Racial Oppression In America

Relentlessly scrolling along every news channel's ticker, new names seem to be appearing every single week— news of unarmed citizens, shot down by police and demonized by the media to justify their deaths. Within the first five months of 2015 (which consisted of a mere 152 days), law enforcement took the lives of a whopping 464 people (Wing). Of all of the victims, 50% (234) were caucasian and 29% (135) were African American (Wing). This, considering that black people make up a mere 13.2%, while whites make up 77.4% of the United States population, shows massively disproportionate representation (U.S. Census Bureau). There is a very apparent (although often overlooked) prejudice against African American citizens that has seeped into law enforcement

For over three centuries, 450,000 million Africans were enslaved, forced to work in the fields and in the homes of the white Americans who owned them (Gates). They were deprived of even the slightest privileges and therefore were forced to depend wholly on their owners for food, water, and shelter (Boston). With this tactic, slave owners were able to maintain complete control. Along with squalorous living conditions, they faced abuse, including lashings with a whip, beatings, and even branding with a hot iron (Casale). Madame Delphine LaLaurie, a notable example a cruel slave owner, is said to have kept several of them bound in the attic, torturing, dismembering and disemboweling them (Casale). This horrific, cruel treatment of black slaves was not uncommon. Slavery officially ended on December 6, 1865, the day that the 13th Amendment was ratified

His brother described him as outgoing, stating that he loved everyone, and was well known in the community (Yan). During a traffic stop in April 2015, this African American man was shot at 8 times by Michael Slager, a white police officer (Yan). He was shot 5 times in the back, with 8 total shots fired (Yan). Slager claimed to have feared for his life, stating that Scott had taken his taser in a brief altercation (Heer). Police reports indicated that this altercation was true, and that police officers performed CPR on the victim (Heer). This was accepted as true, and the story broadcast across the country. Soon enough, however, a video of the incident was leaked to The New York Times and made available for view (Heer). In the gruesome clip, Scott can be seen fleeing from the officer, and shot to death while running. While lying on the ground, unmoving, Slager handcuffs him. At the end of the video, Slager is seen dropping an object (perhaps his taser) on the ground beside Scott’s corpse. CPR is never seen on video, nor was it likely performed at all. After the video being made public, Slager was fired from the police department and charged with murder (Lemieux). If not for footage being secretly taken of this event, Michael Slager would have more than likely gotten away with this