Glory 's portrayal of African Americans fighting in the Civil War for the extinction of slavery and equality of individuals is a heart warming story. However, although the Union won, and slavery was abolished, certain events occurring today question the equal treatment of all races in this country. In fact, in 2015 police have killed more than 100 unarmed black people, this is five times the rate of unarmed whites in 2015. Some of these tragic moments include the death of 18 year old Michael Brown, shot by an officer in Ferguson, Missouri, 43 year old Eric Garner, who was choked to death after he screamed"I can 't breathe," even a 12 year old Tamir Rice was shot and killed after officers mistook his toy gun for a real weapon.
Evidently, police brutality is running the media lately, this is not so secretive but rather painful to hear. “Michael Brown’s murder represents the tip of a body pile... several videos have emerged of police assaulting people... for reasons justifiable only to the insane.” He alludes to one of the biggest police brutality murder cases in the country and continues by bringing up other brutality cases similar to that; the heroes who need to protect everyone as their legal job, are the ones hurting those in need.
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.
“’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
Recent events surrounding the shootings of several unarmed, young black males have sparked political and social outrage across America (Boswell, 2014). Regardless of whether the shootings of Dontre Hamilton and Michael Brown, were justified, the way in which the white police officers who shot Hamilton and Brown described these young men raises curiosity and warrants analysis. On April 30th, 2014, 31-year-old Dontre Hamilton was shot 14 times by Christopher Manney (Hayes, 2014). Manney argued that it was impossible for one man to restrain Hamilton, as he was extremely strong and muscular. In actuality, Hamilton was 5’7”, mentally ill, 169 pounds, and overweight.
This shooting of Oscar Grant suggests that america has not gotten past post racial. Two innocent black men were shot by police, one on a crowded subway platform, the other just outside his parents' suburban home. One died, the other lived. Just three weeks earlier, a seventeen-year-old black high school athlete had mysteriously died during a traffic stop in Lucedale, Mississippi.(1 Delores Jones-Brown). Three black people got shot, this also violated civil rights.
In recent news we have seen massive riots following the killings of African American men by caucasian police officers. These all follow after one of the most prominent not guilty verdicts of the 21st century on the Rodney King beating. With these riots we see the words of Teju Cole begin to take life.
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.
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.
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.
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
With the killings of Eric Garner, an unarmed African American father of six being choked to death by security guards, and Walter Scott, an unarmed African American father being killed with numerous
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
According to “The Washington Post”, Last year 963 African Americans were shot and killed by police. Ever since the 1960s Africans has been fighting for equality; in the Eric Garner case and Michael Brown, it demonstrated how White police officers abuse and misuse their power towards African Americans. Since the increase of police brutality communities has had marches, rallies, and even the Black Lives Matters movements as a response to show that Polices’ abuse of power is unacceptable. The Black Lives Matter movement was created after radical discrimination it is a political movement to inform and protect Black Lives. (Wesley Lowery.
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.