The Burma Road Riot

Question 1a Write a detailed account of the Burma Road Riot in Nassau, Bahamas. At the beginning of the Second World War the American government made arrangements to build training bases in of the Caribbean Islands. Being a part of the Caribbean, The Bahamian government and the American government scheduled to build two operational bases in New Providence, one in Satellite Field and the other in Oaks Field, they also called it the Main Field. This would then employ over two thousand men.The news began to spread to the outer islands and many out islanders saw it as a good opportunity to be employed for big wages. During the last ten years the economy had declined due to the ending of prohibition in 1933. These Bahamians came to New Providence because they knew that the Americans would pay high wages because some worked on the American base in Exuma before. Unfortunately, the Bahamian workers were paid half the wages the Americans were paid for the same job.After failing to get the emp loyer to remedy their unfair wage, on Sunday 31st May, 1942, the local workers gathered in front of the Pleasantville Construction company with the aim of getting their employer to improve their wages offered to the two site; the wages were lower than the employees expected, also their wages were lower than the American wages who did the same job. Bahamian wages were only four shillings for eight hours. This situation was so unfair it made the Bahamian workers frustrated and bitter against their white employers.As a result a charged working relationship between the Bahamian workers developed. Since there was no resolution in the meeting on the following day Monday, 1st June, 1942 laborers marched to Bay Street protesting that they be paid the full amount of wages by the Pleasantville Contractors. The Bahamian protestors didn’t know that it was the â€Å"Bay Street Boys† that told the Americans to pay the Bahamian employees less that it supposed to be. Because the Pleas antville Contractors didn’t reply to the laborers request it made the workers more infuriated. Moreover, the meeting that was agreed n with the workers and the Colonial Labor Officer never materialized. This infuriated the workers even more. The disgruntled workers were accompanied by a crowd of people. They marched from Parliament via Nassau Street with cubs and sticks. On their way they met a Coca-Cola truck filled with empty bottles which they pelted the windows of the buildings. They used those bottles as missiles. While the rioting was at its height a carbon of police with fixed bayonets and steel helmets came down from the barracks and remained standing in that formation for a period of time in front of the Post Office.While the sound of glass breaking and the crowd shouting, that could be heard up and down the street, the policemen moved along Bay Street and were successful in dispersing most of the rioters, which they reassembled in other places. The police could not cope with this situation so a detachment of British forces were called in. Before the end of the day members of the Volunteer Defense Force were situated to the Barracks. When order was restored in the city, throughout the afternoon isolated cases of violence were dealt with and some people were arrested. Many of the shops were extensively looted.Several business shops were stripped of their stock. There were many of the people that were seen with armfuls of stolen goods leaving the city. As soon as the streets were completely clear the suspects were ordered to show the stocks of the parcels that they were carrying on them. Some of the loot was recovered and people were arrested. The damages of the property and merchandise ran into thousands of pounds. They attacked the cars that were moving and parked which were damaged very badly, Also the owners were at the wheel at some point and time. Liquor stores were looted as well and the drunkenness resulting added fuel to the fire.In conc lusion, this rioting and looting lead to two deaths and twenty-five injuries, they also smashed the Red Cross. The rioting lasted for two long days. After all the Duke of Windsor said that the Bahamian wages will be dealt with. Half more of the workers came back. On the 4th June 1942, things were just about normal for everyone and wages were increased by one shilling for the local workers. This riot signaled that Black Bahamians were no longer going to be submissive to the oligarchy. Moreover, black Bahamians became united and silently fought for better living conditions and equal rights and justice. The Burma Road Riot I’se a Man Political Awakening and the 1942 Riot in the Bahamas Abstract When Americans began building their World War II bases in Nassau, the Bahamians they hired expected the high wage rates that usually accompanied foreign contracts. Unfortunately, the Bahamian government had negotiated much lower rates than were expected. Green, with his cry ‚I’se a man,? captured the indignation that many of his co-workers felt. After attempts to address the wage issue by collective bargaining failed, two thousand labourers gathered at the building site chanting ‚we want more money.?Their cries fell on deaf ears and police officers were called in to disperse the group. But, the police only succeeded in agitating the protestors. Eventually, armed with sticks and clubs, the leaderless crowd marched to where they would be heard. They marched to Bay Street, the stage for some of the most significant events in the Bahamas’ history and a social space that has continual ly been at the centre of cultural, economic and political life in the country. Two days of rioting ensued. Although the riot was triggered by a labor dispute, it has been described as the first sign of a popular movement in the Bahamas.And, some have described the riot as a tremor along the fault line that divided the rich white Bahamians who owned businesses on Bay Street and the poor blacks who worked as laborers and lived in the poorer neighborhoods ‚over-the-hill.? This paper is an effort to retell the story of the riot, focusing on its significance as the first sign of political awakening in the country’s black community. This paper was published in the Journal of Caribbean History, 41 (1 & 2) 2008. Paper presented at the 30th Annual Conference of the Society for Caribbean Studies, The National Archives, Kew, UK, July 2006.We would like to thank Nicola Virgill and John Rolle for comments on previous versions of this paper. The standard disclaimer applies. * I. Intr oduction At the beginning of the Second World War, the British and American governments made arrangements to build training bases on several of the British West Indian islands. Two of these operational bases were scheduled to be built on New Providence Island, the economic hub of the Bahamas; one in Oaks Field known as Main Field and one in the western end of the island known as Satellite Field.The Project, as it was called, would employ over two thousand Bahamians. When the news about this employment opportunity was publicized, many men from the outlying Bahamian islands flocked to New Providence joining the already large labor pool that looked forward to the high wages that such foreign projects historically brought. The wages offered were not only lower than was expected but there was an inequity of pay between Americans and Bahamian laborers employed at the same jobs.The men were dissatisfied but neither management nor government made any real steps to reconcile the wage dispute . What started as low grumbling among the men at work, exploded into two days of rioting that left six men dead, several people injured and Bay Street, the island’s principal commercial district, and parts of Grant’s Town, where many of the laborers resided, in shambles. Dame Doris Johnson, noted Bahamian politician, has argued that the 1942 riot was a watershed event in the Bahamas’ political and racial history. That the June 1 and 2 disturbances were mblematic of a growing political consciousness within the Bahamas’ majority black community and was the explosive start of what would ultimately be a relatively quiet revolution to usher in black rule and independence in the former British colony. As Johnson recorded, as a consequence of the riot ‚the first awakenings of a new political awareness began to be felt in the hearts of black people < time, and the remarkable foresight, courage, and initiative of a few dedicated members of that majority were all that were required to crystallize this awareness into a mighty political force.?Sir Randol Fawkes, labor leader and parliamentarian, has concurred. As they rightly point out, the riot was the first major collective labor action in the Bahamas with political overtones. Political scientist, Colin Hughes, however, has questioned its significance. While accepting it as a precursor, he views it more as a symbol that was profitably mythologized and rallied around once the popular movement actually found its feet. According to Hughes, the riot was ‚a momentary outburst of raw energy? that ‚provided martyrs and a heroic moment? o Bahamian blacks ‚once a political movement had finally started.? Agreeing with Hughes, Gail Saunders sees it as a ‚short-lived spontaneous outburst? after which ‚the black masses slept on.? 3 Both deny any direct link to the dramatic socio-political developments in the 1960s, pointing out that nothing much happened in response to the riot and that no real push for political power or majority rule could be said to exist in the Bahamas for more than a decade after the riot. They also point out that nothing like this ever happened again in the Bahamas making this event an anomaly.The riot, however, was more than an isolated act of venting. And, although a powerful symbol of black agency that has been referenced again and again in the political struggles of Bahamian blacks, the riot was more than a symbol. The riot had real (if not immediate) effects. Following Johnson, it is our contention that the riot is rightfully considered the first shot in the battle for political change in the Bahamas. The riot also kindled the development of a pro-black consciousness in the country, a necessary precursor to black rule and independence.At the time of the riot, political and economic life in the colony was controlled by a small group of white merchants who were headquartered on Bay Street. As Johnson describes, ‚the usually docile and cheerful Bahamian workers? marched towards Bay Street, the space of white wealth, ‚in an angry and belligerent mood.? The 1942 riot demonstrated to both Bahamian blacks and the oligarchs who were known collectively as the ‚Bay Street Boys,? that Bay Street was vulnerable. Indeed, the riot showed quite clearly that the hold the merchant princes had on the Bahamas was far from complete and unassailable.The majority black population in the Bahamas could literally dismantle the edifices of minority white rule, if sufficiently provoked. The fissure that was created in 1942 would widen over the next few decades and within a quarter of a century it became a gapping whole that the majority black Progressive Liberal Party walked through to victory. This paper is an effort to retell the story of the riot, focusing on its significance as the first sign of political awakening in the country’s black community. II. Don’t Lick Nobody: Two Days of Mass Action On June 1, 942, just weeks after the Project had began, laborers from both Main Field and Satellite Field marched to Bay Street after their continual and by then quite loud demands for higher wages were met with patronizing replies and admonishments to return to work. As Leonard Storr Green, who was convicted as one of the leaders of the group explains, ‚one of the white bosses wanted to check up on the labourers so that they should go back to work. The crowd said they would not go back until they had some main proof about the wages and they did not go back.?The crowd marched to Bay Street carrying clubs and sticks and assembled in Rawson Square, across from the Parliament and outside the Colonial Secretary’s office, hoping ‚to put their plea for higher wages to someone in authority.? Several members of the colonial government and the local assembly attempted to placate them, promising that if they dispersed and returned to work, their requests would be con sidered. They were almost persuaded to put down their weapons and to go back to work but eye witnesses and members of the crowd of labors cite two things as triggering the riotous acts that took place.Some attributed the change in crowd’s attitude to the presence of police superintendent Captain Edward Sears. Sears had been present at a peaceful but loud demonstration at the Main Field about wages a day earlier and had drawn his revolver in order to disband the crowd. As Green reports, Captain Sears’ presence on Bay Street ‚made them angry because it looked as if he would do something.? Others blamed Attorney General Eric Hallinan’s insensitive remarks. Hallinan was among those who had attempted to mollify the crowd.As Hallinan would later testify, he informed them that the American contractors ‚had intended to bring in labourers from America? but had changed their minds since the Bahamians ‚had done so well.? He then warned the workers ‚ not to spoil that record.? The crowd perceived his remarks as a threat. If they did not return to work quietly, they would be replaced by workers from America. As Hallinan later recognized, ‚those remarks of mine were, I think misunderstood by the crowd and there was signs that they resented those remarks.?Whatever the catalyst, a portion of the crowd that had marched to Rawson Square singing patriotic anthems turned their attention away from diplomacy and bargaining and began to take their frustrations out on Bay Street. They moved down the street smashing car windows and breaking storefronts. Although the beginning crowd numbered in the thousands, it is hard to tell the number of people that actually took part in the violent outburst that followed their peaceful march to Bay Street. It is also difficult to determine which of the various groups of people who participated in the protest did which acts.It appears that the people that broke windows were not the same people that would later loot the stores. But the record here is not entirely clear. As the workers marched to Bay Street from Oakes Field that Monday morning, their numbers were augmented by people who lived in the black communities that they walked through on their way to Bay Street. It is therefore quite possible that a portion of the crowd left peaceably after having made their case, a portion lashed out at the shops and automobiles that were parked on Bay Street, and that an altogether different portion of the crowd looted the shops.After allowing the rioters and looters almost free reign on Bay Street for most of the morning, a force comprised of police officers and the Cameron’s Highlanders, a group of Scottish soldiers who were stationed in Nassau to protect the Duke of Windsor, who was Governor of the Bahamas, were brought in to sweep the street clean of protestors. This worked and by midday they managed to push most of the crowd ‚over the hill,? to the poorer neighborhoods outside the city center. There was a standoff in the Grant’s Town area at to the corner of Cotton Tree and Blue Hill Road between a small crowd of rioters and about 40 police offices and soldiers.The crowd was throwing rocks at the combined forced. One rock hit a Cameron Highlander and knocked him unconscious. During this standoff, one civilian was shot and killed, another was shot and eventually died in the hospital and five men were wounded and recovered. It is possible that the crowd that rioted in Grant’s Town were not from that neighborhood. Indeed, several Grant’s Town residents insisted that the rioters were not from their settlement. As Alfred McKenzie, a black merchant, who owns a store in Grant’s Town recounts, ‚I didn’t recognize any one especially.I think there were just a few leaders and the majority of the crowds were looking for what they could get after the places was broken into. Young men and women made up this crowd.? What ever the composition or origin, the police had a hard time subduing the crowd in Grant’s Town. Having failed to control the crowd, the police read the Riot Act at about one o’clock in the afternoon, ten minutes after the incident at Cotton Tree, set curfew and left Grant’s Town. With the police went the authority of law and the force of the curfew. After the forces ithdrew, the crowd, many who by now were intoxicated, laid siege to the Grant’s Town police station, set fire to a filling station, fire truck and ambulance, looted the post office and library and broke into many of the small neighborhood businesses. Rioting and looting took place in this community all through the night. The police would later argue that their withdrawal saved lives. The crowd was in such an agitated mood, their commanding officer testified, that it would have taken extreme measures to contain them. The police therefore felt it was better not to be in a situation where they wou ld be forced to fire on the crowd.Although some citizens testified before the Commission that ‚if the forces had returned to Grant’s Town they could have easily pacified the it without trouble,? others reported that ‚by this time the mob here was so drunk that they could only have been pacified at a very considerable loss of life.? The Commission observed that, in fact, only one person was injured in Grant’s Town after the forces had been withdrawn and that was a rioter who was shot< by a coloured man in defence of his shop. A few shops, mainly liquor shops, were broken into; but the amount of damage done, although considerable, was not great.?In Grant’s town the rioting was not only more violent but also seemed to have been much more 16 random than on Bay Street. Whereas on Bay Street, there was a definite pattern to the stores that were destroyed and looted, there seemed to be none in Grant’ Town. On Bay Street there are numerous episodes of shop proprietors and other citizens being able to reason with the crowds; in Grant’s Town, there was no listening to reason. It was the opinion of most observers that the amount of alcohol consumed played a great part in the violence and destruction that took place that evening.Riots are often intoxicating because of the lure of recklessness and the sudden freedom to act on the basest of desires. When that allure is coupled with the intoxication of alcohol the dangers are magnified. In Grant’s Town a number of bars had been broken into. In Captain Sears’ report of what took place once the crowd was pushed over the hill, he states that the ‚Red Lion Bar had been broken into and all the liquor taken from there.? 18 17 Lance Corporal Gooding reported that when he went over the hill from Bay Street that ‚Bethel’s Bar on the corner of Martin Street and Blue Hill road was being broken into.?Complaining of the riot, one resident of Grant’s To wn testified, ‚I think there are too many liquor stores in Grant’s Town.? After the rioting in Grant’s Town, concerned citizens One of the two later fatalities was the result of a Grant’s town resident protecting his property from a looter who refused to listen to reason. In his testimony, Clifford Holbert a stone mason who was protecting a shop that he owned with his father relays the incident that took at about 10 a. m. on June 2, ‚I was sitting on the counter and the leader who is called Johnson held his hand up and made a sign to the man.Johnson had a carpenter’s hammer in his hand. He made a sign to the men and said, ‘come on, boys lets go in. ’ I said to them, ‘why don’t you behave yourselves, aren’t we all coloured? ’ They still came in. The others besides the leader had sticks, bottles and stones and some of them had empty sacs as if to put my property in. I was sitting on the counter with a shot gun on my knees. They flocked around me and as they flocked around me the gun went off. The leader was taken up to the hospital and was dead.? submitted a petition asking for re-zoning, because as it stood there were 30 liquor stores in the southern district.Throughout the night, bands went through the settlement looting and generally causing havoc. On the morning, June 2 , a handful of businesses and residences were singled out for attack. Mr. George Cole’s Eastern Pharmacy located on Shirley Street was one of them. Cole was a white merchant whose Grant’s Town store had been destroyed the previous afternoon. nd A gang from Grant’s Town marched to Shirley Street to loot the store. The Highlanders responded to the phone calls reporting the happenings at the pharmacy and were able to disperse the crowd without incident.The looting of Cole’s pharmacy and the liquor store next door to it were the last actions of the riot. Reassured by the Duke of Windsor, the Governor of the Bahamas that the wage question would be dealt with, more the half the workers returned to work on June 4 and by the end of the week, life returned to normal. 21 III. Political First Steps: On The Meaning of the Riot th Most historians who have studied the riot have argued that it was not a significant precursor to the political movements that would take place in the Bahamas over the next few decades.The riot, they contend, was just a momentary outburst and its effects, they suggest, are difficult to trace. Doris Johnson, it’s supposed, was mistaken when she described the rioters as being consciously engaged in a struggle for their rights and suggested that the riot caused ‚stirrings in the hearts of the poor and the not-so-poor Bahamians? that ultimately led to political and social change in the Bahamas. One witness to the riot, Etienne Dupuch, the editor of a local newspaper and a person long thought to be ‚in touch? ith the social attitudes of t he Bahamian people argued that the riot was ‚the natural outcome of the narrow economic, political and social policies pursued by a small but dominant political group in this colony during the last quarter century.? Similarly, Hughes has described the riot as ‚a momentary outburst of raw energy.? 23 22 And, Saunders, agreeing with both Dupuch and Hughes, has called the riot a ‚short lived spontaneous outburst by a group of disgruntled labourers < *that+ occurred against a background of narrow socio-economic and political policies.?If the riot, however, was the opening skirmish in the battle for majority rule in the Bahamas can we fairly describe it as a momentary or short-lived outburst? Likewise, is it fair to blame the riot on a group of disgruntled workers when many of the rioters were not affiliated with the project? And, finally, is it accurate to describe the system of exploitation and oppression that hemmed in much of the black majority and privileged the Ba y Street oligarchs as simply narrow socio-economic and political policies? As noted above, Saunders claims that the sentiments which fueled the riot were ‚short-lived.? ‚Black anger,? he contends, ‚erupted spontaneously? and ‚then quickly died.? Similarly, Hughes has called the riot a ‚momentary outburst.? To be sure, the riot was just a two-day affair; hostilities began the morning of June 1st, 1942 and by the afternoon of Tuesday, June 2 , 1942 the rioting and looting was over. Even if one includes the small demonstration at Oakes Field on the preceding Sunday, the 1942 riot was still (in one sense at least) a brief disturbance. Still, it would be a mistake to describe the riot as just a momentary eruption. The riot was an important first step in the popular movement that would envelope the Bahamas in decades to come.The racial and political consciousness which fueled the quiet revolution in the Bahamas was ripened during this disturbance. And, as we argued elsewhere, processes of identity convergence and identity construction were certainly at work during the riot. continues to be a powerful symbol of black agency and has been referenced again and again in the political struggles of Bahamian blacks, relived in songs, sermons and speeches. Admittedly, it’s difficult to pinpoint the beginning of any movement. Did the Civil Rights movement in the United States begin with the landmark Brown versus the Topeka Board of Education decision in 1954?Or, did it begin a year later with the Dr. Martin Luther King led Montgomery Alabama bus boycott? Or, did it begin twenty five years earlier during the 1919 red summer riots? These were among the first race riots in U. S. where blacks offered a unified response. Similarly, did the South African Civil Rights movement begin in 1976 with the Soweto riots or did it begin with the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960? Each of these is arguably a valid start date for these movements. If we can never be certain about when a movement starts, however, we can perhaps be confident about when a movement is clearly underway.Although the political awareness and willingness to take on the Bay Street oligarchs that Bahamian blacks evidenced during the riot would be increasingly evident in subsequent years, they were rarely exhibited before the riot. The 1937 riot in Matthew Town, Inagua and the 1935 labor disturbance at Roland T. Symonette’s Prince George Hotel are two possible exceptions. But, even with these there are more differences than similarities. Although the 1937 riot involved violent attacks on members of the white merchant class by members of the black working class, it ‚resulted from a personal vendetta,? nvolved less than a handful of blacks and ‚failed to develop into a political or labour riot.? The 1935 disturbance did involve between three and four hundred men but it resulted from their being unhappy that they could not find employment and there was no destruction of property or loss of life. With the possible exception of the semiannual Junkanoo festivals, when whites gave blacks permission to roam free on Bay Street and veiled complaints were sometimes expressed, there was no time prior to the 1942 riot when blacks ventured into the white oligarch controlled city center to openly voice their dissatisfaction with the local uling elite. Additionally, processes of identity convergence and construction were obviously at work during the riot. Identity convergence is the process by which an individual uses participation in group activity as a way of pursuing goals and behaving in ways that are consistent with his individual sense of self. Identity construction is the process through which personal identities are aligned with the collective identity of a movement to which he belongs. The riot was an opportunity for blacks to express their dissatisfaction with the merchant prince dominated socio-economic system and to demand change.F or many of the rioters, Green’s bold declaration ‚I’se a man!? explained and justified their actions. They had no choice but to stand up. The protest and riot was their opportunity to stand up. The riot also had a transformative effect on the black population in the Bahamas. It is worth repeating that before the riot, black Bahamian resistance to the white merchants’ political and economic hegemony was muted at best. The riot was a very public metamorphosing of the black laboring class in the Bahamas from docile and compliant to active and defiant.This change would be celebrated in popular song and political speeches. There are several folk songs that reference the riot including ‚Don’t Burn Down Burma Road? and ‚Going Down Burma Road.? The Project was divided between two sites, Main Field and Satellite Field, and the workers called the road between the two sites, which was used primarily to transport workers and equipment back and forth , Burma Road after the Burma Road in Southeast Asia that connected British Burma to China. The popular ‚Going Down Burma Road? with its haunting refrain ‚don’t lick nobody? s so closely connected with the riot that some participants insists that it was sang by the rioting crowd even though the evidence show they were composed much later on. As Hughes described, the riot ‚provided martyrs and a heroic moment? for Bahamian blacks. Just four year after the riot, for instance, H. H. Brown, a Methodist minister, asked his congregation to take responsibility for their government. To punctuate his point, he harkens back to the riot. That a people have the kind of government that it deserves goes without saying. A criticism of the local government is therefore a criticism of the entire population.Until people waken to their own responsibilities, they will not have a responsible government. But nothing can possibly justify the attempt of any government to keep the pe ople asleep. Who has learned the lesson of the (1942) riot? Similarly, Randol Fawkes begins a speech 13 years after the riot with these words: ‚Remember the first of June, 1942.? And, in the 1990s when Sir Lynden Pindling, often referred to as the ‚father of the nation,? was summing up the road to self-determination in the Bahamas, he began his history with the Burma Road Riot. When the great heroes of our struggle < stood on Burma Road,? he intoned, ‚they did not stand alone. When they stood in the General Strike < against the property vote < for the woman’s vote < with the trade unionists < *and+ for majority rule, they did not stand alone.? The effect of the riot on the ruling elite was also not short-lived. Although only moderate reforms were passed in response to the riot, the ruling elite did not forget that these docile polite Bahamians could be turned otherwise if provoked. As Sherouse explains, ‚the threat of mob violence surely impacted those in power.To forestall more radical change, white leaders made minor political adjustments.? It might appear that very little came out of the riot legislatively Colin Hughes, Race and Politics in the Bahamas, 212-213. Rev H. H. Brown, sermon at Governor’s Harbour, Eleuthera, January 14, 1946 quoted in Phil Cash, Shirley Gordon and Gail Saunders, eds. , Sources of Bahamian History (London: MacMillan Caribbean, 1991) 291. Rosalie Fawkes, ed. , Labour Unite or Perish! The Writings that Launched A Movement by Sir Randol Fawkes, ((Florida: Dodds Printing, 2004), 2. Patricia Beardsley Roker, ed.The Vision of Sir Lyndon Pindling: In His Own Words, (Nassau Bahamas: The Estate of Lyndon Pindling, 2002), 163. Scott Sherouse, ‚Authority and Stratification in the Bahamas: The Quest for Legitimacy? (Ph. D. diss. , Florida International University, 2004), 56. but the minor reforms that did result sent a great signal. A chink in the armor of Bay Street had appeared. They were now maki ng concessions when before such demands would have been rejected out of hand. The riot impressed upon the Bay Street Boys the understanding that they could not hold the space of Bay Street as their own domain, to be leased out one or two days a year.Although the riot certainly grew out of a wage dispute, several of the people who rioted and looted on Bay Street in the morning and Grant’s Town that afternoon and evening were not directly affiliated with the Project. Moreover, the Project laborers who were involved in the riot were lashing out at more than unfair wages. As the workers marched from Main Field to Bay Street, women, children and men not affiliated with the Project, joined in and participated fully in the events that transpired.As Oswald Moseley an agent for the Sun Life Insurance Company of Canada who witnessed the events reported, ‚there were lots of women in the crowd and they were inciting the men on and the women to my mind started the looting, which the men joined.? And, ‚I saw a woman getting into a window and walking about inside the store making a selection of his stuff.? Cartwright similarly insisted that ‚most of the looting was done by the youngsters and women. I saw a girl come with a stick and she smashed a window which had not been broken, then she ran away, then she came back and took what she wanted out of this window she had broken.? McKenzie ikewise testified that ‚young men and women made up [the] crowd? that he saw rioting on June 2 Ironically, because the riot was so heavy on the minds of the ruling elite, they banned the semiannual celebration of Junkanoo in which people from over the hill claimed Bay Street in a loud and boisterous parade. The crowd also seemed to be broadly representative of the black working class population in the Bahamas. The Bahamas is an archipelago with dozens of inhabited islands besides the chief island, New Providence, which hosts the Bahamas’ capital city, Nass au. It is noteworthy that the crowds, although drawn mainly from the ‚over-the-hill? rea, contained individuals who were originally from these ‚Out Islands.? Although a resident of Grant’s Town, Bertram Cambridge insisted that the rioters were ‚all strangers? to him and ‚that they were people from the out islands who were quite unfamiliar to [him] and must have come over to get work at the project.? It is also noteworthy that the crowd contained both skilled and unskilled workers. An effort to establish a broadly representative union just a few years before the riot had failed to launch because skilled workers would not participate. The riot was, thus, the first time that a ross-section of blacks from all over the Bahamas stood together in a common cause. And, again, that common cause was not just higher wages, though that was their immediate concern. They were more broadly concerned, however, with economic justice; they were receiving unequal pay for equal work. American workers were getting paid as much as 4 times more than Bahamian workers for doing the some jobs. As Dupuch correctly observed, the difference in wages paid to Bahamian and American employees at the Project provided scope for considerable agitation which was greatly accentuated< The average erson doesn’t usually grumble about his wages if they are reasonably fair, but no one appreciates being given a lower human valuation when he is doing the same work along side a person of a different nationality or race. When it was announced that their would be a construction development on New Providence that would employ over two thousand laborers, men from the Out Islands which were poor and agrarian flocked to the capital. Tariffs, hurricanes, droughts and blight made once profitable crops barely able to sustain the average farmer.Oscar Johnson, a produce agent turned tailor, told the Select Committee that ‚in 1928, however, a tariff was put on which prevente d us from importing our tomatoes to the United States. It was then necessary to get a new market and I then represented Canadian firms sending the tomatoes to Canada. We had a number of hurricanes intermittently about 1932 and in between them we had droughts.? Witnesses of the riot affirm the fact that many of the rioters were not from over the hill, but were from the Out Islands. Moreover, some list the overpopulation caused by Out Islanders seeking a better life in Nassau as one of the reasons for the riot.Thaddeus Johnson, a proprietor of a place where labor congregated, supports Dupuch supposition. When ‚the Americans took over the project,? he testified, < there was considerable dissatisfaction over the wages. The workmen figured it this way. They figured that this was an American job. They expected much bigger wages than the Nassau standard. No one seemed able to explain to the workmen why they could not receive the American wage. The American wage on the other side of F lorida is very high, but I think that the workmen had in their minds at least two or three dollars a day.This was an issue of fairness. Based on how they had been mistreated in the past by the white merchant class in the colony, the workers understandably assumed that the Bay Street merchants were responsible for this inequality. During the riot, Bahamian blacks were lashing out at their unfair wages and all the other injustices. There was also a matter of subsistence. Wages in general had not increased on par with the cost of living and it was difficult to survive on the wages they were being offered at the Project. This was particularly the case because this was temporary employment.It was easier to stomach making smaller wages if they were steady wages. As Bruce Johnson, an insurance agent with clients all over Nassau, reports, ‚the workmen were finding it harder and harder to get along owing to the increased cost of living.? When Leonard Storr Green realized that he would only receive 4 shillings a day determined that he would need a better paying job because ‚we can’tlive on four shillings a day now according to the prices in the stores.? Moreover, the riot (and the desire for equal and sufficient wages) seems to have been related to their desires for full citizenship.Bahamians are very expressive people and have a wealth of folk Evidence of Richard John Anderson Farrington, The Russell Commission, 271. The crowd was unaware that the wages were fixed by London and Washington and assumed that it was the colonial powers that were keeping them from getting what was due them. In Samuel Cartwright’s barbershop on Friday May 29th, Americans from the project were discussing the project generally and the price of labour. ‚They said that the company wanted to pay higher wages to the working people here but the government and the bay street merchants had been hindering this payment of higher wages.?Evidence of songs from which the wo rkers could have chosen as they marched to Bay Street. They could have kept cadence with the goatskin drum or many other traditional percussion instruments. Instead of choosing ethnic instruments or songs, however, the workers chose patriotic songs, songs of the British Empire, as their songs of protest. One observer, Oscar Johnson, a tailor on Bay Street, remembers that ‚it was a large crowd of people marching down George Street singing ‘We’ll never let the old Flag Fall’ and that intermingled with the patriotic songs some were saying, ‘we want more wages’.?These two, patriotic songs and a cry for more wages were intermingled because the laborers did not see these two sentiments as being inconsistent with one another. With their songs they appealed to their rights as Englishmen. Perhaps here we can learn from Benedict Anderson’s work on nations and ‚nation-ness?. Anderson explains that nations are ‚imagined communities? beca use they picture ties that connect the citizenry together over long distances and through time. Of the things that connect people together few are stronger than national symbols such as national anthems. No matter how banal the words and mediocre the tunes,? Anderson explains, ‚there is in this singing an experience of simultaneity. At precisely such moments, people wholly unknown to each other utter the same verses to the same melody. The image: unisonance< the echoed physical realization of the imagined community.? The same holds true for other national symbols such as the flag or the coat of arms; they also serve as realizations of imagined community. Interestingly, there were two incidents where imperial symbols were attacked.One was the burning of the picture of the royal family by Alfred Stubbs, one of the rioters. The second was the burning of the English flag. Napoleon McPhee offered a poignant explanation for his behavior. ‚I willing to fight under the flag,? he explained, ‚I willing even to die under the flag, but I ain’t gwine starve under the flag.? While appealing to their rights as subjects of the crown they were also distancing themselves from the crown; showing their alienation from the imperial structure which had not ensured the justice that they sought. They were British subjects but they were dissatisfied British subjects.Just like the smashing and looting of Bay Street was an attack against the economic status quo, the desecrating of nationally symbolic objects was a political attack. An attack that was not meant to reject British citizenship but to claim the protection and the rights of a British colonial. Again, it is meaningful that when they did not get any satisfaction from their employers, they marched to the center of government in the country, the Parliament Building and the Colonial Office. Beyond concerns for economic justice and political empowerment, the rioters were concerned with the lack of racial eq uality in the colony.Although the Russell Commission concluded that the riot had nothing to do with the question of race, the Duke of Windsor who had called for the Commission was certain that ‚their was strong racial feelings on both sides? and that ‚Bahamas wage rates was only an excuse to make a vigorous and noisy protest against the white population.? As Saunders states, ‚racial tension was an underlying cause of the riot.? On Bay Street, the rioters did not target black owned stores. Harry S. Black’s Candy Kitchen, one of the few black owned stores on Bay Street, was not looted. And, as Craton and Saunders report, the damage was not indiscriminate; such shops as those owned by the Speaker of the Assembly and the wife of one of the white Project supervisors were almost gutted, but the shoe store owned by Percy Christie, the white would-be labor organizer, was left untouched.? Additionally, the rioters were openly hostile to the whites that they encounter ed. Speaking of the crowd, John Damianos, a grocery merchant on Bay Street said, ‚My impression was that when they saw a white face they were particularly infuriated and I think it had reached a point which was largely motivated by some racial feelings.I have never seen anything like this before.? Roland Cumberhatch also overhead the mob proclaim, ‚no white man is passing here today.? It is a gross understatement to describe the set of socio-economic and political norms that existed in the Bahamas during the first half of the twentieth century as merely a collection of narrow policies. The policies were narrow to be sure and certainly favored the merchant princes. But, they amounted to a very real and complete (if relatively mild) system of apartheid. In 1942, blacks in the Bahamas were clearly second class citizens in the colony.And, most blacks depended on the whites oligarchs for the livelihoods. As Dr. Claudius Walker complained before the Russell Commission in 1942, in the Bahamas ‚t he coloured man makes all the concessions. I challenge any man in this colony to say that I am wrong in that. The coloured man is discriminated against in the churches, in the theatres, in the private schools.? If there is harmony between the black and white populations, Dr Walker went on to say, ‚it is harmony at the expense of the coloured population.? Saunders confirms Dr. Walker’s claim. ‚In fact, until the late 1950s,? he states, ‚blacks were barred from all hotels, were not allowed in some restaurants, movie houses and were only allowed to enter some churches by the rear door. Certain schools did not accept black children and many business firms were closed to them as places of employment.? Racial discrimination was the norm. Racial animosity was quite commonplace. Racial prejudice was the order of the day. An almost indelible line divided the black and white communities in New Providence. Most of the blacks were very poor and lived outside the city center in the ‚over-the-hill? ommunities like Bain Town and Grant’s Town. These communities, located to the south of Bay Street and separated from the city center by a small hill, were settled by liberated Africans and ex-slaves in the nineteenth century. As was the case since emancipation one hundred years earlier, blacks worked but never lived in the white areas from Bay Street to Montague. Segregation not so pronounced The Bay Street oligarchs also controlled the country politically and economically. Klaw has described them as ‚a dozen or so Nassau merchants, lawyers, and real -estate brokers who are < *named after+ the street here they have their shops and offices < *and are+ in firm control of the Bahamas government, running it with a free hand.? Similarly, Themistocleous has called them the merchant princes of Nassau with one hundred-plus years of ‚hegemony < over non-white groups.? The Report of the 1942 Commission of Enquiry in to the riot has likewise described them as ‚elected representatives, who are collectively known as ‘Bay Street,’ (in which street or its immediate neighbourhood all the twenty-nine members of the House of Assembly except two have their places of business).?Not surprisingly, whites were generally unaware of how dissatisfied Bahamian blacks were with this system that privileged whites and constrained blacks. Surprise was their most common reaction to the riot. For instance, Morton Turtle testified, ‚I was amazed to find that the crowd felt hostile towards me. < I have always felt in sympathy with the labourers and given them a good wages.? Similarly, Etienne Dupuch stated, ‚The riot came as a complete surprise to me.I never thought that our people could be agitated to the point of rioting because they have always enjoyed the enviable reputation of being patient docile and law-abiding.? J. P. Sands spoke for many when he said, ‚I thought that everyb ody in the island was quite happy until about 8 o’clock on June 1st.? The riot, then, occurred against a backdrop of extreme racial oppression and is correctly understood as an expression of black dissatisfaction with the prevailing social, economic and political order. The white oligarchs never quite understood the depths of black discontent with the existing system.Although able to pacify the majority black population for a time, passing labor union legislation, extending the secret ballot to the Out Islands, and the series of concessions that were made in the years after the riot did not placate the black masses once and for all. Nothing short of majority rule, the white oligarchs would find out in subsequent years, could satisfy the black population. IV. Conclusion Although the 1942 riot has been described as a key event in the political development of the Bahamas, scholars have consistently downplayed its significance.Hughes, for instance, has described the riot as †ša momentary outburst of raw energy? that ‚provided martyrs and a heroic moment? to Bahamian blacks ‚once a political movement had finally started.? Similarly, Saunders has suggested that ‚black anger < erupted spontaneously and then quickly died.? The reason that they discount the significance of the riot, we believe, is because they focus too intently of its immediate socio-economic and political consequences. Since little on the surface changed in the aftermath of the riot, they concluded that the riot did not change much in the Bahamas.In a sense, they are correct. The Bay Street oligarchs barely loosened their grip on social, political and economic life in the country after the disturbance. And, it took two and a half decades for the majority black Progressive Liberal Party to snatch political control from the Bay Street merchant princes. This preoccupation with immediate effects, however, obscures the true importance of the riot. In our view, it cannot be re duced to a ‚short lived spontaneous outburst by a group of disgruntled labourers < *that+ occurred against a background of narrow socio-economic and political policies.?First, we see it as the opening skirmish in the battle for majority rule in the Bahamas. The political awareness and willingness to take on the Bay Street oligarchs that Bahamian blacks evidenced during the riot was rarely exhibited before the riot. After the riot, evidence of their political awakening was quite obvious. Second, the anger vented by the rioters was reflective of the dissatisfaction felt by the entire black working class not just the workers on the Project.As Sir Randol Fawkes correctly surmised, ‚when that mob marched on that early June morning, they took upon their shoulders the common burdens of all Bahamians.? And, finally, their fight was not against an inadequate welfare system but against a system that oppressed the black majority in the Bahamas and privileged the Bay Street oligarc hs. The riot set in motion a political snowball that would result in a movement whose final triumph would be majority rule and the dismantling of the system of apartheid that inhibited Bahamian blacks socially, politically and economically.

Opposing Views on Columbus’ Character

It is quite clear that Columbus is a controversial figure in American history; many different views of the â€Å"Admiral of the Ocean† are presented to the American public. For starters Columbus Day is still viewed as a national holiday; on the other side many people are strongly rooted against celebrating the landing of Columbus on the Americas. Some people argue that there is no point to the holiday because Columbus did not even land in North America; others say that he is a crucial part of American History, and of course some say he did more harm than good.Academics have many varying views on the explorer as well; for example Zinn and Morrison, both men wrote on almost exactly the same topic and the end results were two completely different views. Both Zinn and Morrison’s views on Columbus are much more different than similar resulting in two very different articles. Each author depicts Columbus as a different figure entirely. Howard Zinn seems to portray Columbus as a power hungry, money seeking, and arrogant war monger: â€Å"The first man to sight land [For money]†¦ Rodrigo never got it.Columbus Claimed he had seen a light the evening before. He got the reward (Zinn). † (Morrison does not acknowledge this) The reader can clearly feel a strong sense of anger from the author towards Columbus, for one thing this particular sentence was not crucial to the essay whatsoever, therefore the lack of necessity and the bluntness of the statement reveals a strong bias. This was only one example of how Zinn portrays Columbus as the next worse thing to the plague, he continues on by explaining, in immense detail, various unnecessary acts of violence by Columbus.Morrison on the other side of the spectrum presents Columbus more neutrally, writing on both Columbus’ good deeds and negative also. Morrison also delves into Columbus’ background to explain some of his shortcomings such as greed and the need for attention. However Morriso n almost defends and sympathizes with Columbus at points by saying Columbus was â€Å"forced† into the position in which he had to act immoral. In comparison, though, Morrison takes a more neutral stand point on Columbus’ character than Zinn.Of course both authors share something in their writing and that is bias, however Zinn’s sense of bias is much stronger than that of Morrison’s. Zinn’s bias primarily focuses on his view of Columbus’ treatment of the Natives and Columbus’ character, which greatly influences Zinn’s article. It is clear from the beginning that Zinn wishes to write primarily about the Indians and how they were treated by the way his first paragraph is centered on the Indians and how Columbus planned to treat them.Every chance Zinn was able to write in violence he chose to; five different instances of violence can be read in his article. Finally Mr. Zinn states that Columbus’ second much larger voyage wa s only due to his â€Å"exaggerated report and promises (Zinn). † This statement is supplied with no evidence whatsoever and any somewhat read person could plainly see this as an opinion. Morrison on the other hand almost seems to take the side of Columbus, perhaps to counter all the negativity towards the infamous explorer.Bashing Columbus was simply not the goal of Morrison; instead he takes a more in analytical approach by acknowledging both good and bad qualities to the trip and chooses to focus on the journey as a whole and how it began to evolve. To contrast the two writers, three events were mentioned in both articles but all three were totally represented differently. The first being when Columbus takes a few Arawaks to guide him to the gold, Morrison simply states that he picked â€Å"up a few Indians as guides,† while of course Zinn decides to say Columbus took â€Å"some of them [Indians] as prisoners. Of course as a reader it is difficult to discern which is more accurate. Both authors explain the destruction of fort Navidad, however very differently, Morrison is straight forward saying the sailors got into a quarrel with the Indians because of their search for girls and gold; at the same time Zinn goes into explicit details that the sailors were attempting to rape and plunder. The last incident is Columbus’ request of gold tributes from the natives, both explain that the tribute was impossible but Zinn goes into grotesque detail regarding the punishment of the slaves furthering how biased he really is.The angry passion Zinn writes with is something that could make it hard for the audience to believe. Instead of using a strong argument and direct evidence Mr. Zinn chooses to write angrily on his topic and is extremely blatant in doing so, because of this his account of the entire journey is much harder to believe than that of Morrison’s. Simultaneously Zinn’s style of writing versus Morrison’s makes both a rticles, although pertaining to the same thing, extremely different.

Charles the Great

Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great, became the undisputed ruler of Western Europe, â€Å"By the sword and the cross.† (Compton†s 346) As Western Europe was deteriorating Charlemagne was crowned the privilege of being joint king of the Franks in 768 A.D. People of Western Europe, excluding the church followers, had all but forgotten the great gifts of education and arts that they had possessed at one time. Charlemagne solidly defeated barbarians and kings in identical fashion during his reign. Using the re-establishment of education and order, Charlemagne was able to save many political rights and restore culture in Western Europe. Charlemagne was born in 742 A.D., to a very famous and well-known family. Charlemagne†s grandfather was Charles Martel, the man who was responsible for the defeat of the Saracens. Charlemagne was also the eldest son of Bertrade (also known as Bertha Greatfoot) and Pepin the Short, the first to become king of the Franks. With the almost full extinction of schools in the 8th century, many historians say that Charlemagne received very little education, but did learn the art of reading from Bertrade. The one thing that kept Charlemagne motivated throughout his entire life was his deep devotion to the church. Charlemagne was a tall young man with light blond hair, and was described by his secretary as, â€Å"face laughing and merry. . . his appearance was always stately and dignified.† (World book 452) Charlemagne had great wit, but was stern at times. He had simple and moderate tastes; he enjoyed hunting, riding and swimming. Charlemagne had a large wardrobe with many Frankish dresses, linen shirts and breeches, silk-fringed tunics, hoses wrapped with bands, and for the winter he had coats made of otter or marten skins. Charlemagne asked his people to improve their lifestyles, but he divorced two of his four fives without any given cause. In 768 A.D., Charlemagne at the age of 26, along with his brother Carloman inherited the kingdom of Franks. However, in 771 A.D. Carloman died, making Charlemagne the sole ruler of the kingdom. At this time the northern part of Europe was out of order and unruly. In the south, the Roman Catholic Church was asserting itself alongside the Lombard kingdom in Italy. While in Charlemagne†s own kingdom, the people were becoming and acting as barbarians and neglecting education and faith. But Charlemagne was determined to make his kingdom as strong as possible. In 772 A.D., Charlemagne put forth a 30-year campaign to conquer and Christianize the extremely mighty Saxons in the north. He charged over the Avars, a large tribe on the Danube. He forced the Bavarians to surrender to him. When possible Charlemagne attempted to settle his conflicts peacefully. However, he was forced to use brute in some situations. For instance, Charlemagne offered to pay Desiderius for the return of lands to the pope, but after Desiderius refused, Charlemagne seized the kingdom of Desiderius and restored the Papal States. The most important aspect of Charlemagne†s conquests was his uncanny ability to organize. Charlemagne sent out more than 50 military missions during his time in power and he led the missions as commander more than half of the time. He was able to lead his troops through vast lands in unprecedented times, but his every move was planned ahead of time. Before every crusade, he informed all those involved the number of men needed, the weapons required, and he even went as far as to tell what should be in the supply wagons. These tactics were later studied and used by another great man, Napoleon. One of the smallest campaigns undertaken by Charlemagne became on of the most well known. In 778 A.D., Charlemagne led his troops into Spain and laid an attack on Saragossa. The movement failed and upon their recoil they were attacked from the rear and Count Roland one of the leaders of the group was killed in that battle. Roland went on to become a hero in medieval songs. By 800 A.D. Charlemagne was the sole ruler of Western Europe. His immense kingdom included what are now France, Switzerland, Belgium, and the Netherlands. It also covered half of present-day Italy and Germany, part of Austria, and the Spanish March. This Spanish March stretched to the Ebro River. Through his establishment of a single government over the entire Western Europe, Charlemagne re-established much of the old Roman Empire, which paved the way for the progress of present-day Europe. It was on Christmas Day in 800 A.D. that while praying in St. Peter†s in Rome, Pope Leo III approached Charlemagne with a golden crown and placed it on the head of the king. The crowd in the church shouted concurrently, â€Å"To Charles the August, crowned by God, great and pacific emperor, long life and victory!† (Compton†s 347) It is said that Charlemagne was surprised by what happened and stated that he would not have come into the church had he known the pope†s plan. However, other historians say that the pope would not have gambled doing what he did without Charlemagne†s knowing about it. (Compton†s 347) Charlemagne was a very noble man and he had great compassion for the peasant people and had a belief that that government was in place to benefit those that it governed. When Charlemagne came into power many of the people working under him were very careless and sometimes unfair. To change the ways of these people Charlemagne expanded their work, wrote down everything they did and forced them to work in groups of people. This helped those lacking in their work effort to restore some law and order. Two times a year Charlemagne would summon the leading man in the kingdom to talk about the happenings going around. Charlemagne always had the final word in everything including church matters. Charlemagne was determined in establishing improvement in lives of his people. By setting up money values he encouraged trade, he attempted to build a Rhine-Danube canal, and gave advice on different farming techniques. Charlemagne preached the most on education and Christianity to his people. He was responsible for the restoration of Palace School at Aachen, his capital. He also set up other schools for noble boys as well as peasants. Charlemagne was very devoted to education and he never stopped studying himself. He brought in scholars of many languages to his courts. He learned to read in Latin, some Greek, however, he was not too keen of mastering writing. During his dinners, he preferred to have men reading books to him rather than having jesters performing. For his churches, Charlemagne sent his monks to Rome to learn to sing. For his art collections, Charlemagne brought some valuable pieces from Italy. In the cathedral at Aachen there is a large monument, which stands in loyalty to Charlemagne for his religious devotion. Charlemagne built and was buried in the cathedral in Aachen. At the time of Charlemagne†s death in 814 A.D. only one of his three sons, Louis, was alive. Louis had a weak ruling after his father, which brought on many civil wars and rebellions. Charlemagne brought back order to Western Europe; he led his people to many victories and was responsible for the rise of Western Europe. Charles the Great Charles the Great, or Charlemagne as he is more commonly known, was born a Frank, a member of the Carolingian bloodline. He was born in 742, the illegitimate son of Pepin III and an Austrasian noblewoman. He served as the king of the Franks from 771-814, and during that time, during a campaign that lasted nearly 30 years, extended his rule through Western Europe. In the year 800, on Christmas Day, he was crowned Emperor of the West by Pope Leo, and he served as such until his death fourteen years later. Upon his father’s death in 768, Charlemagne and his brother Carloman inherited joint ruler hip of Francia.However, his brother died three years later, and Charlemagne exiled his family and claimed sole rulership. While he was one of a line of what became known as warrior chiefs, he strived to stretch past that with his broader mind that craved contact with â€Å"men of religion, learning and culture, not just as officials who could help him run his empire, but for themselves. † It was his belief in God that helped to make him such a formidable leader, and kept him focused on his objectives with the determination and faith that would help him to become a legend.The year after Carloman’s death found Charlemagne engaged in the Saxon Wars. The relationship between the Franks and the Saxons had long been tense, with the Saxons periodically attempting to expand to accommodate an ever growing population in finding more hospitable lands to inhabit. Border clashes were common, with peace in between being tenuous and short-lived. What also added to the tension was the fact that the Saxons believed in pagan gods, which inevitably added more tension with the Christian Franks. Biography Page 2 of 5 Charlemagne’s first action against the Saxons was to take on both military andreligious connotations. He marched his army into Saxony and captured the castle of Eresberg and then traveled further to destroy a Saxon idol known as the Irminsul, which was a giant tree trunk that was considered a shrine, believed to be one of the pillars of heaven. It was considered to ensure the protection of the gods, and it was considered a demonstration of defiance to the Franks. Thus, by striking in such a way, Charlemagne made a strong statement about his determination to strike both at the Saxon people and at their religion, which is something that he considered to be his duty as a Christian.Following this blow to the Saxons, Charlemagne was called in by Pope Hadrian I to help defuse a situation with Lombardy. There had long been conflict between them, and so Charlemagne decided to put an end to it once and for all, marching his army in autumn of 773, making haste to cross the Alps before it started to snow. He divided his army in two, sending each in different directions. Desiderius, the Lombardy leader, could not split his smaller forces to meet both sections of the Frankish forces, and so he was forced to withdraw back to his capital.Charles and his army followed and laid siege, and, much to Desiderius’ surprise, he settled his troops in for the winter instead of falling back. This time demonstrated the true leadership abilities of Charlemagne. His men were far from home, and forced to fight in inhospitable conditions. But they remained loyal and followed their king, remaining there through spring of 774. However, those in Parvia suffered more than those involved in the siege, hunger and disease rampaging them. Desiderius stubbornly held strong against them until midsummer of that year, whenBiography Page 3 of 5 he finally had to sue for peace. Charlemagne, instead of demanding tribute from Desiderius, instead took the Iron Crown of Lombardy, and sent the Lombardy ruler and his family back to Francia as prisoners. With that, Charlemagne increased the size of his empire, becoming King of Lombardy as well as King of Francia. A large part of Charlemagne’s rule was that of protector of the Church. He did this not only out of loyalty to the Church and the pope, but also because he needed the support of the Christians.The support of the Church took him farther than he might otherwise have gone, helping to instill a loyalty of him into the people, particularly the nobles. However, he made it rather clear that he would not allow the pope any political power, nor would he allow him to dictate his will upon Charlemagne. The king had his own plans, and he was not to be foiled by anyone who might want to interfere, including the pope himself. Charlemagne would once again become involved in a campaign against the Saxons, and he decided that he must find a long-term solution to the problem.He had to confront the problem of a â€Å"war on several fronts and the concomitant drain it imposed on the nation’s resources. † However, he set goals for himself, and he committed himself to achieving those goals, which kept him in conflict with the Saxons until 785. It was slow going, as he wou ld advance into Saxon territory and take land and hostages, but the agreements that came from this were broken by the Saxons as winter came along, and they would regain some of the ground that they lost. However, they were not to regain it all, and so slowly Charlemagne gained more and more of their territory, advancing hisBiography Page 4 of 5 own borders. He garrisoned territory that was taken, and he left clergy with these garrisons to help advance the Christian religion as well. It became clear during these wars that the only acceptable outcome to staunch the flow of hostility and war from the Saxons was complete and total victory. In 782, Charlemagne added new laws and restrictions to what were already imposed upon the Saxon people, focusing again on conversion and attempting to force the new converts however he could to not reneging on their conversions and instead seeking penance for their misdeeds.The laws against crimes against Christians incurred penalties of death, and th e people were expected to supply both land and slave labor to the churches. At first, the results were not as Charlemagne wished. As he was elsewhere, a revolt broke out after Saxon forces killed twenty of Francia’s leading noblemen. When Charlemagne heard this, he marched east with his troops with such ferocity that the Saxons exiled Widukind, who was the leader of the revolt, and handed 4,500 men over to Charlemagne.Each of these was beheaded in a demonstration of Charlemagne’s anger. The knowledge that, so long as Widukind was a heroic figure for the Saxon people, he could not have complete victory, led Charlemagne to offer peace to him as well as gifts and a promise of pardon. There was also the possibility of an official position in Francia as well, and so Widukind accepted baptism and peace with his long-time enemy, and this ended the first phase of the Saxon wars. The next years saw the conquering of Bavaria and a renewal of the Saxon wars.The peace with the Sax ons lasted ten years, and then the Saxons once again started to show defiance to Charlemagne’s rule. His empire continued to grow, however, and â€Å"was Biography Page 6 of 5 bounded almost entirely by sea and neutralized marches. † Despite this success, he was never able to completely bring all of his empire under one system of legislation, which was a large failure for the emperor. It was in 800 that Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as emperor.After gaining this role, he worked to educate himself, learning to read Latin and Greek, although writing eluded him. He attempted to better educate himself, and also worked to better the lives of his subjects, including working on an improvement in commerce. Russell describes him as â€Å"the pioneer of the Middle Ages and the world is indebted to him for invaluable improvements in the manner and ways of exchange. † He made a point of reforming the monetary system and also worked to introduce universal coinage.While Ch arlemagne will always be known as an impressive military leader, his influence goes far beyond that. His dedication to his religion was a key part of his life, as was his insistence on bettering the education of both himself and the clergy. He promoted â€Å"the spread of a competence in written Latin among the clergy,† believing that social reform would not work if the clergy were illiterate. All of these things together contributed to Charlemagne becoming one of the most renowned and respected leaders in history.Leaders from generations after, all over the world, would work to learn from his example and attempt to mirror his many successes in their own times, using his failures as well to help guide them. Very few leaders had the prowess in so many ways that Charlemagne did, and it was perhaps the fact that he was so well-rounded in his achievements that make his legacy so great. Works Cited Heer, Friedrich. Charlemagne and His World. New York: Macmillan Publishing Col, Inc . , 1975. Russell, Charles Edward. Charlemagne: First of the Moderns. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1930. Wilson, Derek. Charlemagne. New York: Doubleday, 2006.

An informative report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

An informative report - Essay Example The stress that he experiences otherwise gets added to the stress that waits for him at the workplace. In today’s world where leaders have to cope with difficult economic situations, they essentially have to go through stress both emotionally and physically. During financial crisis, stress adds up. For the management, layoffs, delayed salaries, low budgets, and pressure from senior staff produces put strain over the managers’ minds which then results in decreased productivity and poor output. They undergo fear, become irritable, suffer through nuisance, and all this reflects in their relationship with the co-workers. Workplace stress includes: fatigue due to overworking without lunch or rest breaks or working for longer hours without naps dissatisfaction caused by lack of motivation when the employees are not given their due rewards lack of interest in the job due to constant pressure coming from seniors and poor communication among the leaders, management and the emplo yees. It becomes important for the leaders and the management to learn how to deal with stressful situations to escape fear, tension and uncertainty. This stress management ability decides whether a leader is going to prove himself as success or failure. Stress is, mostly, very much related to how a person deals with the situation. According to the research carried out by Professor Cox (qtd.

Group Counseling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Group Counseling - Essay Example The frequent mistakes that may occur while running a group are, choosing a wrong member as per his physical appearance, wrong time allocation, selecting a wrong member for a particular task, harsh and unforgiving behavior, overlooking some or any of the members’ performance and discrimination among the members. These mistakes may cause damage to the group and further to the aim of the group.To run a successful group the leader must acquire certain qualities. The leader must be a good listener and interpreter in order to get comments, responses and ideas from the members of the group. Reflection is the process of monitoring members’ success and progress during activities and after completion of activities it acts as a tool of checking performance of the members and setting another goal accordingly. Reflection enables the members to know what they have acquired so far.The leader must give instructions to the members in a summarized speech. Not all members have the capabil ity to understand extensive and tricky arguments. While giving a speech or instructions the leader must be well-prepared and must have complete knowledge about the subject. He must not be harsh in words and his tone should be influential and controlling. The proper use of voice is of great importance for the group members. A leader must not ignore any of the members and must keep a watch on each of the members while giving instructions. A group consists of different people related to different cultures and races. A leader must have knowledge about their cultures to aid them in facing things which are against their cultures. He must know and value their cultural and moral values. The leader must provide the members with a final decision after taking members’ suggestions in view. It means that although he is responsible to take

Punishment Philosophy in the Criminal Justice System Essay

Punishment Philosophy in the Criminal Justice System - Essay Example Lawyers sometimes argue that punishment should depend on the magnitude of the destruction. However, cases may be similar but their severities differ (Weisberg, 2012). The incapacitation principle proposes strategies put in place to help eliminate the level of crime through various physical restraints of the actions. The principle insinuates that individuals’ confinement to specific areas may help them to avoid a criminal act. The community may restrict the movement of their people to different places to preserve their cultural ties. The most practical example in the society today is the restriction of the children moving to some places like bars and clubs, would reduce the chances of children involving in drinking alcohols and the like. The deterrence principle raises fundamental concerns on the connection between sanctions and human behavior. Punishment is a tool of reward to offenders. The deterrent effect of the punishment may lead to conformity. Severe punishment for a particular crime may deter an individual with an intention to commit an offense to abstain. The principle of deterrence relates to the freedom of choice for an individual. Most individuals would choose to maximize their pleasures at minimum risk. The UN and the World Bank, for instance, may choose to impose serious economic sanction on some countries because of their misconduct. This imposition of the sanction may deter other countries which would otherwise involve in similar misconduct because of the fear of conviction. The type of punishment applied to the offenders injects fear in other parties hence deterring them from committing an offense. Rehabilitation is a strategy for correcting the victims as discussed by Muhlhausen (2010). The principle focuses on restoring and reforming an offender. It may look ambiguous because it is a punishment coupled with treatment. The correctional centers are increasing all over the world because the punishment for the offenders

Accommodating Differences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Accommodating Differences - Essay Example Thompson in her â€Å"Summary of research† suggests that â€Å"there are different classes or different groups within classes for students of high, average, and low ability† (Para 2). Thus, some individuals within a class may be slow learners, some may be of average ability and some may be high-performers or gifted individuals. In particular, the paper focuses on the characteristics, challenges, opportunities and pedagogical approaches which may be experienced by students with varying abilities within a classroom. In a class with these different groups the slow learners may not have the required cognitive skills that are needed to perform simple task. In fact their cognitive level may be below the chronological grade for the specific learning behavior. In addition, such learners may take a longer time to grasp the basic skills that are needed to perform at an acceptable level. Whilst these elements may be true of the slow learner, this in no way defines who they are and their capacity to learn and achieve acceptable goals. The second ability level, the average learners are those who are normal in the sense that they are able to learn within their chronological grade level. Given a classroom of students, average learners are those who are able to grasp the concepts through the general methods adapted by the general educator. On the other end of the extreme are the high achievers who are able to cognitively grasp concepts at a rate that is exceptionally faster than the normal child’s ability to understand. Some special challenges that an educator may have to overcome to accommodate a group of students with mixed ability include the challenge of delivering one’s lesson to allow each individual to understand the intended objective. Because some students are slow to grasp they may be unable to grasp abstract concepts that the teacher is required to deliver. The teacher then is challenged to bring these abstract concepts to the level of all the students. At the same time that the teacher is trying to convey the lesson to the slow learners the teacher has to present some challenge to all the learners, thus simplifying an abstract concept for the benefit of the slow learner may cause challenges for the high performer. For example, lack of challenging activities may result in boredom and subsequent ly inappropriate behaviors by the high achievers if they are constantly kept back due to the teacher’s inability to communicate the lesson to them whilst simultaneously catering to the needs of the slow learner or the average learner. Special learning opportunities which may be offered by the presence of mixed abilities within a class include for the slow learner the opportunity to be motivated by the presence and the assistance of the high performers. Likewise, it is claimed that the more you teach the more you are able to understand the concepts (Thompson, n.d.). Thus, the high achiever is able to concretize what is taught by assisting the slow learner to grasp concepts that may be difficult for the slow learner or the average learner. One way in which an educator can accommodate each difference in a mixed ability group would be to incorporate the use of different resources within a lesson. For example, in a Mathematics lesson which involves the teaching of how to solve wor d problems. A teacher may begin such a lesson by utilizing dramatization to allow pupils to actually see the problems unfold before their eyes. The use of manipulatives in the drama is particularly instrumental in bringing understanding to the slow learners. Although this dramatization is to meet the needs of the slow learners, the average as well as the high achiever

Gibraltar Airport Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Gibraltar Airport - Case Study Example This means that the traffic lights guide on the mode of operations between the two systems (Archer, 2006). They decide when the road traffic should go and when it should stop. This is also the case of the air traffic. There is the danger of collision of the two forms of traffic that are hugely dependent on the traffic lights. The airport is surrounded by huge buildings and many highly piled up rocks. There is the silent danger of plunging into the buildings or the rocks nearby. This will be disastrous for the airport, planes, road users and ultimately the passengers. The traffic lights that act as the essential guide for the planes can seriously malfunction. This will cause huge aspects of relying the wrong information and signals. The incoming traffic and outgoing traffic could then crush into each other (Archer, 2006). In many instances there are very many mishaps that have occurred at the airport. Once crew of a Boeing flight lost visual contact of where they were supposed to land. They missed the runway and they crash landed. The intersection between the road and runway has had many mishaps (Archer, 2006). They include the fact that traffic lights have on several occasions misguided the pilot and drivers. This has resulted in the flow of both the users of the road and the landing plane. Once, there was a police chase down the highway. It was difficult and stressful for the planes pilots, the police and the people being chased. This was because of the urgency of their situations and the nature of the flow of traffic (Archer, 2006). The airport should have its own space. This means that the road highway will have to be shut down or underground tunnels built. This is because the co-existence of the traffic flows posses a huge danger. There should be clear well labelled signs that cater for each and every traffic that flows in its created space. This will ensure that all parties understand what is going on, in all avenues and angles of

Information system Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Information system - Assignment Example In this report I have capably compared information systems development methodologies SSADM and ETHICS using the NIMSAD framework. I hope this report will offer a better overview of those methodologies and main differences between them. 17 A methodology can be described as a set of actions, techniques, tools as well as documentation support which will facilitate systems developers in their efficient employment along with practice of the new information system. Additionally, a methodology is composed of stages themselves which are then divided into sub-stages that will proficiently give direction to all the developers of information system in their inclination of the practices that might be handy as well as suitable at each phase of the development. In addition, this methodology moreover facilitates them to effectively handle, formulate, control and appraise various projects of information systems. Moreover, the methodologies enclose models and reveals particular viewpoints of ‘reality’ foundational on a set of theoretical paradigms. However, a methodology must inform the developers ‘what’ phases to obtain as well as ‘how’ to achieve those steps though the majority significantly t he causes ‘why’ those phases should be taken, in that particular order (Gasson, 1995; Yaghini, 2009) and (Avison & Taylor, 1997). In this research I will present a detailed analysis and comparison of two most well known information systems development methodologies SSADM (Structured Systems Analysis and Design Method) and ETHICS (Effective Technical and Human Implementation of Computer-based Work Systems). This research and evaluation will be formulated on the origin of the NIMSAD framework that will facilitate us in clearly analyzing and understanding the area of problem solving (in general). Here NIMSAD framework will also help us in case of overall functioning as well as proficient evaluation of the information system methodologies, their arrangements,

Florida v. Harris and Florida v. ardines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Florida v. Harris and Florida v. ardines - Essay Example Consistent in all global legislative systems, legal cases are initially sought out in lower and trial courts.Subsequently, the decisions are appealed and challenged in higher courts such as Supreme Court. Various concurring and dissenting opinions are revealed during the hearings of the cases and all circumstances are carefully accounted for before reaching final conclusion. References to past legal cases are very critical as situations of most of the cases resemble to those in older ones. This paper entails a detailed discussion and critical analysis of two separate legal cases which have mutually similar circumstances. Legal facts of case FLORIDA V. JARDINES This case revolved on deciding whether using a drug-sniffing dog on curtilage of an individual’s home, in hope of finding traces of illegal content, constitutes to meaning of ‘search’ as prescribed under the Fourth Amendment. Jardines’ house front porch was searched by police with Franky, a drug-sniff ing dog, and a warrant was requested on basis of suspicious information gathered through this search. Later, marijuana and other related material were discovered from premises and Jardines was arrested and charged accordingly. FLORIDA V. HARRIS This case pertained to a similar situation whereby a police officer, Mr. Wheetley, pulled over a driver for a routine check-post stop and insisted on searching the vehicle after his trained K-9 dog indicated that side door handle reflects some traces of drugs content. Subsequently, only methamphetamine ingredients were found and Harris, the driver, was charged with its possession. Later out on bail, Harris ran into officer Wheetley again and a similar search was conducted but in vain. Harris filed a case to suppress the evidence on basis that the officer did not have probable cause for searching his trunk as the dog displayed incompetent performance. At the hearing, officer eventually confessed about expiry of certification and his lack of du e diligence in maintaining updated records of dog’s performances and trainings (Supreme Court of the United States [a] 1-6). Court decisions FLORIDA V. JARDINES At the hearing of trial court, Jardines claimed that dog-sniffing investigation had no reasonable grounds and hence marijuana possession must be dispensed with. The trial court approved the motion which was subsequently reversed by the Florida Third District Court of Appeal. When petition was filed for scrutiny of this reversal, the Supreme Court nullified this decision and agreed to initial decision as given by trial court, suppressing that the trained-dog investigation falls under Fourth Amendment search and hence any warrant released on basis of information revealed in such search is itself void. FLORIDA V. HARRIS Initially, the trial court disapproved the motion to suppress on the grounds that officer had reasonable basis to conduct search. Harris entered an appeal against trial court’s decision and the int ermediate state court also affirmed the same. However, subsequently the Supreme Court intervened and denied trial court’s decision and claimed that officer didn’t have probable cause to search vehicle in accordance with the definition under Fourth Amendment. It ruled out on the adequacy of reason given by the officer that the dog was adequately certified and trained. Later, the court itself established certain standards to test dog’s reliability and potential as it claimed that a wider range of evidence is required to indicate number of times the dog might have given a false alert in similar past situations. The Florida Supreme Court ordered that a complete set of records and exhibits for dog’s credentials must be presented for review prior to establishing its potential and credibility. It designed various tests to assess its capabilities and produced a rigorous checklist which the

Marketing Assignment. SABIC Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing . SABIC - Assignment Example SABIC was founded in 1976 and operates globally in more than 44 countries in the world. The company is estimated to have more than 33,000 employees all over the world (Sabic.com, 2012). The organisational structure of SABIC includes a total of six different business units, namely Chemicals, Performance Chemicals, Polymers, Fertilizers, Innovative Plastics and Metals. All these business units are engaged in the production of four product types, namely Chemicals which includes Performance Chemicals, Fertilizers, Metals and Plastics which includes Innovative Plastics and Polymers (Companydatabase.org, 2009). For the year 2011, SABIC recorded a net profit equalling SR 29 billion and its annual turnover for the year was SR 129 billion. PEST Analysis Political The government of Saudi Arabia follows a system of monarchy. No political party is officially recognised in the country. Holy Quran is considered to be the constitution of Saudi Arabia and Sharia (Islamic Law) forms the basis for its governance. A central government has been developed by the kings of Saudi Arabia. A wide range of powers are concentrated in the hands of the king of Saudi Arabia. Political reforms have been initiated in the country with the formation of Shura or National Constitutive Council. The members of Shura have advisory powers regarding issues related to public interest. There has been a gradual expansion of the royally appointed Sharia over the past few years (US Department of State, 2011). No income taxes are imposed on Saudi nationals and foreigners working in the country. Only foreign investors are required to pay taxes on their net profit. However the Sura Council members are thinking of the proposal of taxing foreign expatriates. Economic Major economic activities are strongly controlled by the government of Saudi Arabia. Major revenue earnings are derived from the petroleum sector. Private sector growth is being encouraged in the country to promote diversification of economy and emp loyment of Saudi nationals. The effort of diversification is concentrated on telecommunications, power generation, petrochemical sector and exploration of natural gas. There is an unemployment problem mainly because of lack of education and technical expertise amongst Saudi nationals and government is making concentrated efforts to address this issue. Foreign investment is being promoted in the country (CIA, 2012). Socio-Cultural Islam is the predominant religion in the country and Arabic is its official language. Saudi Arabia has a conservative cultural environment. Officially the country strictly adheres to the Islamic law and its Wahhabi interpretations. Cultural presentations are supposed to be in conformity with the ethical standards which are narrowly defined. Technological The country is experiencing rapid advancements in technology. Increased use of internet in business activities in the country. Growing advancements in e-Commerce and electronic service technologies (Al-Ghai th, Sanzogni, & Sandhu. 2010, p.1). Analysis of Ten Trends Affecting the Organisation Political Trends 1. The political environment of Saudi Arabia is quite stable. The country is devoid of any democratic system. National elections are not held in the country and political parties do not exist. Hence it has a positive impact on the business environment of SABIC and the company is

Pregnancy and Birth Control Essay Example for Free

Pregnancy and Birth Control Essay Birth Control is the Best Way to Fight with Teenage Pregnancy Teen pregnancy is frequently discussed all over the country and the efforts have not reduced the numbers, as teens continue to have unsafe sex which eventually leads to pregnancy. These developments led different experts to consider the issue of abstinence, abortion, and general sex education in order to reduce the rates of pregnancy among teens. The average teen will be curious about sex when he or she starts puberty and begins to be aware of his or her body. There are different strategies for dealing with teenage pregnancy such as sex education, abstinence, or abortion but the most effective strategy involves the careful use of birth controls. There are lots of factors that lead to teenage pregnancy. The first factor arises from a lack of parental guidance. Most parents evade their children when it comes time to talk about sex. In some cases, they provide false information regarding sex and discourage their children to participate in any informative discussion about sex. However, in other cases, teenagers are not well educated about sex before they get pregnant. This then leads to lack of communication between parents and their children. A second cause of teenage pregnancy is due to the adolescent’s sex behavior. In this case, peer pressure is a major factor that encourages teenagers to engage in sexual activities. Early dating is also another behavior that can cause unwanted pregnancy in teenagers. â€Å"According to research, 29% of teens were pressurized to have sex, 33% of teens were sexually active and that they felt things moving fast sexually (What are the Causes of teenage Pregnancy? 2009).† A third cause of teenage pregnancy is not having enough knowledge about safe sex. Most adolescents are unaware about safe sex. They have little or no information about how to prevent pregnancy. The main reason behind that is that they are too embarrassed or shy to seek information about it. â€Å"Research found that there are more than 80% of teenage pregnancies are unplanned (What are the Causes of teenage Pregnancy? 2009).† A fourth cause of teenage pregnancy is due to social economic factors. In this case, teenagers who belong to poor families are more likely to become pregnant because they do not usually get enough education about sex and birth control. Another cause of teenage pregnancy is contraceptive failure. This is a very common cause of teenage pregnancies today. There are many brands and types of contraceptives and birth control pills that are available in the market, but they are not guaranteed for  complete safety. Sometimes, not knowing how to use a contraceptive properly can lead to unwanted teenage pregnancy. There are also many side effects from contraception including physical changes in the body which can sometimes result in miscarriage or newborn defects; â€Å"emotional trauma of handling a child at such an early age, changes in life styles, and also termination of pregnancy affects the general health (Admin).† So, one should think about all this before he or she gets involved in sex. In addition, there are many ways to help prevent teenage pregnancy. The advice for parents and other groups that directly work with teens is to educate them on the dangers of sex before marriage and that abstinence is the best way to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Abstinence is now a trend in the states and different studies have been conducted to evaluate the usefulness and results of abstaining from sex before marriage. A University of Pennsylvania sociologist, John Jemmott, explained the result of the different abstinence sessions conducted on the teen pregnancy issues. â€Å"In a sample this size, the difference between the comprehensive class and the abstinence class – Thirty-three percent vs. Forty-one percent – was not statistically significant†, said Jemmott, so it is accurate to say they perform comparably. The issue of abstinence is being challenged by some groups who say that abstinence only makes teenagers less aware of safe sex if they find themselves in such situations, and that the rate of teenage pregnancy is not high enough to make abstinence the major direction discussed in sex education (Flam, 2010). Bill Albert, the chief program officer of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy says even adults who know better about pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases still have sex before marriage, Studies shows that only eight percent of adults wait until marriage (Flam, 2010). Abortion is another major factor in the increasing rate of teenage pregnancy. Abortion can be described as the elimination of a zygote before it develops to its full stage. Teens have changed their attitude towards sex because of the availability of abortion and this has led to an increase of more teens becoming pregnant. According to Collison, the teenagers, who were abstaining from premarital sex before the introduction of abortion, are now engaging in it because they know that if they happen to get pregnant, there is a way to get out of such a situation. Some other experts argue that abortion is a positive factor that  has to be put in place if teenage pregnancies are to be reduced, because most of these teens do not have the financial or moral standard to take care of their babies in the normal way (Collison, 2001). â€Å"From 1995 to 1997, the abortion rate decreased 3.9 percent among females younger than 15 years of age (from 2.8 to 2.7 per 1,000), 10.1 percent among females 15 to 17 years of age (from 18.2 to 16.3 per 1,000), and 5.4 percent among females 18 to 19 years of age (from 39.6 to 37.5 per 1,000) (Teenage pregnancy, birth, and abortion. (2002) (Fact 52)† Furthermore, the bad name given to abortion has made it almost impossible for teens to get rid of unwanted pregnancies which could ruin their lives. Research has shown that some teens who cannot abort unwanted pregnancies decide to kill the baby after birth, which is infanticide. An example of this kind of situation is the story of two college students, Amy and Brian who drove from New Jersey to Delaware and rented a motel room. There, Amy gave birth to a baby boy. Brian, it was reported, beat the baby to death, stuffed him in a plastic bag, and threw him in a trash container. (Collison, 2001). Birth control has its negative and positive effects, but one thing is for sure, it is a very effective way of preventing pregnancy. For the first time in fourteen years teen pregnancy rose in the year 2007 (Stacey, 2009). Researchers are discovering that there are certain patterns in teen’s behaviors that are connected to a higher and more consistent birth control use. A study in 2007 published in the journal â€Å"Demography†, Contraceptive Use Patterns across Teen’s Sexual relationships: The Role of Relationships, Pa rtners, and sexual histories provides information on teen birth control usage. According to the study many teens use birth control inconsistently (Manlove, Ryan, Franzetta, 2007). In fact, four out of ten teens do not use contraceptives properly. Teens that have used birth control in the past are shown to be more likely to use it in the future. This proves that teens may learn from their past relationship experiences. However, teens in romantic relationships are more likely to use birth control for the first time, but fail to use it anytime after that. Approximately 67 percent of teens 12 to 19 years of age feel that if they were to offer advice to leaders in Washington regarding teen pregnancy, they would suggest greater emphasis on both encouraging teens not to have sexual relations and on birth control or protection (Teenage pregnancy, birth, and abortion, 2002 (Fact 71). Forty percent of women who  use birth control experience side effects for the first three months. After the first three months, side effects seem to diminish (Theresa, 2001). Mild negative side effects of the pill include: irregular menstrual bleeding, missed periods, spotting between periods, nausea, weight gain or weight loss, headaches, dizziness, breast tenderness, mood changes, and an increase in vaginal infections. The more serious negative effects of the pill include: blood clots, stroke, heart attack, worsening of migraine headaches, gall bladder disease, increase in blood pressure, and a rare liver tumor. Any person who smokes, is older than thirty-five, has diabetes, high blood pressure, heart or vascular disease, high cholesterol and triglyceride abnormalities is at a much higher risk for the birth control side effects. Even though there may seem to be negative side effects, not all are harmful. Many women in fact are put on the pill to help with cycle problems rather than to prevent pregnancy (Theresa, 2001). Positive side effects of the pill include: lighter menstruation, reduction of cramps, improvement of acne, protection against non-cancerous breast growth, reduction in anemia and ovarian cysts, decreased risk of uterine cancer, decreased risk of infection of the fallopian tubes, decreased risk of ectopic pregnancy and less incidence of rheumatoid arthritis. The bad side effects of the pill are very rare. Using birth control pills is a reliable way to prevent teen pregnancy, and has a success rate of 99.9%. When a young teen weighs the pros and cons of birth control, most see the pros out weighing the cons. Abstinence is the only way to be completely sure to not get pregnant and to be 100% safe, however birth control is the next best method. Teen pregnancy is a very hot topic that concerns many people and organizations, who are trying to slow the epidemic. There are many reasons why teen pregnancy needs to be reduced in America. Many pregnancies are not planned which lead to a number of problems for the mother and family members. 88% of teens 12 to 19 years of age think the number of teenage pregnancies in the United States is a serious problem (Teenage pregnancy, birth, and abortion (2002) (Fact 67). The United States has almost double the amount of teen pregnancies that Canada has. This is reflected by the many programs and ways that U.S. organizations are trying to lower teen pregnancy rates. One of the most popular programs that are used to reduce teen pregnancy is sex education in schools. According to Finger, sex  education is the best way to reduce teen pregnancy. Sex education needs to be taught to every child starting at a young age by trained professionals in school (Finger, 2002). In a study done in a low income rural neighborhood, children from five to eighteen years of age were put through sex education classes over a three year period. After three years, pregnancies in teens fell from sixty out of every 1,000 kids to twenty-five out of every 1,000 kids (Finger, 2002). This is a good sign that sex education can help lower teen pregnancy by more than half. Most students are taught at an average age of sixteen and a half. This is too late; at that point many kids have already experimented sexually and have formed their own opinions about sex. From kindergarten to twelfth grade kids only spend forty-six hours in health classes which is where sex education is taught (Roleff). One of the largest issues is training professionals to teach sex education. â€Å"Training teachers is a key element of successful sex education programs, and the lack of good training has been a big problem† says Dr. Waszak (Finger, 2002). Sex education is the best way to prevent teen pregnancy and with these few adjustments it can be very effective. On the other side are people that say teens will have sex no matter what they are told and do not want to waste the time and money. This point is validated in a study which is done every twelve years. In 1980, federal and state governments spent $350 million in sex education. In 1992, that number has risen to 645 million dollars (Kasun, 2000). No numbers were available from 2004, but were estimated to have grown in cost. That is a lot of tax money being spent on such a controversial topic. A large problem is there is no time in school for sex education. With Math and English classes taking importance over most subjects in a college and career based school system there is no room for sex education. The last problem is where to get professionals to teach sex education classes. This will cost tax payers even more money to hire a professional or to train a current teacher. The most important thing is to just educate kids about sex and teen pregnancy. Sex education, abstinence, and abortion are the ways to lower teen pregnancy rates. There are different strategies for dealing with teenage pregnancy such as sex education, abstinence, and abortion, but the most effective strategy involves the careful use of birth controls. Some of these are very expensive ventures, but teenage pregnancies have cost our society billions of dollars in the  last thirty years. Divorce, single parent families, teen suicide, sexually transmitted diseases, juvenile crime, child abuse, and abortion, have all at least doubled from thirty years ago (Collison, 2001). Knowledge is power and the awareness that different options are available gives power to teens to make the right decisions. Bibliography: Collison, Joseph. (2001). The Legalization of abortion had influenced teen attitudes toward sex. Flam, Faye. (2010, February 22). Study offers nuanced view of abstinence education. Finger, James. (2002). Teenage pregnancy is a serious problem [Vol I]. (Adobe Digital Edition Version). Kasun, Jacqueline. (2000). Sex education promotes teen pregnancy. Manlove, Jennifer; Suzanne, Ryan; Kerry, Franzetta. (2007). Contraceptive use patterns across teens’ sexual relationships: the role of relationship, partners, and sexual histories. [pp. 603-621]. (Adobe Digital Edition Version), Doi: Demography 44. Roleff, Mark. (n.d.). Sex education can prevent teenage pregnancy. Stacey, Dawn. (2009). â€Å"Teen birth control- Teen pregnancy prevention and contraception decision –making†. 2 â€Å"Teenage pregnancy, birth control and abortion.†(Fact Sheet). (2002), SIECUS Report 30.0. 39+ Academic One File. 22. Theresa, H. (2001). Love to know pregnancy [pp 34-36]. (Adobe Digit al Edication Version). â€Å"What are the causes of teenage pregnancy?† (2009, March 12).