For this week's analysis I would like to do a Close Reading focusing on Eldridge Cleaver's "Affidavit#2: Shoot-Out in Oakland", a written sworn statement of fact under an oath of law describing the witnessed Oakland Shoot-Out. More specifically I would like to focus on page 98. This page consists of one long paragraph describing previous events in which cops had tried to undermine African American social progress in previous events.
The paragraph starts off with "We had noticed that whenever we staged a large fund raising event, the Oakland police would... first, try to prevent it from happening; then...would arrest a lot of party members and drain off whatever money was raised...to bail these party members out of jail." This single sentence is used to as evidence on why the shoo-out was planned. Cleaver's argument is that similar events had happened in the past, so the reasoning is the same for the shooting on 28th Street. The police wanted to shut down the Black Community Barbeque Picnic, so they tried to stop it, and after failing, pursued Black Panther members. Cleaver then recalls a time where a funding event was almost cancelled because the Oakland police said it would be a nuisance and danger to the public. After failing, police detained members on conspiracy theories. Publicity caused charges to be dropped, but not until after most of raised funds were already lost to paying legal fees and bails.
Themes prominent in this one section can be connected to racism, conspiracy, and possibly even revenge. Racism seems to be the most obvious. It is easy to see how the justice system, or at least the police force is against African American social betterment as they try to undermine their progress. Another may be conspiracy. The cops are constantly trying to find ways to shut down events, and if they can't do that they try to detain members by finding false allegations to detain them with. In terms of revenge, this can be seen in two ways. It may be one spurred on by pride from the cops and another is vengeance in the public outcries. It seems perhaps that after failed attempts to shut down events, the cops may have had the vengeful urge to continue, resulting in the arrests. This then lead to the public outcries. The crowds are now wanting revenge and justice. In the whole scheme of things, if we look as this document as a whole, this is what Cleaver wants as well. As stated in the document, Cleaver wants justice "either in the court or in the streets" showing that revenge is a never-ending and passing cycle.
Works Cited:
http://mshenglishcourses.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/125230532/Eldridge%20Cleaver%20nonfiction.pdf
Themes prominent in this one section can be connected to racism, conspiracy, and possibly even revenge. Racism seems to be the most obvious. It is easy to see how the justice system, or at least the police force is against African American social betterment as they try to undermine their progress. Another may be conspiracy. The cops are constantly trying to find ways to shut down events, and if they can't do that they try to detain members by finding false allegations to detain them with. In terms of revenge, this can be seen in two ways. It may be one spurred on by pride from the cops and another is vengeance in the public outcries. It seems perhaps that after failed attempts to shut down events, the cops may have had the vengeful urge to continue, resulting in the arrests. This then lead to the public outcries. The crowds are now wanting revenge and justice. In the whole scheme of things, if we look as this document as a whole, this is what Cleaver wants as well. As stated in the document, Cleaver wants justice "either in the court or in the streets" showing that revenge is a never-ending and passing cycle.
Works Cited:
http://mshenglishcourses.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/125230532/Eldridge%20Cleaver%20nonfiction.pdf
Hey April, I thought this story was so sad, and thought that Cleaver did a great job of describing the horrible things that they had to go through just to organize a BBQ or even just to drive down the street. I also thought it was sad the level of racism he had against white people as well. While his anger was not unfounded by any means, respect and peace does go both ways or the cycle of revenge does continue, exactly as you said. Great job on your close reading.
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