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Beginning: "Atticus had promised me he would wear me out if he ever heard of me fighting any more...I soon forgot. Cecil Jacobs made me forget. He had announced in the school-yard the day before that Scout Finch's daddy defended n******" (Lee 85).

Middle: "In ones and twos, men got out of the cars. Shadows became substance as light revealed solid shapes moving toward the jail door. Atticus remained where he was. The men hid from view...In obedience to my father, there followed what I later realized was a sickeningly comic aspect of an unfunny situation: the men talked in near-whispers" (Lee 172).
End: "As you grow older, you'll see white men cheat black men every day of your life, but let me tell you something and don't you forget it...no matter who he is, how rich he is, or how fine a family he comes from, that white man is trash" (Lee 252).

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THE BLM MOVEMENT AND "ALL LIVES MATTER" PROTESTERS

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Racial justice protesters pierced the evening air in Somers with cries of "No justice, no peace." Facing them across Main Street on July 24, a line of counter-protesters brandishing American flags launched jeers and shouts of "All Lives Matter" from the parking lot of Joanna's, a family restaurant and local fixture.

Suddenly, a woman broke out of the ranks of counter-protesters and lurched across the double yellow line. As she advanced toward the Black Lives Matter protesters, the crowd poured into the road. State police on the scene broke up the confrontation that followed and arrested the woman.

The intensity of the conflict that night was unusual, but the animosity it revealed was not. Across Connecticut, advocates for racial justice and "All Lives Matter" counter-protesters have clashed in small towns, quiet suburbs, and on the grounds of the state Capitol, exposing ever-fragile fault lines over issues like policing, housing and education.

In Ellington, protesters denouncing a racist meme shared by the first selectwoman confronted neighbors who adamantly defended her reputation. In Farmington, a Black member of the town's new Racial Equality Task Force received a racist card in the mail. In Fairfield, a crush of racial justice demonstrators interrupted a press conference at which local leaders spoke out against the police reform bill brought before the state legislature. In Norwalk and Wethersfield, Black Lives Matter signs have been defaced by residents or removed by town officials who deem them too "political" to be displayed on municipal property.

These tensions have manifested in public spaces but have also overtaken local social media forums. For supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement in Connecticut, the conflicts underscore the extent of the resistance facing their efforts to bring structural change to towns and cities long considered bulwarks of exclusion.

Daniel HoSang, an associate professor of Ethnicity, Race, & Migration and American Studies at Yale University, said that many white Americans are "ill-equipped" to engage with discussions of systemic racism because the "norm of color-blindness is very much in the air, even in liberal institutions."

Yet the graphic brutality of George Floyd's killing in May - a dying Black man pinned to the pavement by a white Minneapolis police officer - served as a turning point for many, he said. Outraged Americans who filled the streets this summer voiced their "withdrawal of consent" for police brutality and forms of discrimination, forcing changes in law enforcement and putting fresh pressure on historic inequalities.

To HoSang, the counter-protests that have emerged across the state reflect forces that have long been been part of America, but which are now facing a forceful challenge from those calling for a sea change of progressive reform.

"What we're seeing in Farmington, Ellington and other places is unmistakably powerful but is in some ways a way of disavowing or explaining away racism that is itself losing credibility or under attack," he said.

In the past two months, towns like Tolland and South Windsor have held their first racial justice protests in recent memory and Black Lives Matter signs proliferated across Connecticut.

Jay Williams, the president of the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, said that for the first time in his life, "there is a growing, palpable, tangible recognition of the structural racism that has existed for decades."

"Six months ago, you didn't have white people in the streets protesting or supporting Black Lives Matter to the extent you have it now. Last summer, I wasn't driving through Simsbury and Avon seeing Black Lives Matter signs everywhere I turned," said Williams, who served as the first Black mayor of Youngstown, Ohio, and later in the administration of President Barack Obama.

State Sen. Doug McCrory, a Hartford Democrat who also represents Bloomfield and Windsor, said that the swelling of support for Black Lives Matter - and the police accountability bill recently signed by Gov. Ned Lamont - would never have emerged if not for the "perfect storm" of the COVID-19 pandemic and Floyd's killing.

The virus laid bare racial disparities that Connecticut has become "immune" to, he said, citing school segregation, and lack of affordable housing and economic opportunities. And Floyd's killing pushed police brutality to the center of the national discourse, serving as "the catalyst of people saying 'No, this can't go on.'"

At the same time, McCrory said he has struggled to understand the calls of "All Lives Matter," which seem to have gained strength across the state.

"When you see people opposing 'Black Lives Matter' with the concept of 'All Lives Matter,' it's because it feels like they're losing something," he said. "If I feel like I'm going to lose something, I'm going to do ... whatever I can to get you away from what I own, what I control, what works for me."

Still, he questions why some perceive "Black Lives Matter" as such a threat.

"They're not saying 'Black Lives Are Better Than Your Life' or 'Black Lives Want To Be Like Your Life,'" he said. "It's just 'Matter.' Who has a problem with that?"

Jeffrey Lipton, 60, the owner of Joanna's in Somers, cannot understand why the "All Lives Matter" sign he posted outside his restaurant in mid-July sparked so much furor.

"In my opinion, Black lives do matter, but what about everyone else?" he said one morning as waitresses prepared the restaurant for its 11 o'clock opening.

Somers, a town just south of the Massachusetts border with an agricultural history dating to the 1700s, has about 11,000 residents, 86.6% of whom are white. In a widely-condemned incident last year, two white female students shared social media posts in which they appeared in blackface and used racial slurs.

"There is racism in Somers," said Lipton, who is white. Nevertheless, he said, "Somers is not a racist community."

Lipton, whose family owns a farm in town, said he understands the "grievances" of Black Lives Matter but not the movement's "solutions, which is either change it or burn it down." Instead of defunding the police, police budgets should be "doubled" to expand racial sensitivity and deescalation training, he said.

When he heard a Black Lives Matter rally was scheduled to march past his restaurant on July 15, he hung an "All Lives Matter" sign out front and played the national anthem as the demonstrators walked by. Bitter arguments soon ensued on community social media pages between racial justice advocates and their detractors.

On July 24, protesters and counter-protesters returned to Joanna's for a face-off, and Lipton requested "support" from a number of motorcyclists who showed up in his defense.

"It wasn't to cause a problem. It was basically to make sure there wasn't a problem," he said.

What Ryan Hughes, 24, and other Black Lives Matter protesters say they encountered that evening in Somers was "a mob of angry white people."

"What shocked me the most was the hate in their eyes. They didn't look at us like they were our neighbors," Hughes said.

Growing up down the road from the Lipton farm, Hughes, who is white, said he remembers just one Black teacher in all his years in the local public school system. After graduating from UConn, he began to work in political organizing and offered to help marshal the July 24 protest, the third racial justice action in Somers this summer.

At one point during the fraught rally, Hughes crossed over to Joanna's side of the road to address the crowd through a microphone, but the scene was too rowdy, and tensions ran too high, to get any words across. Hughes said he felt increasingly threatened by the counter-protesters.

Keren Prescott, the 39-year-old founder of PowerUp Manchester, was in the crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters that day. In Manchester, racism can often feel coded or tacit, she said, but in Somers that evening, it was laid bare.

"I've been actually waiting for Connecticut to show its ugly, racist side because I know it exists even though there are so many people who like to pretend it doesn't exist because we're in New England and we're not a Southern state," said Prescott, who is Black.

Though she organized the first two rallies in town, Giselle Genece, 51, did not attend the July 24 protest. Genece, who is Black and founded the Somers Advocates for Social Justice, said she has received enough harassment and threats on social media to fear for her safety. But later, when she watched video of the action, the counter-protesters reminded her of images of the Civil Rights unrest of the 1950s and 1960s.

"The anger in their faces has left an indelible mark on my mind's eye," she said.

To Matthew Hughey, an associate professor of sociology at UConn, the local conflicts that have emerged recently in Connecticut reflect the fraught ways in which whiteness has developed as a racial identity over the past few hundred years and continues to be formed today.

Recent social science research suggests that "white people often translate any gain, or an attempt to gain freedom and equality by people of color, as an attack or a loss for them," Hughey said. "They see racial justice issues as a zero sum game."

Tensions surged in Ellington on July 20 as residents clashed outside the town hall while First Selectwoman Lori Spielman met with the board of selectmen regarding a racist meme she shared on social media. The points of conflict ranged from the validity of the Black Lives Matter movement to what kind of person deserves a true claim to the town.

"This whole town is built around farming and hard work," Justine Swales, a white town resident, said that day. "Every neighbor helps every neighbor in this town. The people who haven't lived here, who just moved into the town in the last 10 to 12 years, they have no idea what this town was built on."

Rachel, a white Ellington resident who supports Black Lives Matter and asked that her last name not be printed for fear of reprisal, takes issue with that sentiment. She said she wants to see more people of color and new residents in positions of power in town.

"We want to try to have a voice in the local government and not just leave it up to the families that have been here for a hundred years," she said.

In other towns, the tensions have been less pronounced but still visible, manifested through the appearance and disappearance of Black Lives Matter signs.

A Black Lives Matter sign was painted over in a family's yard in Farmington, and other banners put up by local high school students on an overpass were ripped out. In Norwalk, a series of Black Lives Matter banners residents put up on a community fence were defaced. Eventually, town commissioners barred the residents from placing additional signs, "saying the message supports a 'political' movement," as The Hour reported.

In Wethersfield, a colorful Black Lives Matter sign that was hung on the entrance of the town historical society was removed and relegated to a storage room for items in the collection.

"While we agree that Black lives matter, the historical society must be completely apolitical in order to ethically record all of our community's history for future generations," the Wethersfield Historical Society wrote in an early July post on social media that garnered nearly 300 comments, mostly from those expressing outrage.

In a later statement, the historical society said that the banner is now part of its collection and will be featured in an upcoming exhibit. The institution added that the banner was removed not by its staff, but by the town of Wethersfield, which owns the building.

Wethersfield town manager Gary Evans said in an email that the "removal of the banner was not due to any reason other than a policy issue." Though the town stands "against racism and discrimination," permission is required to post signs and banners on town property.

The incident did not sit right with 18-year-old Jordan Griffin, a Wethersfield resident who organized a Black Lives Matter demonstration in town following George Floyd's killing. A rising sophomore at UConn, Griffin, who is Black, attended Wethersfield High School and played on numerous sports teams, where he said he grew used to hearing racist remarks.

"The fact that they labeled it political when Black Lives Matter is a human issue not a political one, it shows where Wethersfield stands," he said of the banner on the historical society.

A new banner now hangs outside Joanna's in Somers: "Let's Stand United For Positive Change."

Lipton, the restaurant owner, said that he does not plan to host another counter-protest, even if Black Lives Matter demonstrators return to his establishment. He recently met with some of the racial justice organizers for a conversation in a local park.

"We may still disagree on 90% of things, but we all want something improved. We do agree that there needs to be improvement with police enforcement. In schools with education, there needs to be a little bit more diversification," he said.

Hughes, the 24-year-old organizer, said he hopes that the recent clash will serve as a catalyst for deeper shifts in town.

But ultimately, the axis of change in Somers does not rest upon whether Joanna's puts up an "All Lives Matter" banner, or a "Black Lives Matter" banner, or no banner at all.

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"We're going to change suburbs, and we need to focus on making our communities affordable. We cannot have communities just for the privileged or the white," he said.

Hughes said he believes that the divides that seem so pronounced in Somers can be bridged - including the one carved between protesters and counter-protesters that Friday evening across Main Street.

"It's tough conversations in terms of, people don't just give up their world view and their racist world view just because you say the term 'Black Lives Matter,'" he said. "But I think it's about winning the hearts and minds of those who care about the safety of their neighbors."

In Wethersfield, Griffin is tired of calling for "dialogue" and asking fellow residents to engage in the kinds of conversations about racial injustice he has been having his entire life.

Instead, he wants concrete changes in town: more people of color elected to local leadership and serving as teachers, guidance counselors, and administrators in town schools.

"I want to see actual change. I want action," he said. "I want to see more people like me higher up in my town and everywhere."

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Angry, hostile responses to the resurgent Black Lives Matter movement are exposing the intensity of Connecticut's racial divide

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Conflicts in Connecticut towns over Black Lives Matter protests are uncovering deep-seated animosity. Across the state, advocates for racial justice and "All Lives Matter" counter-protesters have clashed in small towns, quiet suburbs, and on the grounds of the State Capitol, exposing ever-fragile fault lines over issues like policing, housing, and education.

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Beginning: This quote helps to develop the theme because it shows prejudiced people and their hatefulness and Scout learns that saying certain words is common and she shouldn't.
Middle: This quote helps to develop the theme because it shows Jem, Scout, and Dill realizing bad situations can come from the difference of opinion. Atticus wants to keep Tom at the jail but the group of drunk men want to transfer him elsewhere and were starting to get violent until Scout came over.
End: This quote helps to develop the theme because it shows the privilege of white people and how they have opportunities and rights and many other things that black people don't.

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Article 1: This article is relevant to the theme because it shows a harsh reality of our world today. The purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement is to end racial injustice and it is also to say that black lives matter just as much as any other life. The problem with "All Lives Matter" protesters is they are failing to see the purpose of the movement and have to make it all about themselves. Black Lives Matter does not mean black lives matter more than other lives. It simply means that they matter just as much.
Article 2: This article is relevant to the theme because it shows how cruel people can be on social media and in general. It allows others to see or realize the realities of our world. People are creating certain challenges that specifically target those who are disabled and it is not right.
Article 3: This article is relevant to the theme because it shows what measures people will go to to make money or prove something or both. Many people hunt for sport but others do it for cash. Poachers remove tusks from the elephant and sell them. This article shows a man who killed 500 elephants and it's sad to think we live in a world where people do such a thing.

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CYBERBULLYING AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

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tiktok 'new teacher challenge": these women are reclaiming their images and speaking out against bullying - cnn

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Parents on TikTok mock people with disabilities for the 'New Teacher Challenge.' These women are reclaiming their images

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Images of Lizzie Velasquez and Melissa Blake wound up on TikTok for the "New Teacher Challenge," a skit that sees parents pretend to FaceTime their child's "teacher" to scare or shock the child for a laugh. Lizzie and Melissa's faces were used to make fun of them.

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POACHING AND ELEPHANTS

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Source: Liaison/Getty Images

By Sophie Hirsh

Updated

Poaching is one of the main reasons elephants are an endangered species - but elephant poaching could be on the decline in the Republic of Congo, where one man reportedly responsible for the poaching of 500 elephants is headed to jail for a long time.

Since 2008, Mobanza Mobembo Gerard, aka "Guyvanho," has led teams of about 25 poachers in elephant poaching expeditions in the Republic of Congo, according to a press release by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). Now, after a three-year investigation, the country's Criminal Court has sentenced him to 30 years in jail on charges including trafficking ivory from poached elephants, possession of military weapons, and the attempted murder of park rangers. Additionally, the court has ordered Guyvanho to pay 38 million Central African Francs (about $68,000 USD) to the rangers he injured.

This is not the first time Guyvanho has been caught for his crimes as an elephant poaching ringleader. According to the WCS, in May 2018, he was arrested and jailed in a small prison in the town of Ouesso in the Republic of Congo. Just a few weeks later - and right before his scheduled trial - he escaped. A warrant went out for his arrest, and a year later, he was caught again, resulting in a shootout between him and park rangers. A few weeks later, in July 2019, the Ouesso police found and arrested Guyvanho and three of his poachers.

Next week, the four of them will be transferred to the Brazzaville Pison in the country's capital, where Guyvanho will serve a three-decade sentence. It's unclear how long his accomplices will serve time.

Source: Getty Images

Historically, those accused of committing environmental crimes were only taken to civil courts in the Republic of Congo, where maximum jail sentences are five years. But Guyvanho's long list of crimes made his case eligible for the Criminal Court - making him the first wildlife poacher convicted in the Republic of Congo's Criminal Court, the WCS explained.

"This unprecedented conviction in the criminal court is a major milestone in the protection of wildlife in the Republic of Congo. Previously, all environmental crimes were tried in the civil courts where the maximum penalty under the wildlife law was five years," Dr. Emma Stokes, WCS Regional Director of Central Africa, said in a statement.

"Today's sentencing sends an extremely strong message that wildlife crime will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted at the highest levels," she continued. "We are confident that today's sentence will serve as a deterrent to would-be criminals that you will serve hard time if you break our wildlife laws and put park rangers and Congo's national security in danger."

Guyvanho travelled hundreds of miles from his home in neighbouring DRC, specifically to target elephants in Ndoki. He is a professional criminal who killed hundreds of elephants. Congo has sent a strong message with this sentence. https://t.co/c5xsWZPvdr
- Mark Gately (@GatelyMark) August 24, 2020

Over the past century, elephant populations have severely declined in Africa and Asia. In 1979, Africa was home to 1.3 million elephants - but today, there are only about 415,000 elephants on the continent, according to data from Space For Giants. The WWF says poaching and the illegal ivory trade are the leading causes of this decline - which makes sense, considering poachers have illegally killed an estimated 110,000 African elephants in the past 10 years.

Check out our list of ways you can help support elephants.

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Poacher Who Killed 500 Elephants Sentenced to 30 Years in Jail

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By Sophie Hirsh Updated Poaching is one of the main reasons elephants are an endangered species - but elephant poaching could be on the decline in the Republic of Congo, where one man reportedly responsible for the poaching of 500 elephants is headed to jail for a long time.

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@chnge via Instagram