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Black Lives Matters Case Study

Decent Essays

In May of 2015, Bill Nye gave a commencement speech at Rutger University where he encouraged graduate students to be involved in lifelong social action pertaining to climate change and racial issues. In hopes to encourage the graduating class to vote in the next election to better the country, Nye states: “The color of our ancestors skin and ultimately my skin and your skin is a consequence of ultraviolet light, of latitude and climate. Despite our recent sad conflicts here in the U.S. there really is no such thing as race. We are all of one species. Each of us as much, much more alike than different. We all come from Africa… We are all going to live and die on the same planet. We have to work together (Svokos, 2015).” After having previously heard Bill Nye speak on a …show more content…

It is the ability of an individual to be able to exert authority in a situation and have an influence on the outcome. An example of a group of people who implement their power are people who work for law enforcement, or police officers. A significant part of the Black Lives Matters movement focuses on the police brutality that blacks have been facing by police officers, who are usually white. In a recent case, Sandra Bland, a 28 year old black woman was found hanging in her jail cell in Waller County, Texas in July of 2015. A video of her arrest shows Sandra Bland being pulled over for failure to use a turn signal to indicate a lane change. The officer asks Bland to step out of her vehicle and when she refuses he opens the side door and threatens to use a taser on her. The officer then pins her down to the ground and slams her head into the ground. Bland’s autopsy results showed that there was severe bruising to her back as if someone had pressed their knees against it (Sanchez, 1). Unfortunately, there have been many situations just like Bland’s, where it is common police officers use their power to give unfair and cruel punishments towards people of

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