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Lawmakers want to remove a Confederate monument. That started a battle

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Sarah Spall, 5, looks over a stone wall at Burnside Bridge at the Antietam battlefield on July 4, 2005. General Robert E. Lee ended his first invasion of the North at Antietam in September 1862. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The Robert E. Lee Monument Removal Act, which was proposed by Democrats, would remove a statue of the Confederate general from Antietam National Battlefield

William F. Chaney has helped build statues for the Alex Haley-Kunta Kinte Memorial and a plaque honoring Malcolm X in Annapolis. He has also done the same for Robert E. Lee and another Confederate soldier.

To some, this might be a strange mix. But for the millionaire, who has spent millions memorializing American figures of the past, the symbols are a reminder of this country's history.

One of the symbols he helped to erect, a 24-foot statue of Lee at Antietam National Battlefield in Sharpsburg, has caught the ire of Maryland Democratic lawmakers and is the subject of proposed congressional legislation that would have itremoved. Chaney built the memorial on private land that is now federally owned, giving Congress jurisdiction.

The battle lines have been drawn, converging racial harmony, revisionist history and politics for a perfect storm of division.

The lawmakers who proposed the Robert E. Lee Monument Removal Act say that the symbol is a divisive reminder of the country's dark history. Others - like Chaney - argue it is one of history and pride.

Congressman David Trone, lead sponsor of the bill, was joined in support by Steny Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, Jamie Raskin, and Glenn Ivey.

"Displays in our national parks should be reserved for Americans and patriots who reflect our country's democratic principles - and be historically accurate," Ruppersberger said a statement.

Said Mfume: "We should ensure that our national parks accurately reflect the values of unity and equality that we hold dear as a nation. We will not honor those who sought to divide us."

Trone said the bill is an "effort to ensure Antietam honors our nation's victory over the Confederacy rather than memorializes historical figures who fought to break up the Union and restrict fundamental human rights."

Trone had said previously that "such an historic site, where men died to advance justice and equality, should not memorialize Robert E. Lee - a man who fought vehemently to uphold slavery. In our pursuit of a more perfect union, we must honor those who stood on the right side of history - not those who sought to hold us back."

Antietam National Battlefield, a bloody battle where an estimated 22,717 Americans died, were injured or went missing on a single day on American soil, more than any other time in history, played a pivotal role in ending the Confederate Army's first invasion into the North. It also led President Abraham Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation.

Chaney, a one-time Anne Arundel resident who has since left the state, erected the hulking statue of the Confederate general on a horse on privately owned land next to Antietam National Battlefield in 2003. It remained on the property after the National Park Service acquired the land in 2005 and incorporated it into Antietam National Battlefield.

Carl Snowden, the former civil rights director for the Office of the Maryland Attorney General, has known Chaney for decades and describes him as a "colleague."

Chaney is "deeply committed" to the "thought that the South will rise again," said Snowden.

In a past interview, Chaney has claimed distant family ties to Lee.

But Chaney also provided significant financial support for the Alex Haley-Kunta Kinte Memorial and a plaque honoring Malcolm X in Annapolis, according to Snowden.

"I'm the one that encouraged him to do it," Snowden said.

In 2020, when a monument of a Confederate soldier was vandalized, it was revealed that Chaney organized the effort to erect the memorial. At that time, Chaney claimed to be a descendant of that Confederate soldier, Benjamin Welch Owens.

Snowden has been closely following the Congressional legislation since Trone's announcement.

"That is not a foregone conclusion that it [the bill] would pass. But at least it raised some questions," he said.

Chaney could not be reached for comment and Trone has not received any word from Chaney since announcing the proposed bill last week, according to Galbreath.

Del. Susan McComas, a Harford County Republican, isn't eligible to vote for the bill as a state representative, but if she could, she said she'd vote against it.

"Antietam was one, if not the bloodiest Civil War Battles," McComas said. "Brother against brother. This is the history of our country, and it is a grave mistake to hide what happened during the Civil War. When and where is this going to end?"

She added: "Those who don't know history will continue to repeat it."

There are close to 2,000 Confederate statues and monuments in the United States, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In Maryland, there are seven Confederate memorials. Twelve have been removed or are covered and pending removal since 2015 - a significant year as national debates about Confederate symbols erupted after Dylann Roofmurdered nine people at an AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, after posting pictures of himself displaying Confederate symbols.

Virginia has the most Confederate memorials in public spaces, with 200. The state also leads the nation with the most removals, with more than 100 memorials removed since 2015.

The proposed bill in Maryland only addresses the Robert E. Lee monument, which is under the oversight of the federal government as federal property, according to Galbreath.

"We'd have to look into the others as to where they are/whose jurisdiction they're under, so I can't speak to those," Galbreath said in an email.

The fact that the country is still having discussions about Confederate monuments in 2024 is attributed to the "incredible and unfortunate success" of the "organized propaganda campaign" that has attempted to rewrite history ever since the end of the Civil War,saidRivka Maizlish, senior research analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

"Unfortunately, some people still cling to these symbols of white supremacy. We need more accurate history," Maizlish said.

Confederate symbols have been used as methods of intimidation - especially when looking at where and when they have been erected, according to Maizlish, who explained that many of them popped up on courthouse lawns during pivotal times in Black freedom and the Civil Rights Movement.

"The memorials are part of a long history and attack on accurate history," Maizlishsaid. "The Civil War was about slavery and treason."

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Lawmakers want to remove a Confederate monument. That started a battle

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The Robert E. Lee Monument Removal Act, which was proposed by Democrats, would remove a statue of the Confederate general from Antietam National Battlefield.

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Award wining books [Online here] Cook /TU login needed

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Powerful Video

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WELI - Kangaroo Time (Club Edit) (From Dance Your PhD 2024 - OVERALL WINNER)

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Kangaroo Behavior

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WELI - Kangaroo Time (Club Edit) (From Dance Your PhD 2024 - OVERALL WINNER)

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Due Tuesday 3/26 in Bb
Good news you have choice

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Bob Marley & The Wailers - One Love / People Get Ready (Official Music Video)

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Bob Marley & The Wailers - One Love / People Get Ready (Official Music Video)

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Group reviews

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Topics related to the assignment-
Required elements
Due March 7, first 2.

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For Ukraine's Refugees, Europe Opens Doors That Were Shut to Others

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Thousands of Ukrainians will end up in countries led by nationalist governments that have been reluctant to welcome refugees in the past.

Olha Zapotochna and her 3-year-old son, Arthur, after crossing the border from Ukraine into Poland on Friday. Credit... Maciek Nabrdalik for The New York Times

WASHINGTON - Russia's invasion of Ukraine has pushed tens of thousands of people out of their homes and fleeing across borders to escape violence. But unlike the refugees who have flooded Europe in crises over the past decade, they are being welcomed.

Countries that have for years resisted taking in refugees from wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are now opening their doors to Ukrainians as Russian forces carry out a nationwide military assault. Perhaps 100,000 Ukrainians already have left their homes, according to United Nations estimates, and at least half of them have crowded onto trains, jammed highways or walked to get across their country's borders in what officials warn could become the world's next refugee crisis.

U.N. and American officials described their concerted diplomatic push for Ukraine's neighbors and other European nations to respond to the outpouring of need. President Biden "is certainly prepared" to accept refugees from Ukraine, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said on Thursday, but she noted that the majority of them would probably choose to remain in Europe so they could more easily return home once the fighting ended.

"Heartfelt thanks to the governments and people of countries keeping their borders open and welcoming refugees," said Filippo Grandi, the head of the U.N. refugee agency. He warned that "many more" Ukrainians were moving toward the borders.

That means thousands will end up in countries led by nationalist governments that in past crises have been reluctant to welcome refugees or even blocked them.

Refugees were welcomed with food as they waited on Friday for transportation upon their arrival in Medyka, a Polish village just across the border from Ukraine. Credit... Mauricio Lima for The New York Times

In Poland, government officials assisted by American soldiers and diplomats have set up processing centers for Ukrainians. "Anyone fleeing from bombs, from Russian rifles, can count on the support of the Polish state," the Polish interior minister, Mariusz Kaminski, told reporters on Thursday. His government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a border wall, a project it began after refugees and migrants from the Middle East tried to reach the country last year but ended up marooned in neighboring Belarus.

The military in Hungary is allowing in Ukrainians through sections of the border that had been closed. Hungary's hard-line prime minister, Viktor Orban, has previously called refugees a threat to his country, and his government has been accused of caging and starving them.

Farther West, Chancellor Karl Nehammer of Austria said that "of course we will take in refugees if necessary" in light of the crisis in Ukraine. As recently as last fall, when he was serving as interior minister, Mr. Nehammer sought to block some Afghans seeking refuge after the Taliban overthrew the government in Kabul.

"It's different in Ukraine than in countries like Afghanistan," he was quoted as saying during an interview on a national TV program. "We're talking about neighborhood help."

Mr. Nehammer also said the number of Ukrainians seeking help was expected to be relatively small. At least 1.3 million people - mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan - applied for asylum in Europe in 2015 during what was widely regarded as the worst refugee crisis since World War II, stretching national budgets and creating a backlash of political nativism in countries across the continent.

Evelina Veber, with her daughter Karina, and nephew, Vitalii, at a makeshift reception center in Przemysl, Poland. They plan to go to Italy, where they have family. Credit... Maciek Nabrdalik for The New York Times

Some estimates project that at least one million refugees will flee Ukraine because of the Russian invasion. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said this past week that the fighting could uproot as many as five million people, "putting pressure on Ukraine's neighbors."

Diplomats and experts said European states that are willing to take in Ukrainians might be trying, in part, to highlight Russian aggressions against civilians by offering a humanitarian response. "If you think of causing the refugee crisis as one of Putin's tools to destabilize the West, then a calm, efficient, orderly response is a really good rebuke to that," said Serena Parekh, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston and the director of its politics, philosophy and economics program.

"On the other hand," said Ms. Parekh, who has written extensively about refugees, "it's hard not to see that Ukrainians are white, mostly Christian and Europeans. And so in a sense, the xenophobia that's really arisen in the last 10 years, particularly after 2015, is not at play in this crisis in the way that it has been for refugees coming from the Middle East and from Africa."

The Biden administration is also facing calls to take in Ukrainian refugees, much in the way it gave residency or humanitarian parole to more than 75,000 Afghans when the Taliban seized power in August.

It is unlikely, at the moment at least, that the United States would offer a humanitarian parole program for Ukrainians that goes above what is currently allowed for the total number of refugee admissions for the current fiscal year. That number is capped at 125,000 this year - including 10,000 refugees from Europe and Central Asia. The guidelines set aside another 10,000 slots for refugees from any part of the world, as regional emergencies warrant.

Ukrainians being taken on Friday from the Ukrainian-Polish border to Przemysl. Credit... Maciek Nabrdalik for The New York Times

Ms. Psaki did not comment when asked by a reporter whether the administration would offer temporary residency protections, a program known as T.P.S., to Ukrainian students, workers and others who are in the United States to ensure they are not deported when their legal visas expire.

Understand Russia's Attack on Ukraine

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"The war in Ukraine is exactly the type of crisis T.P.S. was created for - to allow people to live and work in the United States when they are unable to return home safely," Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said on Thursday night.

Ms. Psaki said the United States had sent an estimated $52 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine over the last year to help people, mostly in the eastern Donbas region, where the current war began as a slow-burn conflict between Ukraine's military and Russian-backed separatists in 2014. Nearly 1.5 million people had been forced from their homes by the fighting even before the invasion this past week.

Additionally, the U.S. Agency for International Development sent a team of disaster experts to Poland in the past week to assess demand for aid to the region - including water, food, shelter, medicine and other supplies - and to coordinate its delivery. Hours after the invasion began, the United Nations announced it would divert $20 million in emergency funds for humanitarian assistance to Ukrainians, mostly to the Donbas region.

A European diplomat who is closely watching the refugee flow from Ukraine said neighboring nations might also feel the pull of history in welcoming people in danger as a direct result of Russia's aggressions. A Soviet crackdown on a Hungarian uprising in 1956, for example, resulted in 200,000 refugees, most of whom fled to Austria before they were settled in dozens of countries across Europe. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people - and perhaps even more than that - left what was then Czechoslovakia to escape a Soviet invasion in 1968 that was launched to silence pro-democracy Prague Spring protests.

In both cases, the United States sent aid to help European countries settle refugees and, in the Hungarian crisis, "in a matter of months, there were no more refugees - they had been found a permanent home," Ms. Parekh said.

That was largely the result of the United States working with European states to resettle the Hungarians, she said, calling the effort "an exception, historically."

"It was a similar thing - people fleeing our Russian enemy - that motivated us," she said.

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For Ukraine's Refugees, Europe Opens Doors That Were Shut to Others

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Thousands of Ukrainians will end up in countries led by nationalist governments that have been reluctant to welcome refugees in the past. WASHINGTON - Russia's invasion of Ukraine has pushed tens of thousands of people out of their homes and fleeing across borders to escape violence.

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A visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice

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A visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice

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NPR’s Michel Martin visits the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, founded by attorney Bryan Stevenson, to memorialize the victims of lynchings that took place in the U.S. after the Civil War.

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North Macedonia President walks bullied 11-year-old girl to school

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President supports girl w Down Syndrome 

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President supports girl w Down Syndrome 

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North Macedonia President walks bullied 11-year-old girl to school

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north macedonia's president walks bullied 11-year-old girl with down syndrome to school - cnn

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North Macedonia President walks bullied 11-year-old girl to school

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The President of North Macedonia walked an 11-year-old girl with Down syndrome to school after he heard she was being bullied.

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From children’s library.org

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Negative -power- of words

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Anti-Bias Checklist

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Individuals with Disabilities w Income & Poverty

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Who is your thought leader, diversity icon?

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http://castprofessionallearning.org/project/top-5-udl-tips-for-reducing-stereotype-threat/

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Brief Word document that lists many useful ideas for teaching

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Introductory video

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1. Home

2. Our Impact

3. About Universal Design for Learning

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.

UDL at a Glance

Find out how the UDL framework guides the design of instructional goals, assessments, methods, and materials that can be customized and adjusted to meet individual needs.

UDL to Change the World

CAST created the Universal Design for Learning framework, and it remains one of our core levers of change to help make learning inclusive and transformative for everyone.

Universal Design for Learning Guidelines

The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Visit the UDL Guidelines

Engagement

For purposeful, motivated learners, stimulate interest and motivation for learning.

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For resourceful, knowledgeable learners, present information and content in different ways.

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Action & Expression

For strategic, goal-directed learners, differentiate the ways that students can express what they know.

Explore Action & Expression

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Home Our Impact About Universal Design for Learning Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Find out how the UDL framework guides the design of instructional goals, assessments, methods, and materials that can be customized and adjusted to meet individual needs.

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UDL guidelines:

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST. The UDL Guidelines can be used by educators, curriculum developers, researchers, parents, and anyone else who wants to implement the UDL framework in a learning environment. These guidelines offer a set of concrete suggestions that can be applied to any discipline or domain to ensure that all learners can access and participate in meaningful, challenging learning opportunities.

Coming soon! UDL Guidelines 3.0

The UDL Guidelines are a living, dynamic tool that is continuously developed based on new research and feedback from practitioners. In 2020, CAST launched our most recent effort to update the UDL Guidelines, with a specific focus on equity. There has been a strong call from the field-both practitioners and researchers alike-to more fully develop the Guidelines to address critical barriers rooted in biases and systems of oppression. The current update aims to respond to this call and to work toward fulfilling the promise of the Guidelines as a tool to guide the design of learning environments that more fully honor and value every learner.

Since our launch in 2020, we have been committed to a community-driven, inclusive, and transparent updating process. As part of this effort, we are:

Collaborating with an Advisory Board, a UDL Guidelines Collaborative, and a Young Adult Advisory Board to guide our work

Conducting focus groups with a diversity of participants to learn from their perspectives, lived experiences, and feedback

Reviewing the research on the UDL Guidelines research pages to understand the balance of different research fields, methodological approaches, epistemological approaches, and author positionalities

Conducting literature reviews of equity-oriented research that connect to and extend the Guidelines, such as disability studies and critical pedagogy studies

We are excited to share this next iteration of the UDL Guidelines in 2024. If you are interested in receiving our UDL Guidelines 3.0 newsletter to stay updated on our progress and to share your ideas and perspectives, please complete this brief form.

Review the Summary

Explore the Full Draft

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The UDL Guidelines are a tool used in the implementation of Universal Design for Learning, a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn. Learn more about the Universal Design for Learning framework from CAST.

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Comic that aids in presenting the spectrum

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By Rebecca Burgess (edited by Julia Seidel and Erik)

Note: This is a great handout for Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month (April).

***

Rebecca Burgess is a freelance comic artist and illustrator living in the UK. She has an interest in history and folk songs that runs through a lot of her work. Her obsession with comics runs into her spare time, where she draws two web comics! Rebecca also likes to play video games, explore the countryside and dress like a time traveler!

Other blogs you may like:

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Understanding the spectrum - a comic strip explanation

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By Rebecca Burgess (edited by Julia Seidel and Erik) Note: This is a great handout for Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month (April). *** Rebecca Burgess is a freelance comic artist and illustrator living in the UK. She has an interest in history and folk songs that runs through a lot of her work.

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PowerPoint w/ background info

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UDL explained and presented