America, home of the free, founded on ideals of equality and opportunity, or so we once thought. “Black Lives Matter”, has been a commonly heard phrase nation wide that represents police brutality against the African American community. Where and When did this popular hashtag start?
Authors Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kelly brought the two sides of this racial conflict together in their recent book, All American Boys. In the story an African American boy was falsely accused of a crime, which resulted in him beaten to the brink of death by a police officer. The book exposes all view points of this issue, the victim and his family’s standpoint, the officer’s situation and also a white kid’s perspective. (All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kelly, 2015)
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The reasoning behind the fatal shot was initially Martin looked “suspicious”, Zimmerman then approached him and was allegedly attacked by Martin, which resulted in him having to defend himself. Although police instructed Zimmerman to not get out of his car, he failed to follow orders. Zimmerman was let off with no criminal charges. (http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/)
“I am Arriell Sky Williams, I 'm eight years old. I am unarmed and I have nothing that will hurt you,” this is what a fearful mother has taught her daughter to say if she has an encounter with a police officer. The police brutality incidents has stricken fear into parents with black children. An African American mother of a two boys, Natasha Gordon says, “The innocence of a childhood is gone”, and reminds everyone that police are people too and with that comes their racial prejudices as well.