On August 9, 2014, an 18 year old named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. From this event sprang countless protests, all stemming from the fact that Michael Brown was African American and that he was killed by a police officer (Sokhi-Bulley). As the protests progressed, the demonstrations were met by increasing police resistance, bringing a growing sense of rage and conflict against the law enforcement of the town as well as the country. Overall, the community of Ferguson, Missouri, has a major problem of police brutality, likely originating from a sense of deep seeded racism within the force as well as the nation’s society. While this may appear to be a straightforward issue, there are many different angles and opinions on the Ferguson debate coming from a wide variety of sources.
I remember stumbling on a social media experiment video on youTube a few weeks ago where some African Americans wanted to see how the police will react when they see a white or a black guy with a gun on the street. To my greatest surprise, the white youth with the gun was only asked why he was in possession of a gun in broad daylight, but on the contrary, the African American was prosecuted for being in possession of a gun. This made me believe that there is the need for African Americans to fight for their humanity, and that this can only be done if they could understand or recognize that oppression does not exist within a closed world from which there is no exit (Darder, 2017, pp. 54). Therefore, they should take a bold step in waging the struggle to restore their humanity. I believe that, the fact that students or youth of color still live in the past (seeing themselves as slaves), which is one of the reasons why many of them engage in different violent acts, the United States justice system has not been fair enough to them.
“’Can You Be BLACK and Look at This’: Reading the Rodney King Video(s)” by Elizabeth Alexander is a powerful analysis into the deep rooted sense of community felt by people who identify as Black, with specific regards to the videotaped police beating of Rodney King; and also examines the deep rooted White stereotypes surrounding people of color in America, more notably in the judicial system. This essay details the unity and solidarity seen in the times, not only surrounding the Rodney King videos, but also surrounding other notable stories about Black violence, such as the murder of Emmett Till, and the stories of Fredrick Douglass, to name a few. It describes in detail the horrible acts committed on Black bodies, and references numerous movements
Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community where Martin was living. Martin was, as in the case with Michael Brown, completely unarmed, and his executioner was released and didn’t face any criminal charges. Unfortunately, that just buttresses the fact that black people have an inferior role in the American community. It’s not simple to fix a problem that isn’t official, but rather known as a national benchmark. Ishmael Sistrunk considers how to patch up the bleeding wound between black men & the compelling policemen in his article titled “Walking while black: Michael Brown, black men and white police officers”.
African Americans Face a War on More Than One Front America has been known throughout history as the home of the free, but that freedom did not come without struggles. While the Revolutionary War and the fight for abolition represent famous past struggles, there are still fights for freedom taking place in America today, specifically in the African American community. African Americans have struggled unnecessarily in America, in particular with police and drugs. The indifference between African Americans and police, although widely publicized recently, is not a recent problem.
Echoes of Justice According to NBC News black Americans are 3.23 times more likely than white Americans to be killed by police, only 14.2% of the population in America is black making up 27% of all deaths caused by police brutality. These statistics are exemplified in the novel The Hate you Give by Angie Thomas talks about the story of Starr and how she changes throughout the story and how she earns her confidence on how to speak out against police brutality. The ideas in The Hate U Give connect to our world today through the article “How BLM Went From a Hashtag to a Global Rallying Cry” by Leah Asmelash and the other article “Homeroom” a Hulu documentary. We need to advocate and fight for change because people of color aren't treated subsequently.
Freedom can be defined in different ways, therefore people try to experience it in many ways. But what happens when it seems that freedom is being abolished every day? Sometimes freedom is associated with life, now in the days is obvious that lives of minorities are being attacked. Angela Davis is a political activist, scholar, and speaker, who always set up outstanding thoughts about controversial topics. Chapter 6 of one of her books, Freedom is a Constant Struggle, she illuminates the connection between the issues of racism present in the United States of America, violence, and justice.
The number of shootings involving law enforcement officers and unarmed African American men has increased in the United States in recent months to the point where there is social unrest in one particular community: the African-American community. Groups such as Black Lives Matter have been created in the recent past to create tranquility between the police and the people of the Unites States. If media accounts of these incidents are accurate and these recent trends are taken together, the country is on the tipping point of a deadly unprecedented racial divide. It is safe to say that the majority of Americans would agree that the Civil Rights Movement achieved many of its goals, most would also agree that racism and racial profiling
In the year 2015 alone 776 African Americans were killed by police officers of this 776, 161 were unarmed and shot by police officers with malicious intents. As far back as the 1800’s black people have been oppressed and brutalized for being seen as the inferior race. Many white people at the time disliked black people and for that reason lots of conflicts and tension was brought about. This also brought a lot of cases involving police brutality and racism from whites towards blacks. Both racism and police brutality can be seen in the movie “Do the Right Thing” directed by spike lee.
As America grows and becomes a world power, its treatment of minorities seems to grow older and older, because of this America will never achieve true social and racial equality. To Kill a Mockingbird gives an excellent example of how America will never change by demonstrating the racial injustice towards Tom Robinson. It also puts into perspective how society views people in the lower class even when all of America is struggling financially in the Great Depression with the mistreatment of the Cunninghams. As most of America watched from home, or watched from their balconies, America saw an uproar from the deaths of many African Americans who died due to police brutality. In 2020 around ten, undocumented, and unreleased deaths of African Americans
From Ferguson to Tulsa to Baton Rouge, there have been countless cases of police brutality towards African-American men, women, and children. Murderers never receiving their justice, given paid time off and being cleared of charges. Families living in fear, left torn apart at the hands of people who took an oath to serve and protect. We see people of all races standing together in protest of something we know to be wrong, advocating for much needed social change.
These statements developed in reaction to the recent deaths of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man strangled to death by police in Staten Island, New York, and Michael Brown, an unarmed black adolescent shot to death by police in Ferguson, Missouri. These are two recent examples of the explicit racial prejudices that have plagued the country’s history. The Caucasian police officers who were accountable for these deaths were not charged for the wrongdoing nor were they taken to
The “Black Lives Matter” the movement has repetitively made headlines throughout United States’ media outlets ever since the fatal shooting of African-American teen, Trayvon Martin. Since then, an abundance of police brutality cases has been brought to the attention of the public, such as the deaths of Michael Brown, Philando Castile, and Sandra Bland, which have all sparked outrage and protests across the country. Racism has been a matter high tension remained hidden beneath the surface among American citizens since colonial times. Today, discrimination against African-Americans in many aspects of life, such as the criminal justice system, the work force, and in social settings sprouts itself as one of the leading social issues of the United
Experts argue that cultural biases and stereotypes have been reflected through the increasing number of incidents of Caucasian law enforcement abuse towards African Americans. Examples of this are the killings of African Americans which occurred in Ferguson and Baltimore. A peer-reviewed New York Times article entitled “What Happened in Ferguson?” discussed the death of Ferguson resident Michael Brown. Brown, an unarmed black teenager, robbed a convenience store of its cigars minutes before being fatally wounded and shot an additional six times by young white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri during August of 2014 (Buchanan et al. 2). After the unnecessary, portrayed as “defensive” actions of Wilson, protests rattled the country regarding Caucasian police brutality towards African American men.
Police Shooting Innocent Black People George Gunn, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, these are just a few of the names of black men who were killed in high-profile police shootings in 2016. Police brutality is a big problem in the U.S. and it is causing a lot of protests and outbursts within the public. I think it's important to know the brutality that is taking place between black men and women and police officers. I feel that officers need better training so they’re better prepared for real life situations like this.
