A New Birth

On April 3, 2008, I read an article in the Star Ledger called “A Story That Mustn’t Be Forgotten.” Murray Goldfinger was born on July 6, 1926. He considers his birthday April 11. That was the day in 1945 when the Americans liberated the Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany. Goldfinger was among the last surviving Jewish prisoners; he was one of the millions of Nazi prisoners. He was lucky; he survived.

Goldfinger, 81, speaks to students about the Nazi atrocities and his experiences at several of their forced labor camps. The Nazis killed thousand of people daily. Goldfinger said he learned one thing: “Never to show fear”. He is the only one of his family, nine children, parents and grandfathers to survive. He grew up in Karkow, Poland. A number was tattooed to his forearm; it was 161108. You lost your identity in the camps and became a number.

He was sent to Birkenau, Poland and went to work in a coal mine with a broken shovel and then was punished for breaking it. He was shot in the back and left for dead. When the Nazis picked him up for dead, despite the pain, he just stood up and went back to camp and hard labor. When the Nazis realized the Jews were going to be liberated, the Nazi put the Jews in trains to get them away but U.S. planes came and shot at the Buchenwald guards and preventing this. The prisoners were finally liberated. Mr. Goldfinger is living proof that no one should devalue you or push you around because of religion or color or whatever.

This article would be perfect for talking about the impact of the Nazis. It explains specifically what happened to one individual. It personalizes the Holocaust. Mr. Goldfinger in this article speaks candidly of what was done to one family. It is simple but powerful in its message. This would help to extend my lesson and would explain the intense feeling of Jews and the entire world towards Hitler and the Nazis.

One Rider

In the New Jersey section of the Star Ledger dated 4/2/08, I read an article called “A Modern Pioneer’s Lesson. This was about a Newark, N.J., Social Studies teacher, Miles Dean. He began a cross-country journey of more than 4,000 miles on his 9-year old Arabian stallion on September 22. He wanted to heighten awareness of black cowboys and the African-American role in frontier history. His journey ended at the California African American Museum in Los Angeles where he was greeted with the same ceremonial blessing his ancestors used to send him on his way from the African Burial Ground in New York City six month ago. Three local riders escorted him on the last part of his trip through the streets of Los Angeles.

I would use this article to emphasize that all people settled the frontier. I would then have students’ research on the different ethnic groups that helped develop our frontier; I have them show how this diversity enriched our landscape. As I read this article, I realized what a love this man has for our country. He saw a wrong and did something constructive about it. This social studies teacher has a passion for the American black cowboy and brought some recognition to them by active participation. I wonder how many teachers are this dedicated to a cause!

What Cubans Are Dreaming and Shopping?

On April 2, 2008, I read an article in the Star Ledger,” In Cuba, the Moment Arrives to Shop and Dream.” This article states that since Raul Castro, has become the new President of Cuba, he has loosened control on consumer good and invited private farmers to plant tobacco, coffee and other crops on unused state land. This potentially could put more food on the table of all Cubans while helping to develop a new consumer economy. Raul Castro said when he took office; he would remove some of the more irksome limitations on the daily lives of the Cubans. Base on the current limited salary of government workers, most shoppers were just looking at the electronic gadgets previously available only to foreigners and companies. The Minister of Tourism announced that any Cuban with enough money could now stay in luxury hotels and rent cars; prior to this, Cubans were treated like second-class citizens in their own country because of these restrictions.

This article could be used to show my students about life after the Cuban Missile Crisis. While Fidel Castro stayed in power, there were relatively little changes in Cuba. Now that Raul Castro is in power, opportunities for the upper class have changed. Time will tell, if things change for the poorer people of Cuba. Giving the poor land is not enough; if they can’t afford the crops, the tools to cultivate the land or the marketing costs then their situation has not changed with the new administration. With Fidel Using this article, students could examine what else the Cubans would need to change their economic situation.

A Missile Defense Deal between the U.S. and Russia

On April 2, 2008, I read an article in the Star Ledger titled U.S. Tries to assure Russia on missile defense deal. The U.S. is scrambling to seal a missile defense deal this weekend with Russia. The U.S. guarantees to assure the Russians the system is not a European military threat aimed at them. The U.S. has pledged that it won’t activate new site in Poland and the Czech Republic unless Iran proves itself an imminent threat to Europe by test-flying a missile capable of reaching the continent. President Bush will assure Russian President Vladimir Putin of this on Sunday in the Black Sea resort of Sochi; hopefully this will set the strategic framework for better relations between the two countries.

This article could be used to enhance my lesson on the Cold War Challenges. This article shows how countries attempt interventions in order to prevention aggression. If an agreement is met, then the intervention worked; if it did not further negotiations and diplomacy are needed. This article shows how the U.S. is actively protecting itself from outside threats. It shows that the U.S. put it time and effort to maintain a balance of power with the world powers. These are all lessons which my students need to understand in studying how the U.S. operates in the world.

40 Years ago

In the April 7, 2008 edition of Time Magazine, I read an article titled “The Ghosts of Memphis” by David Von Drehle. On the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, April 4, 1968, the author interviewed the men who were with him that day. The author also reflects on American’s progress towards realizing Dr. King’s dream. When King was 26, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on the bus and by 39 he was dead. The years between have made a big difference.

According to Rev. Billy Kyles, on the faithful day, King and his friends had a pillow fight in his motel, were surrounded by gospel music and soul food. He said within this forty years, we made progress but he said that Dr. King would be disappointed with the anger inside the children of the black nation. Rev. James Belevel said on that day he felt his friend Bernard LaFayette shot a firecracker but it was not. He feels it is ashame today that the man who killed Dr. King did not go to court. He feels that ended the nonviolent movement, when we would not stand up for the justice question. Rev. Jesse Jackson said the police were coming towards them and not going to were the bullet came from. He said that today we are now free but not equal. Jackson feels we must focus on the economic investments to close the gaps. Andrew Young said that he questioned Dr. King for not wearing a coat on that cool evening. He said that today very few people have been able to deal with the poorest of the poor. This he said Dr. King was doing at the time of his death.

On the night before his death King said, “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place.” Dr. King did not live a long life. His did take the time with people and tried to make the world a better place through nonviolence. This could be used in my classroom for examining civil rights and showing the path it has taken.

Do You Believe This???

I read an article in the March 28, 2008 edition of the Star Ledger. It was titled “Nuke Inventory Is Ordered after Mistake”. This article reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates order a high-level investigation with a complete inventory of our nation’s nuclear arsenal, after it was discovered that last week that four secret nuclear nose- cone fuse assemblies for the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missiles had been mistaken shipped to Taiwan. The shipment to Taiwan should have been for common helicopter batteries. This error occurred 18 months ago and it was undetected until this week. Taiwan received the delivery and its officials have been contacting the U.S. over the past year to determine what to do with the erroneous items.

At one point the U.S. official called for their disposal. According to Taiwan Defense Minister Lin Chen-yi, those contacted in the U.S. for the past year about the error told Taiwan to handle the situation themselves. This is the military’s second major nuclear-related incident in less than a year. (Measures also failed last August, when the Air Force unknowingly flew nuclear warheads between North Dakota and Louisiana, losing track of them for 36 hours.) This embarrassing incident has strained relations with China and called into question the U.S. military’s ability to maintain its arsenal of catastrophic weapons. Initially investigations in the U.S. point to a labeling error.

This article could be used to explain how governments should work together to resolve issues in my classroom and the danger of a nuclear arsenal. In this case, the U.S. failed at labeling, communication and resolution, in an expedite time frame. The U.S. should be more guarded with their nuclear inventory; two incidents within a year make you wonder - who’s in charge. The Defense Secretary needs to put safeguards in place so that this never happens again; the lives of the world could depend on it. Students need to see the good and bad in our world. This will help them build on the good and eliminate the bad through voting, letter writing campaigns, peaceful demonstrations and voicing their opinions.