Family/Living Situation – Derrick D. Griffin is a 33 year old African American male. He is unmarried and does not have children. At the time of his arrest, Mr. Griffin was largely homeless and receiving services from Outreach for the Homeless. Mr. Griffin was raised in a chaotic, often violent and dismissive environment. His father, who Mr. Griffin says used crack cocaine and alcohol to excess, spent much of Mr. Griffin’s childhood in and out of prison.…
In brief summary of the United States court case U.S of America, Appellee, v. Tywanne M. Aldridge Tywanne is the following. Tywanne Aldridge is a former Kansas University football player who was arrested and charged with two felony crimes in 2000 as a result of a reverse sting operation with the FBI (U.S Publishing Office, 2005). The first charge was conspiracy to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine, and the second possession of a weapon in furtherance of a drug trafficking violation (U.S Publishing Office, 2005). Aldridge was arrested with his cousins Monroe Lockhart and Preston Gardenhire and his uncle Chris McFarlane (The United States District Court For The Western District Of Missouri Western Division, 2007). Before Aldridge’s trial…
Your surroundings don't define who you are. In The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace written by Jeff Hobbs, Robert Peace grows up in Newark; a community that increasingly declines in safety and rises in poverty and drug dealing. However despite his surroundings Robert shows remarkable signs of intelligence in which his mother sacrifices ⅓ of her salary to be able to feed his thirst for education by sending Rob to private school. However, Peace’s father becomes wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of two women, which takes a huge toll on Rob’s life. Although he shows no signs of struggle or troubling behavior growing up, he’s keeping most of his feelings about his father bottled up inside and using it as a motivation to help him succeed…
Jean-Luc Salib Ms. Borelli English IV 3/13/16 We all experience adversity in our lives. However, for some the deck seems overwhelmingly stacked against them. They face multiple obstacles like poverty, lack of educational opportunities, and hardships within their families.…
Poor Parenting Leads Towards Children Joining Gangs While reading the novel, Always Running by Luis Rodriguez, I found a key reason why children are more prone to joining gangs than others. Luis Rodriguez writes how and why he joined at an early age and how that impacted who he became later on in life. In another article, Poor Parenting Causes Some Children to Join Gangs by Lewis Yablonsky, he states that children who were raised in dysfunctional homes, are more likely to participate in gang violence. From the moment we are placed into our mothers or fathers awaiting arms, we are influenced by everything and everyone around us. Even if we don’t recall the details as an infant, the actions and the feelings that surround us, form us into who…
In his book “Code of the Street”, Elijah Anderson presents the term oppositional culture. In the final chapter and conclusion, Anderson shares the story of two men, John Turner and Robert, both raised and affected by oppositional culture. In this essay I will compare and contrast the ways in which Anderson uses the men to illustrate this concept, and explain their life trajectories. I will prove that while John Turner and Robert show examples of oppositional culture in the path of their lives, the two eventually differ at the conclusion of their encounters with Anderson. To prove this, I will begin by defining oppositional culture and its relation to African American culture.…
Grant Wiggins breaks away from the stereotypical black man of the 1940’s to create a new idea of what it means to be black. Originally, Grant was seen as an insignificant, unintelligent individual; however, he later shows that he is an intellectual individual who does have an impact on what is happening within the community. The first time it is apparent that Grant actually does posses some knowledge is when he goes to discuss going to the jail to talk to Jefferson, with Sheriff Guidry and Henri Pichot. While explaining why Miss Emma could not attend the jail alone, Grant states, “She doesn’t feel that she has the strength to come up there all the time” (Gaines, 48). Although this statement today would not surprise any individual, the fact that Grant is a black man in the 1940’s, is using proper grammar.…
The Difference of The Other Wes Moore. Some people choose to be doctors because their fathers were a doctor. Some people choose to be in gangs because their father was in a gang. Throughout the common wealth of America is a circle of ideal, almost a call, to raise up the standards of living of those who feel that their America dream has been ignored. In his book, “The other Wes Moore”, the author, Wes Moore, makes a wide variety of statements toward not just the broad range of society like some authors, but to the people of poor districts to watch their choices, to decide for their better good and to make themselves better.…
In 2014 the NFL was once again the center of scrutiny as one of the most popular and talented running backs in NFL history was indicted on charges of child abuse after a family physician reported the injuries to child protective services. Adrian Peterson admitted hitting his son with a switch, or tree branch, however, Peterson denied that his actions were abuse and insisted he was merely disciplining his son. Although Peterson did not attempt to hide the injuries and was truthful about the incident when questioned, his guilt in committing an act which is harmful to a child is obvious as seen by photos of injuries on the child 's back, legs, buttocks, and scrotum. The punishment executed by Adrian Peterson on his four year old son was not appropriate…
Gates says that the truth is society only shows African American kids the hero’s of their favorite sports and not the notable names of African American doctors and lawyers. As a result of this “too many African American youngsters still believe that they have a much better chance of becoming another Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan than they do of matching the achievements of Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke or neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson, both of whom, like Johnson and Jordan are black”(Gates, 382). African American kids are only shown their sports hero’s for guidance and as a result believe athletics is their only true calling. Gates does a great job demonstrating that African American kids’ minds are brainwashed into thinking that sports are their future simply because society does not show them that they can anything else. Something else Gates does well in his essay is show the non African American readers that the way they depict the African American stereotype as athletic, is wrong and unfair to their effnictiy.…
People coming from a different planet would think every day things we do in life are weird. What we have adapted to and think are normal look very weird to others who haven’t seen people doing things like this. Such as someone who has never shaved before would think that is very odd to shave your beard. Or someone who has never seen a drive threw would think it’s weird to have people have food handed out the window. As we think other cultures are weird we have to look at the fact that our culture is weird to others People that have never seen basketball would thing it is a bunch of people running around with a ball.…
National Football League has been a mainstay in American sports for quite some time. It has had many positive impacts on our society, however, we will explore how minority professional football players are unfairly targeted. This has occurred by a host of entities both inside and outside of the league. We will examine employer drug testing, stereotypes by the media and how law enforcement unfairly target athletes through unfair practices.…
Good Morning Mr Williams, Mrs. Evans, honorable staff, notable guest, and the dynamic Class of 2016. The Great Muhammad Ali once declared “I am America. I am the part you won't recognize. But get used to me.…
Basketball Nerd “If only I could beat Tommy in basketball,” I though. Everyone would laugh at him and I could prove that I am good at sports. I have recently moved in because of getting bullied in other schools. I have gotten pushed into lockers, punched in the face and even locked in the teacher’s lounge. My parents are sick of me getting bullied.…
Like all children all I ever wanted was to be big and do big people things. I engaged in a few family members that I would look up to and try everything they did. I use to pretend to go grocery shopping and being a parent at times. At the age of eight, I had worn the worst pain ever and that was watching my five, year old brother getting hit by a car while trying to cross the street riding a bicycle that had a loose chain. I remember him trying to get up and get to me, but a few adults that had witnessed the accident had told him to lay down.…