Police Brutality In Richard Wright's Autobiography, Black Boy

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In Richard Wright's autobiography, Black Boy depicts the youthful life of a Richard Wright during the early-mid 20th century. Richard Wright writes about the struggle of his life due to the lack of family support and acknowledgement of the Jim Crow laws. As a young child, Richard never fully understood why the black race had to follow the white race. Richard Wright was born after the Civil War, but before the Civil Rights Movement. If he were writing an autobiography today about a black boy growing up in the United States, he would write about the increase rates of unemployment for the black race, the discrimination and brutality from the police toward the black race due to racial profiling, and the increased popularity of black artist in the music industry. …show more content…

Many incidents of police brutality show police officers that do not follow up to their conduct and will shoot or harass with no issue. In the Trayvon Martin case, a 17 year old boy named Trayvon Martin was shot in the back multiple times by the racist police officer named George Zimmerman in Florida. Zimmerman believed that Martin was doing suspicious actions and was under the influence because he was wearing his hoodie. This then led to the death of Trayvon Martin. Another incident of police brutality was of Sandra Bland. On July 10th, 2015, Sandra Bland was arrested after receiving a ticket. During the arrest, Bland is forcefully taken out of her car and searched by the male officer. Sandra was sent to the county jail and was found dead three days later. These tragic events would scare and keep Richard Wright on his tip

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