The Outsiders | A Hood Project

An opinion article in the Washington Post, “In America, black children don’t get to be children ” by Stacey Patton, the readers get an opinionated article from a reporter at the Chronicles of Higher Education about her views on how black children are seen as monstrous to society and society officials. Patton constructs this article to create the argument that African-American children never truly have a point in time where they can be considered and recognized as innocent children. She starts off by making her argument and distinguishing clear boundaries of how he believes black and whites are viewed; whites are seen as “innocent white child”, opposed to black children who are described as a “big, black beast”. Patton argues that black children do not stand a chance of innocence. They always seem to be wrong to the judicial system, even when they were the ones harmed. They are always, even in a state or position of criminal matters, evaluated as the one in fault. Her argument was based around the idea that although black people have been granted to equality in all stages of their lives, they never seem to fully achieve it.

The author, Stacey Patton, then goes on by exemplifying three primary examples that were recent cases in US history Wilson vs. Brown, Zimmerman vs. Martin, and to prove her argument of black people, especially adolescence, being viewed as a harmful and faulted race. She highlights that most of the time black children are not assessed by age in moments of distress but rather appearance and size, which strikes them as intimidating. Police that harmed African American children always seemed to emphasize their hand size, height, estimated weight, and how dangerous they are. I found physical traits to be an interesting topic that Patton paid attention to when defending her argument of a way blacks were seen as monstrous and animalistic.

Moving forward, Patton mentions society using the term “juvenile” to describe how the world communicates black as always young—with underdeveloped brains that aren’t fully capable of being considered to be like everyone else (aka normal). Without exploring this term in detail, Patton leaves us to question what it actually means to be juvenile to an African American child, and how the world may categorize and define a certain group of people. Stacey Patton later on refers back to the Ferguson case to explain how the government officials do not prioritizes the protection of black children and/or the inequality of children. Lastly, Patton takes us back to the past to remind us of how inhumane people thought the development of black bodies were, and how much of that still remains in our society’s judgment to African American children today.

http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/read-darren-wilsons-full-grand-jury-testimony/1472/

This is a court transcript of the questioning of Officer Darren Wilson conducted by a Ferguson grand jury examiner. Darren Wilson, a police officer for the Ferguson county police department in Ferguson, Missouri, was accused of shooting an unarmed teen, Michael Brown. This line of questioning was conducted to get Wilson’s testimony on the events of the morning of August 9^th, 2014. The examiner started the interview off with a series of questions that confirmed Wilson’s identity and his position as a police officer. From there, the interviewer began to reveal the events of the day starting off with Wilson’s shift hours and his first call. Darren Wilson was working a 6:30 am-6:30 pm shift as he did the previous day. To his recollection, the day was starting off slow and uneventful. Around 11am, he was dispatched to respond to a baby who was not breathing. Once handling that situation Wilson recalled hearing a call on the radio about a robbery in progress at a nearby convenience store, noting the suspects’ descriptions and a box of cigarillos as the stolen item. Wilson was not called to respond to the scene, so he resumed his routine patrol. Wilson then began an extended account of his interaction with Michael Brown. According to Wilson, as he was driving down a road, he spotted Michael Brown and his friend walking in the middle of a double line street. Wilson, pulled next to them and suggested to use the sidewalk, Browns friend responded that they were almost at their destination. Wilson suggested once more for them to move to the sidewalk, eliciting a vulgar response from Brown. At this moment officer Wilson noticed that Brown and his friend matched the description from the robbery call as well as brown holding cigarillos in his hand. When Wilson told Brown to stop, it elicited another vulgar response. From there Wilson tried to get out of his car, but Brown shut his door before he could get out. Wilson then recounts a physical confrontation ensuing with Brown reaching into Wilson’s car, ultimately ending in Wilson drawing his firearm. Wilson continually noted that he doesn’t carry a Taser due to limited supply at the station, he didn’t want to use mace for fear of it being ineffective and he could not use baton type gear due to being in a confined space. Wilson recounts him fearing for his life and so he drew his gun which he states was his most viable option as his other hand was protecting him from Brown’s blows. This entire account was communicated from Wilson to the observing grand jury present in the proceedings.

In America, black children don’t get to be children, by Stacey Patton talks about the “lack of innocence” that black children today are seen to have. Patton explains how black children are seen as much more menacing in comparison to white children. She continues in telling the stories of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown,  Emmett Till and many other young black men. In doing so explains how the white man becomes the enemy to the black family. She states that black parents are forced to instill fear into their children- “warning them about the dangers of white people and the police.” She weighs her argument heavily on the Michael Brown case, as to how people all over are rebelling against the outcome of the case. She closes in stating, “The legions of young people protesting the Ferguson travesty in schools, on social media and in the streets are trying to ensure that children of color get to be children — and that they live to see adulthood, too.” 

What happened the night Trayvon Martin died, by Greg Botelho describes the complete encounter of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman the night Travyon was killed. Travyon was shot by Mr. Zimmerman a few minutes after Zimmerman made a 911 call stating that Travyon seemed like “a real suspicious guy.” The story continues in telling Zimmerman’s point of view and the facts surrounding the case, in that Trayvon hit him yet the evidence was inconclusive as to if that was true. Eventually Mr. Zimmerman was charged with second-degree murder, released on bail, and was waiting for trial.

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