Interview Essay

Mike Destefano

ENGL 210

Ms. Rodwell

Due 10/6/25

My informant goes under the name of Charlie. He is a second year student at North Michigan University, studying Political Science.  He is from a high income, African- American family. Mostly republican. He, however, identifies as an Independent. His points mostly seem moderate. Some, astounding. He creates a diverse perspective, coming from a minority community but also a high income community, which grants him a certain financial privilege, but not when it comes to race. Which is one of his bigger points. When asking him about a big thing he wanted people to understand about the topic we discussed, the US Incarceration system, he stated simply, “It is not fair.” Not fair to the less fortunate, financially, and not fair to the non-White populations in the system. If anything, he believes race plays more of a factor than politics. Black people are charged more harshly, and their bails are set higher, for pettier offenses. The only way for a black man to be able to pay that high bail otherwise is to have money. The racial inequalities are well broadcasted online, but my informant holds an advantage of being from a high income family, having knowledge of his financial privilege and witnessing privilege around him. He also has done lots of research himself, and holds another advantage of being informed, which he also emphasizes on. Being informed about the issues at hand is essential in order to form your own opinions, so that they are accurate and without bias, or misinformation. This is where he feels like he distances from his family a bit, as while his family is Republican, and have a bias towards Republican views, maybe such as harsher systems, and that the system should warrant punishment, he has done research to come up with his own ideas and beliefs, though with that one of his ideas seemingly tied to his political upbringing. A rather surprising point he expressed was an “eye for an eye” kind of theory. For example, if someone kills someone, they should be killed also. That idea goes to a more extreme view for other types of crimes, but overall, the whole idea is definitely a republican leaning view, which he could’ve acquired from his family, and his background. His idea that news agencies lie could also be considered Republican, and therefore stemming from his family, but he extends into a more moderate view that celebrities should speak out more, with some actually doing a “decent” job at speaking out about issues in the incarceration system. His belief in the death penalty being enacted in “certain cases” is also more moderate, as it’s republican but it has a moderate take of being exclusive to certain people. If anything, it contradicts his idea on people that commit child abuse, meaning inappropiate stuff with children, for a softer term. He believes they should be dealt to the prisoners, as prisoners usually, from research, deal with those kind of people. He believes in making the person suffer for their crimes, but yet wants the death penalty, that puts them out right away. But, he holds democratic ideas, such as a lack of mental health awareness in the system. People are thrown in with the rest of the prisoners with mental health issues, which do nothing to help those people. He actually told me about a case he read, where the guy wasn’t getting his meds, which gave me more knowledge about the systems’ real flaws.

One thing that took me aback about my guy was his idea on people that commit rape. I am all for equal punishment but I’m not sure about that one. I really had to sit back and wonder if that’s really the solution; giving the person a sex change operation and then you know..

He has some ideas that ARE republican, whether he admits it or not. I like where he stands on mental health though, as I stand similarly, and I think he has good points otherwise. I wish he spoke more about the beginning questions, but we kept it going and spun back at the end, so all worked out. I’m more of a moderate myself, and I agree with him that RESEARCH IS IMPORTANT. Too many people speak without prior knowledge of what they’re even talking about, OR, they get their information from bad sources. Very well.