Read this passage and write a synopsis. (sorry about quality) A Personal Account
ID: 3497060 • Letter: R
Question
Read this passage and write a synopsis. (sorry about quality)
A Personal Account Nineteen sixty-seven was my third summer in Newark, and I was the director of a Law Students Vista program attached to Legal Services. I was at a Black Power conference of some type in Philadelphia, driving some people back on the evening of July 12. I was switching stations, trying to get some good music to keep me awake on the New Jersey Turnpike, when a news flash held my attention, loud and clear. "There was a confrontation between police and a large number of people in the city of Newark police have declared a curfew police were out in force.. caused by the beating of a black cab driver." I didn't need music anymore to keep me alert. We just had to get home. If you know the back streets as I did, the curfew didn't matter. I made it into Newark with no problem. On the following night, I remember having three guys in the car, two of whomI barely knew, from the Central Ward near the SDS/SNCC office on 18th Avenue. We were out after curfew I drove up the hill on Court Street, going west toward Scudder Homes. In the background I could hear sirens. Our windows were down; it was a hot night in July To this day I prefer my car windows down, always listening for sirens and other warning sounds in the city-you never know, do ya? people were doing and the police We were on a tour, checking out what the response. We were almost to the corner of High Street (now Martin Luther King Boulevard) when I picked up the whirling lights of a Newark police car in my rearview mirror and the noise of a siren growing closer. They were gaining fast, clearly coming for us. There was nobody else but us on the road. Somebody in the car said, "[expletive deleted] cops!" I pulled over toward the grassy street divider in the middle of the street. The police car sped forward and angled itself in front of my car, preventing my "escape." Four cops jumped out with guns drawn, and ordered us out of my car with our hands up. We complied. Then it was, "Up against the car, mother-you-know- whats." We were alongside St. James AME Church, the street was otherwise deserted, and we knew we were in big trouble. It was the first time I looked down the wrong end of an automatic shotgun, and I felt it looking back at me as I turned and assumed the position, hands on the roof of my car, legs spread apart. Even though the pat down produced no weapons, there was something about these guys, the cops, that was very scary. It didn't look good for life ever after op ordered me to open the trunk of my car, which I did without hesitation. A popular belief among law enforcement and politicians was that the riot, when it came, would be waged by outside agitators, who would supply guns and ammunition. As if black people in Newark could do nothing for themselves! My car had Virginia license plates, since I was living between Newark, New Haven, Connecticut, and Richmond, Virginia. There was no contraband and no guns, so they should have just let us go. But there was a lot of anger in these cops, and there were no witnesses other than us. I could just feel the calculation of the moment: they were waiting for us to make a sudden move, any little thing, and were edging us on. One in particular was very nervous, pointing his gun in short vicious stabs and giving a lot of orders. Maybe moves they had used before; make the urban deer break from cover and shoot him down? Me and my guys were cool. No outbursts, expressionless faces, no eye contact with the hunter. And fortunately for us, there was a sergeant who was older and calmer. He must have seen where this was going. In the trunk of my car was a box of law books that I hadn't taken out for the summer. Maybe he was trying to stop the others, maybe he knew it would be harder to explain killing a law student, but he told them, "He's got law books in the back of the car. They're law students. Let 'em go." He had to say it more than once. He had the rank, but was he really in charge? We stayed put, silent, hands on car, weight forward, just as they had ordered. Gun-pointer made up his mind, holstered his weapon, and shotgun man followed suit. Just as quickly as these predators descended on us, they were back in the car and turning right on High Street, their lights whirling with the siren off. I have played and replayed that story in my mind during the intervening years. What if I were a real lawyer and not a student? Then there would have been no books. Or if I had taken the books out by then, what would the sergeant have done? Was he on our side, or just smarter than they were? The sergeant valued life, I would like to believe. Actually he lied to keep us alive, telling his men all of us were law students. My companions? Hardly fit the bill, but then again, neither did I. The books gave him a prop to use. At least one of the other cops wanted a kil, and the others would have backed his play. Did they get t later that night, or later during the killing season when the federation of state and local cops rioted for real on Friday? I will never know, but always be thankful for that sergeant.Explanation / Answer
The author narrates an incident that happened in 1967, Newark, while he was returning from a conference that was related to Black power in Philadelphia. While on his way to Newark, his home town, he came to know about the curfew in Newark due to confrontation that happened between the police and the people. The reason was beating up a cab driver. When he reached Newark his car was chased and stopped by the police. The author and other three other person were at the gun point, his things were searched. He could sense the anger of the cops and the danger that loomed over him and three others at that moment. They stayed calm and cooperated with the cops, and followed all the instructions with submission, because a wrong move could end their life. It was a senior police officer's sensibleness that saved their life. He told the junior cops that he had seen some law books in the car, and the author and the three individuals are law students, and instructs the cops to leave them. The author hardly knew the two individuals who were traveling with him that day. The Sergent probably used the law books as a prop to save their life.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.