Social Awareness Project

   

`Social Awareness Project

 

Reading Response on a Social Issues in a Literary Work

 

The shooting of an unarmed teenager, that took place on August 9, led

to many disputes in Ferguson. This is what Patricia Smith wrote about in her article,Outrage in Ferguson in the Upfront Magazine. Her article was about how Officer Darren Wilson, had stopped black 18-year-old Michael Brown and his friend for walking in the middle of the street. Blocking traffic, witnesses say that Wilson shot Brown multiple times as he got out of his car. This is set off many protests and riots full of angry people who were heavily affected by this shooting. The author, Patricia Smith, wanted her readers to know how people in Ferguson feel about this shooting, police brutality and how racism played as a factor.

                        

                 In the article, Smith says that the shooting reinforces the feeling that the

government and police weren't looking out for them. Patrice McHaskell, a nursery school teacher in Ferguson, says, '' They're just outraged, and they're tired of the police messing with them . . . It brought out all the anger and tension everybody's been holding in.'' This suggests that things like these were happening more than once. And its true, another unarmed black teen, Trayvon Martin was killed in Florida by a neighborhood watch volunteer. The person was later tried and acquitted of wrongdoing.  In Ferguson, many people believe that its racism that was causing all the havoc. In the article, it says that black people who were currently living there, felt as if they were ''unfairly viewed with suspicion by police . . . and felt persistent discrimination''. Many of the people were often pulled over when they were driving their cars, and when they asked the police for a reason why, they didn't get any. Because this was so common and had happened so many times, people now call it DWB or Driving While Black.  Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin are just two examples of the millions of black teenagers that get killed and affected because of race each year.

                       

                   This type of social injustice, more specifically, police brutality is one of                        the topics that the author of this article wants us to learn. As said in her article, many people are killed just because of their skin color. Although, the author of this article wasn't exactly bias towards her writing, she still made it clear on the topic she wanted her readers to know about. She  wants us to know that there are still people who make wrong and biased decisions about black people, and she tries to explain that racism and police brutality is not the answer, unlike of what was shown in the article. In the article she stated all those facts, what had happened and who had been killed. And she then elaborated on how the victims or family members of these victims reacted with this event, showing how awful it can be for someone's life to be taken away like that because of someone else's emotions toward black people.

                         

                  After reading this, it made me realize that, although slavery is banned

and African Americans have more rights than they had previously, people are still being biased and racist about them. It made me realize that this type of police brutality can happen almost anywhere. It also made me realize that so many people have to go through this everyday (which is in a form of bullying), so many people get teased at, laughed at, and arrested for something they can't have control over, their skin color. This article also made me question about our society in Brooklyn. Are there people being bullied because of their skin color? Do people get arrested because of that? Does anything like that happen in our school? As you can see, this article made me question and acknowledge things at the same time, from social issues to events that take place in our society.

A Social Issue Seen in Everyday Life

One social issue I see everyday are homeless people. Almost everyday,

I see homeless people on subways, on the streets, sometimes I even see them in rags. Homelessness is a big issue in New York City. In fact New York City is the one of the most homeless states in the US. This is a very important issue. Everyone deserves a safe home, protection and care. Homeless people are victims to violence and weather. Alot of people die because of this simply from the cold or some sort of illness.

 

Alot of things can cause homelessness. One example of the causes is drug

addiction. In the United States, it has been shown that when parents find out that one of their relatives have been using drugs or if their use in alcohol gets out of control , they throw them out of the house. Most of these people have nowhere to go. Another cause is job loss. People who lose their jobs and can't find another one, can cause them to not having money to pay the rent, which can eventually lead to homelessness. People can also become homeless through natural disasters. Unexpected disasters can destroy someone's home, and everything they have in it. Usually, rebuilding houses can take a long time, and costs alot of money, and many people cannot afford that. These are just a few of the many causes of homelessness, and they all result in the same thing. So many people have to deal with no showers, no safety if you are sleeping outside, hunger and wondering about the next time you will eat, these are just some of the things homeless people have to bear with everyday.

Although our society has taken many steps to lower the rates of homelessness,

there are still many other solutions that can take place. Our society can create more programs that gives shelter and food to homeless people, and helps them find jobs. Another possible solution is that we can raise money to buy food and cans to give to the homeless or just give the money to them and the programs so they can still keep running. Looking at reality, alot people already tried to establish these solutions. Although rates of homelessness is still increasing, so are homeless prevention strategies.

 

Original Literary Piece

Here I Am

 Here I am

giving a speech

its the greatest moment of my life

What could be better

than inspiring people’s heart

telling them not to be afraid

‘Our skin color shows who are’ I say

We shouldn't be scared of them

for something we have no control

we can’t just let them arrest us

we can’t let them shoot us down

we just can’t be scared

we gotta be brave

we gotta show them who’s brave

No more hiding

no more withering at their approach

no more obedience to their command

So tonight, we must fight!

Tonight, we fight

not with violence though

but with our words

Here I am

walking on the streets

shouting the words that described my life

a supporting crowd behind me

plunging farther and farther into the dark streets

but then

they came

with their guns and all

pointed at us

but we weren't afraid

we just rose higher and higher

and soon no one could reach us

Here I am

on the ground

blood soaking my shirt

emerging from my chest

That's when I realize

I've been shot

So what

I will not cry

sure it hurts

but for a good cause

I fought for our rights

So I lay there

with a smile remaining

knowing

there will be more

to where this spark came from

                         This poem  was inspired by the article, Outrage in Ferguson by 

Patricia Smith. When I looked at the title page of this article, I saw many people protesting for the shooting of a teenager, so that's what I decided to do my poem on, protesting. But more specifically, I decided to do it on protesting racism under the eyes of a young leader who's leading the protest. Adding on to this, its about how someone is trying to encourage other people to stand up for themselves, since they have rights too, and they refuse to be pushed around by the cops. I decided to write it in this format because I wanted each stanza to have a different mood, emotion, and setting. That's whats great about poems, people can write it in any format, about anything, display twists and have one line mean so much more, which is what I attempted to do.

                      This poem just constantly kept reminding me of what people are dealing with in Ferguson. The way they're being treated just completely upsets me. People shouldn't get mistreated because of their skin color, they should have all the  rights as everyone else. I guess my passion and for this topic just inspired me the most. This was just so wrong that it had to be expressed into a literary art, so others can see what other people think about this.

                                             
Works Cited:  
Smith, Patricia. "All Classroom Magazines." Outrage in Ferguson. N.p., 28 Aug. 2014. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.  "United States Interagency Council on Homelessness." Homelessness Prevention. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.  "State of the Homeless - Coalition For The Homeless." Coalition For The Homeless. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2014.