Question: How does illegal immigration affect the mental health of immigrants and how do they treat it?
I think this is an important issue that affects the lives of millions of people in the U.S., but is not commonly talked about. We know how important mental health is, but how does affect those that do not have the resources or access to health care to maintain strong mental health.
“Before the civil rights era, racial triangulation occurred openly, in cultural-racial terms; during the post-civl rights era, racial triangulation has occurred in a coded fashion, in cultural terms decoupled from overly racial claims.”
This quote is saying that even after the civil rights era, racial triangulation still exists. It is not as open as it once was, but it is rather done through discrete methods. One example, like we discussed in class, is Asian-Americans are just expected to excel academically. Yes, Asian culture places high values on education, but society has turned this into a stereotype that now depicts Asian-Americans as all having to be doctors or lawyers.
0:00 – 0:30 The video starts off with a home invasion. Someone breaks into Polo’s house and begins to shoot at him.
Polo G is from Chicago, and as we all know Chicago has a very high crime rate. I think this is a fitting way to start off the music video as it directly ties into his Chicago up bringing where gun violence is a very present. His first line being “Decorate your block with red tape, foenem’ slidin every day” is also referring to his Chicago up bringing. Foenem is a Chicago slang term meaning gang or crew.
0:31 -0:49 Polo G gets out of his room avoiding the shooter and continues walking in the halls of his house.
At around 0:44 we see Polo G dumping a pill bottle into the air. This is referring to his battle with addiction. Polo G was addicted to pills like Xanax and Percocet for a few years so him throwing them into the air is symbolizing letting go of that addiction.
“Can’t relapse off these drugs, man R.I.P. to Juice
We was tweakin’ off them Percs, I popped my last one with you”
Here Polo G is referring to the late rapper Juice Wrld. Juice Wrld was a fellow Chicago rapper and friends of Polo G. When Polo G says “I popped my last one with you” he literally means it. He remembers popping Percocet with Juice Wrld for the last time before Juice died in December of 2019. The death of his friend has actually helped Polo G with his battle in addiction.
0:50 – 1:20 Polo Continues walking through the poker room. The TV shows another image of Juice Wrld again paying his respects to him.
1:21 – 2:10 Polo walks into a jail, then into a cell joined by a masked man. Throughout the scene he is again dodging projectiles. Towards the end of this scene he leaves the cell but is then surrounded by guns.
Throughout this scene, Polo is rapping about the troubles he faced while growing up in Chicago; he says “where I’m from they turn death into a contest.” He then continues ” My niggas went to war but they ain’t get no Vietnam checks.” Here he is referring to the gang culture that surrounds Chicago. He grew up with gang culture and saw his friends killed from it. He compares death to being a contest because in gang culture it is common for people to try and show how tuff they are through violent means such as shootings. This leads to many deaths. The war he refers to again is gang culture. He says “they ain’t get no Vietnam check” meaning that this senseless gang violence ultimately leads to nothing. I think this scene is perfect for what he is rapping about. When in jail you are stuck there until you serve your sentence. He felt trapped growing up in Chicago, much like being in jail. He is dodging bullets in the video. The bullets could be referring to literal gun bullets or any other hardships of growing up in Chicago. He is then surrounded by guns after leaving the cell, which can refer to him facing one problem after the next.
2:11 – 2:50 The intruder that has been following Polo through out video has been unmasked. It is revealed that it is actually Polo G who was the intruder.
I think Polo G being the intruder that has been following him around symbolizes self conflict. He’s been trying to shoot himself from the beginning of the video, but he’s also been dodging every bullet. This could mean that he is overcoming his problems and growing as person.
I found “The grammar of police shootings” to be an interesting article. I often see that when a police officer is involved in any kind of incident, the media portrays what they have done to be a mistake. We see however, through the power of Twitter, that this is not often the case. Many police officers have acted in disgusting manners towards people just based on their own bigotry or malicious intentions. Most news outlets though, do not really portray it this way. Like the article says “mistakes were made.” Police are able to get away with murder by means of a media safety net. The police officers are portrayed to be making a mistake or panicking, yet for some reason an untrained, regular civilian is not allowed to make a mistake or panic during confrontations with police officers.“While still in a position of cover, the officers encountered a male suspect who was armed with a weapon at which time an officer involved shooting occurred.” What I see here is that the LAPD are describing this incident in a very cautious manor. They don’t directly say that the officer shot at the suspect but they make it aware that this has happened. This is shifting the perspective of the person reading this incident, making it seem that the officer had no other choice but to defend himself by shooting at the suspect. This ties into “everything is in the language we do not use.” They leave out certain details in order to make themselves look better, their main goal being to protect their own image.
