NOTE: For anyone wanting extra credit—please do the Grammar & Paragraphing exercises (3 of them) and share your responses as a comment on that post.
We are now shifting into the second and final unit of the course, in which we will be reading, discussing, and writing about the protests—Black Lives Matter and otherwise—that have erupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. For your Essay 2 (see assignment link below), you will be asked to make an informed argument as to whether you think protesting during the pandemic should be taking place—and, if so, under what conditions. The assignment for Friday is to help you prepare to write this essay. Read onward, below!
Due Fri, 8/14, 7p:
—Read the Essay 2 assignment.
—Read the first two Essay 2 articles—on protests during the pandemic—to get ideas for your essay:
–Rep. Ken Buck, “First lockdowns, then riots – here’s how left’s hypocrisy added fuel to the fire”
–Open Letter Advocating for an Anti-Racist Public Health Response
- Summarize 1 of these texts and save it as a Google Doc in your Google Drive portfolio.
- Brainstorm and outline for your Essay 2. Post an essay outline containing the following items below as a comment responding to this post:
Essay 2 Outline
–Topic:
–Title/Author of an Article on this Topic you will summarize (can be one of the above readings):
–Your thesis (on whether and how protests should be happening during the Covid pandemic—and your reasons why
–Reason 1 supporting your thesis (topic of body paragraph 1)
–Reason 2 supporting your thesis (topic of body paragraph 2)
–1 related story you can tell that will support your thesis (3-4 notes on the key events and characters of this story will be fine for now)
–1 quotation from the article you’ve chosen that you want to discuss
–1 counter-argument (a perspective that disagrees with your thesis/opinion)
–1 point you will make to refute the counter-argument (why you think the counter-argument is wrong)
Summary: https://docs.google.com/document/d/17NjuNpvjVZ2VWOsJuQeHUD7NKs9d-Bk9CNXmD3mV1NU/edit?usp=sharing
Essay 2 Outline:
Topic: Supporting protests under the name of public health circumstances to minimizing the spread of COVID-19.
Title: Open Letter Advocating for an Anti-Racist Public Health Response.
Thesis: I support those who choose to protest against racial injustice during the COVID-19 by taking the right steps of protection wearing masks, distancing, using hand sanitizer, and getting tested for Covid-19 as much as possible because racism is a social determinant of health. It affects blacks’ physical and mental health in the U.S. so that I wouldn’t consider these crises separately.
Reason 1: Because black people fear for their lives like it depend on it because one in every 1,000 black men could die at the hands of the police.
Reason 2: Because addressing the root causes of racial inequality is more important than staying at home.
Story to support the thesis: [STILL WORKING ON FINDING ONE WHICH WILL SUPPORT MY THESIS]
Quote: “support demonstrators who are tackling the paramount public health problem of pervasive racism” and “express solidarity and gratitude toward demonstrators who have already taken on enormous personal risk to advocate for their health, the health of their communities, and the public health of the United States.”
Counter-argument: Gathering in every state in the country to protest will spike in coronavirus cases and may follow more deaths than the many black people who lost their lives in the hands of police.
Refute the counter-argument: The racial injustice that protests call attention to have been health risks for decades. Plus blacks are more likely to develop COVID-19 and have a higher rate of hospiÂtalÂizaÂtion, mechanÂical ventiÂlaÂtion, and death. This is why we have doctors who are called on to support their patients and their commuÂniÂties.
Nice work, Mumin. Here’s some feedback for adjusting your outline and writing Essay 2:
–Remember, the connections between each Reason and your thesis/topic have to be really CLEAR!
–Connect reason 1 to your thesis/the pandemic more or re-think and re-word it. How exactly do you connect the fear of the police many POC experience to the question of whether protesting should be taking place?
–Your statistic (1 in 1000 black men…) is good evidence of why POC might fear the police. But again, how is this related to the topic/thesis? (Be sure to explain.) Also, please be sure to cite where this information is coming from.
–Addressing the root causes is more important than staying at home… It doesn’t seem that “staying at home” is really the point here; the point is how to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread. Perhaps you can explain this here and adjust your argument. But also, considering the fact that POC are more prone to contracting and dying from COVID-19, doing everything possible to reduce the spread of the virus would seem quite important? How do you think these different points can go together—addressing the root causes of racism, protesting in support of BLM, and reducing the spread of COVID-19? This seems to be an important set of connections to explain in your argument.
–There is additional evidence in the final two readings to help support your refutation of the counterargument. 🙂
Essay 2 outline
Topic – Pandemic protesting
Title/ author of article – Rep. Ken Buck:First lockdowns, then riots – here’s how left’s hypocrisy added fuel to the fire
Thesis – Mass Protesting during a pandemic is not justifilable
Reason 1 – Thousand of looters and rioters rand sack stores.
Reason 2 – No one is calling for social distance when they should be
Related story – Don’t have one never have had an encounter with the police or never have protested.
Quote from the article – As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.”
1 counter argument (a perspective that disagrees with my thesis/opinion)- Justice for floyd and all Black lives
1 point i will make to refute the counter argument (why i think the counter argument is wrong) – protesting should be peacefully even so you shouldn’t protest in the middle of world pandemic.
Thank you, Noemie—some thoughts follow below for your revisions to this outline:
–I hear you arguing that protesting during the pandemic isn’t justifiable. Let’s develop this and make sure the connections between your reasons and your thesis are SOLID.
–Reason 1: Here you have evidence in the form of another related topic: looting that accompanied some of the protests. HOWEVER, it’s not clear from what you’ve written how this is connected to your thesis about PROTESTING. Can you make this connection clearer? Also, can you refer to a specific case of looting (and tell that story) in order to support this point. (You can borrow from Buck’s article if you want/need to.)
–Can you make Reason 2 more specific: who is “no one”? Do you mean “no one” at protests? Can you provide a story that shows this to be true?
–It’s not yet clear how your counter-argument connects to your thesis. You can begin your counter-argument with a phrase like “Some might argue…” and then go on to say what it is a person might say to disagree with you. I’m thinking someone might say: a lot of people at protests are wearing masks and it hasn’t been shown that protests have been linked to rises in COVID cases. (See the last article we are reading where this point gets made.)
🙂
1) In “Rep.Ken Buck:First lockdowns,then riots- here’s how left’s hypocrisy added fuel to the fire” the writer states that the rioters and looters are out there looting stores and trashing their communities but does not hear anyone say social distancing. As there’s a pandemic going on there’s people rioting in massive groups also the same politicians who once called for total lockdowns of their states are now letting looters and rioters destroy their communities they claim they love. As they were screaming, social distancing 6 feet apart seemed to not do anything about these rioters and break up these mass groups. The writers also saying how looters are using George Floyds death as an excuse to loot and trash the streets and low businesses and loot from some of those businesses are all they got for some people.
2) The writer is talking about how riots are happening and there looting businesses and the same politicians who put their states in lockdowns are letting this happen in their communities.
Rep. Ken Buck: “First lockdowns, then riots -here’s how left’s hypocrisy added fuel to the fire”
Protesting should not be happening during the pandemic because they are in massive groups and even though they have a mask on someone can still spread it. People going with hundreds and hundreds of people and not everyone takes the same precautions as everyone. They don’t wear masks and they’re all huddled up in groups.
Protesting during this pandemic is dangerous. I understand they are fighting for something but they have to be very cautious. You don’t know who can have covid in the crowd and just like that it can spread. Not everyone is caring about wearing a mask or about covid .
Many people are using the deaths of George Floyd to riot and loot they loot from small businesses for some people that’s all they have all their savings into that business and it’s burnt down looted. Rioters are out here destroying communities and the same politicians who fought about the pandemic are letting these mass groups enter communities and destroy it, loot it and riot. Protesters are different from rioters and looters protesters are fighting for a message to be heard. Rioters and looters only care about destruction and stealing from businesses.
My friend goes to some of these protests and from what I can see because he records there peaceful protests no one is looting, rioting or destroying property. People are wearing their masks but i can’t speak for everyone but that’s what a protest should look like. There just to send a message walking down the street peacefully without rioting down with destruction intent .
One quote from the article that stuck out to me says “Yet, as these vigilantes take to the street, I have yet to hear any state or local leaders cry “social distancing” and break up these mass gatherings out of coronavirus concerns”. This quote really stood out to me because it’s a really good valid point where local leaders are now so concerned about covid-19 but are letting mass groups of people riot and destroy their streets.
Although the riots and protesters are in mass groups there are many concerns about covid-19. I read an article stating that the cases in New York did not go up a week after the protests. At the end of the first week of protests, the city saw just over 500 cases a day, and the following week, case counts were around 400, the New york times reports.As you can see new york one of the biggest populated cities cases of covid did not rise as you think they would .
The cases for New york does not speak for every state though as you can see florida and texas cases have risen recently tremulously. These states did not take precautionary ways as newyork did. Texas opened up everything faster than NYC is not even done with all their phases to open up yet.
Thanks for this generous response, Sosaa. Feedback below:
–In your summary (1), watch out for how you introduce articles and author names. Your opening line ought to look more like this:
In “First lockdowns, then riots- here’s how left’s hypocrisy added fuel to the fire,” Rep Ken Buck states that the rioters and looters are out there looting stores and trashing their communities but does not hear anyone say social distancing.
–You have a draft of your essay here, but can I get you to make a bulleted outline with the main points I indicated in the assignment? I want you to be able to see the connections between the ideas in the different parts of your essay by doing this. Mainly, I want you to test how your thesis connects to your reasons and explanations in your body paragraphs.
–For instance, I THINK your thesis is arguing AGAINST the protests. Is that right? Is that YOUR THESIS or Buck’s? In any case, I’m not yet clear on how this thesis connects to your point in your body paragraph about how people are using the death of George Floyd as an excuse to loot. What is the connection between the protests and looting? (Protests aren’t usually the same thing as looting, but they can be related; help us understand your view on how they are related.)
–Check your refutation of the counterargument that cases aren’t going up in places there were protests. You mention Florida and Texas but again the connection to the main topic (PROTESTS) isn’t yet clear. Were there big BLM protests in Florida and Texas? If so where and when did these take place? How many people were involved? Are you faulting the protests for the COVID spread in these states this summer?
–Lastly, feel free to change your thesis if you change your point of view on this topic while working through the counter-argument. (It’s always ok to change your mind as you’re writing even if it does involve a bit more revising/work.)
Best wishes.