Vazquez, Sergio

Period 3
10/4/16
Weekly Vocabulary Response

Lesson 7 - Words Relating to Quarreling, Fighting, or Bitter Feelings

1. Animosity 2. Captious 3. Pugnacious 4. Antagonism 5. Contentious 6. Bellicose

7. Disputatious 8. Belligerent 9. Polemical 10. Cantankerous 11. Predator

Violent Police Shootings

The ongoing antagonism4 between minorities and police shootings seems to escalate day

by day instead of improving. This disptatious7 topic divides many as to whether police officers

are doing their job by enforcing the law and protecting their communities or committing racial

discrimination against minorities. This animosity1 in the United States has led to the creation of

organizations like Black Lives Matter who are working to rebuild the Black liberation

movement. This contentious5 issue has also become an extremely important point in the 2016

presidential election where one of the cantankerous10 nominees has demonized black and brown

communities as war zones instead of uniting the nation like a commander-in-chief should. The

nominees polemical9 statements have also frightened white communities who have no

day-to-day exposure with these groups of minorities causing them to view these groups of people

as belligerent8 beasts. In doing so, these white communities grow a false perception of minorities

because they believe a billionaire who has never set foot in one of these communities for more

than 24 hours. These captious2 families are then more racist than ever the next time they hear
about a police shooting and are more reluctant to hear the complete or maybe even the true side

of the story.

Of course not every single Mexican or Black is a divine angel who commits no sins. This

past Sunday for example a Hispanic male threatened police officers with a fake gun which he

had spray painted to make it seem like it was real. Who in their right mind would risk their lives

in that manner. Bellicose6 individuals like this man are a threat to others in their community

including police officers which is why the LAPD acted in such manner and terminated him for

their own safety. Just like any other race, there are pugnacious3 individuals just as there are as

many sweet, innocent people. At the end of the day, everyone is just trying to live a happy life

with their families free of the racism and the war that we face now in this country.

These recent police shootings also reflect back on the Constitution. The 2nd amendment

allows everyone to keep and bear arms allowing predators11 like the National Rifle Association

to advocate for gun violence by promoting objects of destruction like guns. Companies looking

to strike it rich then sell guns to everyone which is why now there are more guns than there are

people in the United States of America and people then wonder why cities like Chicago have

more than 500 homicides so far this year alone.

Sources: http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/03/us/los-angeles-police-shooting/

http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/