Racial discrimination was a huge problem in American society back in the days. The whole country was segregated basically in everything between African Americans and White Americans. The schools, public bathroom, and many more things were separated between White American and African American. Also, at the time the White Americans were superior to the African Americans. Meaning the White Americans ruled over America and had all the power in their hands. Prime example would be the Harlem Six. They were charged with a murder and basically couldn’t do anything about it and faced jail time just because they were dark skin. There was many other cases where White Americans showed their superiority(hate) over the African Americans.

Some questions for fieldworkers to ask to uncover for information are

How often do you go outside?

What kind of people are being arrested? Are they educated or not?

How often do you see police beating up a person on the streets?

Have you had any interactions with the police?

If you have any problems are you willing go to police for help?

To get an insider perspective, a fieldworker should have an informant in the police department and live in the community where the issue is. Having an informant will lead you to get information such what are they thinking and why are they taking the actions they are taking. This can be very risky because you never know what they will due to the informant if they even suspect him/her. Also, living in a neighborhood like that will give you firsthand experience. You will get to see what happening for yourself.

After reading Baldwin’s essay, I believe the cultural information included in the article would be the way they speak, how grammatically incorrect they are and yet seem to be understood easily. I believe this shows how different African Americans and white people speak. I also found it absurd that the police had such a strong negative reaction to the boys who overturned the fruit stand and wholeheartedly agree that had the boys been white, the chance of police taking out their guns would have been much more nonexistent. I think this shows an insight into police behavior, rules/rituals. The use of the N word is also prominent to expose perception and how they distinguish who they deem to be good and bad. 

A fieldworker might ask 

Have the police been around there before?

Have they interacted with you before the incident?

Have you been on this street for long?

Do people who are approached know their rights and enact them? 

Do police interactions differ when speaking to different subgroups in the community? 

A fieldworker might insert themselves into the lives of the people living in the area, get to know everyone in the area by providing help to the street vendor whose eye is now missing. A fieldworker should familiarize themselves with the people they would like to study/ observe. A fieldworker’s best bet would be to use the insider stance by inserting themselves into the community and just observe all that is going on without manipulating it or changing it, having any effect on it at all could possibly jeopardize the investigation like Dunier did in Sidewalk when he inserted himself into a police altercation which I believe led to more troubles for the street vendors. Also, having someone be an inside man for fieldworkers might be good because you have a public figure in the community who everyone trusts and they might be able to vouch for you and help you infiltrate the community you’re trying to study. 

Racism has been brought out to the country since ancient times. Whether it was to the blacks, Asians or any other race, racism always existed. In this case, the negros were being abused by the white cops. The blacks were never sought as equal to the southern residents of America. Even if the blacks or negros were seen as animals in the eyes of whites, the blacks still had family that they had to take care of. In the article, a salesman named Frank Stafford has been brutally abused by the cops. Even though he has lost half his vision due to the encounter with the cops, he hasn’t sought revenge on the cops. Instead, he decides to take care of his family. This shows that no matter the race, everyone cares or deems their family more important than anything else in the world. Frank inspires many and if the past has seen the future meaning Frank, then the past would be proud to have such a descendant. The past should ask questions regarding what inspires and what motivates him to reframe himself from seeking vengeance. If he was a man of the past he would be a shining star to children of black or all children. In regards to his own mental and physical health, he still went and ask why the cops were beating the black child up and making life hell for them. Life as a child should undergo a pleasant and unhateful childhood to prevent their adulthood to be filled with hatred and suffering. I have a feeling this man could make great and inspiring speeches for all to hear. If he has the chance to ever come out of that hell he is currently living in, he should go and mold young minds to become better and more outstanding citizens. Other sources of information the fieldworkers should use to understand the culture are experience the life of a citizen of a free country. Such as our world today but even if the world is free, racism still occurs throughout the world we live in today. In our world today, people seem to judge others by their appearances and not by their personalities and what they might’ve experienced throughout their life. One might be seen as a homeless person to others, but he might’ve been a soldier of our country who experience the fear of war first handed. He who might’ve lost a limb and prevented him to furthermore carry out his life to the fullest. Therefore the fieldworkers should have a chance to experience life as a free citizen. There is no other better source than experiencing it first hand themselves. 

Ethnicity is a very big part of our culture. Society differentiate people based on their color, gender and ethnicity. African Americans suffered racial segregation since a lot time period in the United States. They did not get their equal rights as other Americans. In the article, “ A Report from Occupied Territory” by James Baldwin illustrates how society treats a certain group of people based on their racial color that includes discrimitaion and violence. In the article James Baldwin talks about how the U.S. government was violating the Black Americans even though they were innocent. Negroe people have always held the lowest jobs, the most menial jobs, which are now being destroyed by automation. They did not even get proper education from the government. In the article a 31 years old salesman named Frank Stafford was brutally beaten by the policeman when he questioned the police why they were beating a 15 years young kid in Harlem. They beat him, arrest him and take him into custody where they beat him so cruelly that he loses an eye. The man is still on the street with one eye and trying to feed his family. He was known as a cop hater because he questioned the cop why they were beating the black kid. He calls his report “a plea for the recognition of our common humanity,” where he asks for equal rights and equal treatment for the blacks. The U.S. government was unwilling to change anything because Blacks were racist. Also today, many unfixed issues remain, including discrimination and violence. This article includes cultural discrimination among black people in the United States. I believe, a fieldworker might ask why black people are not getting the same rights as others ethnicity. Also, the field worker might use the source that penetrate the insider perspective
how would White people react if they were treated the same way as the Blacks.

In the writing by James Baldwin, he shows the ways that many whites see the black race. They have certain language to refer them to the black people that has become a very popular word to refer to those with dark skin unfortunately. Some questions that fieldworkers should ask to uncover more truths are what made these people think it was alright to define dark skinned people that word. They should figure out why they thought they were not worthy of their respect or kindness. A fieldworker should get to study the minds of the people committing these indecent acts to understand why they think so poorly of those people. However, the fieldworker should also get into the minds of the people being called these names and try to understand how they feel and how they think is proper to react. The fieldworker can use the witnesses that see those things happen as sources because they can observe how both sides react.

1. In Baldwin’s essay, he uses certain words and phrases to show the culture between African Americans and Caucasians. The first words I noticed were “good nigger” and “bad nigger”, on the surface you would say that these words are pretty self-explanatory. But when whites say that is a “good nigger” they’re not talking about that African American’s sense of moral beliefs or his character but instead how well they follow and obey the rules of the white man. When African Americans start to question, defend and/or take action in their defense they become the “big nigger”. There also seems to be this unspoken rule for African Americans which is to never question the authority. We first see this when the story opened up, Fecundo Acion simply got beaten up for asking the police why they are beating children. Mrs.Sugar, the mother of one of the boys, asked the officer if he had a search warrant, he did not but he still searched her home regardless.
2. The fieldworker should ask questions regarding how often do officers come into the neighborhood abusing their power? How are the children taught to act and say when they are in these situations?
3. One way a fieldworker can penetrate the insider perspective is by living in the most affected neighborhoods. By living inside these neighborhoods they can see an unbiased story because they can see everything for themselves. Another way to become an insider is by speaking to the families that had this done to them. It’s also helpful if the fieldworker saw the story through the perspective of a cop, so it may help if the fieldworker tag along with the cop to see how they assess a situation and act upon it.