Van Chester Thompkins was charged with multiple charges. He moved to suppress his statements made during the interrogation. He was found guilty on all charges by a jury of his peers and sentenced to life in prison without parole. His appellate counsel filed a motion for a new trial which was rejected by the trial court. He appealed the ruling to the Michigan Court of Appeals and the trial courts original refusal to suppress his pre-trial statements made during interrogation claiming his Miranda rights were violated. His claims were rejected ruling that he failed to invoke his right to remain silent therefore he waived it. He then filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan; they also rejected his claim and upheld the previous court rulings. However, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the previous rulings for Thompkins regarding the Miranda claim. The court believed that the state court did not reasonably apply clearly established…
In this article, Deborah S. Connelly talks about the history of book banning, its presence in society today, and actions that have and can be taken against it. Most of these actions stem from the responsibility of librarians and organizations. Connelly believes that librarians have an obligation to keep their content uncensored and readily available to the public. She has stated that the best way to prevent book censorship is to educate our society about the importance of diverse books. A more specific approach regarding this idea might be for a librarian to remind an opposing patron why the book on trial was bought in the first place, and what it could have to offer the reader. As said on the final page of her article, “Knowledge is the key…
In “Censorship a Personal View,” Judy Blume connects the consequences academic censorship has on young adults with her own experiences. She recalled how censoring had increased dramatically, causing activists to protest in multiple education centers. Blume believes banning books from classrooms can decrease learning in real life situations. She recounted an experience with her own book being banned from children because it contained “explicit content”. Blume adds, she will continue to write to give students the right to books she was denied due to censorship.…
A quote by Laurie Halse Anderson, author of Speak and Chains, states, “Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.” Ray Bradbury exhibits the two main factors that support self censorship in his dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451. Through the development of a shallow culture and hostility towards books, Bradbury implies how mass media can suppress free speech as thoroughly as a controlling government. With the growth of a pleasure centered culture, fast cars, loud music, and television overpower the popularity of books. The abundance of stimulation in this new lifestyle makes published materials overwhelming and unable to hold society’s concentration. Bradbury describes how society slowly loss interest in books, by condensing…
As an old woman, Aminata Diallo is brought to London, England, in 1802, by abolitionists who are petitioning to end the slave trade. As she awaits an audience with King George, she recounts her remarkable life on paper, beginning with her life in Bayo, in western Africa, prior to being abducted from her family at age 11, seeing the death of her mother and father, and being marched in a coffle of captives to the coast along with others from her village. Chekura, a boy of similar age who assists the slave catchers, is at the last minute abducted himself and forced to join Aminata on the slave ship. Despite suffering humiliation, witnessing atrocities, enduring squalor and languishing in starvation, Aminata survives the passage to America because she is able to apply the knowledge and skills passed on to her by her parents, especially the ability to “catch” babies and to understand some African languages. In South Carolina, Aminata is auctioned off to an indigo plantation, along with a man from her village who has lost his senses during the ocean crossing. She learns the language of the “buckra” through the teachings of Georgia, an American-born slave, as well as from Mamed, the overseer of the plantation. Daily, Aminata must navigate the new dangers of disease and the eye of the plantation master while she searches for a way to return to her homeland. As she carries Chekura’s child, she is warned that Master Appleby could take it away at any time. Sure enough, at ten months, Aminata’s son, Mamadu, is sold by Appleby and Chekura also disappears. Stricken with grief, Aminata falls into a depression and refuses to work on the plantation. Appleby sells her to Solomon Lindo, the indigo inspector of the region, and she departs for a new life in Charles Town where Lindo promises to treat her as a “servant” rather than as a “slave” in that she works for wage and pays rent to Lindo. During rioting in New York City that coincides with the outbreak of the…
Censorship is a prominent issue that needs to be addressed by people evaluating the reasons books are being banned, the legalities of censorship, the problems and the effects of censorship if it is allowed. Imagine that boy again, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as he discovers is banned from their shelves. The boy misses out because this is a book he chose to read for fun, it displays an accurate representation of the time, and there are many lessons he could have learned from it. On a final note, Lopez concludes, “Maybe these people should open up a book and enlighten themselves and realize that they are part of a cycle that perpetuates intolerance, inequality and violence. We would not be a functioning and progressive society without books that offer a different view of the world, that allow the reader to be part of the story and experience through imagery and diction a different setting than one's…
John Howard Griffin was a journalist and a professional on race issues. After publication, he became a leading advocate in the Civil Rights Movement and did much to promote awareness of the racial situation sand pass legislature. He was middle aged and living in Mansfield, Texas at the time of publication in 1960. His desire to know if Southern whites were racist against the Negro population of the Deep South, or if they really judged people based on the individual 's personality as they said. Because of this he felt that they had encouraged him to cross the color line and write Black Like Me.…
Connelly, Deborah S. "To Read Or Not To Read: Understanding Book Censorship." Community & Junior College Libraries 15.2 (2009): 83-90. ERIC. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.…
Potter Stewart once said, “Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.” Stewart’s personal definition of censorship is constantly portrayed throughout Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451 as readers see free-thoughts being restricted by government efforts. This can be seen first as government-directed firemen burn books to keep citizens from developing their own opinions on matters. Secondly, ideas and questions are kept off limits by distracting people through the technology surrounding them. Finally, censorship is enforced by removing situations where people can ask questions, such as in classrooms at schools. Fahrenheit 451 is a novel that gives us prime examples of ways a government can suppress and censor individual ideas and free thought.…
Censorship of media is a subject that has been hit heavily throughout history. The idea of censorship seems to give people a negative view of how society would turn out with complete censorship of media. Many authors see it as their responsibility to try to warn people of the dangers of complete control of media, as authors have a voice to a wide range of people. Ray Bradbury’s Novel Fahrenheit 451 uses the theme of censorship to describe how controlled media can affect a society’s ability to think individually.…
According to Ayn Rand, “The mind is an attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as a collective brain. There is no such thing as a collective thought. An agreement reached by a group of men is only a compromise or an average drawn upon many individual thoughts. It is a secondary consequence. The primary act—the process of reason—must be performed by each man alone. We can divide a meal among many men. We cannot digest it in a collective stomach.” In short, Rand means to say that a man must be able to create an identity in himself and go against collectivity and make his own decisions this is impacted due to the aspect rationality that censorship is depriving people. If historical accounts are censored, not only is society losing a vital piece of teaching material to educate future generations of the past and how not to enter another period parallel to the movements and is creating a loss of personal identity, because it disallows a reader to formulate his literary identity and also create his own opinions of the event. Censorship is perpetually invalid because the only way people learn things beyond personal experience is reading about them. And who would like to experience a genocide to educate themselves on the…
Books all over America are in danger. Books, objects that allow imagination and the expansion of the mind and the world around one, are often times subject to criticism and even bannings when any one person does not like the content. Books bannings should not be done whatsoever, let alone become a semi-common practice. Of course, bannings only occur after careful consideration. Or do they? Censorship is a growing problem in America, as parents and other authority figures ban various types of books in their community when content is too “edgy” or “age inappropriate”, and these are often gone through without the book so much as being opened. However, in all reality, what might be “wrong” for one child may be just right for another. Are book…
Lawrence Hill's novel The Book of Negroes is a gripping tail of a young African girl named Aminata, in her life as she is abducted at a young age and forced into the slave trade. This is not a challenging read as it does not have a high level of vocabulary so it is readable by almost all ages. The story progresses as Aminata grows and matures physically and mentally, through horrendous conditions and mistreatment. The journey is full of twists and turns, and you can't help but root for the determined young Aminata. This Novel will keep you wanting more, you wont be satisfied till the final page.…
The Catcher in the Rye. The Scarlet Letter. Huckleberry Finn. Harry Potter. The Diary of Anne Frank. Animal Farm. To Kill a Mockingbird. The Da Vinci Code. The Grapes of Wrath. These literary classics have been vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents (Banned Books). These great novels both teach important values and educate children about world affairs and classic themes. Unfortunately, each of these novels has been banned at one point in time. In a country where freedom is so adamantly advocated, it is a wonder that an issue like censorship would even come up, that such a controversy would sink its claws into the minds of states’ boards of education across the nation. Censorship is a needless restriction placed on developing minds that need the morals and values that banned books can give.…
1). What explanation can you offer for why the rich are less likely to support public services in communities with a wide income gap between the rich and poor?…