Lanham, Grace

Freshman, College of Education

Major: English

Minor: Women’s and Gender Studies

Honors Course: HON 100: Rhetoric and Critical Inquiry

Faculty: Deborah Weiner, Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Discourse

Abstract: When she began my time in HON 100 during fall quarter, Grace had just attended her first rally in protest of George Floyd’s brutal murder. She felt (and still feels) passionate in joining the BlackLives Matter movement, so this topic naturally became the content of my research paper. She began by trying to understand the nuances, criticism, and underlying meaning behind “Defunding the Police,” but because this was such a recent phrase, her research quickly came to a stopping point. As a result, she had to widen her lens and change her perspective on the entire issue, rather than focusing on one specific movement. This widened perspective caused Grace to realize that the points of contention in policing ran deeper than just the events that occurred in summer of 2020, and while the research process began to feel like she was diving into a never-ending can of worms, she slowly began to understand why policing functions the way it does and propose solutions to those issues. she learned a lot about herself in this process because attending rallies and protests is one thing but taking the time and care to deeply understand a structural system is vital in becoming an outspoken AND well-spoken individual.