Our Policing Assembly
Our final unit of A Nation's Argument focuses on forming a thesis and an anti thesis into a Synthesis; a merging of ideas. In the context of history, there was
A Thesis of the 1770s, when American colonists severed ties with Great Britain by proposing the Declaration of Independence.
The Anti-Thesis of White Supremacy in the 1850s that contrasted the 13th amendment banishing slavery, the 14th amendment of equal protection of laws, and the 15th amendment, allowing all people to vote except women.
Finally, a Synthesis occurred in the 1960s. In 1964, The Freedom Summer commenced where The Civil Rights Act was passed and chaotic events occurred due to the goal of desegregation. It was a fight for votes since white democratic southerners were changing political stance to Republicanism after the Act was passed. The votes needed to come from the African Americans, except they lived in fear of registration because the KKK was violent and ruthless. Our class watched Yale Professor Halloway's lecture on this time period speaking on the militancy and shift of tone and tactics in what he called an "urban battle zone".
In essence, it is logical to think of a synthesis as a conclusive stage. However, a synthesis is not an end, nor a stasis. It exists in Motion. An analogy being the relationship of two chemicals (the thesis and anti-thesis) creating a reaction. This leads to the question of how to make use of the new matter at hand. An opposing force of people against the synthesis may create another antithesis. Then in reaction, another thesis will be formed against that antithesis, until at last another synthesis is used to resolve the conflict. That is how the evolution of sociopolitical issues has traveled.
My action project connecting to these concepts is an argument in response to what I learned from our class's Policing Assembly. We formed committees for research and design so that in a span of a few days, we came together and organized an assembly. It was a group of four guests involved with law, social activism, and a police sergeant from district fifteen. They held a like minded observation of failure to address Developing Issues in policing, such as mental health, and how that can lead people, or specifically teenagers, to act out. Rather than healing trauma or distress, the police arrest, beat or physically harass them. They mentioned that police should be the connection to Social Services, and their power of influence needs to be altered from non-traditional ideas of control. In the policing assembly, I met Sergeant Harris. I could tell he and his team were helping bring what he noticed wasn't accessible or known by people into reality today through Outreach, community based response teams, and Restorative Justice.
I present my own journey of thesises in an argument of how the role of Police in Chicago should be.
Thesis: Parenting is difficult in Chicago
P1: Chicago Public Schools aren't supported anymore.
P2: Immigrant communities find the police threatening. Families don't go to them for help.
P3: Parents don't have mental health services.
P4: Mental Health has been taken out of CPS schools. Trauma and distress won't be healthily processed.
P5: Crime is common in Chicago. There is increase in apprehension/risk if Parent's child is a minority.
Antithesis: Police as a Role of Parent doesn't exist like it should
P1: Policing in schools instills fear and apprehension
P2: Immigrant communities don't know that police are supposed to be there to help.
P3: A gun, Handcuffs, Tazer, and Baton on a police man's belt are to attack and defend rather than 'help'.
P4: When a teenager acts out, police work to oppress and control through arrest or physical harassment.
P5: There have been shootings of innocent people on the basis of assumption, equaling more crime than needed in Chicago.
Synthesis:
P1: Policing in schools should have positive influence
P2: Immigrant Communities should find safety and reassurance through the police.
P3: Police are for the community, to provide access.
P4: Teenagers in trauma should not be handled aggressively.
P5: Police should not add on to the violence already present in the city.
Syntehsized vision of what police can do:
Policemen, alongside their tool belt can have pamphlets or referrals to organizations/social services they can use and offer to others. Parents should be able to have some reliance on policemen in a sense of community, rather than on a basis of suspicion or accusation. Policemen and Immigrant communities should interact to form trust and understanding. This will lead to increased accessibility and communication. Policemen can be a beginning of breaking stigmas or taboos through outreach rather than resorting to aggression or violence. Parents shouldn't have a subconscious fear every-time their child exits the house. Children who don't have existing parents or a reliable guardian should be taken care of in mental health services and watched over rather than feared. In a school environment, Police and student interaction shouldn't have a tense tone, but a reassuring one. Ultimately, All communities, including policemen, should have access to the mental health care they need. If children don't have a parent role in their life, policemen should help fill out that role.
All things considered, I can say this class has expanded my mind. It has opened my eyes to other sides of stories people think they already know well. It has opened my eyes to history through different political perspectives, and unfortunately, more unexposed violence. In a narrative or argument, there isn't one answer, one timeline, or one interpretation. My view on the world has been altered in a sense of not believing the first thing that is told. To know that there are other truths that make up one truth. Most of the time those voices have been oppressed, ignored, or unexplored. Especially in the present day of 2019, I have learned about underlying systems and ideologies that exist. It isn't all that simple, and to truly understand is to break it down and self-educate.
A Thesis of the 1770s, when American colonists severed ties with Great Britain by proposing the Declaration of Independence.
The Anti-Thesis of White Supremacy in the 1850s that contrasted the 13th amendment banishing slavery, the 14th amendment of equal protection of laws, and the 15th amendment, allowing all people to vote except women.
Finally, a Synthesis occurred in the 1960s. In 1964, The Freedom Summer commenced where The Civil Rights Act was passed and chaotic events occurred due to the goal of desegregation. It was a fight for votes since white democratic southerners were changing political stance to Republicanism after the Act was passed. The votes needed to come from the African Americans, except they lived in fear of registration because the KKK was violent and ruthless. Our class watched Yale Professor Halloway's lecture on this time period speaking on the militancy and shift of tone and tactics in what he called an "urban battle zone".
In essence, it is logical to think of a synthesis as a conclusive stage. However, a synthesis is not an end, nor a stasis. It exists in Motion. An analogy being the relationship of two chemicals (the thesis and anti-thesis) creating a reaction. This leads to the question of how to make use of the new matter at hand. An opposing force of people against the synthesis may create another antithesis. Then in reaction, another thesis will be formed against that antithesis, until at last another synthesis is used to resolve the conflict. That is how the evolution of sociopolitical issues has traveled.
My action project connecting to these concepts is an argument in response to what I learned from our class's Policing Assembly. We formed committees for research and design so that in a span of a few days, we came together and organized an assembly. It was a group of four guests involved with law, social activism, and a police sergeant from district fifteen. They held a like minded observation of failure to address Developing Issues in policing, such as mental health, and how that can lead people, or specifically teenagers, to act out. Rather than healing trauma or distress, the police arrest, beat or physically harass them. They mentioned that police should be the connection to Social Services, and their power of influence needs to be altered from non-traditional ideas of control. In the policing assembly, I met Sergeant Harris. I could tell he and his team were helping bring what he noticed wasn't accessible or known by people into reality today through Outreach, community based response teams, and Restorative Justice.
I present my own journey of thesises in an argument of how the role of Police in Chicago should be.
Thesis: Parenting is difficult in Chicago
P1: Chicago Public Schools aren't supported anymore.
P2: Immigrant communities find the police threatening. Families don't go to them for help.
P3: Parents don't have mental health services.
P4: Mental Health has been taken out of CPS schools. Trauma and distress won't be healthily processed.
P5: Crime is common in Chicago. There is increase in apprehension/risk if Parent's child is a minority.
Antithesis: Police as a Role of Parent doesn't exist like it should
P1: Policing in schools instills fear and apprehension
P2: Immigrant communities don't know that police are supposed to be there to help.
P3: A gun, Handcuffs, Tazer, and Baton on a police man's belt are to attack and defend rather than 'help'.
P4: When a teenager acts out, police work to oppress and control through arrest or physical harassment.
P5: There have been shootings of innocent people on the basis of assumption, equaling more crime than needed in Chicago.
Synthesis:
P1: Policing in schools should have positive influence
P2: Immigrant Communities should find safety and reassurance through the police.
P3: Police are for the community, to provide access.
P4: Teenagers in trauma should not be handled aggressively.
P5: Police should not add on to the violence already present in the city.
Syntehsized vision of what police can do:
Policemen, alongside their tool belt can have pamphlets or referrals to organizations/social services they can use and offer to others. Parents should be able to have some reliance on policemen in a sense of community, rather than on a basis of suspicion or accusation. Policemen and Immigrant communities should interact to form trust and understanding. This will lead to increased accessibility and communication. Policemen can be a beginning of breaking stigmas or taboos through outreach rather than resorting to aggression or violence. Parents shouldn't have a subconscious fear every-time their child exits the house. Children who don't have existing parents or a reliable guardian should be taken care of in mental health services and watched over rather than feared. In a school environment, Police and student interaction shouldn't have a tense tone, but a reassuring one. Ultimately, All communities, including policemen, should have access to the mental health care they need. If children don't have a parent role in their life, policemen should help fill out that role.
All things considered, I can say this class has expanded my mind. It has opened my eyes to other sides of stories people think they already know well. It has opened my eyes to history through different political perspectives, and unfortunately, more unexposed violence. In a narrative or argument, there isn't one answer, one timeline, or one interpretation. My view on the world has been altered in a sense of not believing the first thing that is told. To know that there are other truths that make up one truth. Most of the time those voices have been oppressed, ignored, or unexplored. Especially in the present day of 2019, I have learned about underlying systems and ideologies that exist. It isn't all that simple, and to truly understand is to break it down and self-educate.
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| Assembly Interaction, PKA, 2019 |
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