Big Mike Research Paper

Like so many people, Brent Staples was judged based on ethnicity and gender. Brent Staples, an African American man, has been mistaken for a criminal countless times because of his race. The first time this happened, he scared a young white women when he turned the corner at night, and she ran off, convinced that he was “a mugger, a rapist, or worse.” Brent shares instances of people locking their car doors or crossing the street when he walked by, but he says he can’t blame them, as “young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of… violence.” He discusses his childhood in Chester, Pennsylvania where there is “gang warfare, street knifings, and murders” that many of his friends and family have gone to prison or been killed over. He mentions two extreme situations in which he is mistaken for a burglar and tells the story of a journalist mistaken for the killer he was reporting on. Brent Staples makes it clear that these occurrences are continuous and common, and so he has had to make changes to accommodate for these terrified white people in public places by, for example, whistling classic music at night. The point he is trying to make with this article is that Caucasians have some common misconceptions about African Americans, often assuming they are all criminals, even though Brent has clearly illustrated himself as “one of the good boys.”

“From that point on,” after witnessing the body—and Mamie’s courage—“Mississippi began to move” (Bush 3). On July 2nd 1964, John F. Kennedy signed the civil rights act into law. Now, This was meant to be a turning point in history and the act of gunning down a black youth became a staple case of racism considering it was the case that led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act. However, within the emergence of this new racism, “African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 comprised more than 15% of all deaths logged in 2015 by investigation into the use of deadly force by police” (Swaine 1) even though African American males only make up 2% of the population. From Emmett Till’s gunning down in 1955 to Walter Scott’s in 2015, we are witnessing history repeat itself when America can clearly see, “of course the evidence is not there, but we are still claiming skin color was not a factor” (Crump 2). The city of North Charleston, S.C., was all too willing to accept the officer’s version of events, even though the physical evidence clearly showed that the officer had landed four out of eight bullets in Scott’s

N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was a hip-hop group out of Compton known for its controversial yet influential rap lyrics. One of their most popular songs was “Fuck The Police.” This is song was an explicit expression of their feelings toward law enforcement during these unsettled times. Ice Cube rapped, “A young nigga got it bad ‘cause I’m brown.” This simply illustrated the rampant nature of profiling the African American male. Sadly, this hasn’t changed even to the present day. Just a few weeks ago, my twin brother, Malcolm Allen, experienced a racial profiling incident right here in Palo Alto. While waiting for our names to be called outside of a local restaurant, a police drove slowly in front of us. The officer summoned Malcolm and said, “You with the hoodie, come here. You fit the description of a suspect who was carrying a knife.” Numerous young black men from Trayvon Martin to Michael Brown have been brutally killed by law enforcement simply for being black. In other words, they were profiled as threats due to their skin color. This illustrates the idea of history loops itself. Though it has been constant, the intensity of the profiling and police brutality looped from the early 90’s to the present day. As a result, this song was a depiction of the times and a manifestation of what N.W.A wanted to do to the cops. Something this violent and blunt was especially unheard

Leslie McFadden is the mother of the eighteen-year-old boy, Michael Brown who was killed by a police officer back in 2014. After her son’s death, Mrs. McFadden has traveled nationally to speak on behalf of her son and seek justice. This past October, Mrs. McFadden shared her testimony at the black studies conference in UT Austin, where she was described as a “wife, fighter, and believer in hope.” At the conference Mrs. McFadden discussed different themes such as the institutionalized racial segregation and violence she and many face in Ferguson. The nightmare of racial hatred is not a thing of the past but a present reality. Her strong will to move forward and to speak the truth makes Mrs. McFadden this generations Mamie Till. Through her personal experience Mrs. McFadden connect with the audience at a level a textbook can’t and encourages them to be vocal against injustice.

The rulers of this country have always considered their property more important than our lives. They call us murderers, but we were not responsible for the twenty-eight brother inmates and nine hostages murdered at attica” (17). Providing examples of tyranny and accusations personify the evil that the legal system has against African Americans and further digs the idea that every officer is out there hunting them down. Repeating the phrase “They call us murderers…” Shakur demonstrates that the police are blaming the murders as “a community fight” or placing the blame on an African American because it is convenient (15-19). The repetition in the beginning of each sentence proves that African Americans were blamed for murders that they did not commit. To further push her purpose of joining the BPM and protect the African American population, Shakur persuades her audience to observe the injustices and accusations happening.

Once upon a time Big Blue was riding in the hood. Big Blue was a short and stocky teenage guy. Big Blue was given his name because he was big and strong and always wears blue. Blue drove his Cadillac around the hood all day. Stopping at friends and a couple small shops. Big Blue riding in the hood had to pick up his girlfriend at 3:00 and road through the hood to get to her house. He was supposed to pick her up and take her to the mall. Apparently there was a sale at Beauty Sleep Dress or BSD. What she really wanted was a new pair of Evil Queen Leather Pants from the new spinning wheel. Big Blue riding in the hood pulled up to Rapunzel’s house and waited out side. Rapunzel came dashing out of her house and gave Big Blue a hug

As a teen in high school, Desmond-Harris was truly affected by the murder of Tupac, a gangsta rap icon, for she and her best friend Thea could relate to his very much mixed identity as an artist. He not only had a fun side, but also had a side full of anxiety and anger. Through Tupac’s songs, both Desmond-Harris and Thea were enabled to learn what it truly meant to be biracial. To say the least, Tupac’s songs had aided the coming-of-age journey the two mixed-race girls had embarked on together.

“Cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education,” as the outstanding author, Mark Twain, once said. College is the way of life and why people begin successful career paths every day. Joining college is a major step in becoming an adult and beginning a new chapter in one’s life. Universities all around the nation offer terrific programs that match the interests of everyone. The University of Missouri, also known as Mizzou, would be a terrific college to attend for a quality education. It provides a variety of different fields to study, it offers an excellent education at a fair price, and has amazing organizations for students to join in a beautiful location.

Always sporting a camera around his neck, a mason jar mug, and his signature beard-cardigan-tattoo combo, Michael Gaffney was the youngest and therefore hippest teacher at The Harley School. Gaffney (as he was known to all the students) was the school’s Digital Media teacher for three years, and during his short time at the school he became my mentor, my advisor, and my friend. Of all my teachers, it was Gaffney who had the greatest influence on who I am and what I want to be.

According to Robert Fikes Jr., Marvin Jones spoke for Sam Cooke the pop singer who at the age of 18 was provoked by a White police officer in a park in Memphis, Tennessee. “Anyway, after they got in the park and settled down, they discovered these lights on them—the police had driven up behind them and put the spotlights on them and told them to get out of the car. Well, everybody got out, and they lined them up, but Sam was the only one who had his hands in his pockets. And as they went down the line to each person and asked them where they were form, when they got to Sam, the officers got angry because he had his hand in his pockets, and he slapped him and called him a nigger and said ‘You are not in Chicago. We will hang you down here, and they’ll never find your body” (Guralnick 2005). Fikes Jr. also informed readers about a situation Pulitzer Prize-winning James Alan McPherson in referenced to his ill-mannered happenstance with Virginia police officer. “For African-Americans every day is a day at the front. And in the most dangerous situations, class and gender differences between them dissolve. ... didn 't know he was a Pulitzer Prize winner, James Alan McPherson found out. Until then he had been advocating an Ellisonian transracialism (a utopian goal that we’d all embrace), but he realized that a policeman will de-universalize you, on behalf of white society, or go upside your particular head. (Reed 2005)”

Shots Fired is a 10-hour event series that portrays the precarious aftermath of two alleged racially charged shootings in a Southern town in North Carolina. The main protagonists of the series are a female African American, who is the prime investigator and an African American male, who serves as the special prosecutor. The episode begins with an African American sheriff’s deputy shooting and killing an unarmed White college student. In society, we are typically used these roles being reversed. That idea is evident as the small Southern town struggles to grip with the tragedy as the investigation starts. However, as the racial divide in the community is still very prevalent, a neglected murder of an African American teen by a white police officers

As the War on Drugs became part of popular culture, it was common to see “black men being paraded across the screen in handcuffs” on programs like Cops and even the local news (DuVernay). CBS increased their coverage of black criminals by 400% (Morton), even though the ratio of black men in college to those in prison is 4:1 (Morton). Media outlets coined a whole generation of minority children “super predators”, and the term was internalized so heavily that black communities supported policies that criminalized their own children (DuVernay). George Bush sensationalized the image of Willie Horton, a black criminal, to represent the primitive black rapist image that generated the same fear and hatred in the beginning of the century (DuVernay).

Hunter McGehee Prof. Martinez Culture & Society February 26, 2016 Film Reaction Series #2 Throughout our society, and across all cultures, there is an on-going issue of race separation, also deemed as racism or segregation. Racism, even today, still presents itself in all forms. While some may be more obvious and in-your-face about it than others, it’s happening whether you realize it or not. In the video “The Daily Show- We Can’t Breathe” we see the case of Eric Garner; a man who was choked to death on the corner of a street while causing no harm at all. After the incident, politicians, news anchors, reporters, and anyone else of relevance continued to blame the death on anything but a faulty justice system. Claims were made such as “the man out-weighed the officer” making him a natural threat, or “if the man had not had asthma and a heart condition” that this incident wouldn’t have killed him. The autopsy report states that he was killed by compression of the neck, as well as there was a complete video of the incident, showing Garner as no threat. Let’s look at another video titled “Beyoncé’s Super Bowl Performance Was a Major Political Statement — Here’s Why.” In this video, they explained Beyoncé’s halftime performance at the super bowl was a public out-bringing of the Black Lives Matter movement and was speaking to a crowd of hundreds of thousands of football fans, trying to raise awareness and display her strong support for the movement. Some people thought this was wondrous, making references to Michael Jackson and Malcom X who played tremendous historical roles, while

Cutler discussed Mike’s transition into hip hop culture, including his change in dress and speak. According to Cutler’s notes, at age 13, Mike began to wear baggy clothes, wear a baseball cap backwards, and listen to hip hop. Mike tried to hide where he was from in order to best fit in. She acknowledged that this is very common for teenagers at that age. Mike eventually got involved with gangs and drugs and was expelled from his school. After transferring schools, Mike decided that he did not like how black people kept to themselves and began to phase out of the culture. Since then his life has been on a primarily upward trend (Cutler, 1999).

The article "Michael Brown and Black People” that was published on The New York Times on August 13, 2014 and written by the author Charles M. Blow informs us about the tragic problem with society and racism against black men. The police officers have abused their