Webb, Chapter 4 - Addressing the Youth Violence Crisis

As I was reading this chapter I kept thinking about what the right wing talk radio shows would say about this chapter:

"There those liberal professors go again, excusing violent youth as the victims of society." I am reminded that our daily news reinforces that opinion through their choice of news stories and how those stories are covered. Because of all these reasons, I consider this to be an important chapter. Once again, this is not about changing people's minds - this is about opening a dialogue and encouraging people to think critically about their world.

I wonder what everyone thinks about Bigger's feeling of importance and freedom after the murder. I don't think this is condoning his actions in any way. Instead, it is about the reader understanding the social situations that lead up to the murder. We see that Bigger is both victim and aggressor.

Potentially more controversial is the opinion that Bigger's plan to rob Blum was justifiable considering his position - that it was a positive psychological move (55). Remember, this was not the teacher's position, but the student's. I think this conversation is useful. Would school administrators worry that even discussing gang violence would be a kin to justifying the behavior in every day life?

I agree with Webb when he says that these conversations are equally important to have with students who come from safe backgrounds (57). Their home lives and their parents have protected them from the harsh realities of our country. History books often gloss over or ignore actual events that paint our majority culture in a bad light. We owe to all our students to give them an eye opening education, even if this education might shatter the illusions of a safe world.

Another point Webb makes which I want to draw attention to is the necessity of teaching multicultural literature using a cultural studies lens (60). Teaching multicultural literature using New Criticism often misses the point of the texts themselves. However, I am not saying that it is OK to read white literature with New Criticism because it comes from the cultural majority. All literature can have a cultural studies lens applied to it.

Finally, I think to teach the texts and have the discussions Webb suggests requires a certain amount of courage as a teacher. The conversations will often be uncomfortable and students will say things we don't want to hear. We may have to prove to administrators and parents the importance of what we are doing. Despite all this, we should consider multicultural studies addressing violence to be an important component of the language arts curriculum.