Radio Rootz Special!
As some Radio Rooters prepare for college, they start wondering "How am I going to pay for college and not be broke!" And so, we turned to the experts. Listen to our exclusive interview with financial expert, Carmen Wong Ulrich, and learn how to Battle your Debt Demons!
The Tydings-McDuffie Act was approved in the United States, legally establishing Filipino independence from the US. After centuries of being colonized by Spain and then dominated by the US, this Act agreed to grant independence to the Philippines after a 10-year 'transitional period', during which the US would maintain full military control. Ironically, before the 10-years was up, WWII began and the Japanese military seized control of the Philippines. This occupation lasted for about three years before the U.S. regained control. Finally in 1946, the Filipino people were granted independence, although the US continued its military occupation into the 90's and has still managed to dominate much of the Philippine economy. AND YOU THOUGHT COLONIZATION ENDED WITH INDEPENDENCE
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire occurred in New York City, resulting in the death of 148 garment workers, most of who were young immigrant women from Eastern Europe. When the textile factory went up in flames the two company owners immediately fled the building leaving many of the exit doors locked. While many of the workers were alerted and able to escape, the women on the 9th floor were stuck in the fire as their only possible exit way was locked. Although the two company owners were acquitted by a jury, the fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers.
American Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Rustin's political organizing career was very dynamic. Throughout his life, he protested and campaigned against segregation laws; fought in alliance with the Japanese-Americans in US internment camps; organized against British rule in India and Africa; and advocated for Gay Rights. After adopting a strict non-violent philosophy, Rustin counseled Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. and helped form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, from which he was later forced to resign because he was openly gay. Due to his sexuality, Rustin was largely written out of civil rights history and his enormous influence was heavily silenced.
During the Vietnam War, the US Air Force initiated Operation Menu, and began bombing the neutral nation of Cambodia. Despite Cambodia's official declaration of its neutrality, South Vietnamese Liberation troops often used Cambodia as a base. After being warned by the US to ban the South Vietnamese from their soil, the neutral country of Cambodia became the target for this massive secret bombing campaign under President Richard Nixon. Over the next 14 months, the US military showered more bombs on Cambodia than the total amount dropped by the Allies during all of World War Two. These brutal bombings were hidden from the American public, but the information eventually leaked out, provoking public outrage in the US.
During the Delano grape growers struggle to fight pay-cuts, Mexican-American labor activist César Chávez publicly broke his fast at a park in Delano, California surrounded by supporters and national media. Chávez had fasted to show his commitment to non-violent action, but the fast also served to publicize the grape grower's movement, and contributed to the workers historic victory only months later. Dedicated to labor struggles and the rights of farm workers, Chávez founded the United Farm Workers Union and continued using non-violent organizing tactics, including public education and boycotts.
Members of the Luddites, a British labor movement, destroyed machines that were designed to replace them in weaving wool. The Luddites were a group of textile workers who resisted the changes brought about by England's Industrial Revolution, namely the creation of machines that were designed to increase cheap, unskilled labor, and would result in the unemployment of many textile workers. The movement spread so rapidly throughout the next year and was so strong that the government had to call on the British Army to suppress it. Eventually, many Luddite members were tracked down, and either executed or exiled for their militant protesting of capitalist ideology.
The Alhambra Decree, or 'The Edict of Expulsion', was issued by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain officially expelling all Jews from Spain. The anti-Jewish sentiment that led up to this event was rooted in the Moors conquest of Spain and Portugal about 700 years earlier. The Muslim Moors heavily wiped out Christianity in these conquered territories, but exhibited an open tolerance for Jewish communities, who consequently immigrated to these places in large numbers. Over 500 years later, the Catholic Monarchs began re-conquering Spain and after defeating the Moors, turned their open hostility and violence toward the Jewish populations that still lived there.
The Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act was signed into law by President Richard Nixon attempting to decrease the practice of smoking in the US. The Act required that a Surgeon General's warning be placed on all tobacco products and it also banned cigarette advertisements from American television and radio programming. Unfortunately it was later reported that the health warning labels had little effect on American smoking habits. Also, in response to the ban on TV and radio advertisements, the tobacco industry began to use other marketing strategies in the US such as increased print ads and attractive promotional items. Ironically, despite the 1970's Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, multinational US tobacco companies are one of the world's largest advertisers.
After four months of bickering between colonial powers, the Algeciras Conference was finally over. The purpose of the conference was to mediate the First Moroccan Crisis; an international crisis over the colonial state of Morocco, in which Germany, France, Britain, and Spain were all fighting to protect their political and financial investments in and around Morocco. At the conference, the US Ambassador to Italy was assigned to solve the dispute, and four months later a final agreement was signed, transforming Morocco into a complex battleground for various European powers and imperial interests. Sadly, this is one of many cases in which super-power nations get together to dissect, divide, and redefine other nations to serve their own economic interests.
An event known as the Doctors' Riot took place in New York City as an angry mob stormed a hospital and began destroying everything from specimens to surgical instruments. It was a common practice then for medical students to dig up graves in search of cadavers, and the tension between the community and the physicians in New York City had grown as the act of body snatching became more noticeable. The Riot continued into the next day at which point soldiers were called in to quell the uprising and in the process killed many of the rioters. Even after most of the doctors and medical students fled the City, it took days for the violent atmosphere to finally subside. While U.S.
Symbionese Liberation Army member Patricia Hearst was caught on camera wielding an assault rifle while participating in a San Francisco bank robbery along with eight other members of the radical urban-guerilla group the SLA. Patricia Hearst, who was from an extremely wealthy newspaper family, had been kidnapped two months earlier from her home in Berkeley by the SLA for ransom purposes, and shocked the world when she later announced that she had joined the SLA and was committed to its goals. After her arrest one year later, Hearst began to re-identify as the kidnapped daughter of a wealthy family, and argued at her trial that she had been abused, brainwashed and coerced into joining the SLA and robbing the bank.
The "N" word, once a deeply offensive derogatory term against African Americans, is today commonly used among our younger generation, and most notably in the African-American and Hispanic communities. Youth who use the word say there are a multitude of interpretations of the "N" word, which they sometimes use as a term of endearment toward one another or of self-empowerment, and it is often heard in Hip-Hop music. So if the term is so utterly offensive to so many, should our youth be able to use it?
Radio Rootz's Kristal Graham investigates whether our freedom of speech rights were put into question with the New York City Council's symbolic "resolution" to ban the "N"word earlier this year.
Note: this piece is unedited and contains explicit use of the N-word. Listen to the Edited Version.
The "N" word, once a deeply offensive derogatory term against African Americans, is today commonly used among our younger generation, and most notably in the African-American and Hispanic communities. Youth who use the word say there are a multitude of interpretations of the "N" word, which they sometimes use as a term of endearment toward one another or of self-empowerment, and it is often heard in Hip-Hop music. So if the term is so utterly offensive to so many, should our youth be able to use it?
Radio Rootz's Kristal Graham investigates whether our freedom of speech rights were put into question with the New York City Council's symbolic "resolution" to ban the "N"word earlier this year.
Australia, New Zealand, and the United States signed a mutual defense pact called the ANZUS Treaty, which bound the three countries to cooperate on security matters in the Pacific Ocean area.