Report essay
English 102-009 TR 11-12:15
Thursday, Oct. 15
later in the session you will be able to record your attendance
Today: Introductions, conclusions, and paragraphs in between
draft due by end of day
in-text citation
Historian Kevin Gannon insists that complaints about police violence “didn’t just appear out of nothing” but are in fact “the product of a centuries-long historical process” in which the “law and order branch of the state” has been used against black communities (1:28).
do it like this
start with a clear idea of the film’s thesis
A single, unified, controlling claim
An explanation that connects random facts, showing that they aren’t random
“this is the product of a centuries- long historical process” (1:27)
“systems of racial and social control that appear to
die but are reborn and reform tailored to the
constraints and needs of the time.”
“systems of racial and social control that appear to
die but are reborn and reform tailored to the
constraints and needs of the time.”
“the narrative of racial difference continued and it
turned into this presumption of dangerousness and
guilt that follows every black and brown person”
“systems of racial and social control that appear to
die but are reborn and reform tailored to the
constraints and needs of the time.”
“the narrative of racial difference continued and it
turned into this presumption of dangerousness and
guilt that follows every black and brown person”
[Police violence] “isn’t the problem in and of itself,
it’s the reflection of a much larger, brutal system of
racial and social control known as mass
incarceration, which authorizes this kind of police
violence.”
Everything that happens happens at a moment in time. Don’t write as if there is no such thing as time.
this is a statement about the Jim Crow era.
Things BECOME true at a specific moment in history
Things STOP being true at a specific moment, too
Which ones are giving you trouble?
“myth of black criminality” established
to extract labor for economic purposes
to justify Jim Crow system
Fear of black criminality remains available as a tool
to sustain KKK terror & political aspiration
fear of black criminality used as a tool
to criminalize civil rights movement
to invalidate black dissent
to win votes for Republicans
to scare TV audiences
blacks & whites both fear young black men D and R both gain by exploiting fear black communities leaderless & defenseless
blacks & whites both fear young black men D and R both gain by exploiting fear black communities leaderless & defenseless
+ Rising crime
blacks & whites both fear young black men D and R both gain by exploiting fear black communities leaderless & defenseless
+ Rising crime
blacks & whites both fear young black men D and R both gain by exploiting fear black communities leaderless & defenseless
+ Rising crime
3 strikes laws $30 B for prisons 100,000 police “truth in sentencing” Mandatory minimums militarization
Prosecutor discretion Overpolicing Probation and parole Family separation Racial disparities Private prisons
blacks & whites both fear young black men D and R both gain by exploiting fear black communities leaderless & defenseless
+ Rising crime
i.e. Mass Incarceration
& Prison industrial complex
Mass Incarceration + Prison industrial complex
“collateral consequences” “looking for the next thing”
from the handout
from the handout
from the handout
October 2016
Harder than it seems
from the handout
But the film itself DOES have a conclusion
“The system of mass incarceration has grown, and sprawled and developed an appetite that is gobbling up people in communities of all colors. But if it hadn’t been for the fact that it began with a group of people defined by race, that we as a nation have learned not to care about, we wouldn’t be talking about two million people behind bars today.” (1:35)