Racial Injustice: The Case Of Trayvon Martin

On the night of his death, February 26, 2012, Trayvon Martin was in Sanford, Florida on a visit to his father's fiancee and her son at The Retreat at Twin Lakes. As Zimmerman noticed him he called the police non-emergency number to report a suspicious person in community, describing Martin as a very suspicious guy reporting that he had his hand in waistband and was walking around looking at homes. Also, Zimmerman is quoted saying that “he is just walking around looking about in the rain”, and “This guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something”(Wikipedia). Although the way he described him led to think of what view Zimmerman had of innocent, unarmed Trayvon who seemed like any other teenager walking about on the way

Today race in America is a highly controversial topic. It seems that every day we turn on the news, it’s a story about protest or police brutality. Hundreds of black men and women have been killed due to racial discrimination. Thousands of African Americans are incarcerated in Americas prison systems, many of which won’t live to see the light of day. The previous president was African American, yet we can’t escape

As I walk to the store to pick up snacks for the next half of the super bowl, I am trying to make it quick. I finally arrive at the store and quickly get my two favorite items, skittles and an ice tea. Thinking to myself that this is all I need, not knowing that it would be my last meal. On the walk back home, I have a feeling that I am being followed. I speed up. I turn around to find that a grown Hispanic man, mid-age, and heavily built is in fact, following me. In my head, I just want to make it home safely. Every move I make, he makes the same moves. Finally I turn around, quite nervous, to see if there was a problem. Next thing I know, we are on the ground fighting. Here I am, seventeen years old, up against a man

How does the case of Ossian and Gladys Sweet reveal the racism of the 1920s and affect other African American people?

Whether allowing Attorney General Eric Holder to dropped charges against the New Black Panther Party for intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place in 2009, to inflammatory comments made during the Trayvon Martin case and the Michael Brown shooting, Obama is always sure to let his true ideology shine through.

Many people believe that Whites are treated better than minorities. I agree with this opinion, however; I believe that the justice system favors Whites more than African-Americans. Throughout history it shows that the criminal justice system was never in place to serve and protect every human being. When slavery was legal the criminal justice system created laws to enslave human beings. It is not a surprise that the justice system does not work in favor with African-Americans because it has never worked in our favor. The legal system only benefits those of White people.

Racism, known as “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.” (Oxford, 2013) When an individual mentions the word ‘racism’ almost all the time it will be referred to a black individual, not white nor any other race, but black. Over the years racism has repeatedly occurred whether it was said or done; some showed racism by the words they used, while others presented it by the racist acts they committed. Racism towards the black community has not only been shown by other races, but also by individuals who were there to keep them ‘safe’. Very contradictory yet true, that a black man’s worst

Policing and punishment in America is hardly colorblind. It is not a coincidence that minorities serve longer sentences, have higher arrest and conviction rates, face higher bail amounts, and are more often the victims of police use of deadly force than white citizens. When it comes to criminals, many people have a preconception of what a criminal is. Usually when people think of a criminal they picture a Black or Latino face. The thought of an Asian criminal is often related to Asian gangs. Interestingly enough, White people as a group are rarely associated with the thought of crime, even though they account for 70% of arrests and 40% of the prison population each year (Russel xiv). This seems to be

Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old murderer of nine, was arrested for his crimes in June. According to many Roof was just a very confused and mentally ill young man, but surprisingly he was completely sane when he committed these murders. When asked about his reasoning behind his actions, Roof had this to say, “The event that truly awakened me was the Trayvon Martin case... this prompted me to type in the words ‘black on White crime’ into Google, and I have never been the same since that day. The first website I came to was the Council of Conservative Citizens. There were pages upon pages of these brutal black on White murders...At this moment I realized that something was very wrong. How could the news be blowing up the Trayvon Martin case while hundreds of

2014: Two years after the death of Trayvon Martin, the world was introduced to Michael Brown, a Ferguson, Missouri Black native who had just become the next victim of a fatal officer involved shooting. In the early morning of August 9, 2014, the 18 year old man was said to be involved in a strong arm robbery of a convenience store. Officer Darren Wilson received the alert from the police dispatch and quickly surveyed the neighborhood until finding a walker who fit the victim’s description. The officer confronted the man, which was indeed Michael Brown, and continued to use aggressive tactics when questioning him. It is still unclear as to what transpired from the time the officer arrived to the ending result, but video from a bystander shows

A national problem that is affecting me personally is the issue of police brutality. I am an African American female living in a society where there is an overlooked where between my community and the police task force. Before I delve into this topic, I need the reader to understand that I know all policeman are not bad and that all African Americans are not innocent. The problem I am addressing is the apparent discrepancy of police officers assuming that just because someone has a darker complexion that means that they are doing something illegal.

Black on white or white on black crime will always happen until black and whites can come together as a whole and not individuals. After slavery there was a group formed name the Ku Klux Klan also know as the “KKK”. The KKK were very known for riding around on horses with whips or guns hanging others particularly blacks and burning down crosses and churches. Around the 1920’s the Ku Klux Klan was ended but the crime between blacks and whites did not. February 2012 a black teenage boy named Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a white neighborhood watch participant while walking back home from the store carrying a bag of skittles and a sweet tea. Since the Trayvon Martin shooting, multiple white police shooting amongst black victims have been

Until February 2012, many Americans most likely had most likely never heard of Sanford, Florida. Even in the immediate aftermath of the shooting of Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman on February 26, media attention was mostly contained to the local area (Banesh, 2014). Although Martin’s family contacted civil rights attorney Ben Crump two days after Martin’s death, it was not until March 5, 2012 that Crump and his partner contacted a publicist to develop a media strategy (Trotta, 2012). Two days later Reuters ran a story about the case and it was picked up by other media sources, sparking nationwide interest and igniting a media frenzy.

Based on the stories from the articles attached above, we can conclude that the perpetrators of both Trayvon Martin and Vincent Chin's case violate Don Miguel Ruiz's "Four Agreements". The first agreement is to be impeccable with our words. The article on the Four Agreement explains that it means we must not "use our word against others in blaming, criticizing or gossiping." (Johnson, 2). The perpetrators in Vincent Chin's case violates this agreement when they blame Chin for their unemployment. The second agreement is not to take anything personally. The perpetrators in Chin's case break this agreement when they decide to find and follow Chin to nearby McDonald's after a previous altercation at a club. The third agreement tells us not to make

nation. The United States of America didn 't always support equal rights of colored individuals even after it was printed into the US constitution that all men are created equal. White supremacy was at its peak as segregation and racism has consumed many parts of the country. Known as a very important civil right leader, John Lewis gives an indepth look of the most pivotal moments in America through book two of the series known as “March”. Eudora Welty 's “Where is the voice coming from” conveys the perception of many Americans who felt as if colored people were a threat and could not have the luxurious lifestyle. Both pieces impact the minds of people today as it sheds light on the issue of equality for all individuals, nonetheless the short story “Where is the voice coming from” and article “Emmits ring” by Valerie Smith both give one the realization that many individuals in the past and even now in the present allow psychological consent in order to justify violent actions which have ended many innocent lives. With malicious intent it saddens me that a deaths of innocent people is what it takes for colored folks to have a right to fight for justice.