4 minute read
Jacob Blake
Panther Prowler • Sept. 18, 2020
Board of Education approves books for junior core curriculum
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!e books “Between the World and Me” by Ta-Nehisi Coates and “!e Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead were approved by the CVUSD Board of Education on Sept. 15. !ey will be a part of the core curriculum literature for juniors in high school.
Published in 2015, “Between the World and Me” is a non"ction book written as a letter to Coates’s teenage son about the hardships and paths Black men face in the United States.
“!e Underground Railroad” is a historical "ction novel about a young girl named Cora. Whitehead writes about her journey growing up and the increasing danger she faces on a plantation. Using an underground railroad, she travels from state to state so that she can "nd her freedom. As she #ees, Cora is hunted by various plantation owners with a warrant out for her arrest.
During the board meeting on Sept. 15, vice president Jenny Fitzgerald said, “I appreciate both of these books for that reason, for addressing issues around systemic racism and providing more racial diversity in both authors and characters.”
To get material approved from the district, it must "rst be presented at an English Language Arts (ELA) Articulation meeting, with rationale by a teacher. !en, the members of the ELA Articulation committee that have already read the book will discuss it and the material must be voted on in order to move it to the Secondary Curriculum Advising Committee (SCAC). If no members have read the material, they may volunteer to review it and the process will proceed as previously described. While in the SCAC stage, the materials will be once again presented and voted on to be passed onto the CVUSD Board of Education, where it will stay on the agenda to discuss for four meetings. Parents will then be able to review the book(s) and discuss it at these board meetings before the district will vote on whether or not the material should be adopted.
“I’ve only heard positives from people… A lot of people have talked about how these are actually books that are more authentic voices, talking about certain experiences.” said Cindy Goldberg, president of the CVUSD Board of Education.
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Approved- Between the World and Me (left) and The Underground Railroad (right) are two books that have been added into the new core literature curriculum. The school board is giving a Spanish copy to those who need it, while still providing the English copy. Lou Lichtil/With Permission.
Outrage ensues after Jacob Blake is shot
Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times by a police o$cer, Rusten Sheskey, while attempting to enter his vehicle on Aug. 23. Blake is a 29 year old father of six, three of which were in the car at the time of the shooting.
According to the Kenosha police union, the original call was for a domestic disturbance about Blake attempting to steal a vehicle a%er violating a restraining order, which was "led with a third-degree sexual assault complaint from his exgirlfriend on July 6. According to the union, the police arrived on scene within three minutes,aware that Blake had an open warrant for sexual assault.
Allegedly, Blake was trying to break up a domestic dispute between two women as other witnesses corroborate. As the situation escalated, there was an exchange that led O$cer Sheskey to tase Blake twice as he resisted arrest. However, there is no recording of this exchange as the o$cers were not wearing body cameras.
In a viral video taken by Raysean White, Blake is seen walking around a white SUV while o$cers have their weapons drawn. When Blake made it to his car, Sheskey grabbed him by the back of the shirt and "red seven shots from his "rearm. A%er the incident, the o$cers were placed on leave and a trial was scheduled for November, which has been delayed since. !e viral video then led to unrest throughout Kenosha, Wisconsin and the rest of the country. Demonstrations became chaotic, causing an estimated two million dollars in damages,
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according to Milwaukee’s WUWM radio station.
A%er the shooting, Blake was treated at Froedtert Hospital where he was cu&ed to his bed due to his arrest warrant. Blake would later "nd out that he had been paralyzed from his injuries and had a 10,000 dollar bond, leading his family to set up GoFundMe page, which has raised over two million dollars for “medical bills, legal representation, "nancial support of his children if his paralysis is permanent, and therapy for his children.”
Blake had a court hearing via Zoom from his hospital bed where he pleaded not guilty to all charges to which he faces 10 years if convicted.
