and associates of the Black Panther Party for SelfDefense were charged with murder and conspiracy in 2007 stemming from a 1971 case. These members were framed based on confessions they made under torture. The cases were

Anusasanan, Freeland, OBrien, TMAHS

thrown out in 1971 because they were torture-induced however now, nearly 40 years later, these men are being charged again because government funds are attacking political activists. These elders, African American men, are fathers, grandfathers and beloved members of their communities. Two of them remain in jail at 850 Bryant St. www.freethesf8.org 6. ICE Raids: The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency has arrested over 1,000 people in the past three months for living in the United States illegally. According to ICE, those arrested have been criminals and gang members. Yet the agency is being criticized for arresting and deporting innocent people and tearing families apart. http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/06/massive-ICE-arrests http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html? article_id=e5a3be40ba1f338650f2c0f793d11c3d http://ofamerica.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/ice-raids-return-to-instill-fear-sow-hatredbefore-mayday-marches/

7. Guantanamo Bay: Also known by its nickname Gitmo, Guantanamo Bay is a U.S. Navy base
in Cuba. There is a detention center (prison) on the base where the U.S. military houses prisoners. Since September 11, 2001 the U.S. government has arrested and held accused terrorists at Gitmo. Most of these prisoners are from the Middle East. Prisoners at Guantanamo Bay are not given the right of a trial, or even be informed of the charges against them. There have also been reports of torture at the prison. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guant%C3%A1namo_Bay_detention_camp http://www.hrw.org/en/category/topic/counterterrorism/guantanamo

8. Native Americans: Native Americans, the original inhabitants of American land prior to the

arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, consisted of hundreds of different tribes. The genocide against American Natives was one of the most massive, and longest lasting genocidal campaigns in human history. It started, like all genocides, with the oppressor treating the victims as sub-humans. It continued until almost all Natives were wiped of the face of the earth, along with much of their language, culture and religion. www.lib.washington.edu/subject/history/tm/native.html http://www.nativeamericans.com/ http://www.dickshovel.com/nar.html

9. Angel Island/Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882: Between 1910 and 1940, approximately 175,000 Chinese immigrants had to come through Angel Island and were detained. Laws were set in place to keep Chinese (and some other Asian group) immigrants out of the US. They were kept at Angel Island, where they were given medical examinations, interrogated, separated from family members, and made to sleep in bunk beds in dormitories. Some were allowed into SF, but many were deported back to China.

http://www.kqed.org/w/pacificlink/home.html http://aiisf.org/ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec00/Angel_8-5.html#

10. Japanese Internment during WWII: In 1942, during World War II, President Roosevelt signed

Executive Order 9066, which ordered all Japanese Americans to be taken to internment camps. People were afraid that people of Japanese descent were spies, so they imprisoned them in camps in California and 6 other states. They were removed from their homes without warning, forced to leave their valuables. More than 2/3 of those put in camps were citizens of the US. Our own Tanforan Mall stands on land that was once a detention center.

http://www.densho.org/sitesofshame/background.xml http://www.sfmuseum.org/war/evactxt.html Anusasanan, Freeland, OBrien, TMAHS

http://newton.uor.edu/Departments&Programs/AsianStudiesDept/asianam-intern.html

Anusasanan, Freeland, OBrien, TMAHS