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Police brutality in the united states paper
Police brutality in the united states paper
Police brutality in the united states paper
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On February 26,2012, a seventeen year old by the name of Trayvon Martin was walking home from the store. As he was headed home a man spotted him from his window his name was George Zimmerman. Zimmerman called the cops and told them it was a suspicious guy walking through the neighborhood. Trayvon was wearing a hoodie he was slowly walking because of the rain and he was black. Zimmerman then told the police that Trayvon was looking around at all the houses and hes looking at him.
One of the most well-known examples of the racial profiling is a case of Trayvon Martin. This horrible event happened in February 2012 when seventeen years old boy Trayvon was shot by the neighborhood watch head George Zimmerman. Analyzing the words of Blow, Zimmerman’s perception of Trayvon Martin reflects pervasive stereotypes about the criminality of black people. Thus, the tension between police and African-American has a long history. Nowadays, news and mass media feed public with continuous stories of crimes that became an integrant part of black males characteristic.
“Racial profiling punishes innocent individuals for the past actions of those who look and sound like them…” Civil Rights activist, Benjamin Jealous’ words are very relevant to the case of Trayvon Martin. Trayvon Martin was murdered at age seventeen by George Zimmerman. Zimmerman was a neighborhood watch patrol in his neighborhood, where Martin also lived. Zimmerman called 911 to report Martin as a “real suspicious guy” “a black male” walking around the neighborhood. Martin wore a hoodie on his way home from 7-Eleven with intentions of going home, but Zimmerman continued to follow Martin.
Martin was shot and killed by neighbourhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman at the age of 17 after a disagreement between the two. According to Zimmerman, Martin appeared “suspicious” while he was outside purchasing candy and a drink from a 7-11, which caused Zimmerman to follow him by car and then by foot, and eventually fatally shoot him in the name of self-defence. The circumstances leading to Martin’s death provide an example of negative stereotyping as Zimmerman spotted Martin, a young black male wearing a hoodie, and made the assumption that he is someone suspicious. It is likely that the common stereotype that black men with hooded clothing are “dangerous” or “ghetto” may have created his belief Martin was someone suspicious. Before approaching Martin Zimmerman alerted the police of Martin’s presence and that he appeared suspicious, and though a 911 dispatcher told him that following Martin to the extent that Zimmerman was following him was unnecessary Zimmerman continued to pursue Martin and initiate the altercation (Lee 2013).
The deadly shooting of Michael Brown by Officer Wilson, unveiled numerous issues within local law enforcement, that resulted in social controversy aimed at all of law enforcement. According to the BBC news, Brown was unarmed when he was fired upon by Wilson (“Ferguson unrest”, 2015). A projection from this incident has emerged, claiming that African Americans are killed more frequently than other races when confronted by law enforcement. The statistics have revealed that African Americans who are unarmed have been victim to violence with
This article written by Christine William for the Gatestone Institute was an eye opener, on the way we look at race crimes and the way the government deals with such events. She begins by talking about the George Zimmerman case. The case that dealt with a man (not of color) killing a young African American teenager. She stated that people have, “intrinsically portrayed the tragedy of Trayvon Martin's death as the fight for black equality”. She than went on to say that although Trayvon had been suspended a month before and had text messages that showed his affiliation with fire arms and drugs, he was even compared to Jesus Christ being crucified.
As Ong did with his articles, society can become united against injustice if it is brought to light. Police brutality that had gone on quietly for many years has finally reached the news with an explosion of media posts with powerful phrases like “Black Lives Matter” being crowned in the process. Words turned to actions where all across the world people were chanting Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and many others. This international outrage at injustice was due significantly to the media coverage that was finally given to the issue. As well as, the people began taking coverage into their own hands through social media.
Unarmed individuals or specifically the people of color are getting shot at or killed by policemen at a drastic rate. For instance, “Police killed 1,147 people in 2017. Black people were 25% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population” (Mapping Police Violence). This shocking statistic shows how much of an issue this is in our
This year alone, in Chicago almost 80 percent of the people killed have been black. In Baltimore the figure is 216 black people versus 11 white, in Philadelphia 200 black people versus 44 white. Although it’s troublesome that most are killed by other black people, it is disturbing to think that the innocent blacks are killed by armed officers, especially the white officers. The “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) movement is taking actions to campaign against violence toward black people. Founder Alicia Garza said BLM is recognizing that “Black people are deprived of our basic human rights and dignity.
Race relations has influenced the slaying of many blacks in modern America. George Zimmerman’s slaying of Trayvon Martin, a black teen, he approaches as he walked home in the rain with a bag of Skittles. Black communities in the United States spent much of late March of 2012 expressing outrage about Zimmerman’s actions and the Sanford, Florida, police department’s
The Plague of the United States era, society is insistently assured by police and their apologist, is not the extensive abuse and other frequent misconduct by law enforcements officers, but the expanding “disrespect for authority” that is being encouraged by “liberals” and those more extensive individuals called “libertarians” The widespread media coverage of police brutality has become too common within our societies everyday life, thus causing destruction of the communities trust. Savage treatment is continually afflicted among African Americans as a replacement form of punishment. A substantial number of casualties of police brutality are African Americans, for instance during August 9th within a house of Brooklyn, an African American
One example that will remain prevalent for years to come is the killing of Trayvon Martin, a seventeen-year-old African American male. On February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin wearing a black hoodie walked back from a convenience store through a predominately white neighborhood in Sanford, Florida was gunned down by George Zimmerman; a neighborhood watch volunteer because he looked suspicious (Dahl). Unfortunately, due to Florida’s “Stand your Ground Law,’’ Mr. Zimmerman was able to portray himself as the victim and used deadly force as self-defense. After one year of investigations and interrogations, George Zimmerman was found not guilty. This was a huge concern not just for African Americans, but people of other minority
America was founded because the colonists didn’t agree with the government of Great Britain. Taxation had a huge impact on the colonists and even todays economy. Great Britain had put a tax on alcohol, sugar, stamps, paper documents, and even tea. Colonists became inflamed by being taxed without representation, causing them to take drastic measures to prove their points through disobedience and revolting against the government.
From Ferguson to New York City to Oakland, more and more people have gathered together to voice their support for a growing movement—“Black Lives Matter.” Inspired by the displays of solidarity in Ferguson, Missouri, these protestors carry with them signs and adorn shirts inscribed with “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” and “I can’t breathe”—phrases related to the fatal shooting of Michael brown and the fatal use of a chokehold on Eric Garner. The main focus of these protests is to call for justice, police accountability, and an end to unnecessary violence inflicted on African Americans throughout the United States. Outraged by the grand jury’s decision to not indict police officers for the killing of many unarmed African Americans, protestors and politicians
On that note; does ‘Black Lives Matter’ mean that only black lives matter; or is it the concept that Black lives mattering is a precondition for all lives mattering? This paper will discuss in the rationality of the movement. The movement was created by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for Trayvon Martin’s death. It underlines the “racism and policing that shatters the illusion of a colour-blind , post racial United States” (Keeanga-Yamahtta, T., 2016).
