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Franchesca Brown

Professor Plack O'Donnell

ENGW 103 Persuasive Writing and Research

6 March 2026

The Hate We Give

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What is Power? Power is the control someone has on someone or something, which,without using it, can lead to irresponsible injustice and abuse. We have seen this throughout history with marginalized communities. Multiple events through time have shown that injustice has been going unchecked, particularly with policing. Tomi Adeyemi’s novel Children of Blood and Bone expresses this in the storyline as the monarchy and rulers treat the Maji community with hatred and violence. Even though the story is set in a fictional land called Orïsha, the events in the storyline highlight real concerns in the real world about police brutality, just in the U.S.alone. Higher authorities need to have government oversight and abuse repercussions to not only keep citizens safe from harm but also bring trust into our government. 

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In Children of Blood and Bone, the Maji is a community of people who have magical powers. Noticeable with their white hair. This group of people is looked upon as “inhumane” and is constantly harassed and harmed for being different. The regime strips their rights and basic humanity, treating them as dangerous objects rather than humans. In the book, King Saran led a raid to carry out a mass killing of the Maji. This demonstrates how control can cause extreme violence and genocide. This was a significant moment in the novel, not just because it killed Zelie’s mother, but it highlighted a bigger pattern: fear and authority can lead to disruption and corruption, and over time, this becomes normalized, systems start operating with these biases, and this leads to stereotypes. Without strong authority mechanisms, this misconduct is repeated. We can see this in U.S. history, with communities of color being front and center of the harm.

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Beyond the Raid, the author further illustrates how unjust criminalization affects the Maji in the land of Orïsha. Zélie and other children are under constant watch, being supervised for the smallest slip-ups. In the beginning of time, the Maji were cared for like the rest of the population until King Saran came to power. However, because the king, thought the Maji, was an opposing threat, the systematic opposition became everyday practices. The soldiers in the novel are operating on one key assumption. Maji are seen as dangerous and must be controlled with intrusive force. “They don't hate you, my child. They hate what you were meant to become. (Adeyemi 46)” This reveals the monarchy’s fear that the Maji trump their vision of the Maji asjust like them. This is the danger of a single story, a single idea, a single point of view. The author shows that the unchecked dominance doesn’t happen with one event, but with multipleevents, and one perspective that is agreed upon by the majority. With this repressive government in the novel, oversight is unclear and not important. Abuse becomes predictable and normalized, and no longer accidental. This brief oversight provides insight into the worst conditions incommunities and underscores the urgency of another level of accountability in policing. Maji’s being dangerous being comes the only story and changed their social dynamic. 

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With a social system full of stereotypes, Real-world cases of police misconduct arise.When police are at places where they're not monitored, it is more likely they will abuse their power. In Terrill and Ingram's research, they argue that structural accountability can play a vital role in civilian safety. This is similar to Ferdik et al. (2013) emphasizes that with more oversight, it can lead to transparency and positive approval from the American people. This reinforces Adeyemi’s logic that without proper oversight, on the regime, real harm will recur. CBS News reported on an off-duty police misconduct show in everyday life, how the lack of review and supervision generates problematic behavior. There is multiple events like this that give this claim support. We need more supervision against the police or allow the laws to change by electing certain people, the right people to change them. This builds trust and fills the gap when it comes to the people and higher authority. 

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Although in the modern era, policy makers started to recognize the need for federal accountability. Unfortunately, this was after the murder of George Floyd, an innocent man who was stopped by the police on the side of the road without a charge and was killed. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act (H.R 1280) proposes several reforms to change the structure of the laws to prevent excessive force and increase transparency. This act improves investigating misconduct, data collection, and forceful practices. The expression of a national consensus that community review of a single incident is not enough, but a caliber of multiple events collected sends a clear, definitive message that this need is a structural issue and needs to be addressedlegislatively. The Children of Blood and Bone raises the question of whether accountability becomes difficult when regulation is never achieved. Understanding that reprogramming this misconduct that’s been happening for generations won't happen in a single law, not even a lifetime, but taking mini steps using the George Floyd Justice Act, hopefully, trust and responsibility are the outcomes of enforced authority. 

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With literacy evidence and empirical evidence bring to light another realization. For brutality to happen and go unnoticed, the grand authorities in power have to create an idea that abuse is ok. The government will ignore it or put the blame on the actual victim of the harm. Adeyemi’s novel explores the principle that narratives are similar to the real-world effects of policing on a community. When people stand up against the unjust and the officers, soldiers, or institutions take action, the understanding of violence becomes heightened, and less misconduct takes place. Scholars consistently find more evidence of how authorities abuse their power and now educate the public about the issues that occur daily, which improves departmental reporting and gives citizens confidence in their justice departments. Children of Blood and Bone, as well as real-world findings, point out the necessary components for trustworthy political systems. 

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​On the other side, Critics of expanded civil liberties oversight may suggest that too much oversight hinders a police officer’s ability to do their job effectively and costs the jobs of officers whose split decision leads to an outcome that takes a turn for the worse. Some law enforcement advocates argue that individual disciplinary systems won’t help and will only slow response times for authorities to other calls. While this is a possibility, it doesn’t erase the countless times the police use the power wrongly and causes unreversible case in the lives of individuals. The benefits of these new acts are evident in their greater ability to keep people out of harm’s way. Moreover, not having these laws puts a greater risk for certain communities and allows repeated violence to occur and grow through time. In children of blood and bone, the soldiers are protected by the regime under the King, so any misconduct they do gets rewarded, especiallywhen it comes to keeping the Maji in line. The Maji have to stay quiet and comply with the orders they're given, not treat them as a whole, always a threat. “I begin to realize how far others will go to keep us down (Adeyemi 38).” Zélie realizes in that moment that the monarchy suppresses them intentionally. In light of that, in the real world, rather than allowing this to happen, we try to change the laws or at the very least, get someone in office who can.  

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The purpose of these oversights is not to tear down police officers, but to create transparency and to ensure that we hold police officers accountable for their actions. Someone'sact of damage has disturbed and affected an individual and/or an entire community. This benefits the reforms and risks because it prevents abuse of power. In the storyline, soldiers operate under a powerful regime led by King Saran and are rewarded with forced weaponization against the Maji. Adeyemi’s story illustrates how dangerous it can be when people in positions of great power are not held responsible. In real life, different states try to reform laws in response toharmful situations to keep the community safe from injustice. 

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Some critics believe new polices are an interference with police work, however,accountability is a necessary part of any legal system that holds public power. We know what soldiers and police are, but what do they really do? Police Officers are given legal rights to enforce laws, detain individuals with threatening or aggressive actions. With this level of power, it’s important that people should know their rights and understand the power they hold. Citizens also should understand what authority is allowed and not allowed to do. Without the knowledge,some cases would be ignored and the pattern would continue. In the article, A Game of Cat and Mouse: Human Rights Protection and the Problem of Corporate Law and Power by Charlotte Villiers, she explains that, “Human rights violations by corporations are widespread and have a broad spectrum(Villiers).” This quote shows that these acts are not new and should be addressed. This helps bridge the gap and increases neutrality, which strengthens fairness and credibility. 

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Additionally, Over can help the department improve its training. It’s like a bad review in a restaurant. The show not only shows the customers what’s not the best to get, but it also highlights to the business the improvements they need to make to get more business and better reviews. With complaints and multiple instances of misconduct, it highlights weaknesses in the department and the required procedures to ensure their situations do not go unnoticed. In the article Citizen Complaints Against the Police: An Eight City Examination, one-point reads,“Cities…where citizen complaints were investigated by an IA unit… and then had their outcome decision… reviewed by an external civilian oversight agency, were significantly more likely (78%) to sustain complaints (Terrill&Jason 171).” This shows that change is the solution. Newchange can lead to new training, communication, and efficient policing styles. Now the department can learn from its mistakes and prevent similar incidents in the future. This helps the relationship between the community and law enforcement. 

Police Brutality has always been and will continue to be an important issue for many communities across the United States. Although law enforcement keeps our laws safe, their authority is sometimes at an imbalance with the unnecessary harassment some police officers cause specific communities of color. It’s not only their job to keep the country safe, but it’s our job to keep policies in order to keep them in line. Across multiple generations, institutions without oversight often struggled to earn public trust. People fear the police for the reasons of them being unpredictable. With the police, no one feels free, and justice without repercussion never feels served. Research on police accountability shows that different mechanisms provide an additional layer of assessment to be handled in the most respectful and fair way possible. 

Events like the Brianna Taylor murder and the George Floyd murder bring the law we need to bring safety to our streets, especially in the African American community. In Children of Blood and Bone, the system is completely one-sided. There are the monarchies and soldiers, freedom, and life; and there are the Maji, harassed, silenced, and living in fear. Even though it’s a fictional book, it highlights the challenges minority groups face in spaces where they're not welcome. Ultimately, creating civilian oversight has a multitude of steps that have to be taken to create a safe environment for everyone. Establishing independent supervision across policing boards is an efficient way to rebuild public confidence and improve the well-being of the American people. 

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Work Cited

Adeyemi, Tomi. Children of Blood and Bone. Henry Holt and Company, 2018.

Ferdik, Frank V., Michael R. Smith, and James Frank. “Citizen Oversight of the Police and Perceptions of Police Legitimacy.” Police Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 4, 2013, pp. 409–435.

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Terrill, William, and Jason R. Ingram. “Citizen Complaints Against the Police: An Eight-City Examination.” Police Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 2, 2016, pp. 150–179.

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Villiers, Charlotte. “A Game of Cat and Mouse: Human Rights Protection and the Problem of Corporate Law and Power.” Leiden Journal of International Law, vol. 36, no. 2, 2023, pp. 415–438.

United States Congress. George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021. U.S. House of Representatives, 2021.

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CBS News. “Police Misconduct Cases Raise Questions About Oversight and Accountability.” CBS News, www.cbsnews.com.

 

First, I came up with an idea. From reading the book, I knew that the Maji and the monarchy were at odds. This made it easier to pick a topic that I knew very well and happened in the United States. This topic was police brutality. I understand, I asked AI if this was a good topic to write about with Toulmin policy. Once it said yes, I started going to research. Most of the sources came from the Howard Online Library. Or Google. But I knew the George Floyd incident for a minute. Then I asked AI what the Toulmin model consists of in the simplest way possible, since there are a lot of elements. Finally, I asked Chat to put my source work together with my topic and if it made sense.