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Sample Student final exam answers 2016 (2016 final exam assignment) Part 3: Model Research Reports |
LITR 4340
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Zach Thomas
The “Black Lives Matter” Movement
To start this
assignment on reporting on a topic of the immigrant/minority, I was sure I was
not going to talk of the dominant culture. I have always been fascinated with
African-American literature and wanted to find a topic that included a black
America. What has always excited my learning of African-Americans has been their
resiliency against discrimination and persecution. I ended up falling into the
“Black Lives Matter” movement because it is a modern sense of what the Civil
Rights movement was all about.
Of course, I
knew the difficulty in finding information for this topic—because it is both
extremely recent and very controversial within political circles. I wanted to
grow in understanding of the different viewpoints that African-Americans hold on
to as a way of coping and intervening within the equality of American society.
This topic is broad, but I have found some sources with varying viewpoints to
demonstrate a better understanding of the African-American experience.
My first
venture was the obvious one, the Black Lives Matter website. It is easy to
speculate what this movement is concerned with, especially because of how
prevalent the media has used their protests to provide a certain agenda. I am
also guilty of believing certain aspects of their movement that have been proven
false because of what media and Facebook have done to me. It is entirely more
prevalent to see the Black Lives Matter movement displayed on Facebook as a way
for ignorant people to speak their opinion through an uneducated lens.
The website
tells us that they are a “national organization working for the validity of
Black life… [who are] working to (re)build the Black liberation movement…working
for a world where Black lives are no longer systematically and intentionally
targeted for demise.” Essentially this is a portion of their mission statement
which adheres to a common element of achieving the same rights that the dominant
culture has in America.
It goes on
further to speak of their political stances and what they tolerate as Black
people, such as, “We are unapologetically Black in our positioning…we need not
qualify our position. We are committing to practicing empathy; we engage
comrades with the intent to learn about and connect within their contexts.” For
this group, it is important to identify their stance in analyzing where they
wish to go and what goals they wish to achieve. These passages helped me
understand how prevalent systematic racism is within our country. Not only that,
but how Black people feel they have to truly be SOMEBODY in order to receive the
same rights that all Americans should share.
I noticed
very quickly how damaging this systematic racism had on African-Americans. Most
abruptly is the deep feeling of anger that they have towards whites who try to
exude some sort of justice on what may look like a Black criminal. Tef Poe,
within the article titled “Generations of Struggle,” carries this deep-seated
anger to say, “I want you to know that if you’re going to come into one of these
communities where there’s black folks, and that you’re going to pull your gun
out and you’re going to shoot, you will be met with resistance” (13). It is
often too much ill-treatment that this race of people go through that pushes
them to feel a certain kind of rage. In those situations of police brutality
against Blacks, it is often too difficult to find empathetic emotions throughout
such an event.
Within the
same article though, because it was an interview, I saw a different perspective
to aid in understanding the resiliency of African-Americans. George Lipsitz, an
American Studies scholar, breathed hope by saying, “In slavery and afterwards,
people who had every reason to give up, people who had every reason to despair,
people who had every reason to believe that they don’t count and their progeny
won’t count, found a way to find something left to love in themselves and
others, and to create a future that makes even our disagreements possible” (16).
At the same interview, it was neat to read about the differing opinions within
the African-American community. This one invited us to try to empathize with
their situation while also moving us to a hopeful future.
Black Lives
Matter also points to education as a basis for a better future of human rights.
Speaking from a dominant culture viewpoint, I find it very saddening that
African-Americans and other minorities have to get a good education in order for
White America to see them as important. Akosua Ampofo writes in his essay that,
“In diverse student meetings I attended…Black students expressed frustration
with the content of their education…One student complained…what he learned in
class…was far removed from his own reality…in poor Black communities” (18). The
content in question is the lack of African-American literature within school
textbooks and even higher education classes. My personal education has also been
void of minority literature, especially in ways in which the dominant culture is
talked about in a bad light.
What I
discovered is a painful look into a minority’s way of life. I grew a deep
respect for the Black Lives Matter movement because they try to empathize with
the general makeup of America, and they actually go farther than empty words and
into action. I learned that their resistance to the dominant culture is a
symptom of being a minority. Their history of being forced to leave their home
country to work for white Americans may always leave a bitter taste in their
mouths. The Black Lives Matter movement is essentially trying to continue what
Martin Luther King Jr. wished for America, a true land of the free designed to
change as more needs are brought to the citizens and the government who can make
the necessary changes.
Ampofo, Akosua Adomako. “Re-viewing Studies on Africa,
#Black Lives Matter, and
Envisioning the Future of African Studies.”
African Studies Review 59.02 (2016):
7-29. Web.
Percy Green. “Generations of Struggle.”
Transition 119.1 (2016): 9-16. Web.
