Comparison of Media on the Ferguson Riots
Quick Facts
In Ferguson, Missouri there had been many protest to due to feelings of unrest by the public after fatal shooting of teenager Michael brown by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, on August 9, 2014. Within the protest there were several waves of them. The First wave (August 9, 2014-August 25, 2014) occurred when Michael Brown was shot. The initial protest were very peaceful. During the Second Wave (November 24, 2014- December 2, 2014 after Darren Wilson was not indicted the protest became more and more violent. The Third and Final Wave (August 9, 2015- August 11, 2015) came out of the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death.
For this paper I will be focusing on the Second Wave of the
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New York Times: What happened in Ferguson, this article is a more recent analysis on the Ferguson riots; it’s like a summation of the event. They were going in detail about the cases and who it involved. They also went over the crime and more importantly the social aspect. USA Today: Shots ring out as Ferguson protesters mark anniversary of shooting, in this article they began to focus on what is called the third wave of the riots. They talked of the reasoning being the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death.
St Louis Dispatch: Justice Department faults Ferguson protest response, this article focuses on the reason why the protest reached a national scale. Like the New York Times article they focused on the social media has impacted this movement. However, they didn’t focus on many of the “waves” like USA did. I feel like the showcasing how the waves impacted the community would have been pertinent. Although, since they are a more local newspaper to the community in question they also had an at home
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New York Times: Protest flare after Ferguson police officer is not indicted, this article went into a very great depth of information included many different sources and quotes from the brown family, local police officers. They also included picture and a map of the locations of violence after announcement.
USA Today: Ferguson burning after grand jury announcement, this article focused more on jury reaching the verdict. This article I would think chronologically happened before the New York Times and right after the St. Louis Dispatch. Still, The New York Times article went more into detail and had a variety of quotes.
St Louis Dispatch: Gov.Nixon calls for peace, discusses for preparation for Ferguson announcement, this article was before the protest broke and it was a warning on not to protest. Like the New York Times article they focused on the social media has impacted this movement. This article chronologically had to happen either right after the USA or right after. This article was like a warning to the city.
Appeal to
Once called the Public Housing capital in the United States, Newark was receiving more money than any other city from the federal government to clear slums and build public housing complexes. People like Louis Danzig who was the head of the Newark Housing Authority (NHA) used the federal funds the city received to destroy low income housing of minorities in Newark, then build public housing on the outskirts of the city putting all the poor minorities in these areas. The police brutalized the cities African-American citizens numerous times with no repercussions. The city was being segregated and African-American Newark residents started to feel more and more marginalized. In 1967 things finally came to ahead as an African-American cab driver was arrested and beat badly by the Newark Police Department and when rumor spread that he had died in police custody. Though the cab driver was in fact brought to the hospital, a group gathered out in front of the police station and started throwing bricks and other objects at the police station. The riot went on for six days and has shaped the image of Newark to this day the riots have given the city a negative appearance that still lingers.
Chicago Riots Have you ever felt as if your government is doing the wrong thing? During the Democratic National Convention in 1968, an estimate of 5-7K protesters were not happy with the results on what was happening in the government. So a group called Yippies started an organized protest. They started to have riots in places like Chicago, where soon after the police came in and started to relentlessly beat the protesters with billy clubs.
The Newark riots of 1967 were very extreme and terrible time in Newark, New Jersey, one of the worst in U.S. history. The riots were between African-Americans and white residents, police officers and the National Guard. The riots were not unexpected. The tension between the city grew tremendously during the 1960's, due to lack of employment for Blacks, inadequate housing, police brutality and political exclusion of blacks from government.
In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people have dedicated themselves in fighting for
This incident would have produced nothing more than another report for resisting arrest had a bystander, George Holliday, not videotaped the altercation. Holliday then released the footage to the media. LAPD Officers Lawrence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Brisino were indicted and charged with assaulting King. Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg ordered a change of venue to suburban Simi Valley, which is a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. All officers were subsequently acquitted by a jury comprised of 10 whites, one Hispanic and one Asian, and the African American community responded in a manner far worse than the Watts Riots of 1965. ?While the King beating was tragic, it was just the trigger that released the rage of a community in economic strife and a police department in serious dec...
When addressing the topic of racial inequalities and tensions, a current issue would be the Ferguson case, or the Eric Garner case in New York where an African American was shot and killed by a white Police officer. These occurrences have sparked national debate about racial profiling and racial prejudice as well as ensued chaos through riots and protest. However, if you look back earlier this year the same exact incident happened, except the races of the officer and the victim were reversed, in this case, no riots, no protesting, or any national debate occurred. Why was the same amount of attention not drawn to this case the the Michael Brown Case in Ferguson? Why was there more outrage, and coverage
The Chicago riot was the most serious of the multiple that happened during the Progressive Era. The riot started on July 27th after a seventeen year old African American, Eugene Williams, did not know what he was doing and obliviously crossed the boundary of a city beach. Consequently, a white man on the beach began stoning him. Williams, exhausted, could not get himself out of the water and eventually drowned. The police officer at the scene refused to listen to eyewitness accounts and restrained from arresting the white man. With this in mind, African Americans attacked the police officer. As word spread of the violence, and the accounts distorted themselves, almost all areas in the city, black and white neighborhoods, became informed. By Monday morning, everyone went to work and went about their business as usual, but on their way home, African Americans were pulled from trolleys and beaten, stabbed, and shot by white “ruffians”. Whites raided the black neighborhoods and shot people from their cars randomly, as well as threw rocks at their windows. In retaliation, African Americans mounted sniper ambushes and physically fought back. Despite the call to the Illinois militia to help the Chicago police on the fourth day, the rioting did not subside until the sixth day. Even then, thirty eight
Thesis: The Ferguson protestors of 2015 were justified in their assembly and protest; they should not have been suppressed by the police. More specifically, Justin Hansford was wrongfully arrested in 2014 for legally observing a protest which started in a Walmart 10 miles outside of Ferguson.
The Ferguson vs. Missouri caught the attention of U.S. It was all over the social media, to be exact Twitter. After the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American, Michael Brown, there was a peaceful protest for the incident. According to McGraw-Hill dictionary of American Idioms “step up” means to increase on something. The peaceful protest was a step up for Brown’s supporters. David Banner, a rapper, tweeted “The men and women on the front line have done their jobs. It’s time for teachers, politicians, and the elite to step up.” The local community stepped up in the case of Brown by peacefully protesting but later became a tragic event of looting and destroying property. It was the alleged reason that caused the
On July 27, 1919, a young black man named Eugene Williams swam past an invisible line of segregation at a popular public beach on Lake Michigan, Chicago. He was stoned by several white bystanders, knocked unconscious and drowned, and his death set off one of the bloodiest riots in Chicago’s history (Shogun 96). The Chicago race riot was not the result of the incident alone. Several factors, including the economic, social and political differences between blacks and whites, the post-war atmosphere and the psychology of race relations in 1919, combined to make Chicago a prime target for this event. Although the riot was a catalyst for several short-term solutions to the racial tensions, it did little to improve race relations in the long run. It was many years before the nation truly addressed the underlying conflicts that sparked the riot of 1919. This observation is reflected in many of author James Baldwin’s essays in which he emphasizes that positive change can only occur when both races recognize the Negro as an equal among men politically, economically and socially.
This particular shooting involved Officer Darren Wilson (which happened to be white) shooting and killing an unarmed black teenager (Michael Brown). As soon as this news broke out, angry citizens took to the streets of Ferguson within hours. They destroyed businesses, burned cars and assaulted officers. All of which these events took place before an investigation had even began. The rioters carried on for days without actual facts of what happened that Saturday when Officer Wilson pulled the trigger and let out six rounds into Michael Brown leaving him dead on the
The Tulsa race riot changed the course of American history by actively expressing African American views on white supremacy. Before the events of the Tulsa race riot African Americans saw the white community taking justice into their own hands. Black citizens of Tulsa stood up against this sort of white mob. This escaladed into the Tulsa race riot. The Tulsa race riot and its effects weighed heavily upon the African Americans of this era.
The streets of Baltimore were flooded in protest from April 18, 2015 to May 3, 2015. Many people were angered over the death of Michael Brown and many other incidents involving racial profiling in law enforcement cases, with many of the officers not receiving proper punishment Before the protests, many of the Baltimore’s 620,000 citizens were already angry with the rising debate over police force and brutality. Following the death of Freddie Gray, An unarmed black man who was arrested and then transported in a police
The family of Michael Brown wanted justice for their son in which they felt was an unjust shooting. His mother was quoted expressing mistrust towards the police, "You 're not God. You don 't decide when you 're going to take somebody from here.” (McLaughlin, E. C. (2014, August 15) The family was obviously hurt by the shooting and wanted justice and support. The community began protesting the shooting and Officer Darren Wilson. Chaos broke out in Ferguson and a State of Emergency was issued. The community felt that the shooting was unjust and did not trust police officers. The community response to the shooting often attracted attention and made many political statements. Darren Wilson’s family were interested in maintaining his innocence. They hoped that the investigation would prove to the world that Wilson acted out of self-defense and did not violate Brown’s rights. The Criminal Justice system’s interests all hoped to create reforms and eliminate racism in police departments. On the local level many had to maintain safety in the community and assure proper police procedures. The state had to step into issue curfews and State of Emergencies to keep the state safe despite protests and riots as well as make sure Darren Wilson did not violate any laws of the state of Missouri. The state also hoped to create reforms to better race relations. On the federal level was the investigation which hoped to find out if the
The Civil Rights Movement began in order to bring equal rights and equal voting rights to black citizens of the US. This was accomplished through persistent demonstrations, one of these being the Selma-Montgomery March. This march, lead by Martin Luther King Jr., targeted at the disenfranchisement of negroes in Alabama due to the literacy tests. Tension from the governor and state troopers of Alabama led the state, and the whole nation, to be caught in the violent chaos caused by protests and riots by marchers. However, this did not prevent the March from Selma to Montgomery to accomplish its goals abolishing the literacy tests and allowing black citizens the right to vote.