The Convert

A man don't know what he’ll do, a man don’t know what he is till he gets his back pressed up against a wall. (…)

Source: Bennett Jr, Lerone “The Convert.” In: Negro Digest, January 1963.

Available on pp. 61-82 at [🔗]

current affairs

In the Mother Jones article “What does it take to convict a cop?” Michael Sokolove relates the killing of the African American civilian Walter Scott by the white police officer Michael Slager and how the officer was subsequently acquitted.

links

Michael Sokolove “What does it take to convict a cop?” Mother Jones, March/April 2017. [🔗]

questions

1. What reasons does Booker offer for not telling the truth in court? What solution does he come up with? Why does he change his mind when he is on the stand in court?

2. What similarities and dissimilarities are there between the events in “The Convert” and the killing of Walter Scott?

3. What policies does Michael Sokolove take to be responsible for the loss of black civilian lives due to interventions by white police officers? What could improve the situation?

4. How did Michael Slager get acquitted? What makes it so difficult to get a conviction in these kinds of cases?

5. How do you assess the evidence in the video of the events that was shot by Feidin Santana? Does it offer sufficient evidence for a conviction? See [🔗]