TASK
Answer the following questions in your initial post. A few sentences to a short paragraph will do for each question. This is a bit of a brainstorm, so don’t feel stuck with any of your answers here–just think about some of these aspects as a bit of a freewriting assignment with some support from your peers.
1. Briefly share your topic for Essay #3: Problem/Solution. What problem are you writing about? Why is this an important problem to solve?
2. Who is the opposing side to your argument? Who doesn’t believe this is a problem, or what organizations and systems are you working against? Maybe it’s the status quo–the people/organizations/elected officials/companies/etc. who have always done things a certain way? For instance, if your topic is the cost of internet access for community college students during the pandemic, school officials and government leaders might agree with you that affordable internet access is necessary–but they might not have the funds or the means to make it happen for each student.
3. What shared beliefs and values do you have with the opposing side? For instance, those school officials and government leaders mentioned in the question above might believe wholeheartedly in having free, fast internet for all students–they, like you, believe that students forced to learn online only need to have internet access at home. You both believe in equity and access to educational resources–you both want students to succeed in a difficult atmosphere.
4. What are your ideal solutions? But, more importantly, what solutions could both or all sides live with? What small steps could you take to work toward a solution? How could differing viewpoints agree on some necessary progress? What might that progress be? When you think about the solutions you propose in this essay, you need to address these opposing parties, too. What might they have at stake in coming to a resolution for this problem?
Respond to two of your peers’ posts. In your responses, you’ll want to discuss the solutions that your classmates propose. Are there other solutions they might think of? Other groups also working toward a solution? Anything you can add to their brainstorm about opposing sides?
Briefly share your topic for Essay #3: Problem/Solution. What problem are you writing about? Why is this an important problem to solve?
The problem is the militarization of police. Since the 1950’s, the civil rights era, the function of police has been an occupying force to silence dissent in America. The monopoly on violence that police control in this country (in 2022, 1 in 20 murders in the America were committed by police) only continues to increase, and the continued rise of this arm of the government with military weapons, equipment, and training, will only further the oppression of Americans and increase the violence in this country.
Who is the opposing side to your argument? Who doesn’t believe this is a problem, or what organizations and systems are you working against? Maybe it’s the status quo–the people/organizations/elected officials/companies/etc. who have always done things a certain way? For instance, if your topic is the cost of internet access for community college students during the pandemic, school officials and government leaders might agree with you that affordable internet access is necessary–but they might not have the funds or the means to make it happen for each student.
The proponents of police militarization are many and varied. The police that killed Tyre Nichols in Memphis last month were trained under a Democrat-led initiative to increase training for police forces, ironically in an effort to diversify tactics and better specialize police. The supporters of the issue more specific to police militarization are the state and federal governments that continue to increase police funding, the corporate lobbyists that seek out police departments to sell military equipment to, and the Pentagon, who controls the 1033 program that continues to legitimize the practice.
What shared beliefs and values do you have with the opposing side? For instance, those school officials and government leaders mentioned in the question above might believe wholeheartedly in having free, fast internet for all students–they, like you, believe that students forced to learn online only need to have internet access at home. You both believe in equity and access to educational resources–you both want students to succeed in a difficult atmosphere.
The shared beliefs across both sides of this debate include the value placed on a civil society, and the ability for communities to mediate arguments, protect the vulnerable, and uphold community safety.
What are your ideal solutions? But, more importantly, what solutions could both or all sides live with? What small steps could you take to work toward a solution? How could differing viewpoints agree on some necessary progress? What might that progress be? When you think about the solutions you propose in this essay, you need to address these opposing parties, too. What might they have at stake in coming to a resolution for this problem?
Ideally, police departments could spend less time and resources on tactics that result in the assault and murder of American citizens. I hope that, in general, Americans think that police killing people is a problem. The problem lies in Congress and in the power of police unions, lobbyists, and the military industrial complex.
