Police Brutality And Racism In America 

By Stephan A. Schwartz 

Throughout this article, Schwartz talks about how police brutality and racism is a major problem in America. He states how people of color have been fighting for justice and civil rights since Martin Luther King Jr. died approximately 57 years. He expressed how he thought people of color were finally going to receive justice after the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. Although that was not the case considering police brutality and racism are increasing every year. Schwartz shows statistical facts and background information to show how people of color have a higher chance of being killed by police than white people do. Schwartz even includes the murder of George Floyd and Rodney King to prove how police brutality and racism is a problem in America. I chose this article because it highlights the key ideas I have stated in my thesis statement about police brutality and racism. This article proves how people of color, specifically black people are mistreated and murdered by police officers just because of their race. 

 “No, I Am Not Ok.” Thanks For Asking. 

  By Dr. Neala A. Lester

While reading this article, it’s obvious that Dr. Neala A. Lester is upset that people of color are getting murdered and prosecuted for crimes they did not commit. Throughout the article, she states how people of color are discriminated against by police and white people because of their race. Lester mentions George Floyd and how he was murdered by a police officer who is white and the justice system refused to convict Derek Chauvin until people started to protest. Lester continues to add on how he is not ok with the idea of African Americans or people of color being seen as a danger to society. For example, “the recent tsunami of ‘White People Calling the Police on Black People’ for just living.” [Lester]. I chose this article because it shows how racism and police brutality affects people of color tremendously. African Americans are tired of not receiving justice and being viewed as dangerous. They want change, hence why they are protesting Black Lives Matter. Police officers are supposed to protect citizens not murder them because they are black or brown and I believe this article showcases that we need to start fighting to end police brutality and racism in America. 

George Floyd death: Why US protests are so powerful this time

 By  Helier Cheung

This article demonstrates how people want change and end police brutality and racism towards African Americans or people of color. Cheung states how George Floyd’s death angered people of all colors including caucasian people. They were fed up with seeing someone innocent getting murdered by a police officer who is supposed to protect citizens. People seeing a video of a police officer putting their knee on a black man who wasn’t even armed made them sick to their stomach. Cheung stated, George Floyd’s death was the last straw and people wanted justice and end police brutality. I chose this article to use in my research paper because it demonstrates how police officers should not be allowed to get away with murdering innocent people just because they are not white or caucasian. People should feel safe and protected despite their race, not fear getting murdered and I believe this article can help support my thesis statement. 

                                       Cited work

1. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52969905; George Floyd death: Why US protests are so powerful this time

1. https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/no-i-am-not-ok-thanks-for-asking  “No, I Am Not Ok.” Thanks For Asking. 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7331505/ Police Brutality and Racism In America.

The text I have chosen to use in my Analytical Research Paper is, “The Hate U Give” by, Angie Thomas. Thesis Statement: The issues of police brutality and injustice people of color are faced with.

While writing my Analytical Research Paper, I hope to address the issues people of color, mainly African Americans face. “The Hate U Give” highlights many key ideas on how people of color are faced with police brutality and injustice. This book showcases how people of color are protesting for justice for Khalil’s death. The Black Lives Matter Protest inspired me to do further research on the problems people of color face and why it’s so important they protest. “The Hate U Give” is similar to The Black Lives Matter protest, hence why I chose that text or book. The thesis statement highlights the key ideas the book addresses or is based on. Having a thesis statement is important because it gives the reader an idea of what the research paper is going to be based on. Your thesis statement can also help organize your research paper or any paper. For example, it can plan out your body paragraphs and what each body paragraph is based on. In my research paper, I plan on exploring my statement by analyzing the ideas and providing enough textual and outside information to help back up my thoughts or statement. This research paper is going to challenge me to go more in-depth on how people of color experience police brutality and injustice in America.

In paragraph 28, Nguyen states, “I would like to make a broad, accurate statement about immigrant children in schools. I would like to speak for them(us). I hesitate; I cannot.” What Nguyen means by this statement is, she wants people to have an understanding of how immigrant children are treated in schools. Many people view immigrants as trouble or unintelligent. For example, Nguyen states, “Can you believe it?” Mrs. Alexander was saying, “A foreigner winning our spelling bee!”. As you can see Mrs. Alexander didn’t think a foreigner/immigrant could win a spelling bee against those who were born in America. We also see how Mrs.Alexander picks on Nguyen while she is reading out loud, “You’re reading too fast” or demands, “What does that word mean?”. Nguyen explains how Mrs.Alexander only did this towards her and not other students. This shows that people view immigrants as people who won’t accomplish many things in life. They get brought down by others, making them feel ashamed of themselves for being different. Nguyen mentions how she felt like she had to work harder to be good, to make up for her flaws. For example, “This only propelled me to try harder to be good, to make up for everything I felt was against me: my odd family, my race, my very face.”. Nguyen felt like because she came from a different race and because she was an immigrant she was not intelligent like others. Many immigrant children feel the same way Nguyen did. Like they have to prove themselves to others just because of their race or immigration status. Nguyen wants to make a broad statement for those who experience discrimination at school, that even though we weren’t born here, we are still capable of doing as much as those who were born in America.

Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy Addresses are both similar. In Lincoln’s address, he mentions how we should come together and honor the Union Soldiers for sacrificing their lives in the Civil War. The Gettysburg Address, states, “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”. Lincoln wants people to improve the nation and fight for what is right. In Kennedy’s address, he talks about how people need to come together to help others and become a peaceful and powerful nation. For example, “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country”. We can see that Kennedy believes that for us to become an exceeding nation, we as people need to help others and fight for our rights. We can see how Lincoln and Kennedy both believe that The United States’ major issue is, the nation isn’t strong enough. They express that to become a powerful nation and honor those who fought for this country, we need to come together and help one another.

In my opinion, the United States has still not solved these issues. Many people continue to experience discrimination and racism towards there skin color. Instead of the Country becoming united, we are divided and fighting each other. John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln wanted people to help one another. For our nation to unite, we need to educate ourselves. We need to learn how we can help others and make them feel included. How we can all come together and make our country powerful and peaceful.

The definition of freedom is having the power to speak, act, and do anything, without anyone or anything stopping them. Through literature, Malcolm X feels like he can accomplish the world. Literature isn’t just about reading, it’s about understanding the words and seeing how powerful they are.

When Malcolm saw how intelligent and powerful Bimbi was, he envied him and tried to match his intelligence. Malcolm hated the idea of being ignorant, so he wanted to learn how to read and write. He would spend hours reading the dictionary and writing words down. Through his motivation, he learned how to read books. Now that Malcolm understands what he is reading, he is fascinated with books. Malcolm states that reading has changed his life. “I knew right there in prison that reading had changed forever the course of my life.” [Malcolm X]. Through reading, he feels empowered and sees the world differently. Malcolm spent the majority of his time in prison reading books and felt like he wasn’t even in prison. Malcolm states, “…never had been so truly free in my life”. He had all the time to read and have no worries about what was going on in the real world. Through Literature Malcolm was able to feel free even though he was in prison, all the books he read and the words he learned gave him this power to understand the world around him. This goes to show how literature can change the way you view something and how words can make such an impact on you.

Language played a major role in Amy Tan’s life. Amy grew up with an m0m who spoke “broken” English and had to speak for her mom the majority of the time. Amy always felt ashamed that no one could understand what her mom was saying. For example, Amy states,” I was ashamed of her English.”. No one took her mom seriously because she couldn’t speak proper English, even her mom noticed that no one took her seriously. This affected the way Amy perceived herself. She feels like because she grew up in a family who spoke “broken” English, it affected the way she performed on her exams. Amy states, “But I do think that the language spoken in the family… plays a large role in shaping the language of the child. And I believe that it affected my results on achievements tests, I.Q. tests, and the SAT.”. She excelled in other subjects like Math or Science, but English was always something she struggled with. Amy became aware of her language biases when she noticed that the way she speaks with people who aren’t close to her varies from the way she speaks with her mom and husband. When giving her speech, she noticed that her mom as never heard her speak in this type of English. As stated, “And it was perhaps the first time she had heard me give a lengthy speech, using the kind of English I have never used with her.”.

As a person who lives in a household with parents who don’t speak or understand English clearly, I believe they are aware of the way English is being used around them. People raised in a non-English household speak or pronounce words differently so their parents would understand compared to how they would talk in school or work. Most probably don’t even speak English at home and only communicate in their native language. I am aware of how English is used around me because, in my household, my mom and dad also speak “broken” English. majority of the time I only speak Albanian with my parents and only speak English with my siblings. Like Amy Tan, I believe my parent’s lack of English has affected the way I perform in English exams and why I feel English is my worse subject.

Hello my name is Edina Alibasic (she/her), and I plan on majoring in Education/Early Childhood.

In this course I’m excited to learn how to compose well written essay’s. I believe that there is always room for improvements and I can’t wait to learn new writing methods. Although I look forward to learning about new writing methods, I definitely feel anxious about writing essays. I always have trouble developing my sentences and making sure there smooth. I’m also terrible at grammar.  This is definitely a challenge I want to overcome and hopefully through this course I can.

The qualities for good writing, are patience and expressing ideas clearly. Having patience is key, because you can’t expect to write an essay or a short story in a hour. In order to write a well developed piece, you need time and patience. You also need to know how to express your ideas clearly. Your audience need to be able to understand what you’re trying to say through your writing piece. therefore I believe in order to be a good writer you have to know how to express your idea’s clearly and how to catch the audience attention. Writing will always be a part of your life, so it’s important to know how to write.

Something that I thrive in writing, is developing my body paragraphs. Once I have my introduction and thesis statement, developing the body paragraphs is very simple, because I already know what I have to write about. That’s why it’s very important  for my introduction to be clear and simple, so when it come’s to writing my body paragraphs I know what I must include and talk about.

The challenging part of writing for me is developing an introduction. I never know I how to start my sentences and it takes me a while to finally have something I like. I want to work on catching the audiences attention and knowing how to develop good clear sentences. This is important in order to be a good writer. Through this course I hope to overcome my challenges and become the best writer I can.

Since I’m majoring in Education/Early Childhood, I’m expected to know how to write essays. In order for me to teach my students how to write a good essay, I will need to know how to write one myself. Being an effective writer can show that I’m intellectual and I know how to communicate. This is very important, especially since I want to be a teacher.