Essay 3 Topic

Topic: Mass incarceration and its affects on the minority groups in America?

Why are minority groups the majority of the population in American jails?

What are the potential outcomes of these individuals after being released from jail?

Is the American criminal justice system working on reducing crime why or why not?

What is the statistics of reoccurring offenders in minority groups?

Why is reoccurring offenses so prevalent?

What can we do in order to help fix the criminal justice system?

Why is it that America is 5% the worlds population but 25% of the worlds prison population?

How can we help minority groups in America?

Is our system prejudice towards minority groups in America?

If this is true why is this?

How can we stop this vicious cycle?

FriendsWood Questions

Aidan Smith

Prof Young

January 29, 2017

1.     Who is Willa Lambert?  Describe her relationship with her parents.  Write about her “visions.”  Based upon the evidence that’s been presented in the novel, what’s the origin of these visions?

Willa is a high school student that enjoys writing poetry. She is a quiet shy girl and has a huge crush on the football player Cully. Willa’s mom seams to be critical of her appearance stating, “Your eye makeup is all over the place too” (Steinke: pg. 62). Willa has visions sometimes. One time when doing calculus homework she had a vision of a small, round, gray women that was outside her window. I think the visions can be due to the toxins that are in the area causing her to see things. 

3.              Who is Hal?  What does he do for a living?  How would you describe his career?  Talk about Hal’s relationship with Darlene, with Cully.

Hal is a real estate agent that is very religious. In the past he was an alcoholic but due to his faith has been clean for over a year now. Hal has struggled as a real estate agent and is still waiting for his big break he believes that God has in store for him. Hal is trying to sell land that in the past was polluted but supposedly now has been cleared by the EPA. Hal so far seams to have a normal relationship with his wife and son.

4.              Who is Lee?  What significant tragedy happens in her life?  Discuss how this event affects her.  Thus far how is Lee perceived by community members?

Lee is the mother of Jess, the girl who died of cancer. Lee is married to Jack and they lived in Rosemont, right by an old refinery. After Lee’s daughter died she turn into an activist trying to warn people about the cancerous toxin in the ground. Lee still takes dirt samples by Banes Field. The book states, “That day a years ago, when she’d first seen the oily sludge come up out the grass, she’d thought it was a snake.” (Steinkie: pg. 7). Lee is perceived as an annoyance because she keeps trying to say there is toxins coming up from the ground even thought the dirt has been test by the EPA and approved.

5.              Chemical dumping has disastrous effects on the environment.  Talk about the chemical dumping that’s occurred in Friendswood.  Who is responsible for it?  How does the community respond to it?  What are some signs that the environment has been affected by the chemical dumping?

The old oil refinery buried toxic waste in the ground and it has seeped out of containers and poisoned the land and people of Friendswood Texas. It has cause people to have birth defects and cancer rates to soar. This lead to individuals having to relocate away from the toxic lands. Rene’ stated, “The air did not smell of dead lemons. The red and blue sores hadn’t yet appeared on anyone’s neck. The black snakes hadn’t wriggled up from the ground.” (Steinke: pg. XV). This was before the toxins seeped out of the ground. The community hasn’t done anything after years of this, with only one women “Lee” who is still fighting with city council about the toxic waste. The ground is mucky and has oil seeping out of it, also there is dead plants and animals because of the toxins.

6.              Make the connections between Friendswood and one of the significant environmental calamities that’s occurring now: Standing Rock, Flint, Michigan, and East Chicago, Indiana.  Be sure to include when the event happened, why it happened, and how the environmental calamity effected the community. (If you aren’t familiar with these events, please research them.)

The Flint Michigan Water crisis started in April 2014 and is still on going. Flint Michigan is a poor area where 41% of individuals live below the poverty line. This areas water supply has many toxins in it and the government has yet to fix this pressing issue. With individuals in the area having drank water containing very high levels of lead leading to a number of health issues. Likewise in Friendswood Texas individuals are being poisoned by toxins in the ground leading to a number of health issues and the government is just trying to sweep it under the table because they don’t want to pay for it. People should not have to be afraid to drink their tap water or to go outside because of the fear of being poisoned. The government has to do its job in protecting people and providing a safe environment.

7.              Discuss the role of protection and the EPA.  Is this governmental agency fulfilling its role as it relates to the community members of Friendswood?

The EPA is a federal government agency that was created for the purpose of protecting human’s health and the environment. The EPA has laws that were created to protect the environment and the health of the people. The EPA is not doing its job because they have approved for people to live in an area that clearly has toxins in it. They also haven’t made any effort to clean up the toxic waste that is still in the soil. The EPA is lying about the soil being clean and having no toxins in it anymore. They just don’t want to have to deal with it anymore.

Work Cited

Steinke, Rene. Friendswood. Waterville, ME: Thorndike, 2015. Print.