"A Secret" and "The Docket" - Benson 3 by Cal

Chapter 7: "The Docket" Summary

2014-08-28 15:47:41 UTC

Chapter 7 "The Docket" starts with Michele Norris recalling the few times she had been to Birmingham after high school mainly to chase down stories when she became a Professional reporter. Now she was there to truly understand her fathers experience when he was shot. Michele did not know when the shooting happened; no location; no name other than her father and woody. She had no idea if the there was more than one department involved. She contacted Jim Baggett, head of the department of Archives and Manuscripts and begged for his help in finding out what had happened. Jim who was patient enough to listen to her rattle on and on about what she wanted to know, he was kind when he explained that it would be almost impossible to find a record due to the fact that events like her fathers shooting was common during that time. Jim goes on to say that Birmingham police records from the era are scarce and that police records from post World War 2 were destroyed. Jim then told her that the only likely way that she would find anything was if the event made the African American papers and that the white papers wouldn't print anything like that because they wouldn't care. He told her that he would try find anything he could to do to help her find documents. A little while later Michele heard back from Jim and shared with her that the her father was shot arrested for "drunken disorderly, robbery, and resisting arrest". She was so shocked that she collapsed to the floor and stayed there for two hours knowing that there was know way her father would do something like that and became determined to find the truth.

Chapter 6: "A Secret" Summary

calvinp17001 — 2014-08-28 15:49:15 UTC

Chapter 6, "A Secret" opens with Michele Norris recalling a time when she was out to breakfast with her Uncle Joe. During their meal, Uncle Joe ended up spilling a secret about her father. Michele's Father was shot in the leg by a police officer earlier in in life. Uncle Joe was a model citizen. He was the primary caretaker for his sick wife, who had a kidney disease that required frequent dialysis, he had a granddaughter with cerebral palsy. He spent his retirement years taking care of his family and never complained. At one point in his life, he also left a stable job to start a project to read with juvenile inmates in jail. Despite the teaching kids with treacherous rap sheets in a horrific environment, Joe saw his as an opportunity to teach and touch the hearts of young black men. His years teaching the juveniles left Joe with lots of theories about young black men. He was primarily upset about how young black people don't care at all about politics and leadership positions, and how they don't care about their right to voteespite the scarifies that have been made to allow them to vote. Joe was ranting to Michele about this, and that's when he dropped the bomb shell: "Your father was shot". Those few words sent Michele into utter shock. Joe told her the bits of the story he knew, but Michele left breakfast confused, frustrated, and furious all at the same time. She and her emotionally charged brain concluded. That she wants to dig into the incident, to figure out what happened. She tried, and dug, and desperately searched for answers, but ultimately she couldn't find any conclusive evidence. But she didn't give up on looking.

calvinp17001 — 2014-08-28 16:15:37 UTC

Quote From "A Secret"

calvinp17001 — 2014-08-28 21:56:19 UTC

"Though Dad never told me or Mom or my sisters about the episode, some of his brothers had apparently talked to their children about it." (Norris 70).

Michele's dad never told his wife or daughters of the shooting that occurred. But why? Out of embarrassment? Perhaps pride. Maybe to protect them from the darker realities of being part of a black family? The fact that that Michele's father chose to remain silent on this issue is directly related to the title of the book and provokes thought about why her father chose to remain silent.

Quote From "A Secret"

calvinp17001 — 2014-08-28 21:59:23 UTC

"I was furious. Confused. My head hurt, and I wanted to scream... It felt like the room was was starting to spin. Acid rose in my throat... I swallowed hard, trying to repress the one question I really wanted to ask: "Why am I only hearing about this now?" (Norris 65).

This quote captures Michele's powerful and emotional response to hearing about her father's shooting. Fantastic imagery is used to allow you to step into her skin and understand her feelings. Then she ends the quote by asking a question that provokes thought and is a central idea behind the book and it's title, "Why am I only hearing about this now?".

Minorities Sacrifices for their Rights to Vote

calvinp17001 — 2014-08-28 22:20:31 UTC

One of Uncle Joe's biggest complaints during his rant was that young black folks don't care about politics and their right to vote and how much has been sacrificed by others to give them that right. Here's a link to more information about his viewpoint.

The Psychology of Secrets

calvinp17001 — 2014-08-28 22:36:31 UTC

An article by a psychologist about secrets. Why we keep them, the harm of keeping them from your family, and the harm of telling them to your family. There are many Parallels between the article and Michele's story.

calvinp17001 — 2014-08-28 22:44:08 UTC

Quote from "The docket"..

2014-08-29 02:09:04 UTC

"I knew the score in Alabama. I understood that the state had more than its share of people who wanted to keep black people in the there place"

This Quote shows Michele's knowledge that there are still people that wan to keep Blacks in there place and that she is not afraid to question them for answers. It also shows how that Michele now has to look deeper into something she was told the look the other way about her entire life and that she is not afraid to look through any bit of information she can get a hold of to find the truth.

Quote from "The Docket"..

2014-08-29 02:35:39 UTC

"Truly to understand my father's experience, I would had to travel back to Alabama. I had little to go on. No date of the shooting; no location; no names other than Woody's and my fathers. "

This quote is one of many examples of Michele's sheer determination to find out what had happened over 60 years ago and that she would never give up looking for the truth. This also shows that she dives in head first into anything that she wants to know and doesn't care how long it takes especially when her family is involved. You can also sense that she is not afraid to dig into anyone's past to find the truth even if they might be the people who hurt and killed African Americans in the 40's, 50's, and the 60's.

Black Traffic Stops

calvinp17001 — 2014-08-29 15:03:20 UTC

Some people believe the police still judge blacks. This article supports this idea by breaking statistics on traffic stops.

Unsolved Black Murders

calvinp17001 — 2014-08-29 16:10:37 UTC

Article about unsolved black murders.

http://pibillwarner.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/brookhaven-mississippi-was-central-to-numerous-unsolved-kkk-murders-during-the-civil-rights-era-of-the-1960s/