Suggested Reading on Race and Justice

The theme of race and justice is what we’re currently exploring in this class. I think that it is important to be aware of issues related to race, and understand that many injustices occur every day because of the way someone looks or their ethnic background. As college students we must posses a basic understanding of social aspects of the country we live in, those recent and those historic. The civil rights movement and Martin Luther King are the most known examples of the fight for equality which would not be based on skin-color. However, there are also other people who have taken a stand against injustice, like Leonard Peltier and Paul Butler, as well as others, whom we’ve learned about in this class. Paul Butler’s “A Hip-Hop Theory of Justice” was very interesting. Tim Wise’s “Selling the Police” was equally thought-provoking. Last year, I had the pleasure of reading James Baldwin’s “If Black English Isn’t a Language, Then Tell Me, What Is?” I think that his essay would fit in very well with the types of ideas explored in this class, if it were to be added to the reading list. Baldwin explores the cultural impact on social interactions, the roots of African-American Ebonics, and the role which language plays in  expressing our perception of the surrounding world. I highly recommend Baldwin’s essay to anyone interested in doing further reading on something related to the theme of the class. James Baldwin was a very exceptional writer, and produced many other works related to race during the time of the civil rights movement. Nevertheless, I feel that that his work can be relevant today, and would help students generate more of their own ideas about what race and justice mean.

Image credited to:  North Lawndale College Prep Charter High School  http://www.nlcphs.org/Academics/English/Pictures/baldwin.jpg

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What I Would Require for this English Course

DanLin O.

In literature, there are many different themes. For this particular English course, the themes were race and justice. Since race and justice are such broad themes, it is easy to choose readings that deal with those themes. As a reader, I enjoy reading novels in the genre of historical fiction. So, if I was able to redesign this course, I would require the class to read the novels To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Both stories deal with race and justice, and they both leave a deep impact on you.

To Kill a Mockingbird deals with racial injustice in the South. The story tells of a black man who was unjustly accused of raping a white woman. Although all evidence pointed to the black man’s innocence, he was still convicted and killed as he tried to escape from prison. The lawyer who defends the black man is rendered as a hero. Although the whole community did not support the lawyer for defending the black man, the lawyer still did what he felt was right. The book realistically portrays racial injustice, which makes a great required reading choice.

The other book that I would require to be read is The Kite Runner. Set during the violent and turbulent days of Afghanistan, the story tells of redemption, racial dominance, and the price of loyalty. In the story, the main protagonist betrays his friend who was sodomized in order to protect the main protagonist’s trophy. His friend was raped by the antagonist who is racist against the protagonist’s friend. However, at the end of the book, the protagonist is able to redeem himself by saving his friend’s son. This redemption shows that racial injustice can be overcome by perseverance.

When I first read these two books, they left a deep impact on me. As I read To Kill a Mockingbird on the train once, a passerby said to me, “That’s a great book!” This goes to show that other people were deeply affected by the book. To Kill a Mockingbird and The Kite Runner are two educational books that are suitable for this English course dealing with race and justice. They would be perfect for required readings.

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Minor changes in 2150

If I was to design this course, I would  not change the readings. Instead, i would include video clips, documentaries and movies that tie into the idea of Race and Justice. For example, after reading Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience, I would have included the movie “The Great Debaters” because Thoreau’s ideas are mentioned and referred to in the final debate. It would show the significance of his work and how it has been interpreted in everyday cases and trials. Also, I would include some other background sources such as Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement since was a time where Thoreau’s ideas from the text were used.

Another thing I would include in this class is  open discussions about current events related to race and/or justice.  Looking at race and justice through what is happening today would help students understand the meaning of these terms and why it is important. Also, it would help students be able to identify where racism and injustice occurs in everyday issues that may affect them.

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My English Course

I had neutral feelings at the beginning of the semester. When this course began, however, I thought that I was going to hate my class and that I chose the wrong course. I was wrong though. I read some fairly interesting articles, stories and accounts throughout the entire class so far. Among others, “Let’s Spread the Fun Around”, “Hip Hop Theory of Justice”, and “Civil Disobedience” stood out to me the most; not to say the others didn’t. The course was different from most of the English classes that I’ve taken over the years. When the class had to interpret song lyrics, it reminded me of my English class in the seventh grade. My class did that once but just with Kanye West’s “All Falls Down”. I liked that a lot.

If I had to redesign this course, I wouldn’t change too many things about it. However, I would incorporate more stories and accounts of injustice from other ethnic groups. Everyone has their own story to tell but some stories are more heartfelt and heartwrenching than others. Although I’m not a full blooded Native American, I did have some prior knowledge of the injustices that Native Americans endured. I already know of the injustices that African Americans endure because I am mostly African American. It’s always refreshing to read stories about my ethnic groups. But I really do feel that I would learn more and be getting more from this course if I did read about other groups of people. I thought it would be interesting to know how others felt about injustice. No one lives a perfect life or lives in a utopian society. Injustice occurs everywhere and pretty much everyone.

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English 2150- learned through visuals.

I think the theme for our english 2150 class is very interesting.  There are so many amazing different resources to teach from its hard to just pick one style, so I definitely would try to incorporate all different learning techniques in the course while trying to teach students the material.  I would also look at different stages of the theme race and justice.  So I would focus on cases from history to cases relevant in the present time.  It’s easiest for me to learn and grasp an understanding of things through seeing them visually.  I personally retain information better through watching movies or videos, looking at pictures, etc.  So if I was designing the class, I would incorporate plenty more of these things.  I also think visuals can make learning more fun and exciting.  I would pick one significantly famous movie to show during the semester.  It would probably be “Do The Right Thing”, a movie directed by Spike Lee, which basically shows racism to every single race.  Every class would be focused around some sort of specific idea to discuss and I would try to show a relevant video clip or pictures for the visual of that day.  Similar to the blogs due once a week, I think it would be cool to have students find current issues from the news dealing with race and justice around the world.  The students would have to write a page response to what the article was talking about.  I think that would be a good idea for students to stay updated on current events and get an even better in sight of how relevant race and justice are today.  Obviously it is english class so there would be plenty of reading material.  Just as the class is now, there would be an assigned reading for each class.  I would choose all sorts of different readings and excerpts from books like, “to kill a mockingbird” to speeches as famous and well-known as Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “I have a dream”.   There would be class lead discussions about the readings each day.  People show they know certain material, when they can teach it or explain it to someone else.  I would want every student to leave my class with a strong opinion of race and justice in the United States today.

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Changing It Up

 

Although the theme of race and justice is interesting and relates to all of us, I feel that I would leave more room for people to talk about other themes that interest them as well.  For instance, maybe have the first half of the semester on one topic and change it up the second semester.  I enjoy our open workshops.  I have never had a teacher that focused so much on us as individuals and really tried to improve our writing one by one. 

As students we find everything to complain about and nothing to be thankful for so I think if I could change anything in the class I would allow the students to choose a novel (an appropriate novel) and make that a required reading- of course relating to the topic given that semester. 

Other than that I have enjoyed the class so far and hope it continues to be just as interesting.  I have enjoyed most of the readings and have gained new knowledge from them.  “A Hip Hop Theory of Justice” has been my favorite reading so far.  I am looking forward to seeing what else there is to come.

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Adjusting the Course

Prior to signing up for this course, I was under the impression that we would just be taking a traditional English course. Obviously this was not the case and we are geared toward the issue of race and justice. This has not only made English different but far more enjoyable. It allows us to look back at our own lives and see how certain experiences may have been differently affected due to our race.

The most interesting assignment I believe our class was faced with was deciphering the rap lyrics of Nas. Being a prominent rap artist Nas is heard in our everyday lives. By bringing this everyday life element to our learning environment it made the learning experience very enjoyable. More lessons of this sort I believe would enrich the course and get a more current feeling on certain races and problems they are faced with everyday.

So far in this course my favorite reading has been Leonard Peltier’s “Prison Writings” this book brought issues to my attention that I was completely ignorant to. This book was not only well written but unbelievably current due to the fact that it is an on going issue. That coupled with other readings like the Columbus Day have truly opened my eyes to certain issues.

In this course we have not just looked at major issues, but rather had to look inward to see how race and justice has affected our own lives. This is the element that I enjoy most about this course.

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Redesigned English Course

 

                I think the course has served as a good blue print for understanding the judicial system. Authors such as Thoreau, Paul Butler, and Peltier help me better understand the different treatments justice distributes according to race. In addition to these books I would have also like to see a follow up with videos. I do like the way we analyzed literature as oppose to just studying the history. Every piece was connected and offered a unique interpretation of how different ethnicities are affected by racism in justice. To be honest I am not sure how I would redesign the course, I think the outlining of the course proved to be extremely effective.

                Readings like a Hip Hop theory proved to be easier to understand than that of Thoreau’s. Literature is a product of its time, and I understood connection that Paul Butler made much better than the ones made by Thoreau. Benito Cecenero was extremely hard to understand, the themes in that story did not stand out as well, and it served me ineffectively. Besides one or two readings that were very difficult to analyze, I find the course to be very pleasant and informative.

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Redesigning this Course?

Sandra Levkovich

When picking this course for the spring 2010 semester of my freshman year, I had no idea that it would be about race and justice. I was pleasantly surprised when I had discovered that was what we would learn about for the next several weeks. It is one of my favorite topics to discuss and right about because I am very oppionated about these matters.

Professor Moriah, in my opinon had picked out the best articles to discuss in class. As far as the readings go, they are very much interesting and turns my mind about the main topic this course entails. On the other hand, I would discuss Martin Luther King Jr. and activists as such that fights for justice in our country. I would show more videos because when Professor Moriah shows videos, I feel like it captivates the students more then reading because we learn better when we see examples of topic we discuss.

Overall, I do not think I would change much if I was given the oppurtunity to redesign the course. The things we have learned such as Churchill, Leonard Peltier, Paul Butler’s ” A Hip-Hop Theory” has intrigued me. The saying “you learn something new everyday” greatly relates to everyday in this course.

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My New English Class

If I could redesign this course, I would assign links to videos to watch instead of readings because I think more students would do the homework. Of course there would be some reading involved because it is a writing course that requires some reading. We did have some reading assignments that were quite interesting for example “A Hip Hop Theory of Justice” by Paul Butler was one of my favorite. I thought it was a very easy read and it interested me because I am very familiar with hip hop music so I knew where Paul Butler was coming from. I also enjoyed Ward Churchills “Let’s Spread The Fun Around”.  I found it very interesting of Churchill uses his controversial thinking to provoke the reader so both of those pieces would stay as part of the course readings. Another reading that I would add to the course would be  “The Diary of Anne Frank”. I have never read this book but I heard it was very inspiring. Other then books, I would assign news articles from the internet where the students would have to read an give in a summary and response on what they have read. There are plenty off racist and unjust acts going on in the world that there would be enough articles to talk about.  All these readings would be great for the course but I would benter it around the videos and have the class write about what they read and even relate it to themselves if possible.

-Wilfredo Suarez

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