Civil Rights Argument Analysis

Although the United States government is currently engaged in stopping foreign civil rights atrocities, it turns a blind eye to violence acted out against African Americans within its borders (PR N., 2014, para. 4). In South Carolina, the “rebel flag hangs] from the state house walls” (Bryan, 1994, line 2), serving as a constant reminder of the institutionalized racism that reflects U.S. social tensions today. Similarly, training officers, in Ferguson learn to “see communities of color as war zones and to behave like occupiers” (Warren, 2014, para. 3). In fact, human rights violations on African Americans continues to linger after centuries of persecution and racism (PR N., 2014, para. 4).

In recent news, parallel cases involving conflict

1) attacked civil rights protestors using “clubs, cattle prods, and tear gas) (Scott, 2014, para. 1). The protest was a particularly peaceful protest, where civil rights protesters “the marchers had planned to walk the 50 miles to Montgomery, the state capital, as part of a long-building protest against the denial of basic voting rights to Southern blacks” (Scott, 2014, para. 1).

Tupac Shakur’s lyrics in “Changes” supports the happenings from Selma when he says “Cops give a damn about a negro? Pull the trigger, kill a n*gga, he’s a hero” (Shakur, 1998, line 6). Shakur is pointing out the fact that police act above the law and are supported by white civilians. This is also pointed out in the Ferguson case when Darren Wilson shot and killed Mike Brown. Officers are trained in different ways than the public is expected to see. Officers are trained like racist warriors, to see colored communities as “war zone and to behave like occupiers” (Warren, 2014, para. 3).

Hootie & The Blowfish answered this article with their lyrics from their song “Drowning” asking “just that you don 't look like me tell me what do you

Apuzzo and Warren alike feel as the central government is shedding all blame. “Government failure has yet again shifted responsibility to the citizenry” (Warren, 2014, para. 4). This is described as “politics,”(Apuzzo, 2015, para. 24) by Apuzzo. The best example of this lack of interest in conviction in racially fueled cases may be found in the Rodney King case of 1991. King was pulled over on Los Angeles’ 210 freeway driving at speeds of 115 miles per hour (Gray et al., 2014, para. 1). Once he exited the vehicle, King was met by four L.A.P.D. officers who continued to beat King within inches of his life. Fortunately, there was a video of the beating. In the video it is clear that the four officers are beating King to unnecessary extents, King had given himself up and the officers proceeded to beat him to his knees where once again he put his hands on his head. This, again, was not enough as the officers continued to kick, punch, and beat King with their batons. The King case was one of the first to publicly expose the inadequacies of the central