Persuasive Essay On The Civil Rights Movement

A necessary and common fight for equality has been one that has survived throughout all of man’s existence. Due to recent racial divide and the product of racial profiling, a movement has risen up to combat these common issues. The most recent and most well-covered is the Black Lives Matter Movement. Even though it has been lauded by some media sources and individuals as the next great movement to champion for civil rights, the Black Lives Matter movement is not the same as the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s nor is it likely to be as successful. If the Black Lives Matter Movement continues with discrepancies in ideology, lack of clear leadership, and trends of hate, the movement is doomed to fail.

The brutality of the police force has been a long worldwide problem, but especially between the years of 2012-2016. Black people are being unjustly beaten and shot in plain sight for doing nothing while being unarmed. Journal of African American Studies “Blacks are viewed as deserving of harsh treatment in the criminal justice system” (482). “Black males with more “Afrocentric” features may receive longer sentences than blacks with less Afrocentric features like lighter skin and straighter hair”(482). Nowadays it is important to know about the police force. It’s important to know our rights as citizens and be careful around cops. Not everybody is good, but not everybody is bad also. In The New York Amsterdam News 21 people were killed by Chicago police in 2008. Entire families were being attacked. They believe it’s because of their skin color and how they are different. The year of racism started off with the world seeing the police murder of Oscar Grant. “The media have pushed people away from hearing the issue of police brutality, and it has fallen off of the radar screen.”(2) “You can’t give in. They will try to make an example out of you, try to break your spirit!”(2) African Americans say do not trust the cops with anything. “They will ruin you.”(2)

“Most officers involved in these killings are hardly indicted, much less convicted, for excessive use of force. The criminal justice system’s high volume of contact with people of colour”. (Burton, 2015). This is a major cause of African-Americans’ unequal proportion of deadly police encounters, as well as of larger perceptions of prejudice in the black communities. “Black lives matter” has become the accumulating social movement to bring light to the inequality and unjustifiable act and the legal system is failing to up hold the citizens right and the basic

Although there was significant progress made in the 60’s Civil Rights Movements, African American lives still find themselves the subjects of racial profiling and police brutality cases. Specific incidents have brought the controversies to the public eye through social media and backlash from social movements. The cases of Trayvon Martin and Sandra Bland led to the controversies and feelings of judicial injustice; these events and public outrage sparked and fueled the movement “Black Lives Matter”, which was established to challenge and combat racial discrimination and police brutality. Since then, the movement has gained momentum and continues to gain followers and validity. Social media has also been a main contributor to the cause, as the

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a loosely‐coordinated, nationwide movement dedicated to ending police brutality that rose to prominence in late 2014. It takes its name from a hashtag started by three Black feminist activists Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi but the movement and the hashtag are not identical (Freelon, McIlwain, & Clark, 2016). BLM has achieved national reputation through their online and offline organizing, obtaining extensive news media coverage and glowing references in music and entertainment television. Based on a horrendous incident that sparked a concern for a lot of Black people across the world, the sudden need for a social movement was born called BLM. Black Lives Matter is a national organization working for the validity of Black life and also working to rebuild the Black liberation movement. Black Lives Matter broadens the conversation and highlight the incidents around state violence to include the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. This referring to the ways in which Black lives are deprived of basic human rights and dignity. According to the article The Murder of Walter Scott, which talks about race and class, “African Americans are less than 13% of the U.S. population yet they are nearly 50% of those killed by the police. North Charleston has a population of 104,000, 47% Black and the police force is 80% white (Miah, 2015)”.

According to a Guardian study, young African-American men were nine times more likely to be killed by police enforcement than any other American, which recorded a tally of 1,134 deaths in 2015. After many incidents of innocent black people dying by the hands of police enforcement, America is forced to realize important narrative of race and inequality. The Black Lives Matter movement was formed to combat and expose racism and anti-blackness in the United States. Ever since its birth, many have joined the movement; creating and organizing protests, speaking against anti-blackness. But in contrast, many others have criticized BLM, calling it a “terrorist” organization and a hate group. The Black Lives Matter movement being classified as a terrorist or hate group is a misjudge argument and a malevolent narrative.

From riots and increasing crime rates to public gatherings, all these are impacting peoples’ way of life. Juliana M. Horowitz and Gretchen Livingston, expert reporters for Pew Research Center, state that “roughly two-thirds (64%) of people (…) understand the movements goals” and that “about half (46%) of whites ages 30 to 49, and even (…) 50 to 64 (37%) and those 65 and older (26%), express support for the movement.” Black Lives Matter is a chapter-based national organization that’s working to suppress a racial and social issue within the United States. The movement is a unique contribution that goes beyond the killings of black people by police. With two-thirds of the nation’s support, it indicates that the issue is real within the societies; that blacks, latinos and other different cultures are targeted. In another article by Jon Swaine, criminal reporter for the Guardian and Ciara McCarthy, a journalist for the Guardian, declares that, “black males 15-34 were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by law enforcement officers.” According to the Guardian “U.S. police killed at least 258 black people in 2016” and “about 169 were unarmed” which was recorded in company’s project “The Counted.” More research by organizations are beginning to notice the extremities for the BLM uprisings. U.S. police killings have increased the last

Most of us today cannot say we’ve experience the horror of war. I infact have never. I’m ignorant to the subject, while others can say they’ve stared death in the face. We fought for slave rights, for equal rights, and allowed people to immigrate here believing America was a peaceful place. I infact am honored to be an American. I have rights, I do not serve under a dictator, but most countries aren't as lucky as I. Unfortunately, tragedy is the only magnet that pulls us together. We have not learned from the sacrifices of our own sons and daughters. It is my hope that America can move on from its childish antics and turn away from all the violence.

Everywhere on the media, African Americans are losing their lives seemingly due to the complexion of their skin. And each time, it seems unjust verdicts are placed on the police officers responsible for the turmoil. In response to these killings and verdicts, the Black Lives Matter movement rallies in opposition. Though they opt for justice, the Black Lives Matter movement is ineffective because its approach is too aggressive. (Barbara Reynolds, “I Was a Civil Rights Activist in the 1960’s, but it’s Hard for Me to get Behind Black Lives Matter.”)

Civil rights have been argued over for years and years. White supremacists claim to be “better” than black people in every shape or form. However, all humans are truly the same inside. These judgemental ways of thinking have been passed down from beliefs that originated in the 1600’s, that black people have no purpose other than to serve whites. Tradition, whether it is positive or negative, does have an influence on cultural beliefs in society.

Greg: During the 60s, many civil rights movements took place which forever changed the history of America. (Picture of Dark US Flag) Civil rights activists fought for equal rights for all US citizens who were faced with racial discrimination every day. African Americans were especially discriminated; (Picture of African American) they had been fighting for equality since the Civil War. Ordinary people started to join into the Civil rights movement. This forced politicians to take action toward civil rights activists.

Imagine being black in America, hearing the siren of a law enforcement vehicle, with the flashing lights of red, and blue prevailing though your back window. What do you do? How do you act? Knowing that simple traffic stops like this can turn for the worse with just one false move. Recently, some African Americans, whom was unarmed, was killed by law enforcement officers for absolutely no justifiable reason. Even though the frequency of police officers killing unarmed black men is lower than the past years, social media brings it to light with the visual of the actual footage of these men being killed. These incidents of officers killing unarmed black men have been happening for the longest now; the only thing that change is that now we have camcorders that show us the incidents happening. The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the United States, is comparable to the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement but includes diverse motivations and mindsets.

In the 1950s, Martin Luther King created a movement called The Civil Rights Movement. He fought for the unjustified treatment for people of color, and for them to have equal rights. Now in 2017, undocumented students are standing up and fighting for equal rights for education. According to the article, Immigration Hardliners are forcing Trump’s Hand on DACA, “immigration policy is the battleground for the White House’s warring factions, and DACA is ground zero” (Gonzales, 2017). DACA is an executive order created by President Obama in the year 2012 for undocumented students, yet this crucial order is being demolished leaving more than 800,000 feeling fear for what is to come in the future. Although, DACA was not the first movement for equality in education.

The American declaration of independence stated, that: “All men are created equal”. But in the 19th century only whites were born with equal opportunities. Africans were imported as slaves and had to work on the fields of the whites. Until 1865 the Negroes were treated and looked at as something lower than human. They were compared to apes, and therefore just owned the same rights as animals. They were raised believing that whites were superior. It took them years to realize that they have to stand up for their rights. The uprising turned into a brutal civil war.

The issue of civil rights for gays and lesbians, one marriage; although many religious conservatives wish it would, will not kind of go away. Marriage essentially has always been a huge part of human relationships, which specifically is significant. It is the coming together of a man and a woman, the bonding two people together for emotional support, generally moral support and economic wellbeing as well as the rearing of children. Most of society basically looks at marriage as a holy union of just one man and one woman. Does marriage really have to generally be between just a man and women? The issue of -gay marriage generally has been very much in the front of public discussion in recent years, with states granting, then retreating with the marriage licenses to gay couples, squabbling over legislation as to whether to grant full marriage rights or specifically create domestic partnerships, and trying to come to terms with how to balance opposed view of sort of public opinions on the subject. Some specifically believe that giving gay couples the particularly full benefit of marriage will mostly take away from the traditional marriage, while others for the most part feel they ought to for all intents and purposes have nothing less, or so they specifically thought. Same-sex couples are denied their civil rights, for all intents and purposes such a making medical decisions for their partners in an emergency. Some of which for the most part have not been in contact with their