Race and Affirmative Action Unit Assessment

In a formal essay to be submitted to turnitin.com, please answer one of these prompts.   

• Do you agree with Coates’ thesis? Why or why not? (i.e. When Coates asserts______________, he is wrong/right because________.)

OR

• Do you think African Americans have a case for reparations from the United States government? What form do you think such reparations should take? (i.e. African Americans do/do not have a case for reparations from the United States Government because______________.)

In your response, you should consider the following:

• Who is/are the party/parties responsible?- Who is/are the party/parties affected?- What are the specific grievances / acts of offense?- What are the impacts of such acts?
• In what way does the current state of affirmative action for admissions in college impact what you are asserting?
• In what way does the current relationship between Black-Americans and local police forces impact what you are asserting?

Your responses should use specific details from all of the materials studied in class over the last few weeks (affirmative action readings and cases, If I Were a Poor Black Kid articles, police shooting information, Coates's article) . You should use as many details as you need to prove your assertion but a general guideline should be to use at least 3 from Coates and at least 3 others. Essays should be carefully proofread and follow all of the tenets of good writing.  It must be submitted to turnitin.com by class time on Wednesday, April 29. 

This is the last full, formal piece of writing that you will submit for this class so make sure that it is your best work!

Police Shootings

Much discussion in 2015 about issues of race stem from a rash of deaths of African-American men at the hands of the police over the last several years. From Trayvon Martin to Michael Brown to Eric Garner to Walter Scott to Freddie Gray, there are many questions to consider about why this keeps happening in America, if there are solutions and what they might be. In order to consider these issues, please complete the steps listed below. All of your responses should go in a blog post that will count as your weekly post.

1. If you are not sure of the facts of the Walter Scott case, please review them by reading this STORY from the NY Times.
2. Read these four Perspectives on the Walter Scott Video. In your blog post, summarize the assertion/main idea of each. Then choose one that you most agree with and respond to it in more detail. What points do you agree with and why?
3. Read through the timeline that explores key cases From Trayvon Martin to Walter Scott Timeline. Respond in your blog post-what do you notice about these cases? What similarities are there? What differences? What questions do they raise? 
4. Choose one of the cases on the timeline to research further. In your post, identify, what additional information did you find out? What kinds of stories are there about your chosen case? What is the media reporting about it? Are there any updates or further implications about it? Are there any videos (if so, what are they? what do they tell you?)
5. Make a final conclusion in your blog post. What are you thinking about all of this information? How does it relate or connect to any of the other issues we've been discussing in class?

With any time left that you have in class, you may continue to read The Case for Reparations. Remember that you need to be finished with it for class on Thursday (1st period) or Friday (8th period).

A Case for Reparations

Washington Post writer Alyssa Rosenberg introduces her article "Culture Change and Ta-Nehisi Coates's The Case for Reparations this way: "In 'The Case for Reparations,' the... cover story of the June issue of the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates makes a painstaking argument that the gap in wealth, achievement, and a wide range of health and wellbeing outcomes between black and white Americans is the result of deliberate policy decisions. Those decisions, he says, lead to an inevitable conclusion: “An America that asks what it owes its most vulnerable citizens is improved and humane. An America that looks away is ignoring not just the sins of the past but the sins of the present and the certain sins of the future,” Coates writes. “More important than any single check cut to any African American, the payment of reparations would represent America’s maturation out of the childhood myth of its innocence into a wisdom worthy of its founders.”
Your task over the next week is to read Mr. Coates's article. Take notes as you read. Write down key facts, points where you agree with Mr. Coates's assertions, points where you disagree, and questions that you may have. 
Here is how you should plan your homework for the week:
Monday night-Read Sections I, II, III
Tuesday night-Read Sections IV, V, VI
Wednesday night-Read Sections VII, VIII, IX, X
Here is the link to the ONLINE version that has a lot of helpful interactive features.
Here is a link to a printable version if that is more useful to you.

Close Examination of the Michigan Affirmative Action Cases

Please open this Handout and follow the instructions.

Affirmative Action in College Admissions

This week we began our look at questions about race and affirmative action. We are going to be focusing our discussions on using race as a criteria in the college admissions process.
We began by working our way through a simulation of being on a college admissions committee that you can find in this packet. We will then start to take a look at the law as it relates to the use of race in the college admissions process by first looking at the Bakke decision that you can find in this packet.  In the packet, for the third day of class this week, students should:

1. Read the summary and answer the questions.
2. Do the Classifying Arguments activity.
3. Follow the instructions on page three as you read the Summary of the Decision (hold off on answering number 5.
4. Follow the instructions as you read the Excerpts from the Majority Opinion.
5. Answer number 5 on page 3.