Writing Log 4A Hotspots

Megan Vaccarella

“Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forces to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored” (73). I really liked this section of the King’s letter. The way he words himself is really clever in my opinion. He is taking something that the clergymen said, and explaining in such a way that it even makes me agree to something I didn’t think much about. The way he words himself makes this statement sound intelligent rather than like he is just angry and not making sense. When reading this, I couldn’t even think of an argument to oppose to what he is saying.

My next hotspot was on page 77 and it states, “We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungry was ‘illegal’.” This statement really makes me think about not only the situation when this letter was written, but also our current laws and legal system. It makes me wonder if certain things that are illegal can actually be more justified then things that are considered legal. It also makes me think about how our society can sometimes be ignorant to laws. We tend to go along with things sometimes because they are what we are told is “legal” but, does that mean their really fair?

My first hotspot was found on page 111 and it states, “Because Indian bodies are ‘dirty,’ they are considered sexually violable and ‘rapable,’ and the rape of bodies that are considered inherently impure or dirty simply does not count.” This statement made me really angry. Before Smith made this statement there was a quote by a man that said in general, they deserve this. It makes me really sad to think that a woman would not only have to go through the trauma of being raped, but would then not get the justice she deserves. Instead of getting treated how she should, she is actually looked down upon and made to believe that she should have seen it coming. This is very sad to me and it opened my eyes to something that I was unaware of.

“Similarly, in a recent case among the Aboriginal people of Australia, a judge ruled that a 50-year-old Aboriginal man’s rape of a 15-year-old girl was not a serious crime, but an example of traditional culture” (114). This disgusted me. Not only is the rape of a young girl by a man that old gross, it’s unimaginable. Later in this paragraph the judge says that the girl “knew what was expected of her” and “didn’t need protection.” This was a girl of just 15, there is no way she was mature enough to know what was expected of her, and in most places, 15 is not even a legal adult. This means there are many decisions she can’t make on her own. This quote really affected me and made me think about all the wrongs going on in the world that I am unaware of.