Problem
Readings:
1. Malcolm X Official Site, Biography
2. The Ballot or the Bullet, by Malcolm X
3. Letter from a Birmingham City Jail, by Martin Luther King, Jr.
4. READ & LISTEN: I Have a Dream, by Martin Luther King, Jr
5. Congressional Apology to Native Americans
6. Presidential Apology for Slavery & Jim Crow
7. Congressional Apology for Japanese Internment
8. 40 Years Later: The Unrealized American Dream, by the Institute for Policy Studies
A. I asked you to consider Menace II Society as the "aftermath" of Traces of the Trade. In what ways can the subject matter of Menace II Society be based on institutional and societal failures in the African American community? In what ways is the subject matter a "ghetto" problem? In what ways is the subject matter everyone's problem? Is it your problem?
B. What are the American dreams represented in the texts (Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Menace II Society, Dedrick Muhammad)? In what ways are the arguments of the texts the same? In what ways are they different? Use evidence from the texts to support your arguments.
C. What are Reparations? Are they necessary? If so, for whom? Why? If not, why not? If reparations are made, how should they be delivered? What would they consist of? In what ways might they do more harm than good (either to individual people, or to the nation as a whole)?