What is the author’s central question or subject of inquiry? Why does the author argues this question is important?

STOP USING THE TERM BLACKS OR BLACK PEOPLE- USE AFRICAN AMERICAN’S BECAUSE THE QUESTION SPECIFICALLY FOCUSES ON AFRICAN AMERICANS

Title: Gun violence: Donald Trump and in the increase of gun violence towards African-Americans

Question: How has the rise of Donald Trump contributed to the increase in gun violence towards African-American’s in America during 2015-2019?

Abstract

This research proposal aims to offer a new contribution to the ‘Trump Effect’ hypothesis by illustrating the influence- DEFINE HOW THIS WILL BE MEASURED of the American President’s identity and political affiliation as a determinant of perpetrators engaging in racially motivated gun violence in America. Race Relations and Identity Politics will be used as theoretical frameworks to explore the underlying reasons for the surge in racially motivated hate crimes in the form of gun violence during the invisible primaries in 2015, focussing on when Trump declared his bid for presidency.

To uncover the trend between gun violence towards African- Americans and the Trump presidency, this research project will use mixed methods, including an analysis of sources including press interviews with gun violence perpetrators interviews of trump, bureau of justice and federal department statistics to empirically evaluate IDENTIFY MORE WAYS THAT THE DISSERTATION QUESTION CAN BE MEASURED the causes for the increase in racially motivated hate crimes in America. Moreover, coding will then be used to thematically analyse the findings. There will also be a discussion of the difficulties encountered within this study, such as time constraints and an inability to gather primary data from American perpetrators of gun violence to enrich the study to uncover their primary motives which would have advanced the study

Acknowledgments

With many thanks to my advisor, Dr Or for her support and encouragement during this study, without this, the research would not have been possible.

Introduction

NEED TO MENTION IN THE INTRODUCTION WHAT THE DISSERTATION PROPOSAL WILL FOCUS ON AND EXPLAIN WHY THIS SUBJECT AND QUESTION HAS BEEN CHOSEN. EXPLAIN WHAT IS THE RELEVANCY AND IMPORTANCE OF THE ESSAY QUESTION?

CRITICALLY EXPLAIN WHAT IS THE THESIS OF THE ESSAY IS;

HOW WILL THE RESEARCH QUESTION BE ANSWERED?

DEFINE GUN VIOLENCE AND CRITICALLY EXPLAIN WHOSE DEFINITION OF GUN VIOLENCE WILL BE USED TO ANSWER THE RESEARCH QUESTION AND WHY?

CRITICALLY EXPLAIN WHY THE QUESTION FOCUSED ON THE VARIABLES OF GUN VIOLENCE AND THE SPECIFIC FOCUS ON AFRICAN AMERICANS

CRITICALLY EXPLAIN THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THE TRUMP PRESIDENCY HAS INCREASED RACIALLY MOTIVATED GUN VIOLENCE TOWARDS AFRICAN AMERICANS IN DUE TO A RACIALLY BIAS RHETORIC LARGELY THROUGH HARD RIGHT-WING IMMIGRATION POLICIES, THUS CAUSING DIVISIONS AMONGST THE NATION THROUGH DIVISIVE POLITICAL TACTICS- CITE AND ELABORATE FURTHER

The primary objective of this research is to investigate the contribution of Donald Trump in increasing gun violence towards African Americans in America during 2015-2019 WHY? EXPLAIN THIS IN DETAIL.

To electrify his white electoral base, the president attacks African-American politicians without fearing accusations of racism- THIS STATEMENT IS TOO BOLD, REWORD THIS AND USE AN EXAMPLE AND CITE A SCHOLAR. But, at the same time- THIS IS INFORMAL, CHANGE THIS, he also knows how to surround himself with black celebrities – THIS IS IRRELEVANT, TAKE IT OUT(Luttig et al., 2017).

One controversy chases another- THIS IS TOO INFORMAL, REPHRASE THIS AND ELABORATE, USE AN EXAMPLE AND ALWAYS RELATE IT TO THE QUESTION. After violently attacking the Somali-born Somali girl Ilhan Omar, Donald Trump was fueling a new controversy YOU NEED TO BE VERY SPECIFIC, WHAT DATE? WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE QUESTION, ELABORATE. NEED TO BETTER CONNECT THE SENTENCES BECAUSE IT DOES NOT FLOW For several days, Congressman Elijah Cummings of Baltimore, who is a victim of the poisoned darts of the US president, has been elected WHAT DATE? NEED TO BE MORE SPECIFIC, ELABORATE AND CRITICALLY EVALUATE WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH GUN VIOLENCE TOWARDS AFRICAN AMERICANS.

START THIS PARAGRAPH OFF MORE FORMALLY Campaign strategy to ensure his re-election in 2020? – THIS IS TOO INFORMAL, EXPLAIN IT BETTER. By targeting African Americans WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE FOR THIS? AND CITE, Donald Trump does not hesitate to exacerbate racial tensions that divide the United States- THIS IS A REACHING STATEMENT, NEEDS A CITATION AND EXAMPLE, aware of electrifying his electoral base WHO IS HIS ELECTORAL BASE? NEED TO SPECIFY, composed mainly of whites- THIS IS EXTREMELY INFORMAL, REDO, NEED TO SPECIFY E.G. WHAT LOCATION AND GIVE AN EXAMPLE. This is not his first attempt- HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS? GIVE AN EXAMPLE AND CITE. Long before being president WHAT TIME ? GIVE A DATE? REMEMBER THE ESSAY QUESTION IS REFERRING TO 2015-2019, he was criticized BY WHO? WHO WAS HE CRITICIZED BY? for his policy of discriminating against blacks- THIS IS EXTREMELY INFORMAL as a real estate developer- BE SPECIFIC, WHAT POLICY. As Andra Gillespie, associate professor of political science at Emory University, points out, the current controversy – WHAT CONTROVERSY? BE SPECIFIC proves that the election of a first black president- BE SPECIFIC, NAME THE PRESIDENT in 2008 was not “the panacea for solving America’s problems on the racial issue”-REFERENCE THE PAGE NUMBER AND WHO SAID IT, EXPLAIN WHY IT IS IMPORTANT AND THE RELEVANCE THAT THIS HAS TO THE QUESTION (Major et al., 2018).

Baltimore is a predominantly black city- THIS IS INFORMAL AND NEEDS TO BE CHANGED, with, as in many other American cities THIS IS TOO VAGUE, NEED TO SPECIFY, difficult neighborhoods- THIS IS VAGUE AND INFORMAL, NEED TO EXPLAIN WHAT IS MEANT BY DIFFICULT where violence and drugs often go hand in hand-THIS IS OFFENSIVE AND NEEDS TO BE CHANGED, NEED TO PROVIDE EVIDENCE AND CITATIONS. Other municipalities SUCH AS WHAT? BE MORE SPECIFIC AND GIVE EXAMPLES AND CITATIONS, EXPLAIN THIS POINT PROPERLY AND RELATE IT TO THE QUESTION have been criticized BY WHO? in terms as little measures taken by Donald Trump TO PREVENT WHAT? USE EXAMPLES AND CITATIONS. This is the case of Chicago, the city of Barack Obama -THIS IS INFORMAL, REDO, GIVE A TIME FRAME AND EXPLAIN THIS IN DETAIL. CONNECT THE SENTENCES BETTER Barack Obama who also shared on Twitter- WHAT DATE, BE SPECIFIC an opinion signed by 149 blacks- STOP USING THIS TERM AS IT IS OFFENSIVE, REDO who worked in his government GIVE A TIME AND DATE, BE SPECIFIC, worried about the aggressive rhetoric of the occupant – WHAT OCCUPANT? BE SPECIFIC of the White House and the rise of racism in the country WHY? GIVE AN EXAMPLE, PROVIDE EVIDENCE AND A CITATION FOR THIS. He- WHO? BE SPECIFIC, STATE THIS NAME himself was the target of the abject campaign of “birtherism” fuelled by Donald Trump GIVE A DATE, BE SPECIFIC, EXPLAIN, which questioned his birth in the United States, and therefore his legitimacy to exercise the office of president (Mutz, 2018). SO WHAT? WHAT RELEVANCE DOES THIS HAVE TO THE ESSAY QUESTION, ALWAYS RELATE EVERYTHING TO ANSWERING THE ESSAY QUESTION!

This project will extend the debate of the ‘Trump Effect’ hypothesis CITE by using theories of Race Relations and Identity Politics to critically compare the level of gun violence towards African American during Trump’s Presidency. It is for this reason that the thesis question is composed as a positive question, portraying empirical realities through descriptive and quantitative research, to focus on understanding and predicting whether the Trump presidency has increased gun violence on African Americans, by applying a post- positivist outlook, deriving from posteriori knowledge.

There will also be inclusions of positivist epistemology IN WHAT SECTION? NEED TO SPECIFY because this study is largely dependent on measuring report and case study statistics, thus advocating the use of science to study social realities. Moreover, an illustration of the methodology process and ethical considerations will be included within this study to acknowledge the advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data. The results will then be analyzed to uncover central themes and assess the significance of the findings in relation to the hypothesis.

Background of the study

Donald Trump remains SINCE WHEN? GIVE A TIME FRAME the product of more than fifty years- BE SPECIFIC of the political strategy WHO’S POLITICAL STRATEGY of exclusion of African-Americans. Gun violence and discrimination has been frequently carried against African Blacks- THIS LANGUAGE IS INCORRECT, USE NON-OFFENSIVE AND GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT LANGUAGE- REPHRASE, THIS IS ALSO A BOLD STATEMENT, WHERE ARE THE CITATIONS AND EXAMPLES, NEED EVIDENCE!. Like Goldwater, Nixon, and Reagan before him, Trump continues the deliberate fabrication of a mythical national identity- THIS IS OFFENSIVE AND NEEDS TO BE REPHRASED by proposing a re-historicization of America: a white, male and conservative, so-called free nation- WHEN DID HE PROPOSE THIS, IF THERE IS NOT AN EXAMPLE OR EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT IT THEN DON’T INCLUDE IT (Rosa and Bonilla, 2017)- HOW DOES THIS ANSWER THE QUESTION?!. At the heart of the institutional system- NO THIS IS TOO VAGE- REWORD, BE SPECIFIC, despite its program against the current- WHAT CURRENT, THIS NEEDS TO BE REPHRASED AND CHECKED, the Democratic Party failed to convince that it could deconstruct this mythical America- BE SPECIFIC, WHAT MYTHICAL AMERICA? EXPLAIN THIS PROPERLY IN DETAIL, CITE,

THE QUESTION NEEDS TO BE ANSWERED!!

Problem Statement

Violence committed against African blacks in the United States is not limited to guns only- EXPLAIN THIS IS DETAIL, BE SPECIFIC AND CITE. The different past governments SUCH AS? BE SPECIFIC AND EXPLAI THOROUGHLY have tried many ways of violence towards Blacks- STOP USING THE TERM BLACKS, IT IS HIGHLY OFFENSIVE, GIVE EXAMPLES/EVIDENCE, CITE AND GO INTO DETAIL. However, the current Trump government has initiated gun violence against African Americans- GIVE EVIDENCE AND EXAMPLES, STOP USING OVERREACHING STATEMENTS, CITE which has become a severe problem for them- FOR WHO? STOP USING OVERREACHING STATEMENTS, STOP GENERALIZING, EXPLAIN WHY THIS IS SUCH A PROBLEM. If this situation remains intact in future and white supremacy is further empowered- BY WHO? WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF THIS? RELATE IT TO THE QUESTION, then there is a mere possibility that this problem may lead to the ethnic cleansing of blacks-THIS TERM IS HIGHLY OFFENSIVE-REPHRASE AND CITE, RELATE IT TO THE DISSERTATION QUESTION AT ALL TIMES!!!!.

Literature Review

CRITICALLY EXPLAIN HOW I WILL EXTEND OR REFINE THE EXISTING LITERATURE

SHOW THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SOURCES USED- NOT JUST AN ANALYSIS OF EACH SOURCE

IDENTIFY THE FLAWS IN EXISTING RESEARCH

CRITICALLY EXPLAIN WHAT ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION TO RESEARCH I WILL MAKE

ONLY USE ACADEMIC SCHOLARS IN THIS SECTION

EXPLAIN WHAT IS THE AIM OF INCLUDING THE LITERATURE REVIEW.

An exploration of the literature circulating determinants of racially motivated gun violence towards African Americans is essential in answering the thesis question as a review offers contextual knowledge on gun violence. This will be discussed within this section by highlighting theories of Identity Politics and Race Relations to understand the basis and underlying reasons for the occurrence of racially bias hate crime, as well as presenting contrasting explanations to the research hypothesis including lingering class inequalities.

CRITICALLY EVALUATE WHAT REMAINS UNRESOLVED IN EXISTING RESEARCH

INCLUDE A SECTION FOCUSSING ON: GUN VIOLENCE TOWARDS AFRICAN AMERICANS and causes FOR IT- MAKE SURE TO RELATE IT TO TRUMP AND CRITICALLY EVALUATE

ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS WITHIN THIS SECTION USING ACADEMIC SCHOLARS