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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. According to Katie Miller, who does the looting in the Korean stores?

2. What is "a badge of courage" as referred to in the story?

3. According to Jason Sanford, who are "they"?

4. According to the Anonymous Man, what has changed between older and younger gang members?

5. According to Cornel West, what difference do black men have over black women, which therefore makes them heroes?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Katie Miller's stand on the looting and the looters in general.

2. What is a "deadeye"? Is Owen Smet a deadeye? Briefly discuss his collection of guns.

3. Describe Paul Parker's crusade. What drives him to pursue this crusade?

4. Describe Peter Sellars' comparison of his father and the United States. How are they alike, according to him?

5. Explain Hami Bhabha's theory on twilight.

6. How can twilight be used, according to Hami Bhabha?

7. Describe Elaine Young's experience during the riots. Why does she frequent the hotel lounges?

8. Describe the way Reginald Denny feels about everything that happened to him. What does he remember the most about all of his ordeals?

9. Describe how Sergeant Charles Duke feels about the use of physical force by police officers.

10. Tom Bradley prepared four different messages for possible release to the media. Speculate on these four messages. What could these messages be and what scenario is the particular message for?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Some parts of the story seem to indicate that there is a certain level of acceptance and adaptation to police abuse. Is this a natural mechanism for man to adapt to something over time, even though he may not like it? Can a society survive in such a predator-prey type of environment?

Essay Topic 2

Racism can be felt by anyone, colored or not. Is there any similarity between the discrimination a white person feels towards a colored one in a situation such as the one claimed by the African-American characters in the book, and vice versa, such as the one Rudy Salas, Jr. claims he receives? What are the similarities and differences between the two kinds of discrimination? Are the effects the same, to the person and to those he or she discriminates against?

Essay Topic 3

Is Rodney King responsible for the events that happened to him? Or are the events something that would have happened to him, no matter how cautious, nondescript, and submissive he was? What could he have done differently to change the course of his life?

(see the answer keys)

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