Black News
Eula Biss
Notes From No Man's Land

"It is a place where the cities imagination of itself resides." Biss in the essay uses her specific experiences with a African American Community newspaper to make a larger point on the reality that society accepts. The brunt of the essay is made up of news stories  on the racist tendencies of Child Protection Services in particularly a Ms. Johnson who was repeatedly denied custody of her Grandchildren.

Biss subtly draws you into the injustice and anger she feels. The story is framed within larger news stories that show system collapse and societal unrest. Because the news ignores the small issues of injustice the big issues create feelings of unreliability. By placing the issues of a small section of America that she was a part of inside issues of more agreed upon significance she links the ideas together.

She ends most paragraphs in a short strong statements-- "But that was not something I could report," They were not brought to McDonald's, and CPS did not return her calls,"But she didn't have the children." She ends the story in much the same vain. A curt punchy statement "This doesn't seem like America,' they kept seeing, 'this just doesn't seem possible in America." These concluding sentences echoes the feel of the topic she is covering.  Both the journalist techniques of saying it like it is and the finality of families having their children taken from them.

Questions:
What happened in the Ms. Johnson case?
What else can I find about how this "nurture" aspect is destroying "black culture"?