I felt the death certificate was crucial to my project and that it should be first. Most people learn better through storytelling and emotional connection. The story focuses on Mary Jacobson, a beloved young woman murdered during a "robbery gone wrong" in a bad part of town wwhere she was a valued community leader. It is important to start here because the mis-identification of her killer is what leads to the discussion of racial-profiling.
REFLECTION
The next part of the story. The identification of the suspect. Mary worked in a bad part of town and because of this, her very foggy description of her attacker is assumed to be someone from the community. This is the beginning of profiling. An example of how things can start to go wrong. It is a perfect storm. You have a beloved member of the community, a part of town known for it's poverty and high crime rates, and pressure to solve this violent crime as quickly as possible. In hindsight this should probably should have made this first so that the timeline fit better. In this moment it is only attempted murder as she hadn't died yet.
This was an interesting one to tackle. I knew that it was important to have a eulogy to further the story. Obviously I have never given one so I had to read a few and guage what would be appropriate to include, In this moment we see the parents of mary giving her eulogy. It would be helpful to point out that Mary's loving and forgiving nature is a direct product of her parents. This helps us understand why their focus was more on preserving the legacy of her work and keeping her spirit alive, than condemning her attacker. They understand how big of an impact she had on that community and would hate for assumed biases to derail that. She is gone and the best way to preserve her in time is to make sure that the community comes together despite most citizens in the lower east side "fitting the description"
REFLECTION
Arguably the best part of the project. It is my favorite because it is visibly appealing. In an effort to ease tensions, the polie chief meets with community leaders to organize a public forum. This is the event fkyer. Each speaker is from a different community yet equally respected. It is a community flyer to call for a forum to try and ease tensions while looking for the prime suspect in Mary Jacobson's case. It was meant to help reduce the baseless accusations and help keep police incidents down as the vague description of the suspect matches most male citizens in the lower east side.
The conclusion. This was interesting as I haven't done much descriptive writing. We see that somewone has finally been arrested in connection to the murder. He is unnerved and just wants to be let go. He claims that he isn't the one they are looking for. It would appear that he was right, as afterwards the chief comes in with evidence that clears him. It appears that the suspect defied most expectations.He fit the description only because of clothing and a trick of the light. Turns out he wasn't even from the neighborhood. It goes to show that profiling is not the end all be all.