Crime and justice are two common themes that have been presented to English 210. All of the works that have been read in the class relate directly back to crime and justice in America. It is interesting to contemplate why writers are so interested in bringing fourth the topics of crime and justice. Literature is interested in the topics of crime and justice because it has the ability to find a deeper meaning through a story and engage with humanistic themes. Wrongdoing, integrity, and prejudice in America will be proven by taking texts from three works that have been evaluated over the course of English 210, such as poetry, dramas, and novels. Through Literature, writers hope to shed light of the corruption, crime, destruction, and injustice of individuals in America to the audience. Poetry can …show more content…
Dramas allow humanistic themes to be tangible through the characters, the lighting, the movement, and the dialect. Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez describes the stereotypes race can bring about. In short, during the Chicano movement, characters in Zoot Suit were arrested, not because of any proof of crime, but because of their Hispanic race. An instance where this becomes abundantly clear is when the characters are in the court room when the judge keeps allowing misconduct: “Quite frankly, Mr. Shearer, I am getting rather tired of your repeated useless objections” (Valdez 60). At this point in the play, one understands that the biased judge has already made up his mind that the Hispanic “criminals” are guilty. Through Zoot Suit, the audience is able to realize that one’s race has a lot to do with the outcomes of their everyday life, which is an issue that America continues to have. Overall, the drama Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez analyzes the injustice of individuals in America due to their race, and the play can allow the audience to understand and see the problem
The year 1969 was a year full of extreme racial tension. Race riots had already started, protests were in full swing, and racism was very front and center. Set around this time, in the play “No Saco Nada De La Escuela” by Luis Valdez, there are a group of six kids named Francisco, Moctezuma (Monty), Malcolm, Florence, Abraham, and Esperanza (Hopi), who go to school together, and each experience racism in their own way. Luis Valdez’s “No Saco Nada De La Escuela” highlights different aspects of racism through experiences in the lives of several students as they progress through elementary school, high school, and college.
The Zoot Suit Riots reveal that the American society in Los Angeles during the WWII Era was racially discriminated against Mexicans/Mexican Descents because Mexicans/Mexican Descents were known to wear Zoot Suits while zoot suitors were perceived as criminals. During this time, the Zoot Suit Riots occurred causing the “Spanish-speaking community” to be in a hard situation of being excluded from society and their surroundings. Mexicans/Mexican Descents wore Zoot Suits as a trend with the thought that this would help them “fit in” with the American style. Instead, Zoot Suitors end up being viewed as a “bad” image. The sailors would go into the Mexican neighborhoods and harm any Mexican (and Zoot Suit wearers) in sight.
With Schutte’s background in journalism, social activism, and writing, she is able to bring out emotions within the reader. Schutte understands the past events relating to racism and is able to discuss the issues with the reader, with an informed background. The wording within the article demonstrates Schutte’s passion on the subject, and uses words such as defenseless, shock and horror to express her opinions on the racism that blacks fear and encounter daily. Schutte includes personal stories of victims of racial profiling and harm to establish pathos. Schutte discusses the discrimination that blacks face daily: being judged based on the color of their skin and not their intellectual ability or personality.
Mallory Benincaso English 2B 1/4/23 Crime and Punishment in Long Way Down The purpose of this essay is to discuss the nature of a crime, the subsequent punishment, and who is truly affected by it in Jason Reynolds’ Long Way Down using the first person point of view. Using Shawn’s point of view, we will discover the environment in which people can become a victim or an aggressor within a community. We will also explore why he would commit a crime to that degree and his perspective of taking accountability of that crime. Additionally, we will learn his perspective of serving justice using his own words, actions, and beliefs.
The crossing between fashion and media can have a powerful impact on the perception of subcultures and marginalized communities, as seen in the case of pachucos and their signature fashion statement with the zoot suit. In the book “Zoot Suit and Other Plays” by Luis Valdez, he explores the experiences and struggles of Mexican Americans and Chicano culture. With one of his plays surrounding the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon Murder case, we find out that the zoot suit was a way to express their cultural identity, also how the media created negative stereotypes about the Mexican American/Latin youth culture. But, it’s also vital to consider the extent to which measures such as “other reasons why they wear the zoot suit” or “what certain stereotypes the media
Annotated Bibliography: Racial Profiling This is an annotated bibliography researching the reasons for, effects of, and solutions to racial profiling by law enforcement in the United States. I am researching racial profiling and is it justified in law enforcement.
One character accuses the other of something, to which he or she must immediately respond and defend himself or herself. The statements of each character are dependent on what the other characters have said before them; that is to say, most conversations between the African-American characters throughout the course of the play only occur due to some sort of accusation or inflammatory remark from another African-American
Society in today’s world is very alike to society years ago, with different social classes and stereotypes. In “Just walk on by” by Brent staples, a variety of rhetorical devices are used in order to convey the message of how a black man is trying to show society that he is so much more than the color of his skin. The author explains how the character was characterized as violent and dangerous because he was black. Staples continues on a sort of journey with the character to show how he overcomes that stereotype, by whistling classical music to give the idea that he is mature and less threatening. Throughout the piece, Staples uses devices that will help the reader better understand the struggles that the character has to face on a daily basis.
Wittman wants to be the “first bad-jazz China Man bluesman of America” (27). However, Wittman tells the people he recruits for his play that he wants it to be a collective platform to talk about racism. He tells them that his motive for emphasizing individualism in organizing his play is a way "to do something communal against isolation" (141). Despite his desire to highlight his own individualism, Wittman still creates a Chinese American community.
Annotated Bibliography Alexander, M. (2010). The new Jim Crow: Mass incarceration in the age of colorblindness. New York: The New Press. Alexander opens up on the history of the criminal justice system, disciplinary crime policy and race in the U.S. detailing the ways in which crime policy and mass incarceration have worked together to continue the reduction and defeat of black Americans.
Twelve Angry Men is in many ways a love letter to the American legal justice system. We find here eleven men, swayed to conclusions by prejudices, past experience, and short-sightedness, challenged by one man who holds himself and his peers to a higher standard of justice, demanding that this marginalized member of society be given his due process. We see the jurors struggle between the two, seemingly conflicting, purposes of a jury, to punish the guilty and to protect the innocent. It proves, however, that the logic of the American trial-by-jury system does work.
Moreover, demonstrate consequences are taken to oppress racial and ethnic minorities to keep them in a subservient position. Overall, this film has provided me with a visual depiction of how stereotypes are a mental tool that enforces racial segregation and self-hate. The label of “White” became a necessity for Sarah Jane to achieve in society. To attain it she needed to move to a new city, change her name and deny her mother.
There are white thugs just as commonly as there are black. Even as it unfolds with a terrible sense of inevitability, “Fruitvale Station” is rarely predictable. The climatic encounter with BART police officers erupts in a mood of vertiginous uncertainty, defusing facile or inflammatory judgments and bending the audience’s emotional horror and moral outrage toward a both necessary and difficult ethical inquiry. How did this happen? How did we – meaning any one of us who might see faces of our own depicted on that screen – allow
I enjoyed the comical and lighthearted dancing and singing approach the characters had to the somber situations around them. Watching this few years later and after taking a Text and Meaning course, I was struck at the sheer amount of things that stood out. The Negroes were declared “other”. In post colonialist theory, declaring one race “other” marginalizes them and stresses on how
(1916). The Causes and Cures of Criminality. Plenum Press. Koonce, A. (Ed.). (2012, November 27).