mythuglifeposts-blog

[mythuglifeposts-blog]

CH. 6-10 (A)

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/tanehisi-coates-between-the-world-and-me/397619/ 

This is an article about the author, Ta-Nehisi Coates, writing a letter to his son about how to act in situations where he is encountered with a cop and how to deal with them. He also explains that what the police are doing to black teenagers, which is shooting them because they “thought” they were a threat to them, is wrong. Although he states that they are just doing their job. because of history, police have a right to think such things and to take action. in the past, black males had a bad reputation of being a good citizen. there were times where African American teens did something wrong, such as drug deals, rapes, shootings, etc. therefore, what Ta-Nehisi Coates, was trying to say is that an act of a black man, is an act of the whole race.    

So far from what I have read, that was very important in “The Hate U Give”, is that when Starr went to the police station, Officer Gomez was very inconsiderate of her feelings and was trying to push Starr to spill out the answer she wants to hear. in Maverick’s words, they were “putting words in her mouth”. Some of the questions during the interrogation were about what exactly happened. Most of them were questions about Khalil and if had anything on him that night, like drugs or weapons. they were trying to make it look like that Khalil was the culprit and officer One-Fifteen did nothing wrong.  

The thing about the police is that they have seen many different situations. the problem with that is it's the same case most of the time. Like Ta-Nehisi Coates said, an act of a black man is an act of the whole race. Officer One-Fifteen probably thought that it is that case, where a young African American had something on him, but obviously, he reacted too quickly. In my opinion, Ta-Nehisi Coates was right about an action will represent the background, but it still isn’t right to kill anyone without proof nor it is fair that the future of the African Americans have to deal with the polices assumption.  

What do you think about Ta-Nehisi Coates statement? Do you think Officer One-Fifteen did the right thing?  

[mythuglifeposts-blog]

CH. 1-5

This picture was taken from a Netflix television show called “Black Lightning”. the hero, Jefferson Pierce, in this picture, is the black man being detained for a robbery he did not commit. The officer took him to a witness and asked if he is the culprit. the witness said no and when the officer released the Jefferson, Pierce demanded an explanation. the officer explained that the lady’s liquor store was robbed. Jefferson, in response, said, and I'm sure the description is what, a black man dressed in a suit and tie, getaway car - a mid-sized Volvo wagon?”

Reading the first chapter of The Hate U Give reminds me of this scene. In chapter 1 of “THUG” teenager, Starr was at a party and was approached by a childhood friend named Khalil. they were having a calm conversation until a gunfight broke down. Starr quickly decided to escape with Khalil in his car. as they were driving, a cop pulls them over. the cop asks Khalil to get out of the vehicle for no reason. the cop turns his back to Khalil and he goes to check on Starr. Before Khalil could say “You okay, Starr?” (Thomas 23) the cop shoots him in the back, dead. 

All though Jefferson Pierce was not shot, he was still pulled over for no reason except for the fact that he was black. A fact about Jefferson Peirce is that he is a vice principal at a high school by day and a superhero, named Black Lightning, by night. But the real hero is the VP because he helps all his students out of trouble, especially the black students. He takes his job very seriously when it comes to his students. The problem with Khalil is that he didn't have a hero like that in his life. 

Do you think everyone deserves a “Jefferson Pierce”, a “hero”? What if the person was a drug dealer or a gang leader, would your results change?

Here is the scene from the show and a perfect example of a hero because he is encouraging his daughters to protest, but protest safely. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WvG-Gdo-SU