While watching the Ted Talk "Am I not human? A call for criminal justice reform", I discovered that Marlon Peterson the speaker of this Talk was bravely telling of his experience of committing armed larceny before the age of twenty, and was sentenced to ten years in a correctional facility. Through his tough time behind bars he works with a friend a teacher from a middle school in his hometown of Brooklyn, NY to create a Young Scholars Program. Teens would write letters to him about their own traumatizing experiences in their neighborhood asking for advice. A thirteen year old girl wrote that Marlon Peterson was her hero. This inspired him to persuade the other inmates he knew to get involved in similar programs. Peterson's main point was that the people behind bars are human just like many other Americans that aren't behind bars, and that "we can't rely solely on the law enforcement as the source of criminal justice because they don't give us that sense of relevancy that is at the core of why so many people do a lot of harmful things". His speaking was moving in the sense that People living in ghettos like Laventille, parts of Brooklyn, or places near us need the amplification of resources that give relevance to the people within those communities struggling, and because of those struggles is the reason behind the incrimination.
Peterson expresses ethos by admitting that he had committed a crime, served his decade long sentence which he considered as a "lifetime of irrelevance", and with the traumatizing experience of where he was from, knowing why people did crimes like theft and murder convinced the audience that by showing support in the ghetto areas by letting them know that they have a better purpose in this world, they can make their community a better place. He shows pathos by making a joke that expresses a message that inmates are not to be discarded, but can make a difference in peoples lives when he says, " We are now public writers, youth program innovators, trauma experts, gun violence prevention advocates, and Ted Talkers", referring to himself as the Ted Talker. He also tells his sad story of losing two friends to gun violence. Logos is expressed when he talks about the mentoring program for the young scholars. He talks of the 50 students involved, and that he wrote 150 letters as advice to those kids and teens struggling to make it in their ghetto neighborhoods.
I remember seeing something on the news about a teen gun violence incident here in Georgia where three teens walked into a house to rob it and killed the man that lived there in the process. That incident came to me while watching this talk. Those kids didn't get that sense of relevancy that Peterson explained. They were eventually given a second chance when their charges were set as misdemeanors and that shortened their sentence, which gave them a chance at a different life. That made me realize as to why criminal justice reform is so important to all Americans. People need to reach out to those places where others consider as intolerable or unsafe, where they need that sense of purpose in life. Those kids just want feel like they have importance in society.
As I conclude, Marlon Peterson's speech gave a humorous, serious, and inspiring look on the idea of criminal justice and gun violence prevention. By giving his testimony of being a criminal at a young age, feeling guilty for what he had done, he found himself useful. He wrote letters to students living in high crime areas advice and made an impact on those kids. He was one little girls hero and that changed his life. He encouraged other cell mates to do the same. Those inmates once out of the facility were a pillar of the community for the ones struggling in the ghetto neighborhoods. In reaction to this ted Talk other can come together to reduce the problem of young gun violence and add new resources for criminal justice. After listening to Peterson, I know it is possible to make those areas as well as America as a whole and the World better for us all.
Peterson expresses ethos by admitting that he had committed a crime, served his decade long sentence which he considered as a "lifetime of irrelevance", and with the traumatizing experience of where he was from, knowing why people did crimes like theft and murder convinced the audience that by showing support in the ghetto areas by letting them know that they have a better purpose in this world, they can make their community a better place. He shows pathos by making a joke that expresses a message that inmates are not to be discarded, but can make a difference in peoples lives when he says, " We are now public writers, youth program innovators, trauma experts, gun violence prevention advocates, and Ted Talkers", referring to himself as the Ted Talker. He also tells his sad story of losing two friends to gun violence. Logos is expressed when he talks about the mentoring program for the young scholars. He talks of the 50 students involved, and that he wrote 150 letters as advice to those kids and teens struggling to make it in their ghetto neighborhoods.
I remember seeing something on the news about a teen gun violence incident here in Georgia where three teens walked into a house to rob it and killed the man that lived there in the process. That incident came to me while watching this talk. Those kids didn't get that sense of relevancy that Peterson explained. They were eventually given a second chance when their charges were set as misdemeanors and that shortened their sentence, which gave them a chance at a different life. That made me realize as to why criminal justice reform is so important to all Americans. People need to reach out to those places where others consider as intolerable or unsafe, where they need that sense of purpose in life. Those kids just want feel like they have importance in society.
As I conclude, Marlon Peterson's speech gave a humorous, serious, and inspiring look on the idea of criminal justice and gun violence prevention. By giving his testimony of being a criminal at a young age, feeling guilty for what he had done, he found himself useful. He wrote letters to students living in high crime areas advice and made an impact on those kids. He was one little girls hero and that changed his life. He encouraged other cell mates to do the same. Those inmates once out of the facility were a pillar of the community for the ones struggling in the ghetto neighborhoods. In reaction to this ted Talk other can come together to reduce the problem of young gun violence and add new resources for criminal justice. After listening to Peterson, I know it is possible to make those areas as well as America as a whole and the World better for us all.