Are Black Male Lives Valued?

Blacks are oblivious of the white dominance operating their lives for they are conditioned to believe the fable of being their own worst enemies. African American’s own violent relations and incidents with their own people simply stand as validations to what they’re unconscious are being fed.

“What I told you is what your grandparents tried to tell me: that this is your country, that this is your world, that this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” (Coates). This powerful quote exemplifies the mistreatment of blacks in America as something that has been prevalent throughout our nation’s history and is still present in our contemporary world. Our national founding document promised that “All men are created equal”. As a nation we have never achieved the goal of equality largely because of the institution of slavery and its continuing repercussions on American society.

While driving down the road, I see a sign, “Black Lives Matter”, and I ponder on the question to myself, “what equality is there in humanity”. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”( Congress, 1776). I ask myself, at the time the Declaration of Independence was being written, did they forget to disclose the statement,” except for Black people.” The vast majority of social media sources, in 2016 have displayed the slogan, “Black Lives Matter”. I asked myself, have Black lives ever mattered in the United States of America, and what can citizens do to provide inclusion of membership for everyone. The history of the United States has shown racial disparities for over 200 years, and while the emancipation of slaves and the Civil Rights movement has shown some progression towards unity; the divide is apparent in everyday life.

In other words, obvious and direct forms of racial discrimination in the United States are viewed as socially unacceptable. For example, instead of talking about a need to put more African Americans in prison, “we talk about locking up more and more people, [but] what we’re really talking about is locking up more and more black men” (Alexander 105).

If there is one thing that I have learned the most throughout this semester, it is to ask why. Not to sit and accept what I am told but to ask “So what?” and this is what brought me to this question. Why do black lives matter? Of course, the question could be answered by just saying that all lives matter but if that was the correct answer, then there would not be a problem. There are many ways to look at this question and many sociological concepts to apply to it and that’s what makes this particular question very intriguing. The “Black Lives Matter” movement started with numerous deaths of black individuals by the hands of the police force. Some of the shootings were said to have happened for valid reasons but that is a never ending controversy. Granted, these things have been happening for years and it is more or less just a momentary subject prompted by heavy media coverage, but why did the shootings even happen to begin with. It would be foolish to just sit and shout “It is become of racism!” because there is a better explanation other than that. There is a problem that has to be explained in some way. The problem is that African Americans have been killed by the hands of mostly white policemen and nobody seems to know how to give a rational reason. The three ways I am going to take explain this is through the eyes a functionalist, a conflict theorist, and symbolic interactionist along with a few other sociological explanations.

I refute that the phrase “Black Lives Matters” is saying that ONLY black lives matter. BLM is a movement, not a phrase to devalue another race. It is not taking away from the fact that all lives matter It’s simply stating that black lives matter too or in addition to all other lives. To sum up what the movement is saying or to paraphrase it from my little understanding is that Black people no longer want to be treated unequal as human beings. We want those who commit murder to be held accountable for their actions regardless of their race or the race of the victim. Too many times

The history of America is one that can’t be discussed without talking about the Negro. Whether we want to admit it or not, the Negro has played an integral part in making what America what it is today. If it wasn’t for the profits generated from slavery, there would have been no way that America would have been the country that it is today. The slavery that the Negro endured has produced some positive and negatives, but it is the negatives that have been something that the Negro hasn’t been able to overcome for hundreds of years. It is these same negatives that have compelled some of the greatest black minds in history to create solutions to these problems. Minds such as Crummell, W.E.B Du Bois are some of the minds that have come up with

The recent events occurring in America really brought to my realization that some people truly believe black lives don’t matter. In school, I grew up learning that since America abolished slavery and the Civil Rights Movement occurred that black lives are just important and equal to white lives. Gaining majority of black friends and becoming aware of current and past events, I’ve realized that many people treat black people as though their lives don’t matter. Police brutality and incarceration rates will persuade anyone to believe that black lives are treated as though they don’t matter. “The reasons organizations use the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ was not because they were suggesting that no one else’s lives matter. Rather, what they were

The interviewee talks about how violence and racial injustice brought about the message black lives matter. She talks about how not all lives are valued as the same and when people are just killed for senseless reasons, not all lives matter. This is why people use the phrase “Black Lives Matter” because while all lives do matter, black lives do not matter as much right now. She talks about how African Americans are often seen as a threat, even when they are not, and they are unarmed.

Our topic we’re discussing today is All Lives Matter vs. Black Lives Matter. The slogan “Black Lives Matter” came into use during the Martin vs. Zimmerman case, when Mr. Zimmerman was acquitted for the killing of Trayvon Martin, an African American teenager. After this case,there appeared to be a large amount of police brutality cases against African American, furthermore pushing activists to speak out against the racial profiling and racism. Even more recently, there have been suspected police brutality cases against African Americans such as Freddie Gray, Malcolm Ferguson, and Nicholas Heyward Jr, all African Americans, all victims of suspected police brutality, and all killed. The last victim was only 13 years old. The reason the

The first step to transforming America into a land of equality must be to first acknowledge the obvious disproportion and injustice of its system. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter” and as not to further perpetuate the racism of America, I must speak to educate men and women about my struggle and the struggles of my community. In order to adequately explain the value of black lives and the imbalance of the system, I must explain all of the ways in which Black lives have not mattered in America.

Black lives do matter.. The Black Lives Matter movement began with a commitment to ending police brutality and state-sanctioned

“Black lives matter, We want Justice, Justice or Else,” these are all chants heard across the nation as it stands at to another crossroad of racial tension in today’s society. All these phrases mirror so close to signs and chants during the 1960s like “We want Action, Jim Crow Must Go, or Let’s be Just for Change.” It has been over 50 years since the United States passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and still race lies as the Achilles heel in the progressive form of government in this nation. How much exactly does a black life matter to this nation? According to the United States Census Bureau, African-Americans, of those who identified as “Black only,” make up 13.2% of the United States’ population, yet the percentage of African-Americans

“Black Lives Matter”, written by Alex Altman, describes the origin, purpose and the eventual impact of the Black Lives Matter Movement. It tackled the question of whether or not the movement brought our country closer together or has it created a few more racial barriers to overcome? The black lives matter movement shed light on the very controversial topic of racial discrimination.

Having stated that “All lives matter” this would in compass all races and not exclude any one particular race. The same very news segment has been discussed numerous times in the break room with many a TSO regardless of race or gender. The same argument has been posed implying that mass media has taken the Black lives matter movement and exploited it to gain ratings all while failing to further the positive aspect and help “All lives”. My opinion and very being is one that has been raised to encompass all races and for that matter all people regardless of their unique identifying characteristics. In particular I myself have been raised with two god parents as well as two god brothers both of whom are African American. Being of a mixed racial background consisting of Hispanic, Asian, and Caucasian I understand and have been the victim of racial profiling, many a time I might add. I am not contradicting in nature and would not impose the very profiling I my self have experienced on another individual or group of individuals I.E. “Black lives