Asher Kramerberry

Law and Order

6/1/2022
7.07 Critical Thinking Questions

1. There were both advantages and disadvantages to the reparations Germany paid ath the end of
World War I. One of the advantages (I don’t know if I would necessarily consider there to be
“advantages” or “disadvantages” to reparations or war issues as it really depends what lens you
are viewing it through) was that reparations paid by Germany benefited countries considered to
have been victorious in the war. However, it could also be viewed as being a major disadvantage
to Germany, who was now having to dole out huge sums of money. The reparations could’ve
been viewed as necessary both in preventing further wars, as nations saw that losing came at a
major cost both politically and financially. It also could be to prevent Germany from trying to
relaunch the war after the end by substantially weakening them. However, post-war reparations
came at a major cost to Germany and German citizens, going on to strain the German economy
and to cause economic unrest which ultimately led to a power vacuum which helped Adolf
Hitler’s rise to power. Hitler used the societal unrest in Germany as fuel for his campaigns and in
his election as Chancellor of Germany. He utilized German citizens’ anger around reparations
and used it to pave the way for more violence and extreme bloodlust, ultimately fuelling the next
World War to begin.
2. The International Human Rights Law protects the basic human rights of citizens from any nation
that has signed a treaty with another nation. The basic human rights protected by the
international law include: the right to life and liberty, the right to food, the right to work, the right to
receive an education, and the right to freedom of expression. I don’t know if there is one right
that is worth “more” than any of the others because they are all important to making up a person
in different ways. If I had to choose one though, I think I would say that, for me personally, the
right to freedom of expression is most important. I think freedom of expression is part of what
makes each person individual and what makes us human, and that without the ability to be
authentically ourselves, what is the point to being alive? We only live once, if we are not living as
ourselves, is there any reason to be here?
3. The 14th Amendment was an important step on the road to civil rights in America because it’s
original proposition was written with the intention of instilling the rights of Black and White
Americans as equal under the law in the constitution. The fourteenth amendment did this by
granting citizenship to all people born or naturalized within the United States. This meant that
 Black Americans and White Americans would hold the same status under the law and, as such,
would legally have the same rights under the Constitution.
4. Jim Crow Laws influenced life for Black Americans by picking and choosing where they could
and couldn’t go, and enforcing harsh punishments for those who did not comply. I think that
because White society is (and has been since the beginning of American politics) the dominant
race making legislation and because White people benefit from white supremacy, there hasn’t
been much effort from the mast majority of politicians to actually address issues that have unfair
bias or are especially targeted towards a specific demographic. This is because, whether or not
we feel like explicitly acknowledging it, White people directly benefit from white supremacy and
the power it allows. Also, when the majority of the policy makers and politicians are White, there
isn’t much incentive for them to address issues where race plays a major factor because it isn’t
detrimental to them, their personal lives, and the majority of people close to them in their
personal lives. Because of this, I think that topics surrounding racial inequality and injustice in
the United States often gets pushed to back burner if not completely unaddressed as a whole.
5. While under the eyes of the law they were legally freed, former slaves found themselves subject
to harsh conditions and descrimination from White Americans who rejected the Imancipation
Proclamation and viewed Black Americans as inferior. Even White Americans who supported the
Imancipation Proclamation and the abolition of slavery held a bias towards former slaves and
other Black Americans. This made it increasingly difficult for Black Americans to find work, living
quarters, fair (or even livable) wages, and just to navigate life in general. White people held the
positions of power throughout the country, from positions as high as the presidency to as local as
mayors, landlords, and employers. The odds were stacked against the success of Black life in
America from the very beginning, and we continue to see how that affects our society now even
hundreds of years later.