Attack on the Media

During Nixon's second term there was an interest in what would be known as the watergate scandal. There were constant questions about his involvement in the coverup to which he said he had no idea. As the people got closer to finding out that he, in fact, didn't directly commit the crime he did order the coverup which was worse. Nixon's administration attack on the media sparked an awakening of anger that was in conservative people.

Throughout the elections and now that he's president Trump has been attacking the media. He has called the media the true "enemy of the people". Most of his media coverage is about his possible administration connection with Russia and how they could've helped with his election to which he has largely denied. The dislike of certain media channels even made an impact during on of Sean Spicers press briefing after the white house banned some media news outlets from attending.

Soruces:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/02/19/watergate-reporter-carl-bernstein-trumps-attacks-on-the-press-are-more-dangerous-than-nixons/?utm_term=.074779432edb

1993 World Trade Center Bombing

Ahmed Ajaj is one of the men found guilty of the bombing that had occurred at the world trade center. He first arrived at the US in 1991 under the false pretense of having escaped torture back home in Israel by the Israeli government for being involved in a peaceful protest. This was the story submitted to his petition for political asylum but when the time came for the hearing Ajaj left the country in 1992 under a different name and heading towards a camp by the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, before he could enter into said camp he had to travel to Saudi Arabia and obtain a letter asking the leader to provide Ajaj with explosives and weapons training. During this time Ajaj contacted Yousef and together plotted places to attack within the US using their amassed knowledge of explosives. 

After they learned and plotted a lot they planned to enter the US illegally and on August 31, 1992, they boarded a plane from Peshawar to Karachi. On this plane, they sat separate from each other but once they were on route to New York city they checked in at different times and Yousef was dressed in colorful nice silk clothes and Ajaj in a suit and tie in first class so that they would seem as just regular passengers. Once on the ground, however, a INS Inspector found Ajaj's passport to be suspicious and in fact, it was, along with the other passports he had. The inspector searched his bag and found two notebooks handwritten notes on explosives, six printed bomb-making manuals with blue covers; two instructional videotapes on making explosives; anti-American and anti-Israeli materials; and documentsrelating to false identities. He was sentenced to six months in jail.

Yousef was arrested for having entered the country without a Visa after he decided to use an Iraqi passport and claim to seek asylum. He swore to the inspectors that he was traveling alone and so he wasn't connected to Ajaj and was let go.

After months of planning and preparing the plan was set. On Friday, February 26, 1993, Ramzi Yousef and a Jordanian friend, Eyad Ismoil, drove a yellow Ryder van into Lower Manhattan and pulled into the public parking garage beneath the World Trade Center around noon. Twelve minutes later the bomb exploded and it killed six people and injuring others. The plan had failed as the tower didn't fall and crash into the other killing thousands but an attack was an attack. Currently, all the men who have been connected to the bombings are serving out their sentences in jail
.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/05/us/1993-world-trade-center-bombing-fast-facts/
https://fas.org/irp/congress/1998_hr/s980224c.htm
http://www.history.com/news/remembering-the-1993-world-trade-center-bombing

Y2K impact on the People

The fear of Y2K happened quite obviously in the year 1999 before the new millennium. As mentioned in a previous post the fear that the computers would fail to correctly update to the year 2000 and shut down was present and in the constant thought of many people.

What helped spread the Y2K fear was media coverage which were inaccurate, gossip, and even some tech people who were out to make some money by appearing on shows or other places. The large Danish national paper Jyllands-Posten (JP) covered the issue in the years and months leading up to the new millennium as most other countries’ newspapers did – with much sensationalism and little fact. On December 12th, 1999 an article summarized some of the possible dangers: accidental launching of nuclear missiles, Russian nuclear power plants melting down, planes crashing, drinking water being poisoned and power failures resulting in people freezing to death. These possible dangers reached America as many were preparing for the worse whether it be a nuclear meltdown, or missiles and planes falling from the sky. These are brought up alongside other ends when people think of the Y2K bug but there was an upside to this fear.

In 1999 the Software manufacturers won big as they sold more software than years previouse. Needless to say when one talks about computers and software there are the professionals who work with computers. IT experts sold books and other items and made a profit however as people were focused on the new software and consultants hardware manufacturers got the low end of the deal. People in the fear of reverting back to a time of the cavemen helped make wilderness survival camps popular which led to the creation of shows that followed people living off the land. People also spent money on food stockpiles and other supplies that could help them survive for an extensive amount of time.

Sources

 http://www.svj.hvu.nl/mediahype/risk4/page9.htm

LGBT In Mainstream America

People who identified as members of the LGBT community faced many adversities in the previous years due to the aids epidemic and the constant bashing they endured from religious groups and worried Americans. In the 90's there were actors who were portraying people who happened to be gay. Actors started portraying these characters as normal as any other than the stereotypical gay portrayed for many years. There were gay characters on tv both fictional and real who inspired and made coming out easier for those who were in the closet. In 1997 Ellen who had been warned that coming out would be the end of her career did so and became one of the most outspoken activists for people of the LGBT community. She gave people the courage to say that they were gay and she knew how it felt to not be able to be herself.


With more people portraying gays and lesbians as what they truly were, people like any other, there was an even greater number of acceptance emerging from both family and friends. Films such as Parting Glances, an independent film, was one of the earliest films aimed towards the aids epidemic that was afflicting the LGBT community. It helped spread the idea that all gays had aids and would spread t=it to everyone and this film was soon joined by others who helped spread this falsehood. It wasn't until the 90's when the hate towards the LGBT community that Hollywood had to take a different way to talk about the epidemic and how they portrayed the LGBT community. During this time other actors came out as gay or bi-sexual and younger people were coming out as well giving this time the name of the queer cinema. Other things that were seen as "only a homosexual would do this" was drag. During this time drag had leaped onto the screen which introduced many to the idea of seeing a man or women dressed as the opposite gender.

 Certainly, there are famous actors who portray LGBT characters these days but this was really starting to grow during the 90's. With the growth and understanding of people, the LGBT community was able to be understood and seen as normal rather than mentally ill and the 90's really helped many.

Impacts of the Save Our Children

Consequences Resulting from Save Our Children

June 21, 1977 two weeks after Dade County vote, the murder of Robert Hillsborough took place in San Fransisco. He and his roommate Taylor had been out to a disco and had finished having lunch when they were stopped by a gang of young men shouting anti-gay slurs. Managing to leave they parked four blocks from their apartments when they were jumped by the young men. Taylor was badly beaten but did manage to escape however Robert couldn't escape. He was stabbed a total of 15 times by 19-year-old John Cordova while he was yelling "Faggot!" repeatedly. This could've happened anywhere and not be tied to the vote in Dada county but many witnesses told investigators that Cordova yelled "This one’s for Anita!”. Although he was the one directly responsible for Hillsborough's murder Cordova only sentenced to 10 years in jail. Hillsborough's parents sued Anita Bryant stating that her public comments constituted “a campaign of hate, bigotry, ignorance, fear, intimidation and prejudice” against their son and other homosexuals. Their case was dropped due to Bryant being in Florida and not in California. Because Hillsborough was employed as a city gardener, Mayor George Moscone followed longstanding practice and ordered flags at City Hall and other city properties to be lowered to half-mast
















Along with the murder there were also several suicides connected to Save Our Children. There were many devastating events that took place but had it not been for Anitas despicable views on homosexuals the LGBT movement wouldn't have grown as it did after the Vote. The overturn of the protection gay people in Dade county led to outrage in many states and but also gathered support from others as well. Anita herself during one of her very sparse appearances had the KKK who showed up to "protect" her. In California there was a bill proposed that would allow the dismissal or prevention on employement of those who identified as gay. California state senator John Briggs, from Fullerton was in the crowd with Anita Bryant the night she and Save Our Children won the Dade County vote and he wanted Prop 6 which would also allow dismissal to those who supported people of the LGBT community because it was written so broad. Former governor Ronald Reagan voiced his opinion, saying "Prop. 6 is not needed to protect our children. We have that legal protection now. It could be very costly to implement and has the potential for causing undue harm to people."Reagan's statement turned public opinion against the proposition almost overnight. Gay activists were not optimistic in light of the record of voter turnout against them in the previous year, but they were overwhelmed to learn that on election day more than a million voters turned out to strike down the proposition.

Prop 6 ad


http://www.back2stonewall.com/2016/06/brutal-murder-of-robert-hillsborough.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_Our_Children
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Bryant

Cesar Chavez's life and Wife Helen

On March 31st, 1927, Cesar Chavez was born in Yuma Arizona to immigrant parents. Growing up he had four siblings with him being the second born but oldest son. His parents ran a general store and had a farm where they raised horse, cows and grew grains along with alfalfa and fruits.



During the great depression the Chavez family struggled to hold on to their home. Along with the droughts, in 1937 the family lost their farm and moved all around the southwest to find work in the fields and in 1938 moved to California to become migrant workers. Being migrant workers the family moved from farm to farm which made getting an education difficult for Cesar Chavez growing up and his parents had very low wages and poor housing in migrant worker camps.In their first year of working his parents earned $300 dollars and were living in places that had no running water, electricity, or bathrooms raising their five children







At the age of 15 Cesar Chavez's father was injured in a car accident and not wanting his mother to start working he decided to leave school and earn money for his family along with his siblings full time. It was during his work as a migrant worker that he saw first hand how his people were being exploited by the owners and contractors and voiced his opinions and demanded higher wages and better working conditions on their behalf. The other workers fearing they may lose their jobs if they joined him stayed quiet. In 1944 he joined the navy and served as a deck hand in the western pacific and was discharged in 1946.



16-year-old Cesar Chavez in the navy ca.1946 

In 1947 Cesar joined the National Agricultural Workers Union which was a group of workers joining together to seek fair treatment and better pay. In 1948 he married Helen Fabela who shared his social concerns. Together they helped teach migrant workers to read and write to pass their test and achieve US citizenship. Helen did have to through many obstacles herself when she first married Cesar Chavez and then later on when her husband was becoming known nationwide. When she first married she wasn't able to cook as she had spent her entire life working in the fields to help her family but did learn as time went on. In the Chavez household, even after her husband achieved fame, Helen’s personality created an atmosphere anchored by humility and a regular home life. She endured bomb threats, around-the-clock security at her home, harassment of her children in the schools and the scarcities that came from Cesar’s voluntary poverty.




Helen alongside Robert Kennedy and Cesar Chavez ca.1968
http://www.imahero.com/is/bios/cesarchavez.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesar_Chavez
http://www.history.com/topics/cesar-chavez