The assigned final project for the course asked students to analyze a local incident or campaign related to the Black Lives Matter movement in light of course themes. Several students also developed model curriculum and pedagogical frameworks based on the course content. A summary of some of those projects follows.
Perla Alvarez: Alex Nieto and Mario Woods were victims of police brutality in the San Francisco Bay Area. They both were killed at a young age by the San Francisco Police Department. The City of San Francisco has become an expensive city to live in, as housing prices go up. This leads to the displacement of low-income and communities of color. The city is becoming gentrified and increases the chances of police brutality. The cases of Nieto and Woods have shown how gentrification negatively impacts communities of color. It has also shown the growing solidarity between the Latino population and the black Lives Matter Movement in San Francisco.
Caitlin Draper: The case of Sandra Bland’s “suicide” in Waller County Jail in July of 2015, serves as a prime example of the intersection of race and gender and the impact this has on Black women’s interactions and experiences with law enforcement in the United States. While Bland’s case has been nationally publicized as part of the #SayHerName campaign, this local example is closely tied to the Black Lives Matter movement, as Say Her Name came about as a response to lack of focus of the female experience within the current manifestations of #BlackLivesMatter. In this paper, the case of Sandra Bland will be explained in relation to the structural context that helped produce this conflict, with special attention to the role of gender and state-violence.
Remy Jewell: This paper asks how students could benefit from composition courses that highlight Black anti-racist authors as exemplary of successful analytical writing. Part One focuses on my background as a graduate student and composition instructor, identifying bell hooks and Paulo Friere as instrumental in my pedagogical thinking, and presenting my teaching philosophy which articulates the necessity of viewing the classroom as a space of personal and political development. Part Two focuses on the composition classroom as an ideal space for students to engage with the political writings of Black anti-racist authors who often utilize personal narrative as a successful method of argumentation. I argue that the works of Baldwin, Coates and Davis could provide students with a deeper understanding of America’s political climate while simultaneously modeling personally rooted and politically engaged argumentative writing.
Rachel Nicholson: “Capitalism, Protest Anthems, and Black Lives Matter: an Intersection.” This paper explores the relationship between capitalism, protest anthems, and Black Lives Matter. It focuses in on the Movement for Black Lives in Cleveland, Ohio and the use of Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” during a moment of police resistance. It sets these two elements in the environment of capitalism and how American democracy and capitalism has affected the way protest anthems are used and selected. It also explores and critiques how movements set their goals within the framework of capitalism.
Marisa Haynes: Less than a month ago, Kisha Michael and Marquintan Sandlin were returning from a date night when their lives were cut short by the Inglewood police force. Police officers responded to a report of a “suspicious vehicle” in the early morning hours of February 21st in South Inglewood where they found an unconscious couple on the side of the road. After approaching the car where inside Michael was said to have a firearm in her hand, the police retreated, took cover, and “attempted to rouse the occupants for 45 minutes.” After the lack of commotion, police ordered the couple out of the car before promptly initiating open fire on the vehicle. Kisha died on the scene while Marquintan died soon after at a local hospital. The unnecessary murders of Michael and Sandlin orphaned seven children, Kisha’s three young boys and Marquintan’s four little girls. The case is currently under investigation.
Bry Moore: Throughout history, Black women have been at the crossroads of racism and sexism, the victims of an intersectional oppression that often goes unacknowledged in contemporary discussions of racism in America and worldwide. The sexist and racist institutions in America enact and embody these histories of discrimination, but when Black women and girls make any attempt to resist or defy the inflictions of these oppression, they are not only demonized and vilified in public discourse but often also tangibly penalized or silenced. This paper explores how Black female resistance is met with vilification and penalization through the case of the New Jersey Four, and the institutions and structures that produce the environment in which four African
American lesbian women were attacked, defended their bodies, and were each sentenced with three to eleven years in prison. Furthermore, this paper deconstructs the criminalization of Black female resistance through the case of the New Jersey Four.
Danielle West, “Chicago: The City that Failed African Americans” My final project analyzes the importance of organizations such as the African American Policy Forum that provides platforms for women of color to share their experiences as both minorities and women. This project also analyzes the ways in which major cities have been structurally set up to segregate racial communities from one another through legal codes that were written, which have created the “ghettos” or “undesirable” parts of urban cities. All of these analyses work to understanding the death of Rekia Boyd in Chicago and the circumstances that led to an acquittal in her trial.
Samara Mokaya: The Black Lives Matter Movement has become a powerful movement on the front of fighting the unarmed killing of black men. However, recognizing that there is more to the movement than black men’s lives, many have begun to bring the intersectionality of their realities to the movement; urging that when fighting for black people there should be a fight for all black people. Whiteness is a concept explained by Baldwin that does not see skin color. There are plenty of colored people who can portray and enforce white supremacy ideology even though they are not white themselves. The purpose of this paper is to explore the intersectional ties that play a role in this critical time and during a vital movement, while looking at the ways that this echoes the situations that have happened before the Holtzclaw case. Looking at the incident isolated within itself, we miss key components in solving the problem.
Katie Rosenblad, “Coming to the Forefront of America: The Racial Disparity of Los Angeles County.” This paper examines the historical and systemic racial profiling and oppression of blacks in the greater Los Angeles County through the use of California’s passing of AB 953, past redlining practices that led to the decline of neighborhoods filled with minorities, and the stereotypes in which that allowed people to express bias towards different racial and ethnic groups. It further examines how Kendrick Lamar, a Compton native, has influenced the protestors and activists working towards change alongside the Black Lives Matter movement.
Hannah Keepers: “Inside Black Lives Matter: Violence Against Unnamed Black Women.” This paper discusses the lack of attention given to Black Women and Girls who have been the victims of unjust and fatal brutality by police or while in the custody of law enforcement. I discuss 5 cases of Black Women and Girls: Rekia Boyd, Tarika Wilson, Pearlie Golden, Yvette Smith and Aiyana Stanley-Jones, ranging in age from 7 – 93. (I think it’s necessary to mention that I limited myself to 5 for the sake of the paper; this was a very small sample from a very large list.) I discuss the importance of the #SayHerName campaign and the need for it to call further attention to the cases of more women and girls. When Black Women are unnamed by the media, (mainstream especially but social and alternative as well,) they are left under-protected and vulnerable to continued abuses. I also make the assertion that in the absence of judicial consequence, social and communal attention and repercussions are absolutely necessary to reverse social normative action.