For Kalief

The message of my poem is about Kalief  Browder, and how the justice system and prison system treated him. Kalief Browder was a 16 year old boy that got arrested for a crime he didn’t commit and spent three years prison. He was also beaten and put into solitary confinement for two of the years he was in prison. My poem begins by talking about the promises that the police swear by when they start as policemen. When I state the lines of “deception and protection are different words, brutality and self defense is the game”  In my poem I used the word “slithering” which is onomatopoeia this word is shown in the line “slithering closer and closer to my street are the men in blue. I used this word because it is a way to describe how the police try to sneak to his house to arrest Kalief. I use several similes in my poem for example I compared the way that the police come in his house to they way that the police entered the leader of the black panthers Home Fred Hampton. In the line “Busting down my door like I'm a black panther, Hampton”. I used the device of repetition by repeating the line again throughout my poem. I have metaphors in my poem I compare prison to hell in the line “Entering a place that must be worse than hell". I used imagery throughout my poem in the line “White walls all around me not a gleam of light exists here”. When performing my poem I used diction in certain words as well as pitch when I say the line again I get louder try to emphasize the word as well as when I start the poem. I said red ,white and blue in a soft an clear tone trying to show the importance of the colors. I Make eye contact throughout the poem. While making this poem, I discovered that It was very hard to talk about just one topic since there are so many that I wanted to discuss. I also know that as a person, I don't like to ask for help and me having to ask my teachers for feed back made it really difficult. I also would get confused when asking my two teachers because they each would say different things about the poem in the same line. One would think it was good the other wouldn't. I eventually would just try to please both of them by adding or taking away certain lines of my poem.


Flashes of Red, White and Blue
Their commitment to patriotism
“To serve and protect”
Deception and protection are different words
Brutality and self defense is the game
Power is our gain
Again,

Slithering closer and closer to my street are the men in blue
blue tears down my solitude
Busting down my door like im a black panther, Hampton

Again.
I am now bound to my fate
Silver shackles, shining like the moon a vibrant color of glowing white like it glows in the dark.
The cries of my mother vibrate through my body, not warning of the torture that will soon come.
My is skin deep like the color of coffee, It is deep like the roots of my ancestors that helped to build the world from the ground up.

Dark brown eyes, That entice you.
I have a face that will make you think I can’t hurt a fly
I am Kalief Browder, I am 16 years old.

Again,
I feel the sting of the whip, my goosebumps flinch
Sharp pain, it courses through my body
Making me feel the hard ground even more
battered and defeated
Prom and graduation is a fading dream, colors of blue and red lights

Again,

I plead guilty
Knowing I have no chance, no money for defense.
the cuffs are tight around my wrist
Entering a place that must be worse than hell
The cold metal bars against my skin

You make a decision
Guilty or not guilty
My decision was taken from me
The justice system failed me
The prison system stays the same
Full and accepting more
Justice system stays the same
Slow and never growing



Again,

White walls all around me not a gleam of light exists here
Central park is no longer apart of my memories
“ Protect all and serve all” in my nightmares
3 years of prolonged darkness echoes
Delayed and delayed by the “Justice System”
I received no justice
Justice didn't receive me

Again,

Home doesn’t feel the same when I return
I try to smile and bear it but end up wearing it the pain that won’t go away
One day I just decide to let go, the pain goes away as my name fades away
My mom joins me a year later
Happy to see me again

Again And Again

Mculloch Topher,"Never Again", Creative Commons (2016) 

Again,

Flashes of red, white and blue

A commitment of patriotism

“We protect all and serve all”

They enter my solitude

Busting down my train of thought just like the door

Again,

I am now Bound to my fait

Silver shackles, shining just like the moon

The cries of my mother vibrate my body

My skin deep like the color of coffee

Again,

I feel a hard stick, my goosebumps flinch

Vivid images of my dreams flash like the police lights

No one will see it but me

Again,

But no one cares

if you have a heart of gold

Or If you got a bright future ahead

But if you got threat written on your forehead

You are catch their attention

Again,

But bullets fly and people die

Children cry and car alarms amplify

Was it really worth it?

No

Again,

Here we go again another Mcdonald on the news

You tried to play hide and seek

Rage! is all that will come soon

We hope this will come to an end when the gavel meets its end

Again,

Thank you Trump for supporting the violence

He didn't even care about Charlotte

Now everyone's questioning Jamie Kelvin

Like he is to blame for killing the children

Try to help and you'll end up dead

Again,

HMM I wonder why

When the light shines in the sky

And the holiday lights sparkle

That people think that crime will die

Again and again

We end up in the pen

Again and again we see the end

Again and again i feel the pain and know it has my name

Written in cursive

The cold metal bars against my skin make my skin  crawl

The days of the water tower and friends has come to an end

I have ended up in the pen

Again,

My moms warmth is slowly dimming

My eyes are slowing closing

My age is adding up

My heart is drying up

I am old now

I am free now

Again,

I just wanted peace on earth

I wanted peace in my city

I wanted children to stop dying

I wanted ignorance to stop

I wanted acceptance for who I AM

Again and again

We want and want

What do we do?

How do we do it?

Can we do it?

Again,

We should be unified

I want to See the 47th street sign

I Know I have re-entered my solitude

I can dry my mom’s tears

Again,

We hear the sirens, we see the pain

And what is there to gain

In the end we are all the same

In the end we see violence

Violence is a second- rate

It shouldn't be celebrated on postcards

My poem is about violence. It was important to me to write about this topic because there is so much of it going on especially now that it is coming towards another holiday season there will be more crime on the news. My poem begins to talk about a child being arrested by the police at his/her  home. It later on talks about violence as well as police brutality and riots in general. For example in my poem I mention “They enter my solitude” This is talking about the police entering the house of he/she and taking them in custody.My poems moves on to speak about the thoughts of he/ she and what they think will happen to them and what is happening around them,“The cries of mom vibrate my body”  I talked about Laquan Mcdonald as well in my poem which is want I was referencing to in the line “Here we go another mcdonald on the news. I also talked about the article where people are questioning where Jamie Kelvin who is a journalist who found the information about Laquan Mcdonald got his sources, “Now everyone's questioning Jamie Kelvin”. As well as mentioning Jamie Kelvin I mentioned Donald Trump who is the president of the United States. I mentioned him in reference to Charlottesville because he took a long time to respond to the death of Heather Hyer in Charlottesville.“Thank you Trump for supporting the violence.He didn't even care about Charlotte”. I used similes in my poem for example I said “Silver shackles, shining just like the moon” I am comparing the shine of the handcuffs to the moonlight. “Vivid images of my dreams flash like the police lights”In this line am comparing my dreams flashing in my mind like the cars on the police car. “My skin deep like the color of “your” coffee in the morning” This line is comparing the shade of peoples coffee with my skintone, I said this because coffee can be a variety of shades so that this can be anyone basically. I used Rhythm in my poem when I said “again” as well as repetition or anaphora.

The Gift

In the senior STEAM class called Economics we learned about wealth and how it is distributed. We also learned about budgets. We learned about finical crisis. We learned about how the bankers caused a financial criss by watching the movie inside job. We learned about the invisible hand theory , this theory talks about how people make changes for there own needs, without realizing they are shifting the supply and demand for others. For and FE we to Lyft and they taught us about the different things that there company offers the drivers and the passengers. They told us about the supply and demand and how they figure that out depending on the situation. As well as there future ideas that they want to accomplish. For this Action Project we are to invest money given to us, into three companies we are trying to get a better understanding of the free market. This AP brought about challenges for me because we had a short amount of time for it. The way for me to get through that challenge was to express to my teacher. I think the best thing that I did for the is AP was the SMART goals.

                       

The "Overnight" Welcomes You!

In the senior humanities class named Journalism, we discussed sound as we are telling stories. We learned the importance of sound compared to a visual story. We learned how to edit are podcast and how to pick out sound bytes that are important. For this class field experience, we had a sound engineer help teach us about music theory, as well as with our action project. For this Action Project, we had to pick someone who impacted their listeners and make a podcast of said person. I chose Kendrick Lamar he is a mainstream rap artist. I wanted to show people that there are rappers that began in the 2000's that actually have meanings behind their songs if they just looked, as well that not all rap music is bad. My podcast begins when I first heard of Kendrick Lamar and began. I talk about how Kendrick and what people think about his lyrics and him as a rapper. This project challenges people to listen to songs for the meaning and to use their minds to dissect songs to the best of their ability before making a judgment.

WHEN	WHO/HOW	WHAT
Start O.01 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.17 0.19 0.22 0.39 0.42 1.00 1.12 1.25 1.44 2.01 2.05 2.09 2.11 2.13 2.28 2.31 3.17 3.28 3.42 3.43 4.19 5.32	Alex             Alex: Laylah Alex Laylah            Alex Laylah:           Alex Kendrick Lamar Beginning of Podcast Kendrick Lamar interview Alex              Alex            Manny   Alex Manny Alex                      Manny Alex                      Manny           Alex            Manny     Alex Kendrick talking             Alex	Hello I am AL welcome to my Podcast, It’s called Overnight. This time we are talking about voices that impacted the 2000’s. This is… Laylah Do you know who Kendrick Lamar is? Uh yes of course…. What does he do?. he is a rapper yeah, he is a rapper i don’t really listen to him that much really like m.A.A.d city i think his lyrics are kind of like deep like they have some good concrete lyrics that  have meaning. Do you know what m.A.A.d city means.? No Play m.A.A.d city plays I remember  8th grade and me and my friends in class blasting m.A.A.d City by Kendrick Lamar. We used to listen to that song everyday during lunch, not knowing the meaning behind the name of the song which there are two Clip of Kendrick Lamar talking about meaning of m.A.A.d City. And as  kid I didn’t even realize that M.a.a.d city even the name had another meaning to it . Kendrick Lamar is an artist he is very creative with his words, majority of his songs just like m.A.A.d city  have meaning that people who aren’t paying attention don’t even realize. Hi what’s your name and what's your age my name is Manny and I am 17 years old have you heard of Kendrick Lamar yeah of course what does he do He is  mogul he raps and stuff but he also has a lot of merchandise he  does a lot of other stuff then just raps he is kind of like getting to where drake is. What do you think about his lyrics? um he is definitely the best lyricist in main stream uh well I mean okay it depends on the teenager because I understand all his lyrics but that is just because I rap also so I am able to analyze because when I listen to music I wouldn't listen to it without analyzing it  but um I think Kendrick has his lyrics going for him but as well as his flow is going for him Do you also think that goes for his videos because I know a lot of his videos are controversial but most  don’t notice because they are like  it’s a rap song why do I care about the video. um yeah his videos are pretty entertaining  but people don’t really pay attention to them but they should though. Thank you. Kendrick Lamar talking about Swimming pools and the meaning behind it. I agree with my interviewer Kendrick Lamar’s flow makes teenagers want to listen to the song. but he also talks about current events he brings it to life in his videos and lyrics. the song he talks about has a line “ Police wanna kill us in the streets for sure” He is talking about the crime that has happened on the news where black men and women are be shot for black and wearing a hoodie or walking around night or just being outside which is bad where supposed to be a world for every one is accepted you can be gay straight black white Asian these kids are being shot for being or live or being around at a certain time at night and the police who are supposed to be protect and serve us are harming us. Poetic justice song to end out

 

Looking At The Future In The Past

In the Senior STEAM class called Economics. We learned about how to decide what if is of value. We talked about what supply and demand are as well. We talked about how people use incentives. and what they are. For our, FE went to First Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Chicago, where we listened to Mr.Matoon a tell us about his job, as a senior economist. For this Action Project, we had to find out what we made for the jobs we want to have in the future as well as the cost of your choice of going to college. During this Action Project, I had trouble doing my sheets, so I asked for help and got it finished.

                 

The Recurrence Of Ignorance

In the Senior humanities class called Journalism. We learned how journalism helps us to see stories around the world. If we didn’t have these articles we would know nothing about things that happen in this world in faraway places. We learned about the dangers and criteria that being a journalist would bring. We learned about bias in the news, for example, we read an article about an 11-year-old girl that was raped by 8,15-20-year-old males. In this article it made the girl seem like she was asking for it because she hung out with the males and she was wearing what is considered “not age appropriate” clothing. In this class we had a photographer come into FE. We all took pictures of our classmates and at the end, we all took a photo of everyone from different angles. For this Action Project, we were supposed to come up with a story that isn't told in the news. Below is the story I wrote, called The recurrence of ignorance.

AL "the recurrence of ignorance  continues " (2017)

" The next stop is Monroe on the left, doors closing". I was on the train on the way to school, everyone was deep in thought face down looking at their phones or talking to their friends. I  opened my messages it was my friend telling me that a man on the train whispered under his breath that, calling her a terrorist. She told me that this happened to her at least three times since she started to wear her hijab again to school. This made me think about what it is life like to be a Muslim American after 9/11.

The lifestyle of Muslim Americans changed soon as the plane crashed into the twin towers after being shot down. Everything changed. The rise of hate crimes skyrocketed after 9/11 from 28 hate

crimes to 481 according to the article "Data: Hate crimes against Muslims increased after 9/11. I decided to interview my friend Yolanda who is a Muslim and has been through people profiling her just because of her religion." She said that "it’s always people that say things under their breath but not to my face" she stated. "calling me a terrorist". It has been a decade since the tragedy occurred yet children who weren't even alive are being affected by this event

To find out how 9/11 affected the Muslim community I went to interview a close friend of mine that wished to not be named. She is only a small view of the things that Muslims have had to deal with at the time from hate crimes to harassment on the train. She explained to me that some people look at her like she doesn’t belong like she has no right to have fun and live her life because of her religious beliefs. She said “ One day when I was hanging with my friends, we were laughing and joking it was three of us, all of different races and religion. A man was staring at me with disgust as I laughed with my friends. One of my friends noticed and asked him what he was looking at ? but he only ignored her question and walked away”. This is just one of the stories I have heard from friends of mine about encounters they have had with people while walking the city streets.

I asked one more person that wished to not be named or photographed. He stated that one time on his way to work he saw some kids calling Muslim women on the train a" terrorist" as well as trying to pull off her hijab. He said, “ I regret not helping her she was staring at me like she was begging for help with her eyes”. In the Muslim religion, it is bad to pull off the headscarf or hijab of women. I asked my friend Yolanda why this was bad and she explained to me saying “ it is a bad thing because they’re disrespecting me and my culture. They are dehumanizing me in public and Allah wouldn't approve of something that horrible. The person is showing other people that I'm not worthy and I'm not women of Allah and humiliating me, and just to be women in general. the person is showing others that I  am weak. And the person is trying to take my dignity and identity. Like I'm not good enough the way I am. And I need to show my hair to be a “real girl” and not to be a terrorist and taking power out of what they think is a terrorist”.

She has opened my eyes to what I as a person that doesn’t value religion doesn’t know or would understand. We as people tend to ignore the problems we see in our day to day lives that don't affect us. She as well left me a quote to end out this story, she stated “ I'm a woman and best thing is that I'm Muslim women. I love my culture and my religion. I'm not asking you to do the same but at least show me the respect that you'll show your sister and mother. I hope people can learn to love everyone. 

Your Sentence Is Death By Lethal Injection

In the Junior Humanities class called Policy ,we learned in our last unit about specific cases, how they ended they ended and how it relates to policy. In Policy we learned mostly about the Brown v. Board case, and about desegregation of the school during that time. For an FE my class went to see a case at the Criminal Justice Courthouse. After we got the chance to talk to the Judge, about a few of the cases he had been able to see and read about. For this Action Project we were supposed to choose a case and decide whether the final ruling was justified or not. I chose to take the McGehee v. Hutchinson case and I chose to take the route that the ruling was justified.
 
                      

No design Is A Bad Design

In the Junior STEAM class called Urban Planning, we learned about urban planning and it's history. I learned that urban planning is the process of an area developing. For the last unit of the class we  went on a Field Experience to look at the urban planning around Wrigley Field. This FE was a good example of good and bad urban planning it helped me to see what I wanted to keep away from doing during my action project. For our action project, we had to choose a place anywhere in the world and redesign it they we want to while also benefiting others. I chose to redesign my old elementary school, Northeast Elementary in Stamford CT. I wanted to make some changes to the playground area since the equipment only takes up a small portion of the space I chose.

               

The Struggle of Vietnam

In the Junior Hummanites class called Policy. We learned about the excutive branch how it works. We also learned about  polices and, who can carry them out. As well as how policy can he judged right or wrong. We learned about Vietnam war and many other wars in history , we even visited the
National Veterans Mueseum, to learn more about the stories behind the soldiers that fought in the war as well as what they went through. For this Action Project, we had to choose a war and choose wether or not the war was justified or not. I chose to do the Vietnam War and I chose to say that the war was unjustified. It all started in 1954 the Vietnam war. It lasted for roughy 20 year. 20 years of young men and women who helped to fight the war and heal the wounds of those that were in need.  The Vietnam war was  unjustified fought in South and North Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.The United States had been making plans to prepare for the war before hand, but didn’t enter the war until 1965 in early March.  This “war” was between(Anti-Communist),North Vietnam supported by South Korea,and the United States.The other side being in support of Communism was South Vietnam supported by Soviet Union and China.

Vietnam war protestors,(2005) W.Wolny :Wikimedia

The United states,leader Dwight Eisenhower was a very strong believer in Anti-Communism, He even said that “We have got to fight it [Communism] with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people. They are part of America. And even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them, their right to record them,and their right to have them at places where they are accessible to others is unquestioned, or it isn't America” (Dwight AZ Quotes.com). Later on in 1961 when Eisenhower's presidency ended and John F Kennedy’S Presidency began JFK continued those beliefs. As he stated by saying “There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Let them come to Berlin.”(JFK AZQuotes.com) Before,JFK was assassinated in 1963 he made sure that the soldiers prepare for war by going to the Vietnam to train in combat. Lyndon B Johnson became the president in 1963 in November. In 1968 the United States had 548,000 soldiers in Vietnam, and lost 30,000.

In 1965 The United States started to gain more soldiers when they realized that the South Vietnam government was losing the war.The Viet Cong members used guerrilla tactics like digging tunnels and surprising the soldiers from the U.S and attacking them, as well as dressing as farmers. Which is how they eventually ended on the “Winning” side of the war this war that killed so many, was unjustified since the people in charge were afraid of “Domino Theory”. “In the land of the free home of the brave” (Smithsonian "Star Spangled Banner").Domino theory is the theory That communism will spread from one country to the next without being able to be put under control. The government decided to join a war and to lose the lives of the men and women of the United states. Instead of actually following the constitution that our first president George Washington signed and let the people believe in what they want as stated in the constitution in the first amendment “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances”.

In 1973 the congress, started the “War Powers Act” or the War Powers Resolution of 1973. The congress proposed this act, because they wanted to have control over the president. The War Powers act is an act that is intended to keep the president's power to enforce the United States to an armed conflict without asking permission of the U.S. Congress. This act was justified because they wanted to keep the president in control without making him give up all his power. Due to this act as well as the war we lost over 58,220 lives.as well as spent 168 billion dollars included in that 111 billion dollars in weapons.

The Vietnam war was unjust because the United states was afraid of Communism, which would make them lose money. We lost the lives of those that were beloved by their families as well as money the they wanted to keep so bad by funding the weapons needed for the war. The United states is supposed to be the “land of the free home of the brave” (Smithsonian "Star Spangled Banner") yet we are afraid of communism. By participating in this war we are not following the constitution we are not allowing people to believe in what they want as well as having freedom of speech. Vietnam war is a war full of lose and greed, so when you think of this war think of those that died.

Citations:
"First Amendment". LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., 2017. Web. 23 May 2017.

"John F. Kennedy Quotes About Communism | A-Z Quotes". A-Z Quotes. N.p., 2017. Web. 23 May 2017.

"NMAH | The Lyrics". Amhistory.si.edu. N.p., 2017. Web. 23 May 2017.

The Causes Of The Vietnam War". English.illinois.edu. N.p., 2017. Web. 23 May 2017.

"Your Right To Free Expression". American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., 2017. Web. 23 May 2017.

The Parallel Between Connections

In the Junior STEAM class Urban Planning, we learned about Tesla and Edison and the War of Currents.We also stuided the difference between Direct Current or DC and Alternating Current or AC , and what they are used for in the real world. Then we looked into.how to calculate voltage and current in a circuit. For a Field Experience we visited a robotics shop to make circuits using wires and power a toy car's motor. To overcome this we just took pieces from each others boxes that we didn't need.

Sex Is A Forbidden Word

NA,(2017) Pixabay: Sex Offenders 

In the Junior Humanities class, Policy we learned about the Legislative branch and how it works. We studied cases in history and how the legislative branch used there power in the matter. We went to a city council meeting and we saw the mayor Rahm Emmanuel. Even though the meeting didn't talk about the topics we wanted, we got to see how issues are brought up and the system they go through. For this Action Project we had to make a persuasive essay about an issue and a legislator that can address the issue. I choose house representative of the distract I live In which is Barbara Currie. My issue was sex offenders. The most challenge thing that happened was finding an issue that I was passionate about, as well as finding a person that could address the issue. I got through these challengers by looking for bills that weren't passed yet. Finding a person that could actuallyadress the issue my teacher suggested using someone that was in my distract so I chose her.

AL

GCE Lab school

1535 N Dayton

Chicago, IL, 60642

April, 27, 2017

Barbara Currie

Representative office of the 25th district

1303 E 53rd St

Chicago, Illinois 60615

 "Sex offenders" those words can ruin someones life. Remember how you parents always said not to talk to strangers , Yeah sex offenders are the reason why. I would like to talk about having a Sex Offender Registry Task- Force. Ms.Currie this task force would help the people that live in Illinois keep watch for the Sex Offenders. It allows them to get involved, ask questions and give advice to the task force. Children and adults get assaulted everyday but  "approximately 30% of sexual assault cases are reported to authorities.” according to the National U.S Department Of Justice. This force would make it easier for those who have been assaulted to speak up and talk to the task force.
 
  Children are scared they don't know what to do, some don't even know they are being assaulted. Others are told that it is okay and they don't tell the adult. this is why only“62,939 cases of child sexual abuse were reported in 2012” According to the U.S National Department Of Justice. I can’t even imagine how this number has changed now in 2017. Recently, a teenage girl was by taken by her teacher.  He will be charged with aggravated kidnapping and sexual misconduct with a minor. To put your child in a place where you think they are safe and they get abducted is shocking to anyone. Even where I live there are there 3 sex offenders within a mile of me.

I am a student at GCE Lab School in Chicago. I am writing to you about the sex offender task force. This task force would help the community as a minor growing up in Chicago, I feel like it is so easy for a child to get abducted especially in my neighborhood where everyone knows each other and trusts each other. I think it would benefit the community to have a task force for the residents so they can keep in contact. This task force would help girls and boy all over Illinois and maybe it can spread to other states.This is the bill maybe be passed would help a lot of people. It is called the HB 5572, It is  in the process of being passed it will discussed January 1, 2018 and the materials will be discussed the same day the next year.  But I think there should be more that the Force does, for example like deciding whether or not the case should be passed on to the police. Having a Sex Offender Task- Force can be a bad thing as well people can use the task force as a way to make false reports. Having a false report is bad because people can be put a person into the registry and they didn't even do anything. People can also use this information as a way to ruin the lives of those that are on this registry as well. To stop these problems, I feel like the registry should only be allowed to see the people on the registry.  As far as false reports the task force should be able to look into the case first before it is brought to the police. Far too often the lives of children and adults are ruined by th , sex offenders. This task force would help with these problems and keep the community involved. I do think that this force should be able to investigate the reports.




Thank You I would appreciate your help so much.

Sincerely ,



AL