Kouablan, Damoi Fabrice Arnaud

Reading / Structure
6/02/2024
Professor. Buckman

This article from ProPublica.com, written by Jodi Cohen and Jenifer Smith Richards, talks about

a young black woman named Amara Harris, who sued an Illinois city for having violated her

civil rights. In short, when Amara Harris attended high school classes at Naperville, she has been

unfairly accused by the police officer for having picked up another girl’s Air pods, although she

thought it was hers. So, the police officer took sides to the other teen and ticketed Harris as a

thief. Indeed, for four years, Harris Attorneys had things in hand to help her leading this fight

towards the Illinois state to prove her innocence then, to stop schools using police to solve

students’ issues, and ban racism because everyone wasn’t treated equally. Although they didn’t

have similar opinions, Attorneys, mayor, and investigative reporters and editors addressed and

seized this issue to investigate the police ticketing system and its dangers to families and

students. Luckily, their investigations help them to comprehend Harri’s case and whether they

must ban or not these annoying tickets most used towards black people in the Illinois state, even

the whole USA. Eventually, at the end of four years of fighting, things went well for Harris. Not

only she has been acquitted, but the Illinois state couldn’t escape this situation. Because the jury

prescribed some damages and interests and recommended it to consider reinforcing the

performance of the police to handle efficiently civil right issues in the future. So far, Harris has

been steering her boat well. She studies in Japan and plan to become a vet someday.

Reference:

Cohen, Jodi S., and Jennifer Smith Richards. “Former Naperville Student’s Civil Rights Lawsuit
Targets School Ticketing.” ProPublica, 22 May 2024, www.propublica.org/article/illinois-
naperville-school-ticketing-amara-harris-civil-rights-lawsuit-airpods.