Author: Nahidur Rahman

Open Lab Post Topic: Government

Nahidur Rahman

After reading the stories by Sherman Alexie, it is clear that the system is characterized by racial discrimination and violence. The court appears to be ruthless when dealing with the Native Americans. When Thomas is charged, the judge does not give him the chance to defend himself, and the judge appears to have already decided to punish him even without listening to his story (Alexie, 1993). Violence is displayed when Thomas explains how the colonel had killed many people (Alexie, 1993). Killing is a form of violence in a system that shows that those around the system could not be secure since the type of the colonel could easily interfere with their peace.

Thomas is treated as an allegorical character in the justice system. Firstly, Thomas is important to his story as he narrates a story about himself (Alexie, 1993). Additionally, Thomas is used as an example to show how the system practices racism and discrimination against the Native Americans. The court does not listen well to the story of Thomas as they believe that his storytelling is irrelevant because he looked Indian. Allegorical figures represent themselves as important in their story and represent the different meanings of ideas. Thomas is a storyteller who uses his storytelling abilities to caution using past events. The court further pushes him to accept things he did not commit to indict violence upon him (Alexie, 1993). The court uses Thomas because they think that since his stories are from the past, they can confuse him to accept charges of things he did not do. 

Bambara Discussion Post Topic (choice one): Writing as Activism

Nahidur Rahman

Children generate and process information from their surroundings. In families, parents and elders are the primary components of children’s learning environment, meaning everything the latter utters is processed by the child. Chances of a child absorbing a statement that will remain in their heads until adulthood are significantly high, suggesting that parents and the elders should be mindful of their address to children. Besides, children have very sharp longer-term memories, and most of the things they learn can stick with them to adulthood. In “Gorilla, My Love” by Toni Cade Bambara, for instance, the protagonist becomes furious after learning that grownups treat children in an ‘undeserving’ way. She indicates that “grownups figure they can treat you just anyhow. Which burns me up.” Parents should avoid making remarks that are likely to yield defiance from children when they grow up by telling them the truth, no matter how brutal. There is always a simpler way of telling them the truth without adversely affecting their emotions. An adult’s word to a child bears a great deal of meaning. Therefore, the parents and elders should avoid “just teasin” kids because the latter digests the words as truth.

Where I’m from

Nahidur Rahman

I am from Shoes

from Puma and Nike

I am from the Brick house next to the buildings

I am from the bright flower

the source of my family

I am the only American-born Bengali from the family

and get so much love for being the only son

from the Rahman

and Miah’s and Begums

I am from the hard workers

and sleepless nights

From the hustlers

and poverty

I am from the religion of Islam

I’m from Bangladesh

where we enjoy samosa’s and roti’s

From the Family that started Bilash in Bangladesh

the biggest clothing store in the city

and the way it started from one father and the way it passed down

I am from the start of hustlers and businessmen.