Webb Chap. 4 (Youth Violence / Racism / Multicultural Studies)

Coming from a small town in northern Michigan--Gaylord to be specific--where often times the largest youth crime issue that appears on the local news or the "Police Blotter" section of the newspaper is retail fraud or M.I.P., it is easy for me to forget how many teens are actually involved in violence on a regular basis. Fortunately for me I wasn't personally subjected to much violence, but I definitely saw things via the media which let me know it was out there. I am reminded quickly, however, of the violence crisis right here in Kalamazoo when I recall a fellow peer in my pre-internship classes, who was doing her pre-internship at Loy Norrix, frequently spoke of the gang activity that was present there. She noted that students who were suspected to be in rival gangs, needed to be separated from contact in the classroom. Is this the correct way to handle a situation like this (I'm clueless here)?? I noticed that aside from the testimonial from Teysha (p. 68),Webb didn't mention much about violence that actually took place inside the schools. I guess this could fall more so under bullying, but it is a very intriguing condition nonetheless. I feel as though introducing a unit on teen violence by highlighting in-school violence can draw more students in, especially those students like me who were not subjected to violence on a regular basis. Then it may be easier for the class to transition into more severe issues such as gangs, weapons, or even homicide. Films that directly address this which could be used include Dangerous Minds or Lean on Me...


Youth violence and racism is definitely something that is worth closely examining, and I feel as though I'm obliged to read Native Son. On the other hand, each time I found myself saying Webb was neglecting some important fact, he immediately addressed my concerns. For example, in the beginning portion of the chapter he seemed to be focusing on inner-city violence and African Americans, which could possibly increase apparent "racial tension" among that obviously exists within our schools and the U.S., but surely enough he states "it is also important to recognize that violence is by no means confined to ghettos and that youth gangs are formed by all racial groups in many different parts of the country" (p. 62). These issues obviously hit home for students from all walks of life, and it is imperative that they are brought to the forefront of our literature teaching at some point during a given year. It seems that these issues of gangs, racism, youth violence, assault, etc. are all interrelated and could easily be examined for an entire year, if not longer. Furthermore, I agree that reader-response and multicultural studies are the best mediums for students to explore all of these issues, and can enable them to more easily put on the shoes of others in order to truly make sense of these social inequalities which inherently exist. These ideas seem to be the most powerful issues today's students can examine, in my opinion, and this chapter does a wonderful job at suggesting multiple points of entry (song lyrics, film, literature, etc.) to address them.