NOTE: This is not a formal Essay assignment. A formal Essay will be due next Monday. This assignment, due Wed at 7p in a comment below, is designed to help you write an article summary that you will include in your Essay 1.
- Be sure to Create a Google Drive folder (with link-sharing enabled) and share this with me using the Student Info Form. (Refer to the OpenLab “Bible” for more links that will help you set up Google Docs/Drive.)
- Read the following two articles (Reading Assignments 1 and 2):
Mariame Kaba, “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police…”
Tracey Meares’ “Policing: A Public Good Gone Bad” ? - Share a response below as a comment containing two parts. In Part A, I want you to tell me in your own words what you think the topic & thesis (two different things) of each article is. Do this for both Kaba’s text and Meares’ text.  A thesis is a debate-able statement or opinion that an author tries to convince the reader to believe in. What is Kaba trying to get us to believe in? What is Meares trying to make us think? Your responses in part A should answer these questions as best you can.
- In Part B of your work posted below as a comment, I want you to write a 100-150 word summary for both articles. Place your summaries in your comment below (in the part labeled “B”); also save them in your Google Drive portfolio.MORE ON CREATING A GOOGLE FOLDER AND ORGANIZING/MOVING FILES IN IT
–> see: create a folder // –> see: move a file or a folder
—How to Create a Google Doc
Your summary of Kaba’s article and your summary of Meares’ article should both include the following:
–BEFORE YOUR SUMMARY: a list of 5 vocabulary words from the article (of your choosing); for each word, create your own sentence showing its meaning // THEN… Your summary:
—a sentence introducing the author and title of the article: In “[Title of Article],” [Author Name] writes about…[topic of article]
—discussion of at least 2 different perspectives on the main topic of the article—the author’s perspective as well as an opposing or different viewpoint as well (one that the author mentions or which is implied by the content of the article)
—1 direct quotation with adequate context and introduction: Toward the end of her article, Turkle most clearly conveys her main point, that “____sentence-long quotation here____.”
—discussion of important or confusing ideas/words/phrases in this quotation: The most important thing to notice in this passage is…. Something I find interesting/odd/confusing about this passage is….
a)Kaba is trying to get us to believe that we should literally abolish the police as she states in her opinion she says the police should also defund the police by half . Kaba thesis is trying to get us to defund the police because they get funded a huge amount of money that they should not receive . She also states ways police don’t seem to care about protests as they would hurt them as hurting journalists old people . Meares agrees with Kaba saying policing as we know it must be abolished before it can be transformed. One path to that goal is to recenter policing’s fundamental nature as a public good. Meares thesis is to abolish the police giving factual evidence to her point.
(marginalized)-everywhere me and my group of friends have been marginalized
(Abolition)-We have to advocate the abolition of the police
(indoctrinated)-broadcasting was a vehicle for indoctrinating the masses
(shudder)-as he was coming closer I shuddered with fear
(undergird)-undergirding these reforms is that more rules will mean less violence
B) In “yes, we mean literally abolish the police”Mariame Kaba writes about abolishing the police and defunding them. The author of this article was telling us that the actions the police are doing is not right, many are protesting over these actions the police are committing. For example in the article it states “I’ve been advocating the abolition of the police for years. Regardless of your view on police power — whether you want to get rid of the police or simply to make them less violent”. As you can see the author is stating that they have been fighting for the abolition of police to make them less violent. Although there are many people who will disagree saying that defunding the police is a horrible decision. Toward the end of her article Kaba makes her point standout more by saying defunding the police will make them be less violent and cause their actions.
In “policing:A public good game gone bad” by Tracey L.Meares” also writes about abolishing the police. But the author took a different approach giving reasons why abolishing the police would just be horrible.
In the author’s article it states”Abolish the police? Unthinkable? Consider Chicago, where the homicide rate is among the ten most deadly in the United States, and the nonfatal shooting problem is even worse”. As you can see the author is also giving reasons why abolishing the police would not work there are many states that have high homicide rates. Although the author gives reason abolishing police is bad they also talk about why they should so there kinda in the middle. One thing I noticed that I found interesting was how the author was going for both sides because there are good arguments for both sides.
Great reading you, Sosaa–these are wonderful vocab words and sentences.
I want you to revise this for a re-grade in your final portfolio. In particular, I want to work on the following:
–In your writing about Kaba’s essay, it will be important to go into more detail about WHY she thinks the police should be abolished. When reading and writing other authors’ work, it’s crucial to understand not only WHAT they are saying but WHY—that is, their REASONS for saying what they’re saying. So tell us more about WHY Kaba thinks the police should be abolished. What are her REASONS? HINT: The main reason is HISTORICAL–what does she tell us about the history of the police and police reform in the US?
–Re-read Meares’ article and revise your description of her views. You’re on to something when you mention that she questions abolishing the police—but in your opening to your summary you indicate she agrees with Kaba on abolishing the police. If you read Meares carefully though–especially the last few paragraph–you’ll see that she doesn’t support the abolishing of the police. (In this respect, I don’t think Kaba is right to suggest Meares agrees with her.)
–Check your first line of Meares’ summary for formatting: In “Policing: A Public Good Gone Bad,” Tracey Meares also writes about…
–In all of your summaries and writing about other writers’ work, I want you to get in the habit of using SIGNAL VERBS and PHRASES to describe what the author is writing about. Two key things here
—use the AUTHOR’S LAST NAME (NO “the author states” or “it states”–get rid of those!) // Meares states… / Kaba argues…
—use a variety of SIGNAL VERBS (writes, states, argues, discusses, observes, points out, etc.) // Kaba points out that…. ; Kaba observes… ; etc.
Part 1:
After reading the following article by Mariame Kaba, “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police…” I believe the topic is that police are the root cause of violence upon the black communities, and her thesis convinces the reader that we should put an end to the police because reform will not happen. (Her reasoning behind why change will not happen because “efforts to solve police violence through liberal reforms like these have failed for nearly a century.”)
As well as the article by Tracey Meares, “Policing: A Public Good Gone Bad”? I believe the topic is how the public good act has reduced the availability of the good for the black communities, and her thesis is to end the policing system which we live among before reconstructing a more suitable one to ensure no racism against the color of people’s lives.
List 5 vocabulary words:
Instructive: useful and informative.
Her comment on this delusion is instructive.
Indoctrinated: teach or instruct (someone).
I wasn’t indoctrinated, they left it up to me to find my own way with what they’d taught me.
Conceptual: relating to or based on mental concepts.
The conceptual logic has made the mistake of making the ideation a stage in thought prior to judgment.
Tantamount: equivalent in seriousness to.
Both men were well aware this was tantamount to a brush-off.
Adherence: attachment or commitment to a person, cause, or belief.
I see no evidence of an increase in strict adherence to speed limits on the roads.
Part B:
In “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police…” Mariame Kaba believes that we should put an end to the police for good. Otherwise, there will be police brutality for the people of color to fight against. Another important concept that Kaba discusses is that armed police officers are dealing with a lot more noncriminal issues than catching bad guys such as a speeding ticket, responding to someone having a mental health emergency, and hearing about a sexual assault victim’s experience. These are very different situations and require specialized training and responses. The wrong answer can escalate an already dangerous situation. In other words, no single person can be an expert in all of these situations, but that is what the current system expects of the police. Kaba’s target is to convince the readers to see a world free of racist police brutality; however, he sometimes forgets police do play an essential role in our world and just defunding will re-direct all the funds to what she calls “community care workers” who have the expertise to respond to these delicate situations. Their job will still be to protect and serve their communities, but they will have more effective training and tools and a more specific focus and mission.
In “Policing: A Public Good Gone Bad” Tracey Meares believes the good public policy is no longer both public and good since police play a critical role in helping people in everyday life and to change that we must end the racist policing and establish a more reliable system for the people of color. Meares supports her idea by specifying that “When the public at large experiences the “good” of policing only by concentrating the costs of producing that good on a small group—such as black people, and particularly black men—it is hard to say that the good is “good” or even truly public.” In other words, it seems that black people are treated less fairly than whites in dealing with the police and by the criminal justice system as a whole because of their race or ethnicity. Something I find surprising about this passage is how Meares has given us the insight into abolishing the current policing system to create a more reliable one or only strengthening through reforms in order to bring peace for people of color, which leaves us as the readers to have a choice of our ways to resolve the current policing systems.
Mumin,
This is a strong response—you’ve done well to tease out some of the nuances of Kaba’s and Meares’ differing views on the police brutality problem.
You have the opportunity to revise this for your final portfolio, which will lead to a re-grade (and if you revise well, a higher grade!). Here are some suggestions for your summaries:
–In your summary of Kaba’s text, can you go into a bit more detail about the history of police reform in the US that she thinks has failed? Perhaps you can discuss one of her specific examples of failed police reform? Can you also mention what she has to say about what she thinks the purpose of the police has always been in the US? This is related to her thoughts on why reform has failed; she argues that the police have served the purpose of upholding slavery, suppressing working class uprisings, and so on… This seems important to mention in your summary.
–Kaba is a woman: “she/her”, not “he/him” pronouns, please. (Meares is also a woman.)
–Check the first sentence of your summary of Meares; I think you can find a different way of wording this so that your opening sentence captures her main topic and argument more concisely.
–Re-read Meares and revise what you have here. She’s not arguing to abolish the police as Kaba is (and as Kaba suggests Meares is). Can you discuss what she has to say about why she thinks we need the police–and how she thinks police should be re-trained so as to better serve the communities they work in?
–LASTLY BUT NOT LEASTLY: I want to know YOUR response to these articles. In a separate paragraph or two, can you respond with YOUR OWN views on this topic. Do you agree/disagree (or a bit of both) with Kaba? …with Meares? Why/not?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/10aw8pKiGKnU0zfUPKKa3tXOD08VdIQPh_FDQ_U1h4XY
Please share your response as text–no links on COMMENTS (only do a link when you share your larger Essay 1; this is just a smaller HW assignment)!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Y0N5wND7FLCIOwszvxWjqA3aLRIHJRIcaupWJclN0wI/edit?usp=sharing
Please share your response as text–no links on COMMENTS (only do a link when you share your larger Essay 1; this is just a smaller HW assignment)!
Part A
In the article by Tracey Meares “Policing:A Public Good Gone Bad?” I believe the main topic is how the time has come for the police to get reformed one way or another , black people have been dealing with their shit since the nineteenth century. It is time for action to be donte. The thesis is “Policing as we know it must be abolished before it can be transformed.”
In the article by Mariame Kaba , Yes We Mean Literally Abolish The Police. Kaba believes reforming police won’t cut if it hasn’t worked before it wont work now they must be abolished. The thesis for this article is “reducing police violence is to reduce the power of the police”.
Vocab
Abolition – The abolition of the police force wanted in many states.
Violence – The police force does not deal with violence instead they do it themselves to the people they are supposed to protect.
Justice – Every person who has ever been a victim of police brutality or discriminated against by police has a right to justice for themselves .
Reforms – Our country’s police task needs to be reformed into a much better one.
Assault – Many police officers assault the citizens they are supposed to protect.
Part B
In “Yes, We Mean Demolish The Police”Mariame kaba writes about when a police officer brutalizes a black person, he is doing what he sees as his job. An immediate demand we can all make is cut the number of police in half and cut their budget in half. As a society, we have been so indoctrinated with the idea that we solve problems by policing and caging people that many cannot imagine anything other than prisons and the police as solutions to violence and harm. Whether you want to get rid of the police or simply to make them less violent. But efforts to solve police violence through liberal reforms like these have failed for nearly a century.
Thank you for your work Noemie. Here’s some feedback you can use to revise this to improve your grade:
–Good work on Meares’ article, but say more clearly what she thinks should be done about the police problem in the US.
–Please look at the model sentence for beginning your summaries in the assignment description and use this exact wording in your own summaries: In “Title of Article,” Author Name discusses….
(Check your wording very carefully–it’s not the same as in the model.)
–Please provide more detail on WHY Kaba argues to abolish the police (provide detail on some of the historical events she discusses).
–Lastly, but certainly not least, I want YOUR response to these articles. Do you agree/disagree? Why?
In Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police ,author Mariame Kaba the article is basically talking about ways Congressional Democratic to identify and prosecute police misconduct and why we they should abolish the police giving .“We’ve been taught to think they “catch the bad guys; they chase the bank robbers; they find the serial killers,” said Alex Vitale.the coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College, in an interview with Jacobin says “ But this is “a big myth,The vast majority of police officers make one felony arrest a year. If they make two, they’re cop of the month.”this basically is showing that police are forced to be the “good guy”to look like the good cop but not all cops are good they just wanna look like a good cop but that’s not helping.The author believes we should abolish policing and caging and spend the billions on housing ,food ,and education.police misconduct should not be happening there supposed to help us not hurt us. Congressional Democrats should try to find ways to diminish police violence .Black people should not be marginalized.They need to obsolete the idea of them overly using force .We should all be restorative as American citizens. Something interesting that I found in this passage is that they were bringing up examples of the past and they also were bringing up George Floyd.
In Policing: A Public Good Gone Bad by Tracey L.Meares writes about how they need policing due to high crime rates and that if they can’t stop being unjust maybe it should be less police. “In some communities marked by extreme levels of violent crime—those one would think most in need of police—residents are calling for a complete and total end to policing” this shows that in some placing we need policing due to high crime rates and without policing it would get worster.In addiction to the text “Disadvantaged communities ought not give up policing any more than they should give up public schools, electricity, or water”.Basically in some places policing is very important as electricity .The author also says they should have the police meetup and discuss things.The people in the community.The police needs some compelling to do.They need to abolition the idea of overly force in certain situations.They need to dismantling this corrupt system.The dismantling is easy to understand on what to do in a situation.when they are vested they need to keep people safe .The most important thing I notice about this passage is they talked about some examples of police overly using force like the victims they will always be remembered.
Thank you for your work Medjina. Here’s some feedback you can use to revise this to improve your grade:
–Vocab words and sentences please.
–Please look at the model sentence for beginning your summaries in the assignment description and use this exact wording in your own summaries: In “Title of Article,” Author Name discusses….
(Check your wording very carefully–it’s not the same as in the model.)
–Please shorten your quotations (no more than a sentence each) and explain why you’ve chosen them.
–Please provide more detail on WHY Kaba argues to abolish the police (provide detail on some of the historical events she discusses).
–Lastly, but certainly not least, I want YOUR response to these articles. Do you agree/disagree? Why?