Rethinking English: Culturally Responsive Classrooms

The Illegal

by Lawrence Hill

The Illegal CRP.docx.pdf

“Keita Ali is on the run. Like every boy on the mountainous island of Zantoroland, running is all Keita’s ever wanted to do. In one of the poorest nations in the world, running means respect. Running means riches-until Keita is targeted for his father’s outspoken political views and discovers he must run for his family’s survival. He signs on with notorious marathon agent Anton Hamm, but when Keita fails to place among the top finishers in his first race, he escapes into Freedom State-a wealthy island nation that has elected a government bent on deporting the refugees living within its borders in the community of AfricTown. Keita can stay safe only if he keeps moving and eludes Hamm and the officials who would deport him to his own country, where he would face almost certain death.

This is the new underground: a place where tens of thousands of people deemed to be “illegal” live below the radar of the police and government officials. As Keita surfaces from time to time to earn cash prizes by running local road races, he has to assess whether the people he meets are friends or enemies. Keita’s very existence in Freedom State is illegal. As he trains in secret, eluding capture, the stakes keep getting higher. Soon, he is running not only for his life, but for his sister’s life, too.” (Chapters-Indigo)

Lawrence Hill is an award-winning Canadian novelist and memoirist. He is best known for the 2001 memoir Black Berry, Sweet Juice: On Being Black and White in Canada and the 2007 novel The Book of Negroes.

Hill, the son of social scientist and public servant Daniel G. Hill and social activist Donna Hill and the brother of singer-songwriter Dan Hill, grew up in the Don Mills neighbourhood of Toronto. He currently lives in Hamilton, Ontario with his wife and five children.

Curriculum Connections

Reading for meaning (Making Inferences)

Students will:

explain how the novel’s prologue foreshadows what will happen in the story
examine the use of running in the novel as a metaphor;
develop profiles of main and minor characters (Keita Ali, Viola Hill, John Falconer, Ivernia , Rocco Calder, Lula DiStefanio) using evidence from the text

Writing (Voice)

Students will:

write a poem, script for a monologue, or create a podcast
write as the protagonist, Keita Ali
communicate his distress about his loss of family, displacement from his country, and fear of being caught by authorities in Freedom State.

Oral Communication

Students will:

research on the immigration crisis in Europe and the United States
debate the merits and demerits of borders in countries or regions

Media (Creating media texts)

Students will:

create a documentary about the global refugee crisis
focus on Syrian refugees arriving in Canada or the conflict surrounding accepting Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the United States.

Essential Questions

While a person can do something illegal, can a human being’s very existence be deemed illegal?

What role/responsibilities do international human rights groups have in protecting the lives of refugees?

How do countries distinguish between the truly desperate and the evil (suspected) immigrant/refugee?

Is there hope for reparations of gross violation of human rights?

How can people survive and thrive when they fail to fit into neat categories created by society?

What does home mean?

Potential Topics:

Identity;
Ability vs. disability;
race and discrimination;
use and abuse of power;
political corruption;
struggle and loss;
race and immigration

Key Questions

“I don’t know what you’re running from but be careful of what you are running to.”

“Unless he was hit by a bus, struck by lightning, or caught and deported, he had a greater statistical likelihood of staying alive here than where he came from.”

“Every voter knew that the Family Party had come to power promising to deport Illegals, to manage its borders more efficiently and to ensure that people of traditional European stock weren't overrun in their own country.”

Trigger Warnings

“The purpose of trigger warnings is not to cause students to avoid traumatic content, but to prepare them for it, and in extreme circumstances to provide alternate modes of learning.” Lockhart (http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/21689725.2016.1232623?journalCode=rfsy20)

Given the current global refugee crisis, the contents of this novel and related discussions must be treated with care as many students might be impacted in different ways.

Keita’s flight and exile in Freedom State could well be the story of a refugee’s experience in Canada.

Trauma Informed Practice A Coffey 2017.docx.pdf

Text to Self Connections

Which character in The Illegal inspired you and why?
In the novel, Keita Ali often takes great risk as necessary to secure his freedom. What risks would you be prepared to take to save your life?
Have you ever experienced racism or xenophobia? Do you think racism and xenophobia are a major concern in Canada? Explain.

Text to Text Connections

12 Excellent Books to Understand the Refugee Experience - SignatureThe current global refugee crisis demands more empathy than ever. Read one or more of these books to better understand the refugee experience.

Somali Poet Warsan Shire

This poem is now the rallying call for refugees: “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark”"You only leave home when home won’t let you stay."

11 Essential Movies About The Lives of Immigrants and RefugeesThrough cinema, we can find empathy and understanding. “Relating a person to the whole world;” Andrei Tarkovsky wrote, “that is the meaning of cinema.” In light of the political tumult and injustice of the past week, it’s easy

Text to World Connections

What’s Driving the Global Refugee Crisis?A record 65 million people have been displaced from their homes, mostly by war. Half are children. Crisis Group looks at the UN’s list of the top ten countries driving the exodus to explain what’s happened.

'Photo of my dead son has changed nothing', says father of drowned Syrian refugee boy Alan Kurdi The father of Alan Kurdi, the young Syrian boy pictured washed up on a Turkish beach who became a symbol of the refugee crisis, has accused the world of turning its back on Syria, as people continue to die.

Strategy from Mini-Lessons from Literature Circles

Prove it! Taking it Back to the Book pg. 143.

Useful strategy for guided discussion after reading sections of the novel. A useful method for interrogating some of the central themes in the novel.

Text Coding pg. 100

Students are encouraged to develop a useful set of codes to mark the text as they did for meaning. Along with coding, students are encouraged to jot words or phrases in the margins to flag big ideas, strong reactions or puzzling questions.