7 A committee of scholars at Boston University concluded that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had plagiarized passages in his dissertation. 

Dr. King wrote his dissertations in 1955 titled “A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman” for his doctor of philosophy degree at Boston University’s Division of Religious and Theological Studies. However, the panel said they refrained from any speculations involving the reasons for his not attributing the material properly to the interpreters of the works of Tillich and Wieman.(source)

8 One of the reasons Sikhs started carrying a “Kirpan” or ceremonial dagger was to protect themselves and others from forced conversions to Islam by Muslim rulers of India in the 1600s.

At that time many communities in India were forced to convert to Islam by the then ruler Mughal Aurangazeb and a refusal to comply meant getting killed.  Sikhs, who were until then a peaceful and non-violent community became a strong force to protect their faith. The dagger Kirpan, one among five other things an initiated Sikh was expected to possess, represents the force of God and good that would protect the truth and destroy evil and tyranny. The word Kipran means “mercy (kirpa) brought forth (aan)”.(source)

9 The children’s novel “Bridge to Terabithia” has been frequently targeted for censoring, and the objections were death being part of the plot, the utterance of the word “lord” outside prayer, offensive language, and that the book allegedly promotes secular humanism, Satanism and New Age religion. 

The book is ranked number 8 in the list of American Library Association’s most commonly challenged books in the US during the ’90s, and is still among some of the top challenged books. Despite that, the book is featured often in many countries as part of English studies classes and is ranked among the top ten best children’s novels.(source)

10 According to a report by Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the US has spent more on its prisoners than it did on education. 

During the years between 1986 and 2013, the expenses related to prisons have increased over 140 percent, whereas that of K-12 education only increased by 69 percent and higher education less than 6 percent. The report says that the number of crimes has dropped over the years as a result of aggressive incarceration policies which lead to higher number of prisoners. Also, according to the report’s co-author, the education levels of these prisoners are quite low when compared to others, which meant that dropping out of high school increased the chances of an individual going to prison.(1, 2)

11 Some medicine for congestive heart diseases works differently for white and black people. So, they have to be prescribed different medications. 

One of the medications used for hypertension, ACE inhibitors, work more effectively for white people, where as calcium channel blockers are more efficient for black people. There are many such differences in the genetic dispositions of people of different ethnicities that determine the prevalence of disease and health problems. Afro-Caribbean people, for example, are at higher risk of developing high blood pressure than the others. (source)

12 During the Second World War, the Allies conducted raids and destroyed 25 percent of civilian homes in Germany. Their aim was to demoralize the German workforce by destroying their homes. 

In 1942, a paper called “Dehousing” was presented to the British government proposing the bombings of German house stock as a means to effectively utilize their military resources against Germany. The paper cited how the population of Britain reacted to the Blitz and how they were more affected by the demolition than by the deaths of their family or friends. The proposal was accepted to the result that similar action was taken on as many as 58 German towns.(1, 2)