TOW #14 - I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (IRB pt. 2)

I enjoyed reading the second part of this book. It was interesting to continue seeing Angelou's development as a child, and the experiences she had that shaped her childhood. The second half of the book was primarily ages 10-16. As the book progresses, you can see the things she learns and the ways her experiences changed her, either for better or worse. It was nice to see her thoughts as these things happened. The most important thing to learn from this half of the book was that if you really want something, you can get it if you try. She was the first African American to get a job working on the streetcars, because she knew that was what she wanted and she was willing to do anything in order to get it. She talked to people she knew, she insisted to everyone running the streetcars, all to the job that she really wanted, even if it wasn't necessarily the best job available. The result of her determination and hard work led to her achieving what she had set out to do, and that's an important thing for people to know, that just because a limit exists doesn't mean it can't be broken if you really work for it. I also liked the message at the end that the people who love you the most will support you through anything and their opinion of you won't change if something happens. I thought the Graduation chapter was really good, because it was a good demonstration of the general sentiments of African American people at the time, that they were not given equal rights and they were limited by their skin color. Angelou herself wonders why the famous black people were all athletes while white children could become anyone from a scientist to anyone they wanted to be. She almost seems to feel like trying for anything like being an Einstein or Madame Curie (some of the examples she cites) would be useless. But then later, she refutes that when she pursues her dream and becomes the first black streetcar operator, which I thought was nice because it contributed to the theme I mentioned earlier.

TOW #13 - Justice Cartoon (visual)

This was an interesting cartoon I found, and I thought it was relevant to what's going on in the world today, such as the cases of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. The cartoon itself has an interesting method because justice is not supposed to discriminate among people, yet we still have police officers who can commit crimes against African American men without getting any sort of consequence for their actions. I think the choice of using two young black children in the cartoon is interesting because children are impressionable and they'll be thinking that they are not worth as much as white people, that the justice system is corrupted by ideas of racism and prejudice. I think this was an effective way to do this, because justice is supposed to be "blind", with ideals of being innocent until proven guilty, and the idea that all people are equal under the law. I think it was using this particular icon was a good idea, because it demonstrates the principles the justice system is supposed to abide by. But one of the children is saying "but she can still make out colors" which is an effective and simple way to show some of the things that are wrong with the justice system today, that it discriminates. And by simply saying that it can make out colors, the cartoonist is suggesting that this isn't limited to just African Americans, it can apply to people of other cultures, basically anyone who isn't white. The cartoon appeals primarily to pathos and logos. It appeals to pathos through the use of children in the cartoon and in light of the recent events, with the trend "Black Lives Matter", in order to show that there is a major problem in our society with the treatment of people of color. It also appeals to logos by making the argument that if justice is supposed to be blind, why it seems that African Americans are not being treated equally to whites, and police officers who kill young children and unarmed teenagers should be walking free.

TOW #12 Ferguson Was the Spark (Written)

http://time.com/3617369/eric-garner-grand-jury-protests/

For a long time now, posts about Ferguson and the death of Eric Garner have filled up my tumblr dashboard, and the more I see, the more angry it makes me. This was an interesting article as it connected this two relevant events. The first thing I noticed however, is a few inaccuracies in the description of the Ferguson events, particularly in describing the encounter between Michael Brown and Officer Wilson. The article was mainly about the racism problems that are still present in our country, resulting in the deaths of unarmed people. The article itself was interesting because it provided evidence to support the claim it made in the title, that Ferguson was the "spark" and Garner is "the fire". It talks about how the details in Ferguson are questionable, but that it's still inspired people to take action, and that with this newest development, people have taken to protesting for basic human rights. He did make a good point that even if the circumstances were questionable, it still can't justify Brown's death (which evidence suggests was not due to theft, but to jaywalking). It does question however, what the movement is trying to achieve, as attempting to get rid of racism entirely is impossible. The article appealed to logos in order to support the author's positive opinion of the movements, how it's a good thing that people are standing up for their beliefs and protesting injustice, but raises objections to the way the movement is progressing. I disagree with some of the things the author said in the article however, that Ferguson is getting more attention than Garner, and I disagree, because from what I've seen, it's getting a lot of attention, especially on my social media stream. I agree with the fact that these officers were not even indicted, received no punishment (and Wilson got a load of money from supporters, which I personally find sickening), and essentially got away with killing. There was one sentence that I thought summed up the article pretty well, "Ferguson was the spark, but Garner was 'it.'". Ferguson was an important but with the resolution of the Garner case, it has created even more uproar among the people and makes people inclined to take action at the brutality of the event and the people responsible, possibly leading to future steps combating racism.


Another interesting link: http://raggedyhour.tumblr.com/post/104454252877/nodamncatnodamncradle-odinsblog-racial-bias