ESSAY TOPIC Desmond Cole’s essay, “The Skin I’m In,” juxtaposes his experience with a discussion of policing techniques in Toronto. In a well-structured essay, do the following things: - present a précis of Cole’s argument (see Becoming an Active Reader, chapter 2). -identify whether Cole’s essay is personal, persuasive, or informative. -identify Cole’s main point and explain whether his thesis is explicit or implicit. -explain whether you believe that Cole adequately supports his main point, giving reasons and evidence to support your position. Please note that this checklist is not an essay plan; most of these objectives can be addressed in the essay’s first paragraph. Most of your essay will address the fourth point.

12 October 12, 2022 Internalized the experience of oppression: Desmond Cole’s “The Skin I’m in: I have interrogated by police more than 50 times — all because I’m black” In his personal and autobiographical essay, “The Skin I’m in: I’ve been interrogated by police more than 50 times—all because I’m black”, talks about the author’s experience as a Canadian African. The writing is autobiographical in nature. By writing about the incidents in life, the author is showcasing the reality of being black in a city where the majority is white. Desmond Cole makes an argument and conveys the emotions exactly by reiterating the experience. Desmond Cole makes a good argument about the difficulty in living in a city where the majority is black, the meddling from the cops, and the people’s nature to see from the stereotypical lens is also portrayed. The experience is subjective and I agree with Cole’s argument of oppression and subjugation. The author argues about the racialized society where people are prejudiced about Canadian African society. To address this issue, the author says that there is a lack of communication between two communities. Had they had spoken to each other they would have understood the situation of the other. What makes the people have a different attitude toward the black? According to Cole, the act of not making an attempt to understand the black has created stereotypes. Had they known about the people of African community in the real light, they would not treat them differently. The other issue that is discussed is the policies of the police forces. The areas where black people live are policed in the name of crime prevention. The establishment of carding by the Toronto Police Service and targeting the young black in the city for not the suspected crime is portrayed through the change in articles and procedures and they adds credibility to the article. The report also says that 25 percent more people who were carded were black according to the Toronto Star. Later, they published a community engagement report, that said that it has racial sensitivity training and further eliminated carding quotas for officers. It is hard to disagree with Cole’s experience of oppression and subjugation. The emphasis is on the total environment like the police policies, police interaction, and the stereotypical perspective of the people. Who is subjugated? The black people are subjugated in every instance as Cole has rightly said that he feels that some cop is constantly following him. Can this situation ever be changed? The situation is changing but not rapidly. In recent times, we saw that artificial intelligence's unable to recognize black men’s faces depicts a lacking of perception. How can it be changed? The situation can be changed when awareness is created and constantly propagated. Whenever the question of changing the perspectives comes up, I believe that the change will take a long time because the oppression has been rooted in the minds of the common people. Why is the white community unaware of the experience of black individuals? Here is where double consciousness in Du Bois’s theory becomes significant. The lived experience of the radicalized subjects cannot be explained or perceived by the non-racialized subjects. Though the non-racialized subjects might say that they can understand the experience and they will not be able to comprehend the reality they are living in. Double consciousness is the concept that talks about the “twoness” that is the real experience of the Canadian Africans’ and the concept of oppression and devaluation in the white-dominated society (Pittman). The article talks about the assertion of the whites that they consider them to be equal counterparts but the reality strikes differently. When this concept was discussed this brought in the crux of the entire narrative with theory. At the same time, the article was read as substantiating the point. He starts by explaining his experience when his Sana visits them and when the cops confront him. It does not end there; it continues even during his education at Queen’s university. The environment expands, it disturbs him while he is taking a walk and in the restaurant and when he moves to Toronto at the age of 22. Why is it significant to greet black strangers on the street? The author is describing it as an event because by acknowledging they are acknowledging the shared experience. They both might have experienced scrutiny and been stopped by the police. What is the attitude of the people who have experienced it? They have internalized the terror and the lens through which the world sees them. The attitude is a collective experience as they have experienced it as a community The phrases like, “My skin is the deep brown of a well-worn penny” (Cole) and another complexion brings out the way the world sees him. And it adds more layers by talking about the world’s perception. The description of a city like Toronto as a racial city and the data and research adds credibility to the article. The developments of the Toronto Police on victimizing Canadian African also about how shallow the system is in projecting the vulnerability of Canadian Africans’. The audience of this article is youth and the general public who have the understanding to comprehend. The audience is supposed to know about the Canadian African or black community experience on a basic level. While considering the aspects of writing and emotions conveyed, the writing in this essay is easy to understand and there wasn’t any complication in vocabulary or content. The article is addressing social conformity, prejudice, and loopholes in the law to subjugate the people of the African community. The prejudice in society is so rooted that it is seen in many contexts and it also brings about anger, sadness, and alertness among the people who belong. Since it is an anecdote, it does not have a thesis statement. The essay talks about the problem through different rather than explicitly dealing with it. The emotion that is in the essay is sorrow, remorse, and anger. The emotion of sorrow is depicted throughout the essay and the anger is depicted whenever the author wants to question reality and confront the people involved in the process. The development pattern in the article is of stories and how the author has internalized them. By describing the facts over and over again. The reader also tends to internalize the guilt and shame attached to it. In the concluding paragraph, the author questions the attitude of the people and cops. And the final line he says that that “if they had got to know you, they would have treated us differently”, here the ‘you’ and ‘us’ denotes Canadian African community, the concluding line leaves a trace that will stay with the reader for a long time. To conclude, the essay depicts the harsh reality through the experience and persuades the audience. Perhaps, the reality would not have been much difficult had we had seen the known them in a better way Works Cited Cole, Desmond. “The Skin I’m In: I’ve Been Interrogated by Police More than 50 Times—All Because I’m Black.” Toronto Life, 21 Apr. 2015, torontolife.com/life/skin-im-ive-interrogated-police-50-times-im-black/.

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ESSAY TOPIC Desmond Cole’s essay, “The Skin I’m In,” juxtaposes his experience with a discussion of policing techniques in Toronto. In a well-structured essay, do the following things: - present a précis of Cole’s argument (see Becoming an Active Reader, chapter 2). -identify whether Cole’s essay is personal, persua