Evicted

Tim Harrower presents tips on how to write an editorial. One that stands out to me is the “attack issues not personalities.” I feel that as a writer the police and surrounding neighborhood did just this to the Harris family. To simply explain, the police attacked the personalities of the Harris family by assuming there were gang related issues with the family, dog fighting, and simply because they were not up to code on their house they were poor and needed to be pushed out. This is morally and ethically wrong. To make assumptions and accuse a family who has lived here for nearly 41 years is just mind boggling. The way they charged into the house as if there was a serial rapist or killer inside is just plain wrong. When Mr. Harris quotes “all you had to do was knock,” makes me think why didn’t they try that first? This entire situation is absurd.

The writer of this article Mary Schmich states the facts that “The police did arrest two family members on animal-related misdemeanors, and took away four dogs. But they found no evidence of the crimes some neighbors had suspected, the kind that typically call for 40 officers. No drugs. No guns. No dog fighting.” This entire piece is a good example of stereotyping. Schmich’s article talks about how the neighborhood around the Harris house is an urbanized “neighborhood of new mansions. It clearly was very distinguished with its” bedraggled American flag, the window fan, the brown wooden steps that sloped straight to the sidewalk.” The community around them is stereotyping their living arrangements just because they are not rich and living in luxury. However, the Harris’s have been at 1850 N. Sheffield Avenue for four decades. Don’t you think they have the right to stay and be there? They have raised their children, grandchildren, and made themselves a hard earned living there before any of these others came into the picture.

            “I have never seen so much hate build up in one minute,” Mr. Harris states. The hate towards his family and now the hatred his family more than likely has for the neighbors in charge of making opinions, the police for raiding their home, and the city for allowing it to happen. There is no doubt about it that whomever this happened to there would be a buildup of anger and hate. Mr. Harris worked hard for years to give his family this home and they destroyed it within minutes.

            Don Murray is an ingenious writer. His opinion, I believe, on how Schmich wrote this article would be a form of craftsmanship. She glues together piece by piece (fact by fact) to finish her story and get her voice out there. She did each step in making sure her piece was successfully stitched together for the final outcome. Schmich gave the details and opinions from three different sides of the story. First the side of the Harris family and how they felt about what embarrassment they had just gone through and how they did not understand it. The Harris’s feel as if they have done nothing wrong and it was outrageous how the raid went down. Schmich then gives the view of how a neighbor reacted. The neighbor blogs her observations of the incident as, “I felt like I was on 'The Wire!' Fantastic," she wrote. "... The neighbors hung out near our fence, trying to appear as nonchalant as possible, you know, as if this sort of thing happens every day in Lincoln Park. I watch 'Breaking Bad,' yo, I know about meth. I bet they were totally cooking in there." The final perspective of the incident is the police’s point of view. There were apparent complaints from neighbors around the area about “about unleashed dogs and drugs in tiny Privet Playlot Park.” Another issue was that the dogs living in the Harris home were being malnourished and mistreated.  This was apparently enough incentive for the police to conduct the raid.

            As for Schmich’s entire piece as a whole, I feel she did an outstanding job. She went step by step with details, perspectives of each party, and clearly stated her opinion in an orderly manner without being a bully, she controlled her anger, and took a stand on what she believed in. She also started and ended with strong leads. The quote from Harris about what had happened early that morning was a great way to get the reader to keep on track and interested throughout the entire piece.