The Mexican Robin Hood

Me llamo Doroteo Arando. I am a Mexican outlaw by the name of Francisco "Pancho" Villa and this is my story...

I was born in San Juan del Rio, Mexico on June 5, 1878. My family owned a ranch and as early as I can remember, I was working with my parents around the house and on the rest of the ranch. Sadly we were being treated like slaves by the rest of society, it always made me angry to see mi papa work so hard to try and keep us alive and well... As I started into my teenage years I noticed my father becoming weaker and older, I would have nightmares of a life without him; sadly after I turned 15, he died... 
I knew now that it was up to me to keep mi mama and my sisters and brother okay so I became a sharecropper to keep some money coming in. Since I was always busy working and wearing myself, I was neglecting my duties of protecting my siblings and mother. On one particular day in 1894, My 12 year old sister was raped, by the owner of the hacienda I was working on, it made me furious so I decided to bring her justice myself! I found my father's pistol that he kept hidden in the house, I found that worthless excuse of a man and I shot him before he could say sorry. 
I became a wanted man at the age of only 16 years and I had to try and flee so I went towards the mountains but I was caught and put into prison. I let my father and my entire family down, I disgraced them all... Instead of letting myself rot in prison, I escaped and went back towards the mountains to forever become a man on the run. On the way I discovered another group of bandits and I became their leader, from that point on I was known as Pancho Villa
Soon, my name was becoming synonymous among the people of Mexico, I was called a bandit and a snake because nobody could catch me. My reputation soon was recognized by a man who called himself Francisco Madero, he was planning a revolution against Porfirio Diaz who was El Presidente at the time. Madero found me and told me that I was "skillful" and could become a "great guerrilla fighter." After considering all the good and bad things that could come from helping this stranger, I decided to join him in this uprising. I was immediately appointed a colonel and soon I was leading a successful revolution in the name of Mexico! From October of 1911 to May 1911, I helped push the revolution forward but after having problems with Commander Orozco, I resigned. Not very long after I left I met a beautiful woman, her name was Maria Luz Corral and on May 29, 1911 I married her and we went to live a peaceful and secluded life away from everything from the past. My old amigo Francisco Madero ended up becoming president, but once again there was controversy arising...

Wanted Dead Or Alive!

Now that President Madero was in office, he put Commander Orozco in a place that made him feel lower than he deserved, Orozco was so angry that he swore to President Madero that he would make history repeat itself once again... Francisco did not want to risk anything so in the spring of 1912 he decided to call upon me and a man I had never met before who was known as General Victoriano Huerta to help protect him. We called up a strong group of soldiers and begun to prepare for another fight. In May of the same year, I was accused by General Huerta of stealing one of the horses and he sentenced me to death, I could not believe this! Luckily President Madero sent for me to be spared but I still was put into jail where I stayed  from June to December 27 of that year when I could not wait any longer and decided to run.
While I was locked up Huerta turned on President Madero and killed him to become the new president.. I was not gonna let this happen so I joined forces with Venustiano Carranza to go against Huerta and his men. I had not lost my fighting styles or stamina and I was able to win tons of battles and conquer such places as Chihuahua and other Northern areas of Mexico. Soon, Carranza decided to become my enemy, and wanted to start a war with me but I had no time for that ignorant man...

I fled to Columbus, New Mexico on March 9, 1916 to attack and conquer it, by this time the US joined forces with Carranza to hunt me down, I know that the US military remembered me because I had gone there before in 1812 when I went to attack small towns in the southern part of the state. For some reason, I had become almost a celebrity with some people because they would speak of me like I was some great outlaw and hero to the peoples of Mexico. Since the US had been experimenting with many types of new equipment so they took the opportunity to test them out on me, maybe that's why they didn't kill me...
I made it back into Mexico and continued to make a name for myself among the peoples. On May 20, 1920 my enemy Venustiano Carranza assassinated that evil man Victoriano, and took office as the president. He soon began speaking that he just wanted peace in Mexico and he called upon me to ask that I retire from the place I had in the anarchy going on, he promised I'd have a nice hacienda to live in that was located in Chihuaha, he had me there so I quit from my old ways. Unfortunately my retirement did not last long, I was shot and killed on my way back from the bank on July 20, 1923.
I am still remembered to this day all throughout Mexico, some are good memories others are bad, it doesn't matter what they say because I am who I am, and that person is, Doroteo Arando "Francisco Pancho Villa" The Mexican Robin Hood.

Visual

Interactive
Test your knowledge of Poncho Villa by taking this quiz!
click the link below
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MZ2VVBM

Sources
http://history1900s.about.com/cs/panchovilla/p/panchovilla.htm
http://www.biography.com/people/pancho-villa-9518733
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/1305-francisco-pancho-villa
http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=1068

Native American Rights

John Chee

I am John Chee, I was a code talker in World War II and this is the story of my struggles being a Native American Male...

     As I said before, I am John... I grew up here in New Mexico in a pueblo not too far from the Four Corners area, my people have always been such a friendly group; but for some reason we have a bad reputation because of the white men and Spaniards who attempted to take my peoples land for years. It's hard growing up hearing these horrible names people call us and being put down because my skin color is dark and I speak a different language than them... Maybe I shouldn't focus on my past too much right now because there is something much bigger going on, I am caught in the middle of the war... Most of us call it "Hell On Earth" because that's what it seems like to us. I have been chosen among with a small select group of men to have a big part in this whole war, we will come up with a code and communicate with everyone like this; first we must develop the code, secondly we will need to teach the other soldiers this language so it can become an effective technique. 
     The year is 1942, it's May and me and our group of 29 Navajo men are on our way to boot camp to begin learning the basics of just exactly what the military does, as well as, create a dictionary for the other soldier to memorize that is written in our language. After we finished our training, I was sent to the Pacific Theater Marine Unit to begin radio transmissions to all of our soldiers that went out there to sacrifice their lives out on foreign lands. We successfully used our language throughout the war without one transmission being broken by the Japanese or German, it is now time to return home, I am happy to be returning home with honor that will be recognized by the whole nation!
     We're almost at my home, but it seems like almost no one is very happy about anything right now, there are no children playing outside, no elderly people sitting outside... nothing... What's going on? I need to get home now and find out what happened while I was gone!
     The one thing I helped our country fight for has now been stripped from me... I am no longer a citizen of the United States... My father and my father's father have been on this land for years and years and they fought to make this land free, but now after me and some of my people went to war to be free, we have had our freedom, our right to vote, our right to legally own land, our right to have our own religious beliefs, and to even live here, all taken from our hands! How can this be right at all?!?! I must fight again to have freedom restored, but this time, the war isn't with foreign enemies or men ready with weapons to kill us... It's with the government, the people who arrived in our land years after we were already here!

Returning to reality now, it was legally unfair that John and every other Native American was being denied their God given right to be a citizen of the US because the Bill of Rights and the Constitution (which you can access by clicking here and here) both state in that the government cannot do what they did to the Native Americans. By doing so they violated Amendments I, IX, XIV, XV, and XIX. Although the Native Americans were now considered 'wards' of the state, they were born in the US which did in fact entitle their citizenship.  

Visual Aids
Click HERE to see one of the few attempts to liquefy the Native Americans living in the United States

A piece if paper that is crucial that one should be acquainted with because
you never know when it may come in handy for you 

here is a short visual of the bill of rights and how they can apply to everyday life. (created by Abe)
click here.

after the video, you can take a short quiz to test your knowledge of the bill of rights. click here to take it.


Works Cited

http://goanimate.com/videos/0BomIJ1MkTfs?utm_source=linkshare

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LTD8ZNJ

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=constitution_amendments_11-27_content.html&title=The%20Constitution%20of%20the%20United%20States%3A%20Amendments%2011-27

 http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-2.htm

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=constitution_amendments_11-27_content.html&title=The%20Constitution%20of%20the%20United%20States%3A%20Amendments%2011-27