The beginning of the civil rights movement for African Americans was originally geared towards desegregation, voting rights, and equal opportunities. But, many African Americans began to realize the problem was much deeper than that. African Americans were inferior in the eyes of a white man, and no laws were going to change their views. This is where the black power movement comes into place. With violence, African Americans believed they could start a revolution.
In African American Studies/Literature I walked in thinking that I could be told nothing about African American culture or history because I’m African American. In some ways I knew that racism existed but I learned how it has been subtle in control the way we think. We have learned that colonization has not ended and that in many ways we are still being oppressed. In this paper I’m going to show how African American has used hip hop and black hair are two ways in which African Americans embrace their culture and fighting oppression. However, as we have review in many classes oppression is not easily escaped.
Why not whites? This has also started “All Lives Matter.” This started almost right after a lot of attention went to the Black Lives Matter movement. Obama addressed the “All Lives Matter” movement and said “I think that the reason that the organizers used the phrase Black Lives Matter was not because they were suggesting that no one else’s lives matters… rather what they were suggesting was there is a specific problem that is happening in the African American community that’s not happening in other communities.” He also said “that is a legitimate issue that we’ve got to address.” A lot of whites have felt that their lives aren’t important or don’t matter. Which is not what the Black Lives Matter movement is about at all but anyways, They have complained that they don’t have white privilege at all and that Whites and African Americans get treated
Our brain uses stereotypes as a method to characterize certain groups so that we can be prepared for any surprises, but it is also our job to realize where these stereotypes end and where reality begins. Police brutality is caused when officers of the law perceive a threat where there isn’t one. They perceive these threats based upon preconceived notions of black Americans. Judith Butler points out that the reason Black Lives Matter exists is because they have to state the obvious that the lives of black people matter. In her interview in the Opinionator, Butler says “If black lives do not matter, then they are not really regarded as lives, since a life is supposed to matter.
Why do Black Lives Matter as Opposed to All Lives Matter? When a person thinks about Black Lives Matter, he or she may visualize African Americans fighting for justice and equality. The movement Black Lives Matter was created to bring awareness to systematic racism, police brutality and social injustice that African Americans face on a daily basis. In contrary, All Lives Matter downplays the fact that black people are looked down upon in society. All Lives Matter may seem like an innocent title, but it emphasizes that justice for black people is not necessary.
On the website created for the “BLM” movement, it reminds readers that the movement itself “goes beyond extrajudicial killings of black people”. This movement is not an anti-police movement. A fact that many people fail to understand. As Jesse Peterson writes about his ideas of the “BLM” slogan, he represents many other americans with the same mindset and way of understanding. “Black Lives Matter[...] seeks to give black people the impression that white people and cops are conducting a killing spree against them.” Simply uneducated on the meaning behind the slogan, people such as Jesse Peterson are simply a click away to realizing the real reason behind the movement.
The color of our skin and our backgrounds should not determine how our peers treat us, or how we are treated in places such as work etc. Racial segregation is also a very large problem in the world. Martin Luther King Jr. grew up to be an African American spokesperson, defended African rights, and inspired people to protest for their rights. Many people are not aware of how much racism still exists in our schools, workforces, and every other part of society. Racism is the outcome of discrimination or preference for or against a person or institution based solely on their race.
I would answer this question by first thinking about all the factors that causing this fear of African Americans and then I would then decide which factors have the most impact. Based on the reading, the media is over reporting on crime committed by African Americans but underreporting African Americans as victims. So somehow the media needs to be balanced with both types of reporting or people can take the initiative and show the world how victimized African Americans really are. Next the lies perpetuated by society need to be exposed and finally everyone needs to fight against this injustice. Question 2: How would you feel if no matter what you did or said, people feared you because of your skin color?
However, if there were one critique he would have about the current situation of blacks, it would probably be the lack of immediacy. As a black male, simply walking down the street looking suspicious can get you killed, yet, we haven’t taken an incredibly strong stance against it. Sure, in the age of social media, people post all about these issues, but they don’t actually do anything. Du Bois would urge us as an educated society to act now, as he told the masses when he was alive, and that is exactly why his views prevailed over Washington’s and why he is still relevant
Continuous cases of the police shooting down unarmed African Americans have provoked the “Black Lives Matter” movement. This activist movement against police brutality has been rapidly catching the public’s attention. American people have been intensively disputing over the controversy of whether or not the police are biased against African Americans, but have not reached an agreement. Some insist that all American people discriminate against African Americans whereas the others believe that American people do not discriminate them. African Americans are the focus of discrimination issue.