Running head: politics 1 politics 3Politics Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Politics Both Truth’s speech and Hughes poem have a great significance on the American society to date. Truth’s Speech was a cry for fair and equal treatment of all women with much concern on the African American women. Her speech sparked many revolutions and constitutional amendments that has made all women being afforded equal rights and opportunities as those of men. Also, respect and fair of the African American women as is experienced currently is all a reflection of the speech (Hooks, 2014). Hughes poem spoke of the American dream that was entirely far out of reach to the black Americans. His poem shows the unequal chances that the African American people had during his time. Currently, in spite of the rare cases of racial discrimination in America, a good number of the African Americans still find it hard to fully fit and participate in the society due to discrimination on basis of their color (Anirudh, 2016). Justice Fair treatment is one of the pillars of any nation. Out of it great nations Like the USA have pulled through tough times to a point of becoming a superpower. The constitution brought about order in the distribution of resources and protection of property rights. This reduced and has reduced wrangles due to resources amongst the Americans as the constitution guided on verdicts regarding breach of property rights. The constitution however bound most of the resources to the native white Americans. This is depicted today, as most big ranches in the states are owned by the White Americans References Hooks, B. (2014). Ain't IA Woman: Black women and feminism. New York, NY: Routledge. Anirudh. (2016, July 22). Langston Hughes famous poems. Retrieved from Leonardo Newtonic: https://www.learnodo-newtonic.com/langston-hughes-famous-poems P a g e | 1 CM310: Communication and Conflict Unit 5 Case Study Conflict Styles and Tactics Deborah Davis, Ph.D. “He Said, She Said…” Marie, an adult college student and mother of a fifteen-year old son, has been experiencing an ongoing conflict in her home for some time now. She and her fiancé, Mike, have been at odds for the last several months of their relationship. At the center of the conflict is Lenny, Marie’s son by her first marriage. Marie and Mike argue over the way Marie punishes Lenny when he doesn’t do his household chores or violates his curfew. Mike feels Marie is too easy or soft when it comes to disciplining Lenny. When an issue arises that requires her to discipline her son, her fiancé is very vocal about his disapproval of her punishment choice. Conflict always comes of these interactions. Last Saturday night, for example, Lenny came home way past his agreed upon curfew. Marie was nervously waiting in the living room for Lenny to return, thinking something terrible had happened to him. When Marie heard Lenny’s key in the lock at 2:45 am, she jumped up, ran to the doo ...

1. Running head: politics 1
politics 3Politics
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Politics
Both Truth’s speech and Hughes poem have a great significance
on the American society to date. Truth’s Speech was a cry for
fair and equal treatment of all women with much concern on the
African American women. Her speech sparked many revolutions
and constitutional amendments that has made all women being
afforded equal rights and opportunities as those of men. Also,
respect and fair of the African American women as is
experienced currently is all a reflection of the speech (Hooks,
2014).
Hughes poem spoke of the American dream that was entirely far
out of reach to the black Americans. His poem shows the
unequal chances that the African American people had during
his time. Currently, in spite of the rare cases of racial
discrimination in America, a good number of the African
Americans still find it hard to fully fit and participate in the
society due to discrimination on basis of their color (Anirudh,
2016). Justice Fair treatment is one of the pillars of any nation.
Out of it great nations Like the USA have pulled through tough
times to a point of becoming a superpower.
The constitution brought about order in the distribution of
resources and protection of property rights. This reduced and
has reduced wrangles due to resources amongst the Americans
as the constitution guided on verdicts regarding breach of
property rights. The constitution however bound most of the
resources to the native white Americans. This is depicted today,
as most big ranches in the states are owned by the White
Americans

2. References
Hooks, B. (2014). Ain't IA Woman: Black women and feminism.
New York, NY: Routledge.
Anirudh. (2016, July 22). Langston Hughes famous poems.
Retrieved from Leonardo Newtonic: https://www.learnodo-
newtonic.com/langston-hughes-famous-poems
P a g e | 1
CM310: Communication and Conflict
Unit 5 Case Study
Conflict Styles and Tactics
Deborah Davis, Ph.D.
“He Said, She Said…”
Marie, an adult college student and mother of a fifteen-year old
son, has been experiencing an
ongoing conflict in her home for some time now. She and her
fiancé, Mike, have been at odds for the
last several months of their relationship. At the center of the
conflict is Lenny, Marie’s son by her first
marriage. Marie and Mike argue over the way Marie punishes
Lenny when he doesn’t do his
household chores or violates his curfew. Mike feels Marie is too
easy or soft when it comes to
disciplining Lenny. When an issue arises that requires her to
discipline her son, her fiancé is very
vocal about his disapproval of her punishment choice. Conflict
always comes of these interactions.

3. Last Saturday night, for example, Lenny came home way past
his agreed upon curfew. Marie
was nervously waiting in the living room for Lenny to return,
thinking something terrible had happened
to him. When Marie heard Lenny’s key in the lock at 2:45 am,
she jumped up, ran to the door, and
greeted Lenny with, “Where have you been? I have been so
worried about you! I thought you were
lying on the street somewhere! Why didn’t you call me?”
Lenny, unable to get a word into Marie’s assault of questions,
stood in front of the open door,
waiting for Marie to stop pummeling him with questions and
accusations. Meanwhile, Mike strolled
down the stairs, half asleep, wondering what all the noise was
about. When he reached the bottom
stair, he recognized a familiar sound: Marie and Lenny are at it
again, he thought to himself.
Mike stood quietly for a moment, listening to the accusations,
questions, denials, excuses
between mother and son, hoping he could find a moment to
interject. Lenny, casually leaning against
the wall, stared straight ahead while Marie continued her
assault. Mike stood silently as Marie told
Lenny that such behavior would not be tolerated; there would be
punishment for his irresponsible
actions. “In fact, Lenny,” Marie said, “as a result of your being
inconsiderate and not notifying us
about your being late, you will need to be home by 10:00 pm for
the next four Saturday nights.”
“WHAT?” screamed Lenny, “that is so unfair!”
Mike then intervened, saying, “ Marie, that’s not real

4. punishment. If I had stayed out past
curfew, my father would have beaten the living….”
Marie, trying to control her anger, turned to Mike and said,
“This is not about you; this is about
my son.”
After a long pause, Mike said, “Fine. YOU deal with it. I am
going to bed. In fact, why don’t we
all go to bed? We can deal with this tomorrow,” whereupon
Lenny vaulted up the stairs and slammed
his bedroom door, leaving Marie standing, speechless. Each
stood silently, Marie looking up the
stairs after Lenny and Mike, staring at Marie. Mike heaved a
loud sigh and turned to go up the stairs,
back to bed.
P a g e | 2
CM310: Communication and Conflict
Very quietly, Marie said, “Why did you do that?”
“What?” asked Mike innocently.
“Tell Lenny we would deal with this problem tomorrow,” Marie
spurted out. “You know I need to
deal with this problem now!” Marie was feeling the resentment
grow.
“I just thought,” Mike said, “it’s late and telling him that he has
to be home by 10 o’clock for the
next month is not severe punishment for what he did, is it,

5. Marie? Tomorrow, we can decide what real
punishment he should get, alright? Let’s go to bed.” Again,
Mike turned to go up the stairs, back to
bed.
Marie, beside herself, followed Mike, and grabbing his arm,
blurted out, “Real punishment?
How would you know? You never had children. What do you
know about being a parent? You never
even call your own mother.”
“You are too soft on that boy—that’s all I know. How will he
ever learn the difference between
right and wrong?” Mike responded.
“All I know,” said Marie, “is that he is my son and I know what
is best for him.”
“Fine,” said Mike, “I’m going to bed.” He turned and stomped
up the stairs. Marie stood alone
at the foot of the stairs, seething.
The next morning, Marie sat at the kitchen table, quietly sipping
her coffee. As Mike came in,
he moved to Marie and slowly leaned down to kiss her. Her
body rigid, she pulled away. “You’re still
mad at me, Marie?” Mike asked.
Marie said nothing, her lips pursed in a frozen sneer.
“Come on, honey,” he said. Still no response. Mike stared at
Marie for what seemed like an
eternity. Obviously, she was not going to even look at Mike,
much less say anything.
Just at that moment, Lenny burst in. Sensing Marie’s repressed

6. anger and Mike’s futile
attempts at conversation, he said, “Hey guys, sorry about last
night. Next time, I’ll call, I promise. I
really don’t have to be home at 10 for the next four Saturday
nights, do I? I’ll do whatever you want
around the house,” he whispered to Marie.” I’ll rake the leaves;
I’ll take out the trash; I’ll even mow the
lawn—just let me come home late, okay, Mom?”
All eyes were on Marie. She looked up at Lenny and her heart
melted. My son, she thought.
He’s a good boy and he didn’t really do anything wrong. He is
not a thief, she silently assured herself.
“Oh, okay, honey,” she lovingly said to Lenny, “we can forget
about it this time. Please, though, call
the next time you know you are going to be late.”
“Sure, Mom, sure,” Lenny said, and off he went.
Mike stared at Marie, frozen to the spot. “Well, that will teach
him how to be responsible,” Mike
P a g e | 3
CM310: Communication and Conflict
said.
“Look,” Marie jumped in,” I know how to handle my own son,
so please don’t interfere.” She
began washing to coffee cups, the clattering almost deafening.
“Interfere?” Mike screamed. “I thought we were a family and I

7. had some say in the matter.”
“You do, Mike, you do. It’s just that…,”
“Forget it,” Mike interrupted. “I don’t know what you want
anymore. I need to go to work,” and
he stormed out the back door.
Marie stood at the sink, letting the hot water run between her
fingers, remembering that today
was her birthday.