Research Project: Child Abuse, Racism, and Gun Violence

First on my long list of the (heavily over-exaggerated) themes expressed in “Whale Talk” by Chris Crutcher is Child Abuse (easily the most over-exaggerated). Child Abuse, although not as common as Crutcher seems to think, is still a major problem in the United States. It is estimated that 1490 children die each year due to Child Abuse. That’s about 3 children a day, or A CHILD EVERY 8 HOURS lost to Child Abuse. The sad part of it is that about 50 or 60% of these cases are not recorded as such. Well enough of that on to racism, another important “Whale Talk” issue. Racism, I feel at least was accurately represented, a few black (or African American for you politically correct people out there) guys getting picked on by a few racist families. Not to say Racism isn’t a big deal, but especially in Washington State, there shouldn’t be much more Racism than there was. But anyways on to the actual research…………Well, apparently there aren’t ANY valid sources that offered decent statistics on the internet, so I give up, all I can offer is my own personal thoughts. After that rather disappointing search, on to a more fruitful search, Gun Violence. Although the Gun Violence-ee was an adult, (TJs Dad) I did my research on Gun Violence in children. America was ranked number one by far in gun violence in children with 5285 deaths (you want an idea of how far? There was 156 in Canada, 109 in France, 57 in Germany, 19 in Great Britain, and 0 in Japan). Wow… that was intense…actually researching what I’m writing!?!?!?!?!