February 26th, 2012; a day a mother and father lost their son. August 9th, 2014; a day where a petty theft caused civil unrest to erupt. September 20, 2016; a day where a man was shot for possession of marijuana and a firearm. Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Keith Scott were all black men in different areas of the country who were fatally shot for various reasons. Blacks, regardless of education, wealth, or social status, are generally looked upon by white people as inferior and are the first non-white people accused when something goes wrong. This outlook on Blacks is bred into white society. This cycle of teaching racism to the next generation has created a new civil rights movement, the “Black Lives Matter” movement, nearly fifty years …show more content…
Hispanics, Asians, and Middle Eastern people, to name a few ethnic groups, are also discriminated against. In his Huffington Post article, “The Real Reason White People Say ‘All Lives Matter,’” John Halstead explains just why white people are uncomfortable with the phrase “Black Lives Matter.” By being a society where being white is the default, white people are immediately thrown on-edge when a specific race or ethnicity is mentioned. The phrase “Black Lives Matter,” causes white people to think that “White Lives Don’t Matter.” However, when the same phrase is mentioned but focused on a different group, such as “Refugee Lives Matter”, a phrase that is gaining in popularity due to the displacement of Syrian people due to war in the country, the same results are seen. By seeing white as the default skin color, we only continue the idea of entrenched racism. Racism is an extremely controversial topic, yet white people question its existence. When confronted with “Black Lives Matter,” white people retaliate with cries of “All Lives Matter” and believe that they are solving the issue. On the contrary, they are fueling the problem. White people, after tweeting their own personal cry of “All Lives Matter” move on, not realizing that they are increasing the number of blind eyes turned to the issues that provoke protests and civil rights movements such as “Black Lives
They may not realize it, but they are wrong. In 2014 a white police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. This story swept America by its feet and brought on a new worldwide discussion of racism. In 2012 George Zimmerman fatally shot and killed Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African American high school student in Sanford Florida, he was also unarmed. In an article by CNN, I read about several psychologist who staged an experiment that brought out the truth in societies racial bias. “They showed people a photograph of two white men fighting, one unarmed and another holding a knife. Then they showed another photograph, this one of a white man with a knife fighting an unarmed African-American man. When they asked people to identify the man who was armed in the first picture, most people picked the right one. Yet when they were asked the same question about the second photo, most people -- black and white -- incorrectly said the black man had the knife(“The new threat: 'Racism without racists”).”There are six times more Black people incarcerated than whites and every day, and a black-name resume is 50 percent less likely to get responded to than a white-name resume” (“This one video shows how racism is real in America”). This ties into the reason why most blacks live in poverty and have low income jobs which later result in their kids
Today there are many controversial subjects discussed throughout the media. One of the most discussed is race and the Black Lives Matter movement. Recently, I came across an article titled “The Truth of ‘Black Lives Matter’”, written by The Editorial Board. The article was published on September 3, 2015, to the New York Times. In the article, The Editorial Board writes about what they believe African Americans are facing as challenges in society today, including the all-too-common police killings of unarmed African-Americans across the country. The Editorial Board is right that some African Americans have been treated unfairly, but all ethnicities have been. Life is a precious thing that comprises all ethnicities. This brings us to ask; why
American is known for its rich culture and diversity. Black lives matter (BLM) is an international activist movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence and systemic racism toward black people as defined by google. It was created in 2012 as a call to action for black people after seventeen year old Trayvon Martin was placed on trial for his own murder and the killer, George Zimmerman, was not held accountable for the crime that he had committed. It was a response for the anti-Black racism that still remains in our society and within the movement itself. It is a movement that goes beyond the killing of black people by police and vigilantes. It calls for the Black community to love each other, live
America has had plenty of racial unrest, and what 's shocking is how we continue to ignore its side effects. Many people believe white privilege does not exist or it’s not a real thing even though America was built by white people, with a foundation for whites. White privilege is prevalent in America. They believe there is no way the color of someone’s skin, gives them a privilege. In reality, it does. No matter how much we ignore the fact, that the color of your skin can change the way you live, it’s true. It’s not fair, but it’s true.
We started this Government and Politics class with reading a speech from Barack Obama during his campaign for presidency in 2008 that was a response to comments made by the minister of the church his family has attended. Barack says, “It’s that he spoke as if our society was static; as if no progress had been made.” President Obama was regarding the state of the treatment of Black people in the United States. He took a stance that is present in many white people throughout the U.S., and one that I believe definitely needs to be acknowledged in the discussion over the treatment of Black Americans. But on the other hand, I truly believe that there is a problem with the treatment of Black Americans in our country, and to deny that would be a denial of various statistics. The combination of the huge amount of police discrimination towards black people (which leads to the various brutality cases) along with massive socioeconomic gap between White Americans and Black Americans are both major issues plaguing the United States that need a solution for the betterment of the nation. This is where my opinion comes in. I agree
Every generation faces new challenges and new problems to which we have progressed, conquered or simply just swept right under the rug. In today’s world we are increasingly facing numerous social problems, such as income disparity, unemployment, political instability amongst many others, but racism seems to have resurfaced in these past years. Although, the United States has come a long way in the issue of racism, it has never completely conquered it. Incidents such the shooting at Ferguson Missouri has raised an upheaval of protesters against the Country’s system that claims equal treatment and equal opportunity for all, regardless of race or gender. Incidents such as the one previously mentioned, clearly depicts that white-power continues
Racism can take on many forms that plague the brain with irrationality that affects an individual’s thoughts and actions. Racism can be a physical form, through an external action, or can branch off into unethical thoughts. This is more known to be a discriminative thought, judging a person based on impressions. This social problem can also be ignored by the oblivious persons of the crowd. Many individuals speak out about how racial tension is long gone and forever forgotten ever since the first African-American was elected to be president in 2008, but this can be evidently proven false. Racial tension is still here to target the minorities in the forms of affirmative action and Ferguson conflicts.
Black Lives Matter is not a bandwagon to hop on, nor is it a hashtag or a slogan. Black Lives Matter is a movement. To not support the movement or to think that the movement does not need support is outright depraved, demeaning and degrading. We too often think that retweeting, tweeting or sharing a photo on social media is supporting the movement and it’s not! This is no longer the 1960’s. We have gained our rights: that is no longer the fight. The fight is receiving justice for our black people, so no effective protesting is no longer sitting at countertops, it is no longer peaceful marching and it is no longer bus boycotting The new protest is to educate ourselves, to show respect, to get involved in the justice system, to raise black lawyers, to vote and to do jury duty. All of these things are needed to benefit the movement in stopping the corruptness in our justice system.
The statement “Black Lives Matter” has greatly evolved within the last year. If you support this side, you believe these words correlate with the unneeded and over excessive use of police brutality against African Americans compared to police brutality against whites, bringing racism soaring back into the US. As you may know, the statement became more predominant after the murder of African Americans
Black Lives Matter is an international activist movement, originating in the African American community. It campaigns against violence toward black people and has become a uniting call for an innovative chapter in the black freedom fight. The clearance of Trayvon Martin’s killer in 2013 and the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 stimulated this movement. Black Lives Matter isn’t just about the loss of Black lives; but mainly about the lack of consequences when African American lives are taken by Caucasian officers. The question is; do black lives truly matter to those that claim to protect it? The answer is no they do not because the movement’s alleged “peaceful” protests continuously
Overall, many believe that the undeviating war on racism in today’s society is fueled by police brutality and anti-police violence. Specifically, The Black Lives Matter movement which is the source of controversy regarding these topics. To summarize, this campaign is “both a hashtag and a political project that formed after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin.” (Miller). Later in the article Chelsea Fuller, senior communication associate of The Advancement project which is a multi-racial civil rights organization, states “The Black Lives Matter movement is to deal with anti-black racism, to “push for black people’s right to live with dignity and respect” and be included in the American democracy that they helped create” (Miller). In discussions of The Black Lives Matter movement, a controversial
This image says a thousand or more words. This African American woman has her mouth covered. I interpret that meaning is that we as African Americans have been silenced. When it comes to our issues being heard or the problems we have the majority ignores us and leaves us silent. And then looks confused when there are uproars caused because people of color want to defend their rights.
Hello everyone today I am here to talk about a serious issue that has been happening and here to make a change. By the time you leave this room I hope you have a new perspective on black people. First of all we all know about the movement called Black Lives Matter. It’s a movement that supposedly supports black people and calls out for help. I believe that in order to keep black people safe, they should end Black Lives Matter. Ever since this movement was started black people have not been safe in America. The United States is no longer a safe place for black people because of Black Lives Matter. Too many black people are dying for no reason. Black people should stop this movement because they are liars and want attention. I can tell you million
I was sitting in my ninth-grade earth space science class and a student was telling us about a time when he encountered racism. He was black and so was his friend but his friend’s girlfriend who was also with them was white. An older white gentleman, he described him as a senior citizen, the older gentlemen approached them. He grabbed the girl by her arm and said, “get away from him!” We were all taken aback, the student said that his friend’s girlfriend Hollard at the man that this is my boyfriend and his friend. The story ended when the student said the old man look befuddled and walked off. What I found to be the most outlandish was that the old man saw the student and his friend as “them”. What exactly
With social media being one of the most efficient ways to get news out to people, these stories of unfairness to people of colour have been shed in a new light, and commented on by many different types of people. The recent theme on social media titled “#BlackLivesMatter” has been brought forward in both a positive and negative way. This hashtag was created because of the violence shown toward hundreds of Black people in the Southern states of America. Many people, namely White people, tried to change the hashtag to “#AllLivesMatter”, despite the specific fact that Black people were being targeted. It is understandable that people would want to change the key words to accommodate all races, but in light of the situation it showed that Anglos took the hashtag away from the Black people that it was originally intended for. This shows the degree of White privilege that Anglos have because even when Black people of all ages were, and still are, being shot to death, White people turned the event away from the issue and onto them. It does not show White privilege because they did such a thing, but because they were able