What do you think was the government’s intent in issuing Executive Order 9066? Did the evacuation order violate the constitutionally guaranteed rights of American citizens? How did the government in 1990 redress the grievances of our country’s Japanese Americans? Do you think this was a responsible and just action? Why or why not?
2. What key issues and events between 1950 and 1963 provoked intervention by the federal government into the civil rights movement? What was the impact/results of said issues and events? How did legislation—Federal and State—dismantle legalized segregation?
3. What conditions and factors led African-American residents of Watts, Newark, and Detroit rebel in 1965-1966? What did these rebellions suggest about the value of the civil rights movement victories?
4. Describe three different policies the United States has had toward the flow of laborers over the Mexican-U.S. border. What conflicts exist between the needs of business, humanitarian efforts, and the socioeconomic conditions in Mexico? Describe the life of migrant workers in the U.S. today. What policy changes would you recommend to improve both their working conditions and quality of life?
5. In week 13’s reading on Moodle—Interests not Passions—as Mexico has become more significant to the US in the past decades, political leaders on both sides of the border have raised questions regarding the role that the Mexican-origin population of the US will play in US-Mexico relations. Will they become, as many Americans fear and Mexican officials hope, an ethnic lobby mobilized around policy issues affecting Mexico? Why or why not? Or will they abandon home-country political interests while maintaining a strong cultural identity? Why or why not?