What’s Broken | Teen Ink

What’s Broken

February 20, 2019
By aseeburger22 BRONZE, Defiance, Ohio
aseeburger22 BRONZE, Defiance, Ohio
3 articles 0 photos 0 comments

“What’s Broken,” written by Miles Pearson is an article that describes concerns of students of color. This article captivated me because it makes several points that gave the article credibility.

 I found Pearson’s article quite inspiring and, in my opinion, a bold choice. Police brutality is a controversial subject, and the author seamlessly voiced his concerns as well as his peers. Specifically, the concerns of the students of color at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High. We’ve all heard the haunting story of the Parkland Shooting, a school shooting in Parkland, Florida about a year ago. Naturally, the school would like to add more police to campus, but the students believe that this will endanger their safety. A quote from the article says, “…cops have a history of treating people of color like potential criminals without proof, evidence, and rationality.”

The stigma between communites of color and the police is definitely not unheard of. People speak out in the media and write books about this abhorrent topic. Angie Thomas, author of “The Hate U Give”, is a beautiful example of this. Which brings me to another brilliant point in Pearson’s article. While the topics of racial discrimination and the murder of unarmed black people is very popular in the media, there is a common theme within this topic. The absence of the victim’s names. There has been little to no mention of the victims involved in these crimes. Only referred to as “male, 35” or “boy, 12”.

The author states, “Black and brown teens, kids, and adults are shot every day because of fear, racism, and negative assumptions.” This is a terrifying thought for a person of color to have when walking to their car or being pulled over. Yes, I am a white student at a school that has predominantly white population, but I do feel strongly for those around me who do. In the end, I hope that I will live to see the day when people of different races are treated as equals. My biggest wish is to see no unfairly treated victims in the news, that there will be no need to name the victims because there will be none.



Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.