Original: Racism is a very disgusting yet common thing in America. Since the construction of America, and before, there have been racist ideas and rules that were put into place by our government. While America itself has grown as a country and drifted from these ideas, it is still an apparent part of this society. Author Ta-Nehisi Coates brought up the idea of reparations in a new light to try and show the American people what black folk have gone through their entire lives and why they deserve the same opportunities as the white people do. Reparations are needed because for hundreds of years America has continued to oppress and hurt black individuals and their families for years. Equality is something that everyone deserves and the way to make amends for the past is to try and put reparations into place and give some sort of repayment for the way these individuals have been treated.
Revised: Racism is a very disgusting yet common thing in America. Since the construction of America, and before, there have been racist ideas and rules that were put into place by our government. While America itself has grown as a country and drifted from these ideas, it is still an apparent part of this society. Author Ta-Nehisi Coates brought up the idea of reparations in a new light to try and show the American people what black folk have gone through their entire lives and why they deserve the same opportunities as the white people do. Reparations are needed because for hundreds of years America has continued to oppress and hurt black individuals and their families for years. White America does not understand the hardships that generations of black families have had to endure. “Critical Thinking and the Liberal Arts” by Liberal Arts activist Jeffrey Scheuer talks about the ideas of critical thinking and references many of the points that Coates makes in his essay. Not only in Coates work is there conversation about the inequalities of families of color and lower class. In Carol Dweck’s TED Talk, “The Power of Believing That You Can Improve” there is also conversation about the hardships that many families face. Equality is something that everyone deserves and the way to make amends for the past is to try and put reparations into place and give some sort of repayment for the way these individuals have been treated.
Changes: I added in detail about each of the articles from class that I used in my essay. This change was an idea that my peer group had for me when we went over my essay. I think by adding this into my essay, my readers are going to better understand the use of the materials in my writing and be able to see the connection between them all.
Original: These injustices are being seen in many different situations and are becoming a part of normal life of people of color. There have been studies that show students of color or students who are living in a large low income neighborhood are given less resources than students living in a more wealthy neighborhood. Education researcher Carol Dweck talks about this happening with students. In Dweck’s TED Talk she first describes her idea of a growth mindset, and what you can do if you teach students a way to create a deeper understanding of knowledge they will become better versions of themselves. This type of mindset is what is going to push a child and their academic goals. When she finally gave children, who usually didn’t get the opportunity to think at a deeper level, the tools to understand knowledge and thinking you can see the difference in their attitude and test scores. “So let’s talk about equality. In our country, there are groups of students who chronically underperform, for example, children in inner cities, or children on Native American reservations. And they’ve done so poorly for so long that many people think it’s inevitable. But when educators create growth mindset classrooms steeped in yet, equality happens” Dweck then goes on to describe this change in their performance in the classroom and the change is unbelievable. She sees that they are placing higher across the national levels and are starting to be recognized for their academic achievements. Giving students these types of opportunities is something that everyone should deserve. Dweck does not believe that students should be punished through their education for their families income and living situation. That is out of the children’s control and yet the school boards and governments still do not give the resources and money to these low income areas. This idea that Dweck talked about in her TED talk is very similar to the ideas that Coates had about school for black children in his essay. His idea is that if you give people of colour a chance to talk to have things that many white families and students get, you will be changing the narrative. Coates interviewed a man named Clyde Ross in his essay, asking him about his struggles as a black man in America. When the Coates asked Ross about money and education he said “‘Without the money, you can’t move. You can’t educate your kids. You can’t give them the right kind of food… My kids were going to the best schools in this neighborhood, and I couldn’t keep them in there’”(Page 36). This shows that there are so many people who struggle to keep their kids in a school system that is going to provide them with the tools that Dweck has talked about but once they lose that money and that chance at keeping their kids there, they have to pull them out and send them to schools that don’t have the same opportunities. “The message the young black boy receives from his country, Billy Brooks says, is “ ‘You ain’t shit. You not no good. The only thing you are worth is working for us. You will never own anything. You not going to get an education. We are sending your ass to the penitentiary.’ They’re telling you no matter how hard you struggle, no matter what you put down, you ain’t shit’” (Page 45) this is just another example of black people struggling to get the same type or opportunity in education that white children have been having their entire lives. Coates believes that this injustice can be stopped and that if we just give all of these children the same opportunities, you can see just how smart black children are and how well they can do in school. School is something that everyone has the right too but we need to have a universal type of education so that all students get the same opportunities. If we do this we can have a variety of people in charge and making decisions for our country, and not have it be the same old white men in charge.
Revised: These injustices are being seen in many different situations and are becoming a part of normal life of people of color. There have been studies that show students of color or students who are living in a large low income neighborhood are given less resources than students living in a more wealthy neighborhood. Education researcher Carol Dweck talks about this happening with students. In Dweck’s TED Talk she first describes her idea of a growth mindset, and what you can do if you teach students a way to create a deeper understanding of knowledge they will become better versions of themselves. This type of mindset is what is going to push a child and their academic goals. When she finally gave children, who usually didn’t get the opportunity to think at a deeper level, the tools to understand knowledge and thinking you can see the difference in their attitude and test scores. “So let’s talk about equality. In our country, there are groups of students who chronically underperform, for example, children in inner cities, or children on Native American reservations. And they’ve done so poorly for so long that many people think it’s inevitable. But when educators create growth mindset classrooms steeped in yet, equality happens” Dweck then goes on to describe this change in their performance in the classroom and the change is unbelievable. She sees that they are placing higher across the national levels and are starting to be recognized for their academic achievements. Giving students these types of opportunities is something that everyone should deserve. Dweck does not believe that students should be punished through their education for their families income and living situation. That is out of the children’s control and yet the school boards and governments still do not give the resources and money to these low income areas. This idea that Dweck talked about in her TED talk is very similar to the ideas that Coates had about school for black children in his essay. His idea is that if you give people of colour a chance to talk to have things that many white families and students get, you will be changing the narrative. Coates interviewed a man named Clyde Ross in his essay, asking him about his struggles as a black man in America. When the Coates asked Ross about money and education he said “‘Without the money, you can’t move. You can’t educate your kids. You can’t give them the right kind of food… My kids were going to the best schools in this neighborhood, and I couldn’t keep them in there’”(Page 36). This shows that there are so many people who struggle to keep their kids in a school system that is going to provide them with the tools that Dweck has talked about but once they lose that money and that chance at keeping their kids there, they have to pull them out and send them to schools that don’t have the same opportunities. “The message the young black boy receives from his country, Billy Brooks says, is “ ‘You ain’t shit. You not no good. The only thing you are worth is working for us. You will never own anything. You not going to get an education. We are sending your ass to the penitentiary.’ They’re telling you no matter how hard you struggle, no matter what you put down, you ain’t shit’” (Page 45) this is just another example of black people struggling to get the same type or opportunity in education that white children have been having their entire lives. Throughout most of America’s history, the white people have been in power putting down everyone who did not look like them. These people in charge poisoned the minds of America entirely by making people of color be seen as less than solely the color of their skin, without knowing anything else about them. They created an entirely horrible connotation about people of color because of the way they look. And for decades we have let this happen. If we gave everyone an equal chance at living the life of American Dream, we as a whole country would be able to see that people of color are not the bad guys. They are more than the ugly ideas that the founders of our country believed them to be. Coates believes that this injustice can be stopped and that if we just give all of these children the same opportunities, you can see just how smart black children are and how well they can do in school. School is something that everyone has the right too but we need to have a universal type of education so that all students get the same opportunities. If we do this we can have a variety of people in charge and making decisions for our country, and not have it be the same old white men in charge.
Changes: I added a little bit more of my perspective at the end of this paragraph. While rereading it I could tell that I was missing my own voice in this paragraph. By adding my voice at the end here and then tying it all together with the ideas of the authors, you can see my understanding of the text and how it makes me feel. By doing this I also give my readers more of an inside understanding of the text.
