English 2100 x 90: Fall 2020

Author: LEON ADES

“The Grammar of Police Shootings”

In the article “The grammar of police shootings”, Balko strongly defines the phrase “everything is in the language we use”. Balko brings up many examples of how newspapers word articles in certain ways in order to make the readers view the article differently. Balko indirectly shows how the grammar we use effects our understanding of a situation. If words are used incorrectly, the story can be twisted and cause confusion amongst the readers. Another way that stories are twisted depends on who was involved in the shooting. In a case where an officer is involved, the articles doesn’t states specific details in order to maintain uncertainty. These reports also try to alter the responsibility aspect. For example, In an incident where a 10 year old boy was shot by an officer, the article includes that a dog was in the way and the officers intention was to shoot the dog. The article doesn’t stress that a boy was shot, it stresses that the shot missed the dog. Although this may not be the case and the shot could’ve actually been fired by accident, the article still tried to make the officer not look at fault.

I think that one of the articles main intentions is to inform people that we shouldn’t believe everything we read and hear because crucial details can be left out. I’m not saying don’t believe anything you hear, but be sure to be open minded and know that there could always be more details to a story that you don’t know.

Dakota “38”

After reading the poem “38” by Layli Long Soldier, my view about poems has changed. This poem is very unique in the way that it doesn’t have a rhyme scheme like the poems we are used to reading. Instead, the author tells a story in very specific details. The quote that stood out to me the most was “everything is in the language that we use”. She is trying to strengthen her thought about using the perfect word in every situation. Throughout the poem soldier is always explaining Herself and trying to make everything very straight forward.  Soldier makes sure to minimize confusion and any line in the poem that can be interpreted in a few different ways was clarified. Soldier does an amazing job of informing the reader about this event. She uses literary devices to stress certain parts of the story.  Soldier uses repetition of the word “starved” to stress how poorly The Dakota people were treated and how harsh their conditions were. They were given very little land to live on and had no money to buy food.

Soldier also mentions Important political figure in the situation such as Abraham Lincoln. She emphasizes that in the same week that Lincoln passed the emancipation proclamation, he also said to massacre The Dakota nation. She also talks about the word “treaty”. Treaty is supposed to mean an agreement between both sides. However, Soldier states that the indigenous group didn’t receive their side of the treaty. They still were living in very harsh conditions and Soldiers tries to make the audience have pity towards these and the way they were living.