Occupy Movement Research Paper

On February 26, 2012, an African-American teen, Trayvon Martin, was fatally shot by a neighborhood watchmen, George Zimmerman. Zimmerman assumed that Martin looked suspicious then he called the police after being told not to pursue Martin he continues to and the situation ended in a tragedy. The case gained national attention and stirred up many protests around the U.S. All the facts proved that Zimmerman was guilty of wrongfully killing Martin and Martin was not an actual threat just a black man wearing a hoody. After a year, George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin. Once again, the justice system failed African American people. This case proved although there was a Black man in the highest position in the U.S., the justice system was still broken. Across the states riots broke out and protest and the president had to address the issue. President Obama gave an unscheduled speech addressing the issue. The president

One night in a Florida gated community a young man named Trayvon Martin, was walking down the streets of a mostly white community, stopped by George Zimmerman who was a neighborhood watch resident.Mr. Martin was stopped for being “suspicious” and “up to no good” according to Mr.Zimmerman. Trayvon was fatally shot by Mr. Zimmerman out of “self defense”. Really “Self defense” he was carrying a bag of skittles and a Arizona Tea. This young man was nothing but harmless but was victimed for being African-American.George Zimmerman would rather later stand trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin was found not guilty,until April 2012 he was found guilty of second degree murder.Although there are positives and negatives of this argument, the Black Lives

Civil rights groups are not a new thing in the United States, but after the disputed case of Trayvon Martin who was killed by George Zimmerman, the movement has been growing tumultuously. After Martin’s death, hundreds of high school teens began protesting, demanding both Zimmerman and chief police be fired. With the help of social media, Umi Selah and other activists were able to organize a forty-mile march from Daytona Beach to the headquarters of Sanford Police Department (the department that dealt with Martin and Zimmerman’s case.) The march lasted four days and ended in a five-hour blockade of the Sanford Police Department’s door. This organized protest was just the beginning of what quickly became the Black Lives Matter movement (McClain 2016).

I and a community of others are outraged that Zimmernan was initially interviewed and let go with no charges filed more than six weeks after the shooting, Zimmerman still had not been charged with a crime, igniting a national outcry over what many considered to be state-sanctioned vigilantism. For many African-Americans the case had even deeper implications: Trayvon Martin, who had no criminal record, had been doing nothing more suspicious than walking. Many saw his death as another tragic example of racial profiling, the latest in a seemingly endless succession of unarmed Black men shot for appearing suspicious: Robbie Tolan, who survived being shot in his Bellaire, Texas, driveway in 2009 by a cop who thought he was trying to steal his own car; Amadou Diallo, shot and killed in 1999 in the Bronx when police mistook his wallet for a gun; Sean Bell, killed in 2008 on his wedding day in Queens, New York, by cops who thought he had a gun; Oscar Grant III, fatally shot by an Oakland transit cop on New Year's Day in 2009 while restrained and on the ground; and now Trayvon, with only a pack of Skittles and a can of iced tea in his possession, shot dead on a Florida street.(Amber, 2012)

On August 28. 1983, a group of over 200,000 people supported and attended the March on Washington. (www.history.com). This statistic demonstrates the fact of how impactful the March on Washington was and how many people were on the same side. The speeches at this assembly are some of the most famous and well known speeches that are still remembered today. There are many events from the Civil Rights Movement that changed our daily lives, including speeches and court cases, and there are key people who were involved in them . Some of the major events included the Brown v. Board of Education (1954), he Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-1957, the Greensboro Sit-ins (1961), March on Washington (1963), the 24th Amendment being passed (1964), and the

Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old boy that lived in Florida. He lived with his mother and often visited his father. While he had undergone some troubles, he overall was not a terrible kid. Although he was notably young and minded his own business, others did not. On February 26, 2012, the young boy’s life was taken away from him. The man who killed him was George Michael Zimmerman. He served as a neighborhood watch captain around the area where his old man lived. CNN stated that all he had was skittles and tea in his hand. Now tell me does that seem threatening to you? According to Zimmerman, he was claiming “self-defense” and that Trayvon was “a suspicious person.” Florida law states that one is granted the “stand your ground” law and that is what Zimmerman claimed to do in an act of defense. Zimmerman was arrested, but he was not charged or convicted of Martin’s murder even though people know that Zimmerman killed him for absolutely no actual cause.

In a free society, people are given the opportunity to stand up for what they believe in. I believe that the act of civil disobedience, or peaceful resistance to laws, positively impacts a free society for a number of reasons. Civil disobedience can have a positive effect when the government is flawed or when the law being resisted is wrong or prejudiced. In these situations, civil disobedience and peaceful resistance can mend some of the injustices that were being inflicted. All governments, including democracies, are flawed.

The article, “Black Lives Matter: Birth of a Movement”, by Wesley Lowery begins with the writer being arrested at a McDonald’s fast food establishment in Ferguson, Missouri. This arrest was due to the riots occurring after the death of Michael Brown, an eighteen-year-old high school student who was gunned down by a police officer. The riots were unorganized and unpredictable. They consisted of many citizens within the community, some questioning the chain of events that lead to the murder of Michael Brown, and others demanding and indictment of the officer that committed the crime. The article states, “Scores more stood on pavements and street corners unable to articulate their exact demands – they just knew they wanted justice.”

The American people have always stood up to oppression and lead the fight against inequality. Our nation’s history is packed with people who were not afraid to stand up for what they believed in: fleeing religious oppression, fighting unfair taxation, and standing against mistreatment of a fellow-man.

Civil disobedience is not a burden to the free society, in fact, it is, in essence, the free society. In able to be free, you must feel free and if there is an unjust act being forced upon you, it is your right as a citizen to disobey it. I say this with emphasis on the "civil" part. There is a peaceful way to execute every action. For example, Rosa Parks. One of the most historical displays of civil disobedience. She did not have to use force, violence, or threats to get results; she simply displayed her dissatisfaction with the treatment of her person by siting. There need not be force when trying to make a point.That bruises the the name of civil disobedience and threatens any future results. In order to keep order there must be someone

Since when has violence ever been the answer to solving a problem? NEVER. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impacts a free society because for one, we live in a country where we are allowed to express our thoughts and opinions freely. Protests are a fantastic way to get your point across to others. However, it is when those once peaceful protests warp into a hate riot including burning and breaking property that the police have to step in.

A protest is a formal declaration of opposition. Not only do protests catch the media's eye, they can stir revolutionary movements and halt the government's actions. Peaceful protesting is very beneficial. Protesting draws attention to the public as well as the media, calls for a change in the government, and unites people of common interests and beliefs.

A great example of this is the Occupy Movement. The Occupy Movement is made up of individuals who protest against social and economic inequalities, with the primary goal of “fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process” (occupywallstreet.org). The movement was driven by mounting frustrations against Wall Street greed like corporate profits, tax breaks for the rich, corporate lobbying in Congress, and bank bailouts at a time when the poor and the middleclass were losing their grip on the economy. People were simply tired of working hard for their money just to hand it over to big

Another incident happened to a 17 year old boy named Trayvon Martin an African American. On February 2012, Martin was shot by a 28 year old Hispanic neighborhood watch coordinator named George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman shot Martin, who was unarmed, during an argument between both of them. Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin because he was a black walking through a neighborhood where he didn’t belong. Instead of taking a non violent approach Zimmerman quickly concluded after the argument that his life was in danger and felt justified to use deadly force to kill an unarmed man who was black. It is possible if Trayvon Martin had been white Zimmerman would have taken a softer approach to get rid of him from the neighborhood. Trayvon died because he was black and walking in a wealthy neighborhood where he did not live at

It was on February 26th 2012 that a 17 year old African American youth named Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a White/Hispanic community watch coordinator, George Zimmerman in Florida. While the facts of the case are still uncertain, and the trial of George Zimmerman has not yet begun, there has been a