A 1-2 paragraph summary of what you think the core ideas are
At least three examples of important or thought-provoking points that the author makes, including direct quote and page numbers (or hour/minutes/seconds if it is a film)
Why you think these particular examples are important or thought provoking
Questions that this reading raises for you
Also, plan to share some ideas from of your writing in our class
Option 1: I find the name of the book [“The End of Policing”] to be powerful, in and of itself, as an idea. The title of the first chapter, “The Limits of Police Reform”, reveals to you the author’s argument. Police reform can only go so far: “most of these reforms fail to deal with the fundamental problems inherent to policing” (4). What are some of these “fundamental problems”? Why are they “inherent”, or what are they inherent to? On page 3, the author states that “part of the problem stems from a ‘warrior mentality.’ Police often think of themselves as soldiers in a battle with the public rather than guardians of public safety. That they are provided with tanks and other military-grade weapons, that many are military veterans, and that militarized units like Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) proliferated during the 1980s War on Drugs and post-9/11 War on Terror only fuels this perception, as well as a belief that entire communities are disorderly, dangerous, suspicious, and ultimately criminal. When this happens, police are too quick to use force.” And as the author states, “excessive use of force… is just the tip of the iceberg of over-policing”(3). What are some of the other “fundamental problems inherent to policing”? How are these problems tied to the “dramatic expansion of police power” (27) and how is this inherent to a larger critique of American culture? You may also outline the failure of police reform in America, which the chapter details in full, but the deeper question is how does “the very nature of policing and the legal system [serve] to maintain and exacerbate racial inequality” (14)? You can also discuss the last section, which considers alternatives to policing, such as disarming the police and reimagining the role of police in society.
