On the second night of March in 2016 in the quaint city of Burlington, Iowa, the body of 16-year-old Kedarie Johnson was found stuffed in an alley with two gunshots to the chest, a plastic bag shoved down his throat, and a bottle of bleach by his side. His murder in cold blood triggered a cascade of events that led to the murder trials of two men, questionable and controversial federal involvement backed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and new light shed on continuing debates of gender identity inclusivity policies and legislature in the justice system. The Victim and His Murderers: Context A “popular junior, known for his infectious laugh and dazzling grin,” (Davey, 2017) Kedarie was an admired member of his community whose sudden death shook the inconsequential city he’d lived in. His family moved from the West Side of Chicago in hopes of a better future to the predominantly white area. Kedarie’s most notable characteristic relevant to this case was his gender fluidity. Widely accepted by his family and friends, …show more content…
The first two witnesses were friends of Kedarie: Tremell, 17, and Amari, 16. Tremell said he’d spent the afternoon with Kedarie the day of his death, eventually going to HyVee (the supermarket where Sanders-Galvez and Purham first spotted Kedarie) around 7:00pm. The two left the store at around 8:20pm, but Johnson went back into the store because he’d left his backpack and computer. The second witness, Amari, said he then showed up at her house later that night, during which Kedarie told her “Lumni was following him.” The red car that Kedarie believed was following him was outside of the house, but was gone before he’d left Amari’s house. (Parrott,
Plot Killings, written by Andre Dubus, is an example of a short story that closely follows Freytag’s pyramid. The story is largely focused on love, murder, and revenge. The exposition gives some background information on the Fowler family. This section explores the minds of Matt and Ruth Fowler as they try to cope with the death of their youngest son, Frank Fowler. In addition, Matt meets with his friend, Willis Trottier, and they discuss the murder of Matt’s son.
The National Post media representation of Bissonnette entitled “Alexander Bissonnette Charged with Six Counts of Murder” uses Bissonnette’s whiteness as a focus of the article through description and imagery in a way that establishes a racial hierarchy (Satzewich and Zong 1996), through which Bissonnette is partially absolved of his culpability because he belongs at the top of the hierarchy. The article focuses on elements of Bissonnette’s life that signify whiteness in order to partially absolve him of guilt in the minds of the readers, such as his accomplishments in higher education, a patriotic member of the Canadian Armed Forces (National Post 2017), and white friends and family who vouch that Bissonnette “...was not necessarily overtly racist or Islamophobic...did not suffer from any mental illness....and didn't think he was part of an organized extremist group either” (Boissonneault, National Post 2017). This implicitly puts Bissonnette at the top of the racial hierarchy and is therefore invulnerable to stigmatized forms of crime such as
Since the 2010 release of Rebecca Skloot’s New York Times bestselling non-fiction book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, many people both in and outside the scientific community are at least aware of the story of Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells . The almost-mythical tale of the immortal HeLa cell line, taken from Henrietta Lacks’s cancer-ridden cervix and grown in culture for more than sixty years now, has evolved and spread throughout the scientific and popular imaginary , surfacing in accounts of the miraculous power and possibility of scientific research and debates surrounding medical ethics . While HeLa was used to develop the polio vaccine, continues to be of use in the research of AIDS, leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, and a host of other medical conditions, and even sent up in the first space missions to test the conditions of human cells in zero gravity, the cell line also carries with it the history of the woman in whom it originated, the history of slavery and racism in America, and the entanglement of race, gender, class, and sexuality in the sciences.
During a time of social injustice Jeffrey Dahmer's gruesome crimes greatly affected the Milwaukee known today. HISTORICAL CONTEXT Along with many other cities during the 1970s, Milwaukee struggled with accepting African American and homosexual citizens Although the city seemed to simply ¨put up¨ with the black community
An eye for an eye may seem like a good idea, but the opposite is true. Revenge seemed like a good idea to Matt, but it made him feel empty and still devastated over the murder of his son. The story, “Killings”, by Andre Dubus made me rethink my opinion on parent-child relationships and revenge. The story reinforced my idea that revenge never makes people feel better, but I can still understand Matt’s internal struggle following his son’s murder.
In the The Girl Who Fell from the Sky by Heidi W. Durrow, the author expresses that labels and single stories about race through Nella and Rachel, say more about the world that attempts to identify them than who they are. Rachel struggles with her identity when she moves to the United States. Race did not define Rachel or Nella in Germany where Rachel’s dad, Roger was stationed. People characterize Rachel and Nella by their race and not what type of person they were. This says more about society’s single stories than what the labels actually represent.
In her article, “A Scar is More than a Wound: Rethinking Community and Intimacy through Queer and Disability Theory”, Karen Hammer examines how Jess’ traumatic experiences in Leslie Feinberg’s Stone Butch Blues becomes the foundation for her and other transgenders to find “community and intimacy” (160). In doing so, Hammer expertly highlights Jess’ constant need to establish a home of acceptance to combat the violence she faces throughout the novel. Therefore, Jess uses her traumas to form connections with other transgenders to provide a sense of community. However, Hammer fails to acknowledge the consequences of forming a community based on shared experiences of violence. Jess expresses these consequences in her willingness to give up on the
As Irene W. Leigh writes in her book A Lens on Deaf Identities, the face of the Deaf community that is acknowledged in the public eye is often the “homogenous white face…with the presence of diverse ethnic groups barely acknowledged or purposefully kept out of sight in the literature.” This statement reflects the reality of the optics of the Deaf community—one which aligns with the groups who hold power in the current political structures across the colonized world. White people are often the default, and those who are seen, and everyone who doesn’t fall into this category falls away—at an increasing pace depending on if one has multiple marginalities (class, gender, sexual orientation, etc). Holding multiple marginalized identities makes
On March 1 2017, I attended an event for the anthology A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota. This event included readings, musical performances, and a choreographed performance. The entire event completely captivated me, but I was most impacted by Andrea Jenkins reading from her part of the anthology titled “The Price We Pay: How Race and Gender Identity Converge”. In her piece, she talked a lot about gender identity, race, and how they intersect.
Harvey Milk’s Impact on LGBTQ Community All over the world, including in the United States, people face discrimination, inequality, and violence based on who they are. In the short story “A Letter to Harvey Milk” by Lesléa Newman, readers encounter characters that advocate for the rights of minorities, particularly Harvey Milk. Though Harvey Milk didn’t participate in dialogue throughout the short story, he had an immense impact on not only the two main characters Harry and Barbara, but the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community as well. In the mid-twentieth century, homosexuals were legally and socially discriminated against in the United States.
I have chosen to document and research African-American Hate Crimes during the eras of 2007 until 2015. With recent cases of Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and the crimes of San Jose University, I believe this research is more than needed. By researching several forms of accurate and up-to-date literature and research findings I will promote and compile the most accurate and efficient research of these factors as possible with the prevalent information found from over 20 different sources, direct and indirect. Subjects will include and will be limited to African Americans between the ages of 15 and 35, Law Enforcement Officials within Southern States v. Northern States, and Parental Figures of those who have lives lost. With approval
Set in the Roaring Twenties, Kevin Boyle’s Arc of Justice examines race relations in the crowded and bustling city of Detroit. Focusing on the story of Ossain Sweet, Boyle uses this book to depict the trying experiences of blacks moving into all-white communities in their fight for comparative peace, and the rise of the N.A.A.C.P. At the age of thirteen, Sweet’s parents sent him away from their family farm in Florida so that he could escape the Jim Crow South and build a better life for himself. After working his way through schooling at both Wilberforce University and Howard University Medical School, Sweet moved to Detroit in 1921 where he built a prosperous practice in the city’s largest ghetto, Black Bottom.
Not being able to know one’s identity during adolescence can lead to do drugs, commit theft, fail school, and be blind on what to do with their life. This is what James McBride had to go through during his adolescence. Growing up in a black community with a white mother can be very confusing and stressful. He employs rhetorical devices throughout his text in order to develop his epiphany regarding his mother’s life and by, extension, his own. Through the use of appeals and tone James McBride reveals the importance of education and religion, but above all else McBride mostly focuses on finding his identity, trying to understand race as he was growing up, and shows how his mother played an important role in his life
Pauli Murray’s Proud Shoes tells the story of Murray’s family as they developed through segregation. After the death of her parents, Murray is taken to live with her grandparents, Robert and Cornelia Fitzgerald. Proud Shoes focuses on the life of Robert and Cornelia and how they experienced life differently due to their individual situations. This book discusses how race and gender played key roles in the life of Robert and Cornelia. Through this discussion, readers are able to understand a broader American life based on individual experiences and express topics on gender identity and gender difference.
At first glance, Nella Larsen’s Passing is a novel primarily concerned with the construction and representation of race and racial boundaries. While the theme of passing for white is important to the text, it masks the exploration of same-sex desire, passing unnoticed by most readers. Through the characterization of Irene, Larsen demonstrates how the intersection of identities effects a person’s perspective of the world around them and their experiences with others. Irene Redfield leads a fairly secure, middle class life in Harlem until she is revisited by a figurative ghost from her past, her childhood friend, Clare Kendry, at the top of the Drayton hotel. The novel’s narration is third person limited with the focalization on Irene’s experience and