Recently it has been commonly said that America is making progress to reach racial equality, and it is believed that soon the treatment of the whole population will be equal regardless of one’s race. Although, in the academic and artistic circles, racial equality is very doubtful and not a consensus. In the photograph above, a black man is being assaulted by a white cop during a peaceful protest that happened in London for race equality. While the aggression happens, the other cops just look at it without acting, as if it was normal and they were not liable for their actions. The photograph can be interpreted in different ways, but one main question comes up when analyzing it: How does the violence used by the police to oppress the black protester …show more content…
This insulated environment of race-based protection helps to build white expectations for some sort of racial comfort, leading to what the author calls White Fragility. The concept of White Fragility refers to a state in which even a minimum amount of racial stress becomes intolerable, inducing defensive moves, that might include violence as happened in the context of Marlow’s photograph (DiAngelo 56). The protester in the photo was manifesting his desire for an equal society, where blacks and white could have equal treatment and opportunities, but he was oppressed with violence. By using DiAngelo’s lens, it is possible to affirm that the white cops felt threatened by the possibility of having to face a society where their race was no longer the dominant, and therefore they reacted with violence. The “racial stress” in which the white people are usually protected by the environment of the American society came up and the consequence was the intolerance with which the cops reacted. Besides violence, the reactions might include the display of emotions like fear, guilt, and anger, and behaviors such as silence, argumentation and leaving the situation that induces stress (DiAngelo58). This explains the lack of action of the cops that surrounded the police officer that assaulted the black man, since they acted with silence, another consequence of the racial stress. Therefore, it is now clear that the photograph, which was taken in London and at first glance seems to address a British issue, expands its representation to an American problem, and perfectly reflects the racism that is still present in American popular culture. Clearly, this racism is a consequence of the threat which racial equality would bring for white
Ranikine’s addresses the light upon the failed judicial systems, micro aggressions, pain and agony faced by the black people, white privilege, and all the racial and institutional discrimination as well as the police brutality and injustice against the blacks; The book exposes that, even after the abolition of slavery, how the racism still existed and felt by the colored community in the form of recently emerged ‘Micro aggressions in this modern world’. Claudia Rankine’s Citizen explores the daily life situations between blacks and whites and reveals how little offensive denigrating conversations in the form of micro-aggressions were intentionally conveyed to the black people by the whites and how these racial comments fuel the frustrations and anger among the blacks. She gathered the various incidents, where the black people suffered this pain. This shows the white’s extraordinary powers to oppress the black community and the failure of the legal system Rankine also shares the horrible tragedy of Hurricane Katrina experienced by the black community, where they struggled for their survival before and post the hurricane catastrophes.
Throughout the course of history, nations have invested time and manpower into the colonizing and modernizing of more rural governments. Imperialism has spread across the globe, from the British East India Company to France’s occupation of Northern Africa. After their founding in 1776, the United States of America largely stayed out of this trend until The Spanish-American War of 1898. Following the war, the annexation and colonization of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines ultimately set a precedent for a foreign policy of U.S. imperialism.
The most important way as to how the elite continues to control power is through the media. In Charles Murray’s “Coming Apart: The State of White America 1960-2010,” he speaks about how there is a new upper class made up of people in notable positions in society. This new upper class is composed of the narrow elite and the broad elite, in which the narrow elite has an effect on the culture, politics, and institutions in the nation while the broad elite only has an effect on the local level. While the elite once lived in neighborhoods that were slightly more mixed in terms blue collar and white collar success, they now live in what are considered Superzips, which are areas in which the 95th to 99th percentile of the most successful and well educated Americans live. White Americans constitute for 82% of Superzip inhabitants, compared to 8% Asian, and
Freddie Grey, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, John Crawford, Eric Gardner, Jordan Baker.These are just some of the many, many African American people that were killed by the police, all unarmed, all mistreated by the police, all shot and killed, without a crime.. Every twenty-eight hours a life is lost. There are hundreds of innocent lives that are being taken away from their families. Police officers, who are meant to protect and serve, are instead killing and abusing civilians. These outrageous crimes would be avoided through accountability of the police, use of body cameras at all times, and the use of social media.
This article goes in this police brutality is both ways, first they talk about the Guinea man who was shot by new York police 41 times and the black community wasn’t too surprised because they were used to police brutality in Brooklyn new York community. After this happened the case was moved from Brooklyn to Albany new York where it was overwhelmly more whites than any other race, with that all going on the 5 police men were charged with 2nd degree murder, mind you this town doesn’t convict cops when it comes to them being in trial for killing a citizen. And this article also talks about how white people see it different than black people for example this lady mentioned that she saw a
In 2014, Dr. Wallace Best wrote a candid article for the Huffington Post discussing what he deemed as the irrational fear of black bodies. The context surrounding this critique stemmed from the surge of black men dying by white police officers. In the article, Dr. Best provided historical insight into this deeply rooted, unwarranted anxiety that white Americans have used as probable cause to commit violent acts against blacks, as well as systemic control over black men as a means of protection to maintain societal order. With this assertion, Dr. Best offered a critical analysis in understanding the fanatical need to preserve ownership over black movement due to this ubiquitous threat of black skin and the African American male. However, what
A father purchased a toy gun as a birthday gift for his young son. His son went outside to play and and encountered a police officer who shot him seven times. This incident occurred in Sonoma County in October 2013. A similar incident occurred in November 2014 when Cleveland police killed a 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun. Use of excessive force by police is common in impoverished "black" or "brown" communities.
The author describes some privileges and power the white people have in the United States. The author's tone here is very pessimistic and pragmatic. She explains that in USA, power is in the hands of majority in context of socio-economic status. She uses the word rage to show the intense side of anger. Power gives a person everything. If a white man gets angry they are given support by government in any situation but if it would be a person of minority groups the scenario might be different. In 2014, a 12 year old boy, Tamir Rice was shot and killed by a white police officer for having a gun which actually turned out to be a toy gun. The police officer was saved from the charges by the statement that he had fear of his life and that was a defense
Let’s begin with the most known, Rodney G. King. Rodney was caught by the Los Angeles police on March 3rd, 1991 after a high speed chase. He was beaten by officers with their batons. A video was taken of the whole incident. The officers were acquitted. Numerous people of all colors became livid after they heard this. There were protest and riots, although many just wanted whites and blacks to come together. There are several other accounts of police brutality among individuals. To name a few; Robert Davis, Frank Jude, Steve Biko, Sean Bell, Kathryn Johnston, and the list goes on and on. What many might not notice is all the names I stated are black individuals. Zachary Hammond was a white unarmed teen who was killed on July 26, 2015. His case did a lot of attention but not nearly as much attention as any of the people I stated above. This proves a good point that Caucasian people can be shut out when it comes to police brutality. It seems as many don’t believe that whites are brutalized by police. This can be an example of falsely stereotyping one another. There are other ways we falsely stereotype one another. For example if you live in an area where there is a high population of one color of individuals no matter black or white and abundance of the police officers who watch over that area are the other color, it’s not hard to make an assumption that those officers are racist when they use excessive
To illustrate, majority of blacks are stop by police more than any other racial groups. Police brutality is base on ethnicity. Officers seem to target black communities for many reasons. Racist cops might view blacks as less innocent compared to whites. Growing up as an African American you witness hearing your parents telling your male siblings to respect officers and to interact with them differently than they would do their families and friends. After the fatal shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The public wanted justice because the incident was not handled properly. The people wanted to express their concerns. After this incident I remember more allegation from black communities begin surfacing that the police use excessive force against them,
For many years in the past, police action particularly police abuse, has come to be unclear. Citizens are worried about protecting them from criminals. In fact they need to me aware of the corrupt police officers that are in the streets today as well as the criminals. There are many examples that make police brutality the worst as it is today. This one is one of them. Police Officer Daniel is in the choke hold death of Eric Garner, come in the wake if November 15th by the channel 24 news in Ferguson Missouri, police officer would walk free after killing 10 year old Michael Brown. (www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32740523) In the present police brutality does exist in the mist of us in the time and age we live in everyday. We just haven’t seen it yet. There are people that think if a police
Police brutality is one of the most serious human rights violations in the United States and it occurs everywhere. The reason why I chose this topic is because police brutality happens all the time in the United States and still remains unrecognized by many. Additionally, the public should be knowledgeable about this topic because of how serious this crime can be and the serious outcomes that police brutality can have on other police officers and the public. The job of police officers is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crimes. They are involved in very dangerous and stressful occupations that can involve violent situations that must be stopped and controlled by any means. In many confrontations with people, police may find it necessary to use excessive force to take control of a certain situation. Sometimes this makes an officer fight with a suspect who resists being arrested. Not all cops in communities are great cops. At least once a year, the news covers a story about a person being beat by an officer. The article “Minority Threat and Police Brutality: Determinants of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints in U.S. Municipalities” by Malcolm D. Holmes from the University of Wyoming, uses the conflict theory to explain why officers go after minorities sometimes causing police brutality. It explains the police’s tension with African American and Latino males. Those minorities are the ones that retaliate more against police officers which causes the officer to use violent force to defend themselves.
Based on some occurrences that have happened within the past two years, the validity of the argument that racial equality has begun to come closer to become completely equal has been tested. The biggest cause for this is unfortunate situations that have recently happened particularly between white officers and black unarmed men.
Protests around the world have taken place to fight for justice in the black community. The immense number of deaths of unarmed black men and women is a clear sign that they are more likely to be killed by police than white people. Physical violence and excessive use of force by the U.S. police towards African Americans are seen in the news regularly. “People, including police officers, hold strong implicit associations between blacks, and probably Hispanics, and weapons, crime and aggression," said Jack Glaser. Police brutality statistics show that African Americans are three times more likely to be murdered by cops than any other race. Racial disparity in the United States is a coherent reason for the increase of criminal injustice in the United
Police brutality is an act that often goes unnoticed by the vast majority of white Americans. This is the intentional use of “excessive force by an authority figure, which oftentimes ends with bruises, broken bones, bloodshed, and sometimes even death” (Harmon). While law-abiding citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been revealed that they must also keep an eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve.