Abitur Hessen Englisch 2022 · GK

Material 1

Amanda Craig: Hearts and Minds (excerpt from the novel, 2009)

In the novel – a portrayal of multicultural London and the intertwined lives of recent immigrants – the protagonist Polly Noble, a human rights lawyer and single mother, attends a dinner party organised by Hemani, a first-generation immigrant. She is driven to the party by Job, her regular driver with African roots.

Job laughs. Again, their gazes meet in the mirror. I shouldn’t be sitting in the back seat, Polly thinks.

Yet if she were to sit in front, she wouldn’t feel at ease. She talks to Job more than she does to Bill, or

to Theo 1: an odd thought.

A straggle of small shops along the Caledonian Road selling pet food, mirrors, ironware and food flash

5 past. It’s always a bit of a shock, leaving her own quiet street and seeing what lies just a block away;

the poverty and squalor, the ugly council buildings and run-down commerce. Polly is just old enough

to remember how English shops had once closed for half of Saturday and half of Wednesday as well

as all day on Sunday. She can remember her mother coming back triumphant from the corner shop

saying, ‘Open at eight p.m.! We’ve just become like New York!’

10 It is unthinkable now, to live as her parents had done, going to work only from nine till five and

enjoying the benefits of newly formed education and health services. What paradise it had seemed!

Now, in order to pay their exorbitant mortgages, and ever more exorbitant fuel prices, British adults

have to work long hours – the longest, it’s said, in Europe. Unless they are very rich, women are

expected to work as well as have children; without the little cafés, the cleaners, the au pairs, the

15 builders, and the late-night shops – all dependent on migrant labour – the professional classes could

not manage. But we too are being squeezed, Polly thinks. Even to get into a good prep school 2,

Robbie 3 had had to compete against the sons of oligarchs 4 and ambassadors, and every year her

children have to sit gruelling internal exams in order not to be chucked out 5 to make way for more.

‘Job, how did you get to school?’ she asks.

20 ‘I walked. Over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough briar.’ 6

‘Was it far?’

‘Only five miles.’

‘Wasn’t it dangerous?’

‘Sometimes there were snakes.’

25 ‘Oh.’ Polly closes her eyes, imagining a small boy in the bush. ‘How horrible.’

‘There are many snakes in Africa,’ says Job, laughing. ‘They are less dangerous than men.’

[…] ‘Would you go back if you had a different leader?’

‘Of course. I love my country, and my people. But until something changes, I have to stay here,

praying the police never stop me.’

30 ‘If they do, Job, I’ll try to help you. You do know that, don’t you?’

‘Thank you,’ he says gravely. ‘I hope I will not need it, madam.’

They arrive in Muswell Hill 7, where Hemani and Daniel now live.

[…]

Ellen and Ivo are there already. Polly is delighted; alongside Daniel and Hemani they are her favourite

35 couple, for Ivo is always entertaining and full of good gossip, as is Ellen.

‘How’s work?’ Ellen asks and Polly sighs.

‘Grim. I used to be proud of living in a country which helps refugees,’ she says. ‘But now people think

I’m doing something bad.’

‘Does it ever occur to you, honey, that they might have a point?’

40 ‘Ellen, you have a foreign nanny, don’t you?’

‘Sure,’ says Ellen oblivious. ‘You know, Tamara’s first words were in Mandarin?’

[ Ellen shows them a picture of her and Ivo’s daughter. ]

‘Beautiful,’ Polly says.

‘Ah, but you know why that’s so,’ says Hemani. ‘The more you mix up different gene pools, and

45 different nationalities, the more you get children in whom faulty genes are suppressed.’ […]

‘That’s our problem, Polly.’ Ivo is on form, she sees. ‘We’re too English.’

‘Ivo, don’t be an idiot,’ says his wife.

[…]

‘Nobody is English anymore, have you noticed?’ Ivo says. ‘We’re all British.’

50 ‘Excuse me’, says Daniel. ‘Whenever there is a World Cup match you can’t move without seeing

St George crosses 8 hung from cars and council flats. The problem is that the English have become the

underclass, covered with colonial guilt.’

‘What, we should be singing the national anthem in front of the Union Jack in schools?’

‘At least reimpose 9 proper border controls and ID cards.’

55 ‘How can you say that, Hemani?’ Polly asks.

‘Because, obviously, too many new immigrants makes it bad for those of us who got here first,’ says

Hemani. ‘There’s a limit to how much a culture can absorb, and we’re long past it.’

‘Oh I hate all this us and them!’ Polly exclaims passionately. ‘When we invaded places like Africa and

India, we broke down a door, and now we don’t like it that they come here, just as we went there.

60 Well, tough. It’s not a question of morality. There is no us and them. There’s just people. We’re all

migrants from somewhere.’

(770 Wörter)

Amanda Craig: Hearts and Minds, London 2009, S. 196–199.

1 Bill – Polly’s lover; Theo – Polly’s ex-husband

2 prep school – short for preparatory school: a private school where students are prepared for entry into a higher form of education

3 Robbie – Polly’s son

4 oligarch – generally refers to influential and wealthy business people, often from Russia

5 to chuck out – to throw out

6 “Over hill, over dale [valley], thorough bush, thorough briar [thorny plant].” – quote from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

7 Muswell Hill – a rather well-to-do North London suburb

8 St George cross – here: the English flag (a red cross on a white background)

9 to reimpose – to reestablish, to reinforce

You are taking part in an online workshop with a social studies class at your American partner school. Together you are examining trends in the usage of digital media in different countries.

Write an email to the workshop group, outlining the situation in Germany and individual attempts to reduce digital consumption as described in the article (Material).

Material 1

Amanda Craig: Hearts and Minds (excerpt from the novel, 2009)

In the novel – a portrayal of multicultural London and the intertwined lives of recent immigrants – the protagonist Polly Noble, a human rights lawyer and single mother, attends a dinner party organised by Hemani, a first-generation immigrant. She is driven to the party by Job, her regular driver with African roots.

Job laughs. Again, their gazes meet in the mirror. I shouldn’t be sitting in the back seat, Polly thinks.

Yet if she were to sit in front, she wouldn’t feel at ease. She talks to Job more than she does to Bill, or

to Theo 1: an odd thought.

A straggle of small shops along the Caledonian Road selling pet food, mirrors, ironware and food flash

5 past. It’s always a bit of a shock, leaving her own quiet street and seeing what lies just a block away;

the poverty and squalor, the ugly council buildings and run-down commerce. Polly is just old enough

to remember how English shops had once closed for half of Saturday and half of Wednesday as well

as all day on Sunday. She can remember her mother coming back triumphant from the corner shop

saying, ‘Open at eight p.m.! We’ve just become like New York!’

10 It is unthinkable now, to live as her parents had done, going to work only from nine till five and

enjoying the benefits of newly formed education and health services. What paradise it had seemed!

Now, in order to pay their exorbitant mortgages, and ever more exorbitant fuel prices, British adults

have to work long hours – the longest, it’s said, in Europe. Unless they are very rich, women are

expected to work as well as have children; without the little cafés, the cleaners, the au pairs, the

15 builders, and the late-night shops – all dependent on migrant labour – the professional classes could

not manage. But we too are being squeezed, Polly thinks. Even to get into a good prep school 2,

Robbie 3 had had to compete against the sons of oligarchs 4 and ambassadors, and every year her

children have to sit gruelling internal exams in order not to be chucked out 5 to make way for more.

‘Job, how did you get to school?’ she asks.

20 ‘I walked. Over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough briar.’ 6

‘Was it far?’

‘Only five miles.’

‘Wasn’t it dangerous?’

‘Sometimes there were snakes.’

25 ‘Oh.’ Polly closes her eyes, imagining a small boy in the bush. ‘How horrible.’

‘There are many snakes in Africa,’ says Job, laughing. ‘They are less dangerous than men.’

[…] ‘Would you go back if you had a different leader?’

‘Of course. I love my country, and my people. But until something changes, I have to stay here,

praying the police never stop me.’

30 ‘If they do, Job, I’ll try to help you. You do know that, don’t you?’

‘Thank you,’ he says gravely. ‘I hope I will not need it, madam.’

They arrive in Muswell Hill 7, where Hemani and Daniel now live.

[…]

Ellen and Ivo are there already. Polly is delighted; alongside Daniel and Hemani they are her favourite

35 couple, for Ivo is always entertaining and full of good gossip, as is Ellen.

‘How’s work?’ Ellen asks and Polly sighs.

‘Grim. I used to be proud of living in a country which helps refugees,’ she says. ‘But now people think

I’m doing something bad.’

‘Does it ever occur to you, honey, that they might have a point?’

40 ‘Ellen, you have a foreign nanny, don’t you?’

‘Sure,’ says Ellen oblivious. ‘You know, Tamara’s first words were in Mandarin?’

[ Ellen shows them a picture of her and Ivo’s daughter. ]

‘Beautiful,’ Polly says.

‘Ah, but you know why that’s so,’ says Hemani. ‘The more you mix up different gene pools, and

45 different nationalities, the more you get children in whom faulty genes are suppressed.’ […]

‘That’s our problem, Polly.’ Ivo is on form, she sees. ‘We’re too English.’

‘Ivo, don’t be an idiot,’ says his wife.

[…]

‘Nobody is English anymore, have you noticed?’ Ivo says. ‘We’re all British.’

50 ‘Excuse me’, says Daniel. ‘Whenever there is a World Cup match you can’t move without seeing

St George crosses 8 hung from cars and council flats. The problem is that the English have become the

underclass, covered with colonial guilt.’

‘What, we should be singing the national anthem in front of the Union Jack in schools?’

‘At least reimpose 9 proper border controls and ID cards.’

55 ‘How can you say that, Hemani?’ Polly asks.

‘Because, obviously, too many new immigrants makes it bad for those of us who got here first,’ says

Hemani. ‘There’s a limit to how much a culture can absorb, and we’re long past it.’

‘Oh I hate all this us and them!’ Polly exclaims passionately. ‘When we invaded places like Africa and

India, we broke down a door, and now we don’t like it that they come here, just as we went there.

60 Well, tough. It’s not a question of morality. There is no us and them. There’s just people. We’re all

migrants from somewhere.’

(770 Wörter)

Amanda Craig: Hearts and Minds, London 2009, S. 196–199.

1 Bill – Polly’s lover; Theo – Polly’s ex-husband

2 prep school – short for preparatory school: a private school where students are prepared for entry into a higher form of education

3 Robbie – Polly’s son

4 oligarch – generally refers to influential and wealthy business people, often from Russia

5 to chuck out – to throw out

6 “Over hill, over dale [valley], thorough bush, thorough briar [thorny plant].” – quote from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

7 Muswell Hill – a rather well-to-do North London suburb

8 St George cross – here: the English flag (a red cross on a white background)

9 to reimpose – to reestablish, to reinforce

1 Outline life in Britain as presented in the excerpt. (Material 1) (30 BE)

Material 1

Amanda Craig: Hearts and Minds (excerpt from the novel, 2009)

In the novel – a portrayal of multicultural London and the intertwined lives of recent immigrants – the protagonist Polly Noble, a human rights lawyer and single mother, attends a dinner party organised by Hemani, a first-generation immigrant. She is driven to the party by Job, her regular driver with African roots.

Job laughs. Again, their gazes meet in the mirror. I shouldn’t be sitting in the back seat, Polly thinks.

Yet if she were to sit in front, she wouldn’t feel at ease. She talks to Job more than she does to Bill, or

to Theo 1: an odd thought.

A straggle of small shops along the Caledonian Road selling pet food, mirrors, ironware and food flash

5 past. It’s always a bit of a shock, leaving her own quiet street and seeing what lies just a block away;

the poverty and squalor, the ugly council buildings and run-down commerce. Polly is just old enough

to remember how English shops had once closed for half of Saturday and half of Wednesday as well

as all day on Sunday. She can remember her mother coming back triumphant from the corner shop

saying, ‘Open at eight p.m.! We’ve just become like New York!’

10 It is unthinkable now, to live as her parents had done, going to work only from nine till five and

enjoying the benefits of newly formed education and health services. What paradise it had seemed!

Now, in order to pay their exorbitant mortgages, and ever more exorbitant fuel prices, British adults

have to work long hours – the longest, it’s said, in Europe. Unless they are very rich, women are

expected to work as well as have children; without the little cafés, the cleaners, the au pairs, the

15 builders, and the late-night shops – all dependent on migrant labour – the professional classes could

not manage. But we too are being squeezed, Polly thinks. Even to get into a good prep school 2,

Robbie 3 had had to compete against the sons of oligarchs 4 and ambassadors, and every year her

children have to sit gruelling internal exams in order not to be chucked out 5 to make way for more.

‘Job, how did you get to school?’ she asks.

20 ‘I walked. Over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough briar.’ 6

‘Was it far?’

‘Only five miles.’

‘Wasn’t it dangerous?’

‘Sometimes there were snakes.’

25 ‘Oh.’ Polly closes her eyes, imagining a small boy in the bush. ‘How horrible.’

‘There are many snakes in Africa,’ says Job, laughing. ‘They are less dangerous than men.’

[…] ‘Would you go back if you had a different leader?’

‘Of course. I love my country, and my people. But until something changes, I have to stay here,

praying the police never stop me.’

30 ‘If they do, Job, I’ll try to help you. You do know that, don’t you?’

‘Thank you,’ he says gravely. ‘I hope I will not need it, madam.’

They arrive in Muswell Hill 7, where Hemani and Daniel now live.

[…]

Ellen and Ivo are there already. Polly is delighted; alongside Daniel and Hemani they are her favourite

35 couple, for Ivo is always entertaining and full of good gossip, as is Ellen.

‘How’s work?’ Ellen asks and Polly sighs.

‘Grim. I used to be proud of living in a country which helps refugees,’ she says. ‘But now people think

I’m doing something bad.’

‘Does it ever occur to you, honey, that they might have a point?’

40 ‘Ellen, you have a foreign nanny, don’t you?’

‘Sure,’ says Ellen oblivious. ‘You know, Tamara’s first words were in Mandarin?’

[ Ellen shows them a picture of her and Ivo’s daughter. ]

‘Beautiful,’ Polly says.

‘Ah, but you know why that’s so,’ says Hemani. ‘The more you mix up different gene pools, and

45 different nationalities, the more you get children in whom faulty genes are suppressed.’ […]

‘That’s our problem, Polly.’ Ivo is on form, she sees. ‘We’re too English.’

‘Ivo, don’t be an idiot,’ says his wife.

[…]

‘Nobody is English anymore, have you noticed?’ Ivo says. ‘We’re all British.’

50 ‘Excuse me’, says Daniel. ‘Whenever there is a World Cup match you can’t move without seeing

St George crosses 8 hung from cars and council flats. The problem is that the English have become the

underclass, covered with colonial guilt.’

‘What, we should be singing the national anthem in front of the Union Jack in schools?’

‘At least reimpose 9 proper border controls and ID cards.’

55 ‘How can you say that, Hemani?’ Polly asks.

‘Because, obviously, too many new immigrants makes it bad for those of us who got here first,’ says

Hemani. ‘There’s a limit to how much a culture can absorb, and we’re long past it.’

‘Oh I hate all this us and them!’ Polly exclaims passionately. ‘When we invaded places like Africa and

India, we broke down a door, and now we don’t like it that they come here, just as we went there.

60 Well, tough. It’s not a question of morality. There is no us and them. There’s just people. We’re all

migrants from somewhere.’

(770 Wörter)

Amanda Craig: Hearts and Minds, London 2009, S. 196–199.

1 Bill – Polly’s lover; Theo – Polly’s ex-husband

2 prep school – short for preparatory school: a private school where students are prepared for entry into a higher form of education

3 Robbie – Polly’s son

4 oligarch – generally refers to influential and wealthy business people, often from Russia

5 to chuck out – to throw out

6 “Over hill, over dale [valley], thorough bush, thorough briar [thorny plant].” – quote from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

7 Muswell Hill – a rather well-to-do North London suburb

8 St George cross – here: the English flag (a red cross on a white background)

9 to reimpose – to reestablish, to reinforce

2 Analyse Polly's attitude towards immigrants. (30 BE)

Material 1

Amanda Craig: Hearts and Minds (excerpt from the novel, 2009)

In the novel – a portrayal of multicultural London and the intertwined lives of recent immigrants – the protagonist Polly Noble, a human rights lawyer and single mother, attends a dinner party organised by Hemani, a first-generation immigrant. She is driven to the party by Job, her regular driver with African roots.

Job laughs. Again, their gazes meet in the mirror. I shouldn’t be sitting in the back seat, Polly thinks.

Yet if she were to sit in front, she wouldn’t feel at ease. She talks to Job more than she does to Bill, or

to Theo 1: an odd thought.

A straggle of small shops along the Caledonian Road selling pet food, mirrors, ironware and food flash

5 past. It’s always a bit of a shock, leaving her own quiet street and seeing what lies just a block away;

the poverty and squalor, the ugly council buildings and run-down commerce. Polly is just old enough

to remember how English shops had once closed for half of Saturday and half of Wednesday as well

as all day on Sunday. She can remember her mother coming back triumphant from the corner shop

saying, ‘Open at eight p.m.! We’ve just become like New York!’

10 It is unthinkable now, to live as her parents had done, going to work only from nine till five and

enjoying the benefits of newly formed education and health services. What paradise it had seemed!

Now, in order to pay their exorbitant mortgages, and ever more exorbitant fuel prices, British adults

have to work long hours – the longest, it’s said, in Europe. Unless they are very rich, women are

expected to work as well as have children; without the little cafés, the cleaners, the au pairs, the

15 builders, and the late-night shops – all dependent on migrant labour – the professional classes could

not manage. But we too are being squeezed, Polly thinks. Even to get into a good prep school 2,

Robbie 3 had had to compete against the sons of oligarchs 4 and ambassadors, and every year her

children have to sit gruelling internal exams in order not to be chucked out 5 to make way for more.

‘Job, how did you get to school?’ she asks.

20 ‘I walked. Over hill, over dale, thorough bush, thorough briar.’ 6

‘Was it far?’

‘Only five miles.’

‘Wasn’t it dangerous?’

‘Sometimes there were snakes.’

25 ‘Oh.’ Polly closes her eyes, imagining a small boy in the bush. ‘How horrible.’

‘There are many snakes in Africa,’ says Job, laughing. ‘They are less dangerous than men.’

[…] ‘Would you go back if you had a different leader?’

‘Of course. I love my country, and my people. But until something changes, I have to stay here,

praying the police never stop me.’

30 ‘If they do, Job, I’ll try to help you. You do know that, don’t you?’

‘Thank you,’ he says gravely. ‘I hope I will not need it, madam.’

They arrive in Muswell Hill 7, where Hemani and Daniel now live.

[…]

Ellen and Ivo are there already. Polly is delighted; alongside Daniel and Hemani they are her favourite

35 couple, for Ivo is always entertaining and full of good gossip, as is Ellen.

‘How’s work?’ Ellen asks and Polly sighs.

‘Grim. I used to be proud of living in a country which helps refugees,’ she says. ‘But now people think

I’m doing something bad.’

‘Does it ever occur to you, honey, that they might have a point?’

40 ‘Ellen, you have a foreign nanny, don’t you?’

‘Sure,’ says Ellen oblivious. ‘You know, Tamara’s first words were in Mandarin?’

[ Ellen shows them a picture of her and Ivo’s daughter. ]

‘Beautiful,’ Polly says.

‘Ah, but you know why that’s so,’ says Hemani. ‘The more you mix up different gene pools, and

45 different nationalities, the more you get children in whom faulty genes are suppressed.’ […]

‘That’s our problem, Polly.’ Ivo is on form, she sees. ‘We’re too English.’

‘Ivo, don’t be an idiot,’ says his wife.

[…]

‘Nobody is English anymore, have you noticed?’ Ivo says. ‘We’re all British.’

50 ‘Excuse me’, says Daniel. ‘Whenever there is a World Cup match you can’t move without seeing

St George crosses 8 hung from cars and council flats. The problem is that the English have become the

underclass, covered with colonial guilt.’

‘What, we should be singing the national anthem in front of the Union Jack in schools?’

‘At least reimpose 9 proper border controls and ID cards.’

55 ‘How can you say that, Hemani?’ Polly asks.

‘Because, obviously, too many new immigrants makes it bad for those of us who got here first,’ says

Hemani. ‘There’s a limit to how much a culture can absorb, and we’re long past it.’

‘Oh I hate all this us and them!’ Polly exclaims passionately. ‘When we invaded places like Africa and

India, we broke down a door, and now we don’t like it that they come here, just as we went there.

60 Well, tough. It’s not a question of morality. There is no us and them. There’s just people. We’re all

migrants from somewhere.’

(770 Wörter)

Amanda Craig: Hearts and Minds, London 2009, S. 196–199.

1 Bill – Polly’s lover; Theo – Polly’s ex-husband

2 prep school – short for preparatory school: a private school where students are prepared for entry into a higher form of education

3 Robbie – Polly’s son

4 oligarch – generally refers to influential and wealthy business people, often from Russia

5 to chuck out – to throw out

6 “Over hill, over dale [valley], thorough bush, thorough briar [thorny plant].” – quote from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”

7 Muswell Hill – a rather well-to-do North London suburb

8 St George cross – here: the English flag (a red cross on a white background)

9 to reimpose – to reestablish, to reinforce

3.1 “There is no us and them. There’s just people. We’re all migrants from somewhere.” (Material 1)

Inspired by Polly’s statement, write a letter to the author supporting Polly’s view with references to material dealt with in class. (40 BE)

Material 2

(24 Wörter)

Monte Wolverton: Brexit cartoon, 28.06.2016, URL: https://www.cagle.com/monte-wolverton/2016/06/brexit-nationalist-isolationism (abgerufen am 24.02.2022).

3.2

Interpret the cartoon. (Material 2) [40 BE]

Material 1

Eliott C. McLaughlin, Emanuella Grinberg: Justice Department reopens investigation into 63-year-old murder of Emmett Till (2018)

The investigation of the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till [in 1955], barbarous even in an era in which blacks in the South were subjected to untold viciousness, has been reopened based on “new information,” according to a US Justice Department report to Congress.

[…] Emmett’s savage murder jolted 1 a nation, spurring it to action on civil rights. Gruesome photos of the boy’s mutilated body spread across the globe, lending jarring visuals 2 to the stories of violence and discrimination coming out of the South.

Ninety-five days after the attack, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Emmett’s crime? He had been accused – we now know, falsely – of flirting with and making advances at then-21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, who, along with her husband, Roy, owned a grocery store in Money, Mississippi. Emmett had traveled there from Chicago to visit his great-uncle, who lived in the area.

Four days later, on August 28, 1955, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, rousted Emmett from his bed 3 in the middle of the night, ordered him into the bed of a pickup 4 and eventually beat him viciously before shooting him in the head.

His murderers then strapped a 75-pound cotton gin fan 5 to his neck with barbed wire so it would weigh him down when they tossed him in the Tallahatchie River.

Not a month after the boy’s body was pulled from the river, an all-white jury acquitted Bryant and Milam of Emmett’s murder, despite eyewitnesses identifying the defendants and the men confessing to kidnapping the teen. Testifying for the defense, Carolyn Bryant offered incendiary 6 testimony accusing Emmett of grabbing and verbally threatening her. Deliberations 7 took barely an hour, with one juror claiming the acquittal could’ve come sooner had they not stopped to have a soda.

In closing arguments, the defense team appealed to jurors’ heritage, saying their ancestors would turn in their graves if they didn’t free these fine, white men. Weeks later, a grand jury would decline to indict Bryant and Milam on kidnapping charges.

Bryant and Milam told a reporter the following year how they killed Emmett and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie, but because of double jeopardy laws 8, they couldn’t be tried again.

In a January 1956 Look magazine article, titled, “The shocking story of approved killing in Mississippi,” Bryant and Milam said they went looking for the “Chicago boy” with the initial intent of scaring him and putting him in his place.

But Emmett didn’t scare. […] Milam said Emmett’s insolence in the face of their attempts to frighten him left them with no choice, the magazine reported:

“Well, what else could we do? He was hopeless. I’m no bully; I never hurt a n* in my life. I like n*s – in their place – I know how to work ’em. But I just decided it was time a few people got put on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, n*s are gonna stay in their place. N*s ain’t gonna vote where I live. If they did, they’d control the government. They ain’t gonna go to school with my kids. And when a n* gets close to mentioning sex with a white woman, he’s tired o’ livin’. I’m likely to kill him. Me and my folks fought for this country, and we got some rights. I stood there in that shed and listened to that n* throw that poison at me, and I just made up my mind. ‘Chicago boy,’ I said, ‘I’m tired of ’em sending your kind down here to stir up trouble. Goddam you, I’m going to make an example of you – just so everybody can know how me and my folks stand.’”

[…] Emmett’s death remains a symbol of “enduring American injustice” to this day, said Duke University scholar Timothy Tyson, author of “The Blood of Emmett Till.” The book included the bomb-shell admission from Carolyn Bryant – by then, Carolyn Bryant Donham – that she made up the damning allegations of Emmett’s verbal and physical advances. […]

[Priscilla Sterling, a cousin of Emmett, said:] “I’m glad it’s being talked about and discussed, with the division this country is experiencing and white supremacist guys thinking they can do everything. If this case is talked about and discussed maybe they will be stopped.”

Another cousin, Wheeler Parker, said he hopes Emmett’s name can be cleared soon and prove that “he didn’t die in vain.”

(734 Wörter)

Eliott C. McLaughlin, Emanuella Grinberg: Justice Department reopens investigation into 63-year-old murder of Emmett Till, in: CNN online, 13.07.2018, URL: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/12/us/emmett-till-murder-case-reopened-doj/index.html (abgerufen am 11.04.2021).

Annotations

1 to jolt – to shock, to surprise

2 jarring visuals – shocking pictures

3 to roust sb from their bed – to drive sb from their bed roughly

4 bed of a pickup – offene Ladefläche eines Fahrzeugs

5 cotton gin fan – Ventilator einer Baumwollentkörnungsmaschine

6 incendiary – causing trouble

7 deliberations – discussion by the jury about the verdict

8 double jeopardy law – Gesetz gegen Doppelbestrafung für einen bereits verhandelten Fall

1 Outline the events that led to Emmett Till’s death and the reasons for his murder. (Material 1)

(30 BE)

Material 1

Eliott C. McLaughlin, Emanuella Grinberg: Justice Department reopens investigation into 63-year-old murder of Emmett Till (2018)

The investigation of the murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till [in 1955], barbarous even in an era in which blacks in the South were subjected to untold viciousness, has been reopened based on “new information,” according to a US Justice Department report to Congress.

[…] Emmett’s savage murder jolted 1 a nation, spurring it to action on civil rights. Gruesome photos of the boy’s mutilated body spread across the globe, lending jarring visuals 2 to the stories of violence and discrimination coming out of the South.

Ninety-five days after the attack, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama.

Emmett’s crime? He had been accused – we now know, falsely – of flirting with and making advances at then-21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, who, along with her husband, Roy, owned a grocery store in Money, Mississippi. Emmett had traveled there from Chicago to visit his great-uncle, who lived in the area.

Four days later, on August 28, 1955, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, J.W. Milam, rousted Emmett from his bed 3 in the middle of the night, ordered him into the bed of a pickup 4 and eventually beat him viciously before shooting him in the head.

His murderers then strapped a 75-pound cotton gin fan 5 to his neck with barbed wire so it would weigh him down when they tossed him in the Tallahatchie River.

Not a month after the boy’s body was pulled from the river, an all-white jury acquitted Bryant and Milam of Emmett’s murder, despite eyewitnesses identifying the defendants and the men confessing to kidnapping the teen. Testifying for the defense, Carolyn Bryant offered incendiary 6 testimony accusing Emmett of grabbing and verbally threatening her. Deliberations 7 took barely an hour, with one juror claiming the acquittal could’ve come sooner had they not stopped to have a soda.

In closing arguments, the defense team appealed to jurors’ heritage, saying their ancestors would turn in their graves if they didn’t free these fine, white men. Weeks later, a grand jury would decline to indict Bryant and Milam on kidnapping charges.

Bryant and Milam told a reporter the following year how they killed Emmett and dumped his body in the Tallahatchie, but because of double jeopardy laws 8, they couldn’t be tried again.

In a January 1956 Look magazine article, titled, “The shocking story of approved killing in Mississippi,” Bryant and Milam said they went looking for the “Chicago boy” with the initial intent of scaring him and putting him in his place.

But Emmett didn’t scare. […] Milam said Emmett’s insolence in the face of their attempts to frighten him left them with no choice, the magazine reported:

“Well, what else could we do? He was hopeless. I’m no bully; I never hurt a n* in my life. I like n*s – in their place – I know how to work ’em. But I just decided it was time a few people got put on notice. As long as I live and can do anything about it, n*s are gonna stay in their place. N*s ain’t gonna vote where I live. If they did, they’d control the government. They ain’t gonna go to school with my kids. And when a n* gets close to mentioning sex with a white woman, he’s tired o’ livin’. I’m likely to kill him. Me and my folks fought for this country, and we got some rights. I stood there in that shed and listened to that n* throw that poison at me, and I just made up my mind. ‘Chicago boy,’ I said, ‘I’m tired of ’em sending your kind down here to stir up trouble. Goddam you, I’m going to make an example of you – just so everybody can know how me and my folks stand.’”

[…] Emmett’s death remains a symbol of “enduring American injustice” to this day, said Duke University scholar Timothy Tyson, author of “The Blood of Emmett Till.” The book included the bomb-shell admission from Carolyn Bryant – by then, Carolyn Bryant Donham – that she made up the damning allegations of Emmett’s verbal and physical advances. […]

[Priscilla Sterling, a cousin of Emmett, said:] “I’m glad it’s being talked about and discussed, with the division this country is experiencing and white supremacist guys thinking they can do everything. If this case is talked about and discussed maybe they will be stopped.”

Another cousin, Wheeler Parker, said he hopes Emmett’s name can be cleared soon and prove that “he didn’t die in vain.”

(734 Wörter)

Eliott C. McLaughlin, Emanuella Grinberg: Justice Department reopens investigation into 63-year-old murder of Emmett Till, in: CNN online, 13.07.2018, URL: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/07/12/us/emmett-till-murder-case-reopened-doj/index.html (abgerufen am 11.04.2021).

Annotations

1 to jolt – to shock, to surprise

2 jarring visuals – shocking pictures

3 to roust sb from their bed – to drive sb from their bed roughly

4 bed of a pickup – offene Ladefläche eines Fahrzeugs

5 cotton gin fan – Ventilator einer Baumwollentkörnungsmaschine

6 incendiary – causing trouble

7 deliberations – discussion by the jury about the verdict

8 double jeopardy law – Gesetz gegen Doppelbestrafung für einen bereits verhandelten Fall

2 Compare the murder case of Emmett Till to the Tom Robinson case in “To Kill a Mockingbird”.

(40 BE)

Material 2

(27 Wörter)

Rob Rogers: Loud music, 20.02.2014, URL: http://robrogers.com/tag/emmett-till/ (abgerufen am 11.04.2021).

Hinweis

Jordan Davis was shot at a gas station in Florida, following an argument over music being played too loudly by him and his friends. His murderer was found guilty in a second trial because the jury could not reach a verdict in the first trial.

3.1 Taking the cartoon (Material 2) as a starting point and referring to material dealt with in class, assess the situation of African Americans in the USA today. [30 BE]

3.2 In 2007, a sign was erected in Mississippi, marking the spots of the Emmett Till murder in 1955. Since then, the sign has been vandalized, shot at and replaced eight times. 35 days after the installation of a new sign in June 2018, it was shot at again. “I’m not surprised,” Wheeler Parker, Emmett’s cousin, said in an interview. “People fear change and when they see change coming, they will try to destroy things. You have a few people out there like that.”

Taking the quotation as a starting point and referring to material dealt with in class, write a blog post for the “Emmett Till blog” presenting inspiring examples of change concerning issues of race in the US. (30 BE)

Material

Amanat Khullar: A mental health crisis brewing among South Asian immigrants in the West needs serious attention (2020)

The article discusses problems of South Asian immigrants who move to western countries such as the UK or the USA.

The stigma around mental health, especially among South Asians, often deters members of the

community to seek help. Dil to Dil, a non-profit organisation in the US, aims to address just that.

Tahim, a licensed professional counsellor based in Washington, D. C., is a member of the online

community working towards deconstructing stigma surrounding mental health illnesses in South Asian

5 communities through open and honest conversations.

“We have someone share their journey and their own mental health story, which allows people to

know there are others that may be experiencing the same thing that they are going through,” the

31-year-old explained, adding that they are mostly active on Instagram. “It also gives people the

opportunity to speak openly in a safe environment.”

10 Brown Girl Therapy, a mental health community for children of immigrants, is another such initiative.

Founded by Sahaj Kohli, a second-generation South Asian immigrant and therapist in training in New

York City, the online community aims to help immigrants – especially South Asians and women of

colour – learn more about therapy and identity exploration.

Such online communities and a rise in conversations on social media around the common mental

15 health struggles of South Asian immigrants have helped take away some of the stigmas around

therapy, which Dr. Tina Mistry, a Birmingham 1 -based clinical psychologist, said has brought several

members of the community to her clinic.

[...]

For children of immigrants, there is a duality in their hyphenated existence 2. “We have the freedom to

20 pick and choose from both cultures, identities and communities,” Kohli wrote on Twitter. “But with

that also comes the isolating reminder that we don’t totally belong in either.”

This cultural conflict, especially among teenagers and young adults, can often lead to an identity crisis.

“You could get to a point where you suddenly realise I haven’t got a clue who I am,” explained

Mistry. “It’s not a binary process. It’s a very gradual transition that you may face. [...] So you get this

kind of conflict of sorts, and begin to wonder, ‘Who am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to

25 be?’ ” [...]

In her practice, Tahim has encountered a number of cases of depression and anxiety among her South

Asian clients, which she believes are often a result of suppressed emotions. To get to the root of the

issue, Tahim says she asks her clients: “What did you perceive as love and being cared for when you

were growing up?”

30 Often, the response is linked to academic or professional achievements. “Coming from a South Asian

culture, we’re told that success only means making a certain amount of money, being in a certain

career field or achieving more than a relative’s child,” said Tahim.

While it’s not unusual for accomplishments, identity, and worth to be intertwined, according to Kohli,

this can create unique struggles for children of immigrants in the workplace and in their careers.

35 “Parentification,” explained 35-year-old Khaira, can be another common struggle for children of

immigrants, “where they act like grown-ups for their parents – helping them negotiate the challenges

of life in a new country, especially where there is a language barrier”.

A common narrative that plays out among the global South Asian diaspora 3 is of a resilient community

40 that moved away from their native lands with little money in their pockets, often facing racism and

violence in their adopted country.

“We’ve all grown up knowing about this, and sometimes, as children of immigrants, you might feel

like your struggles pale in comparison to that of your forefathers and so you shouldn’t complain,” said

Kahira. “This can lead to children of immigrants invalidating their own experiences and telling

45 themselves they have no right to be unhappy because ‘at least they have it easier than the generations

before them’, or worse, having their feelings and experiences be minimised by their families because

they themselves had it worse.”

This dynamic can often breed shame and guilt, which Mistry classified as “toxic emotions that can

immobilize us,” and can lead to low mood and depression. Through therapy, Mistry said, she aims to

50 help South Asian immigrants pass down their gifts to the next generation, rather than their burdens.

Being an immigrant also means having to “adapt to live in a white person’s world,” she said. “We

have to assimilate and mould according to the dominant culture because of the fear of racism.”

(724 Wörter)

1 Birmingham – city in England

2 hyphenated existence – describes the dual identities of immigrants belonging to two cultures or nationalities, such as Asian-American

3 diaspora – a group of people who settled far away from their ancestors’ homeland

Amanat Khullar: A mental health crisis brewing among South Asian immigrants in the West needs serious attention, in: Quartz India, 15.09.2020, URL: https://qz.com/india/1903589/immigrants-in-uk-us-struggle-with-depression-finding-therapist/ (abgerufen am 05.04.2020).

1 Outline the problems and conflicts of South Asian immigrants and the solutions described in the text. (Material)

(30 BE)

Material

Amanat Khullar: A mental health crisis brewing among South Asian immigrants in the West needs serious attention (2020)

The article discusses problems of South Asian immigrants who move to western countries such as the UK or the USA.

The stigma around mental health, especially among South Asians, often deters members of the

community to seek help. Dil to Dil, a non-profit organisation in the US, aims to address just that.

Tahim, a licensed professional counsellor based in Washington, D. C., is a member of the online

community working towards deconstructing stigma surrounding mental health illnesses in South Asian

5 communities through open and honest conversations.

“We have someone share their journey and their own mental health story, which allows people to

know there are others that may be experiencing the same thing that they are going through,” the

31-year-old explained, adding that they are mostly active on Instagram. “It also gives people the

opportunity to speak openly in a safe environment.”

10 Brown Girl Therapy, a mental health community for children of immigrants, is another such initiative.

Founded by Sahaj Kohli, a second-generation South Asian immigrant and therapist in training in New

York City, the online community aims to help immigrants – especially South Asians and women of

colour – learn more about therapy and identity exploration.

Such online communities and a rise in conversations on social media around the common mental

15 health struggles of South Asian immigrants have helped take away some of the stigmas around

therapy, which Dr. Tina Mistry, a Birmingham 1 -based clinical psychologist, said has brought several

members of the community to her clinic.

[...]

For children of immigrants, there is a duality in their hyphenated existence 2. “We have the freedom to

20 pick and choose from both cultures, identities and communities,” Kohli wrote on Twitter. “But with

that also comes the isolating reminder that we don’t totally belong in either.”

This cultural conflict, especially among teenagers and young adults, can often lead to an identity crisis.

“You could get to a point where you suddenly realise I haven’t got a clue who I am,” explained

Mistry. “It’s not a binary process. It’s a very gradual transition that you may face. [...] So you get this

kind of conflict of sorts, and begin to wonder, ‘Who am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to

25 be?’ ” [...]

In her practice, Tahim has encountered a number of cases of depression and anxiety among her South

Asian clients, which she believes are often a result of suppressed emotions. To get to the root of the

issue, Tahim says she asks her clients: “What did you perceive as love and being cared for when you

were growing up?”

30 Often, the response is linked to academic or professional achievements. “Coming from a South Asian

culture, we’re told that success only means making a certain amount of money, being in a certain

career field or achieving more than a relative’s child,” said Tahim.

While it’s not unusual for accomplishments, identity, and worth to be intertwined, according to Kohli,

this can create unique struggles for children of immigrants in the workplace and in their careers.

35 “Parentification,” explained 35-year-old Khaira, can be another common struggle for children of

immigrants, “where they act like grown-ups for their parents – helping them negotiate the challenges

of life in a new country, especially where there is a language barrier”.

A common narrative that plays out among the global South Asian diaspora 3 is of a resilient community

40 that moved away from their native lands with little money in their pockets, often facing racism and

violence in their adopted country.

“We’ve all grown up knowing about this, and sometimes, as children of immigrants, you might feel

like your struggles pale in comparison to that of your forefathers and so you shouldn’t complain,” said

Kahira. “This can lead to children of immigrants invalidating their own experiences and telling

45 themselves they have no right to be unhappy because ‘at least they have it easier than the generations

before them’, or worse, having their feelings and experiences be minimised by their families because

they themselves had it worse.”

This dynamic can often breed shame and guilt, which Mistry classified as “toxic emotions that can

immobilize us,” and can lead to low mood and depression. Through therapy, Mistry said, she aims to

50 help South Asian immigrants pass down their gifts to the next generation, rather than their burdens.

Being an immigrant also means having to “adapt to live in a white person’s world,” she said. “We

have to assimilate and mould according to the dominant culture because of the fear of racism.”

(724 Wörter)

1 Birmingham – city in England

2 hyphenated existence – describes the dual identities of immigrants belonging to two cultures or nationalities, such as Asian-American

3 diaspora – a group of people who settled far away from their ancestors’ homeland

Amanat Khullar: A mental health crisis brewing among South Asian immigrants in the West needs serious attention, in: Quartz India, 15.09.2020, URL: https://qz.com/india/1903589/immigrants-in-uk-us-struggle-with-depression-finding-therapist/ (abgerufen am 05.04.2020).

2 Compare the situation of South Asian immigrants in Western countries as described in the text to Ali's in "My Son the Fanatic".

(40 BE)

3 Choose one of the following tasks:

3.1

Discuss the role of school and community life to support young immigrants with their identity conflicts.

3 Choose one of the following tasks:

3.2

“[Y]ou don’t have to fit into some box … you don’t have to fit in at all. There is nothing to fit into. We’re beyond labels. Bigger than either/or. Us/them. We’re and/and.”

(Tanuja Desai Hidier, Indian-American author, 2020)

Taking the quote as a starting point and referring to material dealt with in class, write an article for an English newspaper about the benefits of multicultural backgrounds. You can write as a journalist and/or as someone with a multicultural background.