By Luz Mosquera
Over the years history has changed in several ways. As new generations rise, some conflicts burn out while others are still fervently present. After political tension and countless wars, many believe the government has indeed changed for the worst. Meanwhile, many others see improvement.
Most, if not all, of the student body have not known a world of peace, therefore they may not have a clear view or be able to distinguish the changes throughout the years. Here, at Miami Lakes Educational Center, teachers have more of that experience the students are missing.
Many people might think that history has changed over the years; however, the issues presented and dealt with in the past are still being dealt with today.
“In the 80s we had a community here in Miami where there were riots in Liberty City and Overtown as a result of the very same issues we had recently over the last five to ten years. Go back 30 years ago and it was the same issues,” said Helena Castro, Activities Director.
Race is a main issue that has lingered throughout decades. Every history textbook in school covers the issue of slavery and inequality between races, and as decades passed, the issue was seemingly resolved due to the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery, but not racism. Inequality continues to be an issue as Ms. Castro later stated–it wasn’t at the forefront of people’s minds although the issue existed.
“Today, you have the issue of race which I think has not gone away. The issue of race was just as intense when I was growing up as it is now, but I think it was a big period of time where people just decided not to talk about it,” said John Moffi, United States History teacher and Department Chair of Social Studies.
Even now, hate groups exist. For instance, the Klu Klux Klan, a white supremacist group founded in 1866, continues to have fervent celebrations and protests promoting their messages. While it may seem as if the number of members in the KKK has decreased, there is still a large amount of them scattered through the nation.
However, in some aspects history has changed. According to both Mr. Moffi and Ms. Castro, although the nation is still dealing with some of the tension and issues of the past, some issues have been resolved.
“While I was growing up, we had the Vietnam War. We had issues over freedom of expression like you had students and people that burned the flag or would wear the flag and that was considered an insult and it would lead to Supreme Court cases,” said Mr. Moffi.
In past decades, wars have been a major issue, but conflict started to decrease and the idea of war was not in the forefront of people’s mind as years passed. Freedom of expression is a right most commonly known to all and, in this twenty-first century, citizens have the right to freely express their beliefs–something people didn’t have in the past.
As Mr. Moffi stated, it was an insult when people would burn flags or even wear them, something that is commonly seen nowadays, but people get no punishment for since it falls under the First Amendment, protecting the freedom of expression.
Everyone has their own views on how history has changed. Given similar circumstances that have happened in the past, people tend to believe that history repeats itself. The saying goes that “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it;” but, on the other hand, many may argue that history doesn’t necessarily repeat itself because that would make future something predictable.
