http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR0nTMg3kbs
Watch and listen to the poem. What is the argument? What evidence supports the argument? What in your experience supports this argument? What in Wise supports this argument?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Andrea Giang
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
26 March 2011
Sekou Sundiata – Blink Your Eyes Cyber Assignment
The argument in this poem is that the poet believes he was stopped on his way to his woman’s place because of the color of his skin. The police said that he had run a red light, but he believed that he really “broke” the law when he questioned the officer. The evidence the poet used in his argument was that he did not run through a red light. The light had been green. The officer walked up to his window with his hand on the gun, telling him to step out from the car and put his hands in the air. From reading Wise, this is something that happens because the officer is biased. Wise talked about a scene where he had been pulled over for speeding but was dismissed after the officer discovered that he was white. In this poem, the poet believes that the car he drove might have something to do with the officer pulling him over. Wise also pointed out that he believed the car he drove was the reason why he was pulled over because the officer thought that a black person was behind the wheel. This seems to be something that could be plausible. Officers might have believed beforehand that a person behind a certain type of vehicle might be more prone to breaking the law. For instance, a lot of times people associate red cars with speeding. So an officer who sees a red car might believe that the person behind the vehicle is more likely to speed.
Ricarda Lathrop
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
26 March 2011
The speaker describes being pulled over by the police for no apparent reason. In words that probably show much anger, he shows readers how accustomed black people have become to being treated unequal because of their skin color.
Premise 1: The color of your skin changes the status of yourself with in the world you live in.
Premise 2: Black people are projected by the news as unreliable and dangerous people
Therefore the police routinely stop black people with the assumption that that they are up for no good.
The argument is presented in an effective way through the poet. By using repetitions the audience focuses on the message the author wants to deliver. I also noticed the sense of dark humor he uses. The difference between tone and content shows the unjustifiable action of the event.
Looking at evidence from Wise’s experiences that would support the argument of the poem, Wise offers multiple examples that state unequal treatment for colored people. While listening to the poem I noticed that the content is very similar to Wise’s experience as a college student when he drove “a beat up car with tinted windows and an anti-David Duke sticker on the back bumper” (Wise 43). Wise describes how he became suspect to the police officers because of the stereotypical car he was in. However, after the police stopped him and did not find a black person behind the car but a white person, they were embarrassed and let him go without any consequences. His experience presents the same argument the poem does. Being an African American citizen will make you more suspicious in the eyes of the law enforcement even though there is no reason to be pulled over or checked on. The issue both author agree in their work is racial discrimination against people of color.
Great discussion. Did you notice, Sekou was driving a nice car, an expensive car, which besides the color was another reason he was targeted?
ReplyDeletePerhaps the policeman thought: How can a black man afford a nice car like that? He must have stolen it.
Frena Zamudio
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
02 April 2011
Cyber Assignment: Sekou Sundiata "Blink Your Eyes"
The poet believes that he was stopped by a police officer on his way to his girlfriend's house because of the color of his skin. The officer said that he ran the red light but he said he never did, it was green when he passed by it. The officer walked to the poet's car with a gun on his hands and asked him to step out of his car and put his hands in the air. After reading the book White Like Me by Tim Wise, made me realize that things like this actually happen, he said he got pulled over by a police officer once because he was riding a beat up truck, so the officer thought he was a black guy, but when he rolled down his window, the officer did not say anything and let him go. The poet was riding a nice car, so i am assuming that the officer thought he stole it, like he thinks that it is unusual or impossible for a black guy to afford a nice car like that.