A Place Of Power And Glamour

Subject: Sherman Alexie delivers an essay portraying his life from a yearly view-point encompassing the 1st to 12th grade.

     During the 1920’s which is also known as the “Roaring Twenties”, Chicago became the focal point for Jazz after clubs around New Orleans were closed. Record deals were being made there and soon Jazz was being acknowledged for the brilliant music it played. Famous musicians who received acclaim for their work in Chicago were Earl Hines, Johnny Dodds, Louis Armstrong, and King Oliver. In New York City, it

All across the nation, in the news the black community has been making their voice heard, in regards to white police brutality, and murder against the unarmed black community. Many of these brutal attacks and flat out murders of unarmed black people haven’t been largely prosecuted, some officers have even been acquitted of any wrong doing or murder. This has led to outrage in the African American community at large. The shooting of an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown caused the racial strain in this country to break.

The 1960s was a time for change. It promoted on going expectations of equality for all races. This proved to be difficult for minorities. In August of 1965, civil unrest broke out, which lead to six-day revolt called the Watts Riot. Nearly thirty years later another riot broke out which caused even greater damage and left an even greater impact in our history, the Rodney King Riots. Both of these events share similar qualities and devastating damages, however, their meanings are much harder to decipher from one another. These impactful events in our society demonstrate how much there needs to change in our society, especially when dealing with minorities.

"Racial profiling” can hold a variety of meanings. As defined by the American Civil Liberties Union, however, racial profiling is "the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual 's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin" (“Racial Profiling”). Every day, blacks are stopped much more frequently for aimless searches and minor infractions than their white counterparts. Several African Americans share experiences like these, such as Roscoe Van Pelt, who was violently snatched off the street and crammed into a squad car after the ludicrous crime of jaywalking (Walsh). A more extreme example would be the case of Sandra Bland, who was brutally beaten following failure to signal a lane change (Schuppe). Incidents like these occur far too frequently in black communities, all for the color of their skin.

New York in the 1950s was a wonderful time to be alive. The United States was thriving and had opportunities every direction you looked. There was fantastic entertainment and finding a job was as easy as ever. Unemployment and inflation was low and the average US wages were through the roof. With exciting new discoveries like Rock n’ Roll, it wasn’t hard to find something to do either.

One night in April 1998, two New Jersey state troopers pulled over a van containing three black men and one Hispanic man, all in their early twenties and all unarmed. During the stop, the van began to roll backwards. Although the van's driver would later claim that he put the vehicle into reverse by accident, the troopers believed he was attempting to intentionally back over one of them. In response, the troopers—both white males—fired 11 shots at the van, hitting three of the men inside, one of whom was severely wounded. Many African Americans and Latino face racist police officers. Not much they can do about it either besides sit there and take it. The topic of racism in police officers has deep history to consider, and there will always be both supporters and critics who continue to debate this topic.

Moreover, minorities were detained for longer periods of time per stop than whites, and were 80 percent of those whose cars were searched after being stopped. The discriminatory treatment of minority drivers was duly noted by Volusia County Sergeant Dale Anderson, who asked a white motorist he had stopped how he was doing; the motorist responded “Not very good,” to which Anderson responded, “Could be worse – could be black” (civilrights.org, 2011).

Despite the important racial progresss our society has made since Emmett Till’s death, from the civil rights era, to present increase of police brutality has still left the Black/African American community in shadows of segregation. The second most recent shooting of teenager Michael Brown has left citizens in ongoing battles with law enforcement officers of Ferguson, Missouri. New Statement (2014) reports, Missouri police similarly attempted to retain control of the narrative, claiming Brown had stolen cigars, and then paying for them, and then claiming he was a bad child and attacked the officer who shot him” (New Statement, 21). Brown autopsy reveals he was gun less and shot six times. Police brutality is not solely about Ferguson, Emmett Till, or the civil rights movement, but it is simply about the history of capitalism and police brutality in America and having many forms of it.

One community that stands out the most for the conflict between law enforcement and their community is Ferguson, Missouri. On August 9, 2014 Darren Wilson, 28, a white Ferguson police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American male (McLaughlin). This case started one of the biggest uproar the nation has ever seen between community and law enforcement. When the incident first occurred there were many pieces of information missing to paint a scenario of how and what occurred between Brown and officer Wilson. Apparently Michael Brown was walking home late at night when officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown got into a confrontation that lead to Wilson shooting Brown, the case goes

Many people of today's society believe that riots and protests initiated by black people in America came about in the early 90's around the time of the 1992 Los Angeles riots stemmed from the acquittal of four white Los Angeles Police Department in the beating of black motorist Rodney King in 1991 (cnn.com). Although that story brought major attention to police brutality in America there were many other significant riots that have taken place in American history. In August of 1965 the essential although easily overlooked Watts Riot took place in Watt, Los Angeles California. After a white police officer pulled over a black man and had him arrested and his car impounded because he assumed he was under the influence, a crowd of angry and confused

The 1991 Rodney King beating was one of the most significant events of the late twentieth century when considering the tension between African Americans and white police officers in the last two centuries. It seemed that the beating and the effect that it had on the world as a whole embodied society's feelings concerning the idea of discrimination. The fact that Rodney King was African American and that white police officers used unnecessary force when trying to apprehend him made it possible for people to understand that even though the social order had experienced important progress in recent years, the race matter continued to be divisive.

In 1965 riots in L.A. occurred after a routine stop by the police involving drunk driving. This stop occurred very close the driver’s residence where massive crowd began to build. When it was all said and done

It was during the year that Ramsey bonded with a student named Darius. Darius had an issue with leaving class without having permission, so one day he pulled Ramsey aside and told him that he was shot and had a colostomy bag. Later Ramsey wrote, “When I visited him in the hospital a few weeks later- he was there for follow-up surgery- he told me about the dealers that shot him” (968). This shows that Ramsey and Darius had a good enough relationship that Darius was willing to share personal information, especially information that goes into detail about how he got shot three times.

Three years after BLM launched a nationwide uprising against police violence, what's next for the movement? In this special section, a leading African American historian explores how the group is forging a powerful new form of civil rights activism. Plus: How police in 1970s Detroit unleashed an undercover execution squad, and the modern-day rise of "warrior policing."