The World in Recent Years
by Crystal Thomas
Spring 2011
When I think about the history that has occurred in the world since 1995, the first thing I remember is when Timothy McVeigh decided to detonate a bomb in front of a federal building in Oklahoma. The next thing that comes to my mind is the blizzard that hit our area so hard that we were crippled for at least a week. I also recall the year of the notorious fight between two boxers that resulted in an act that surprised everyone who watched the fight. When I think of the past, I will never forget about the doctor that helped assist in the suicides of people who were sick and felt they did not want to live anymore. The past also marks a time in history when tragedy struck our home country in 2001 and the twin towers in New York came crashing down. The 2001 attacks would eventually lead to Saddam Hussein being captured after he was suspected of keeping weapons of mass destruction. When I look back in time, I have a picture in my head of all the people who lost their homes to hurricanes, earthquakes and the tsunamis that have hit our country and other countries overseas. Then after all the tragedies experienced around the world, I remember feeling like we have come a long way in our country when we elected our first African-American president. A lot of history has occurred throughout the world over the last sixteen years and I will provide a brief explanation of the events that I feel stand out the most in my view of world history since 1995.
The Oklahoma City Bombing
My history in the recent years begins in 1995 when I was 12 years old and a truck bomb
exploded at a federal building on April 19th. This bombing took place at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. The blast killed 168 people, including 19 children under the age of 6 years old, and injured more than 680 people. The estimated damage that occurred from the bomb was $652 million. Forensic evidence linked Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to the attack. McVeigh was a member of the American militia movement, and he detonated the explosive-filled truck parked in front of the federal building. Terry Nichols helped assist McVeigh in the bomb preparation.
According to the investigation, which was known as “OKBOMB,” McVeigh hated the federal government for the way they handled the Waco Siege in 1993 and the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992. The date of the Oklahoma City bombing was also the anniversary of the deaths at Waco. The government investigation was the largest criminal investigation case in American history as of 1995. As a result of the bombing, legislation was passed to better protect federal buildings. In 1997, the bombers were tried and convicted. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001, and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison. Michael and Lori Fortier were also identified in the case as accomplices. Michael was sentenced to twelve years in prison for failing to warn the U.S. government, and Lori received immunity in exchange for her testimony.
The Blizzard of 1996
Following the bombing in 1995, I clearly remember when the blizzard in 1996 buried the eastern U.S. and killed 154 people and caused between $600 million and $3 billion in damages before it ended. When I was almost 13 years old, my two brothers, my sister and myself all went to my grandparent’s house for what we thought would be a weekend. Then on Saturday January 6, 1996 at around 9 p.m., snow began to fall and the wind gusted to 50 miles per hour. This snowfall became known as the blizzard of 1996. The District of Columbia had 12 inches of snow fall in a 24 hour period, and other places had record snow fall totals of as much as 20 inches in a single day. President Clinton had no choice but to shut down the federal government for nearly a week because of the severity of the storm.
The blizzard caused roofs to collapse and made travel nearly impossible. The deaths that occurred during the storm were mainly the result of traffic accidents, trees that fell and homeless people who died from hypothermia. In a few instances, people died from carbon monoxide poisoning after being trapped in their cars. My weekend at my grandma’s house turned into a week because we could not get out of her driveway until the snow plow trucks cleared the rural roads in Spotsylvania, VA. Then after the storm passed, another storm on January 12th, and unusually warm weather caused heavy rain that resulted in rapid melting and river flooding. We ended up missing at least a week of school that year because of the blizzard of 1996.
Tyson vs. Holyfield’s Ear
I am sure 1997 had more than one historical event that occurred throughout the world. For me, I remember July 9th which was the day that Mike Tyson was banned from boxing for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear. Boxing was never really an interest of mine but it was on the television in my house a lot thanks to my older brother who usually had control of what was on the television. The fight was originally named Holyfield-Tyson II: The Sound and the Fury and was a rematch to the first Tyson-Holyfield fight. The event took place in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Grand Garden Arena on June 28, 1997. The fight began with Holyfield winning the first and second rounds. Tyson repeatedly complained about Holyfield head-butting in their first fight. In the second fight, Holyfield head butted Tyson in the second round and it caused a large cut over Tyson’s right eye. When the third round was about to begin, Tyson was ordered by the referee to return to his corner and insert his mouthpiece. Tyson began the third round and attacked Holyfield furiously. Then with forty seconds left in the round, Holyfield got Tyson in a clinch, and Tyson managed to roll his head above Holyfield’s shoulder, and he bit Holyfield’s right ear and spit out the piece of cartilage on the ring floor. The fight was delayed but it did not stop because of Tyson’s actions since a doctor determined Holyfield was able to continue despite the bite. After the fight resumed, Holyfield had Tyson in another clinch and Tyson bit his other ear. The fight was stopped, and one fan was so angry that he tossed a bottle of water at Tyson when he was walking back to his locker room. On Wednesday, July 9, 1997, Mike Tyson’s boxing license was revoked, and he was fined $3 million for biting Holyfield’s ear during their WBA heavyweight title fight. Tyson was also ordered to pay the legal costs of the hearing, and he could apply for the reinstatement of his license in one year.
blogs.suntimes.com/oprah/2009/10/tyson_vs_holyfield_an_oprah_re.html
Dr. Jack Kevorkian aka Dr. Death
In 1999, I was 16 years old, and I was busy driving my first car which was a 1981 Toyota Corolla SE. I had a job that consisted of waiting on some very demanding people who were hungry. I thought my job was tough, but it did not compare to Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s career. Jacob “Jack” Kevorkian was born on May 26, 1928. He was a pathologist, and he believed in people having the right to die. He claimed to have assisted at least 130 patients in ending their lives. His famous quote was “dying is not a crime.” This quote came to be as a result of Kevorkian being charged with second degree murder and the delivery of a controlled substance on March 26, 1999. Kevorkian broadcast a videotape in 1998 on the TV program 60 Minutes in which he depicted the voluntary euthanasia of Thomas Youk, 52 who was in the final stages of ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). This case was significant because Kevorkian himself administered the lethal injection into Thomas Youk. In the past, Kevorkian’s clients had reportedly completed the process themselves. Kevorkian dared the authorities to try to convict him or stop him from carrying out the assisted suicides, and the prosecuting attorney brought murder charges against Kevorkian. The charges claimed that he had single handedly caused the death. In the trial, Kevorkian discharged his attorneys and proceeded to represent himself for the remained of the trial. The Michigan jury found Kevorkian guilty of second degree homicide. The judge sentenced him to serve 10-25 years in prison. Kevorkian served 8 years in prison and was released on parole on June 1, 2007.
Physician-Assisted Suicide Advocate Dr. Jack Kevorkian to Be Released From Prison
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks
The first year of the new millennium marks a time in U.S. history that I think most Americans will never forget. 2001 was a big year for me because I graduated from Brooke Point High School in June. I was glad that the world did not stop in 2000 like everyone had thought during the Y2K scare. Then on September 11, 2001, I remember waking up to the news that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. The first thought on my mind was the fear of a war that was about to occur in our country. The first plane was American Airlines Flight 11, and it crashed into the World Trade Center’s North Tower at 8:46 a.m. Then the South Tower was hit at 9:03 a.m. by United Airlines Flight 175.
A total of nineteen hijackers took control of the four commercial airliners that were used that day to commit the attacks. The two remaining planes that crashed were American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93. Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon at 9:37 a.m., and Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania at 10:03 a.m. after the passengers on board fought with the hijackers. The hijacker’s ultimate target was believed to be either the Capitol or the White House. I was pretty lucky because I did not know anyone that worked in the Pentagon or the World Trade Center. Unfortunately, nearly 3,000 victims died in the attacks. These terrorist attacks were planned by Al-Qaeda, an organization that can be traced back to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror, and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, who had harbored al-Qaeda terrorists. Then President Bush enacted the USA PATRIOT Act which stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2206749/Boy-with-OCD-thought-he-caused-911-terrorist-attacks.html
The Indian Ocean Tsunami
On December 26, 2004, at the age of 21, I was probably at home with my family playing with all the new gadgets that Santa Claus left the day before. In Indonesia, people who celebrate Christmas were probably doing the same until they were hit by a tsunami without any warning. The tsunami that hit Indonesia was the result of an earthquake with a magnitude of 9.0 that occurred under the Indian Ocean near the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the released energy of the earthquake was equal to 23,000 Hiroshima-type atomic bombs. Since the earthquake was in the middle of the ocean, the shaking of the ground created killer waves that sped across the Indian Ocean at jet-like speeds. The wave that came crashing down left more than 150,000 people dead or missing by the end of the day and millions of other people were left homeless in 11 countries.
The Indian Ocean tsunami caused waves as high as 50 feet in some places. According to reports, witnesses said as the tsunami approached, it sounded like freight trains and jet planes. Many people also reported seeing the rapidly receding ocean as the tsunami approached. People in Thailand were seen wandering around the ocean photographing the exposed seafloor that had never been seen before. For people who know about geography, the receding ocean is a warning sign to seek higher grounds because trouble is ahead. Experts say that a receding ocean may give people as much as five minutes warning to seek higher grounds. Unfortunately, a lot of people were not aware of what was happening in the ocean and they ended up losing their lives. In 2004 there were no tsunami warning systems in the Indian Ocean to detect tsunamis or to warn the general populace that lived around the ocean because this is in a relatively poor part of the world. After the disaster, The United Nations started working on an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System and by 2005 they had the initial steps in place.
www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-2004-indian-ocean-tsunami
Hurricane Katrina
The month of August marks the end of summer for most people, and it is the time to get to the beaches and pools before school starts in the fall. In 2005, I spent most of my summer in the sun at the pool soaking up the UV rays. I remember watching the weather on August 23, 2005 as Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane. The hurricane caused some deaths and moderate flooding in Southern Florida and the Bahamas. After entering the Gulf, the hurricane grew from a category 3 to a category 5 in just nine hours. The rapid growth was the result of the unusually warm waters in the Gulf.
After going back and forth between categories 3 and 5, Hurricane Katrina made its second landfall at 6:10 am on Monday, August 29 as a category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 125 mph near Buras-Triumph, Louisiana. President Bush issued a state of emergency for Louisiana because of the potential catastrophe that could occur in New Orleans since some parts of the city are below sea level. Katrina’s storm surge caused 53 different levee breaches in greater New Orleans. This resulted in eighty percent of the city being submerged into water.
Hurricane Katrina and the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Over 1,800 people died in the actual hurricane and the subsequent floods. The total damage from Katrina is estimated at $81.2 billion which is double the cost of the previously most expensive storm, Hurricane Andrew. Although Louisiana was hit the hardest, Hurricane Katrina also caused significant damage in South Florida and Cuba. Katrina redistributed over one million people from the central Gulf coast elsewhere across the United States. By late January 2006, about 200,000 people were once again living in New Orleans, less than half of the pre-storm population. People are still rebuilding their homes after this devastating storm and now some insurance companies have stopped insuring homeowners in the area because of the high cost of hurricanes.
Saddam Hussein
After the terrorist attacks of 2001, I remember how much I feared what might happen next. The security in the United States would change forever to try and keep the American people safe. After being told that Iraq was preparing terrorist attacks against the United States, President George W. Bush announced that he would possibly take action to topple the Iraqi government. Many people believed that the Iraqi government was a threat because of its weapons of mass destruction.
In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq on March 20 and within three weeks the Iraqi government and military collapsed. In April, Saddam’s whereabouts remained in question during the conclusion of the major fighting of the war. Saddam was placed at the top of the U.S. list of “most-wanted Iraqis.” Finally, on December 13, 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured by US forces at a farmhouse in ad-Dawr near Tikrit in a hole in the ground during Operation Red Dawn. After being captured, Saddam Hussein faced the Iraqi government on June 30, 2004 to stand trial for crimes against humanity and other offences. On November 5, 2006, Saddam Hussein was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. On December 30, 2006, Saddam was hanged.
www.morethings.com/log/2007/01/saddam-hussein-hing-hang-hung.html
Barack Obama
After the fall of the Iraqi government and the execution of Saddam Hussein, the United States never found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. This left many people annoyed and ready for a change. In 2007, I was 24 years old and I had never exercised my right to vote as a citizen. I watched all the news about the way that President Bush handled our country for the eight years he was in office and I wanted to make sure that I voted for the 2008 presidential election.
On February 10, 2007, a man by the name of Barack Obama announced his candidacy for president of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. Barack Obama was sworn in as senator of Illinois on January 4, 2005 after winning the election with 70 percent of the votes according to CNN. Obama was the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus. A large number of candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries. Eventually the race for presidential candidate was between Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. In the end, Democrats selected Barack Obama to represent the Democratic Party in the 2008 elections. On November 4, 2008, Senator Obama won the presidency against the Republican candidate John McCain. After winning 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain and 52.9% of the popular vote to McCain’s 45.7%, Obama became the first African American to be elected president. I remember this election being a very close race and I like to think that my vote for the first time contributed to President Obama’s election.
www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2010/01/
Tragedy in Japan
On March 11, 2011, a massive earth quake hit the north-east of Japan triggering a tsunami that has caused extensive damage for the Japanese people. The tragedy in Japan began with an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9. After the earthquake, a tsunami spawned and slammed into Japan’s eastern coast killing hundreds of people as it swept away boats, cars and homes while widespread fires burned out of control. The tsunami caused significant damage to the area and it has also lead to a problem at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. The nuclear plant’s reactors were damaged by the tsunami and they are leaking radioactive material. The Japanese people are now faced with growing death tolls, a demand for supplies and now a nuclear crisis. As of the today, Japan continues to experience earthquakes and tsunami warnings. The people in Japan are located in what is called “the Ring of Fire” which is an area in the pacific where large numbers of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. Only time will tell what is going to happen to the people of Japan after this devastating event in history.
smsjar.blogspot.com/2011/03/japan-tragedy-pictures.html
Conclusion
Now in 2011, I am 28 years old years and as I look back at history, I realize the impact the history of the last 16 years has had on the people in our world. Some of the history in the past has been positive and some of it has been negative, but all of it has allowed us to look at the ways we live and learn from our mistakes to hopefully make the future a better place.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_blizzard_of_1996
http://www.weatherbook.com/blizzard1996.html
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/blizzard-of-1996-begins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyfield-Tyson_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Tyson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kevorkian
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11_attacks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/h/saddam_hussein/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/main.results/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/11/japan-earthquake-tsunami_n_834380.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709850
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ring_of_Fire