Steve Chapman Racial Equality

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)

Despite the important racial progresss our society has made since Emmett Till’s death, from the civil rights era, to present increase of police brutality has still left the Black/African American community in shadows of segregation. The second most recent shooting of teenager Michael Brown has left citizens in ongoing battles with law enforcement officers of Ferguson, Missouri. New Statement (2014) reports, Missouri police similarly attempted to retain control of the narrative, claiming Brown had stolen cigars, and then paying for them, and then claiming he was a bad child and attacked the officer who shot him” (New Statement, 21). Brown autopsy reveals he was gun less and shot six times. Police brutality is not solely about Ferguson, Emmett Till, or the civil rights movement, but it is simply about the history of capitalism and police brutality in America and having many forms of it.

This article entitled “Jim Crow Policing”, written by Bob Herbert, is an opinionated article which aims to shed light on the alleged racist and xenophobic behaviors of the New York Police Department. The article was published on February 1st, 2010, almost 7 years ago, which is important to note because of the changing environment that New York is as a whole. Herbert takes a stance against the NYPD, claiming that the officers of the department have “no obligation to treat them (blacks, hispanics, other minorities) fairly or with any respect…” He also states in his opening paragraph that some of the officers that are partaking in the harassment are minorities themselves, and he calls that

The shooting of sparked a nation-wide movement not only demanding justice for Mike Brown, but also protesting the racial discrimination deeply embedded in the criminal justice system as well as various institutions in the larger American society. Furthermore, jfdkjfjdakljk something about international recognition. Similar protests and riots have been springing up in other cities since 1960s, and police killings of unarmed black men happen once every 28 hours (Kahle, 2014). However, Michael Brown’s killing has led to the most sustained uprising against police violence in at least two decades, centered among the African American residents of Ferguson, and has rallied significant nationwide support as well as international attention (Kahle, 2014; Taylor, 2014). The killing of Michael Brown is by no means an isolated event, and presence of racial tensions, especially in the St. Louis area, was already present long before. The large-scale pushback that the killing of Michael Brown has set in motion, then, seems to have been the last straw, prompting the eruption of decades of pent up frustration at a racist and oppressive system. That being said, what are the previous straws that have slowly pushed the black community in Ferguson to the breaking point? What are the factors that have caused these tensions to boil over and erupt into such a large-scale upheaval? This paper will explore some of the

Do you ever believe that you have been a victim to a microaggression and there was nothing ever done about it? A victim of institutional racism that made you feel doleful and surly? Institutional racism happens a lot, but not as much as microaggressions, but a lot of people wonder why they get this type of vibe from white supremacist. These are the same people in the same country, with the same daily schedule but somehow they judge people based on their skin color. Some reason you aren’t allowed to lead this country if you are any other skin than white. There's a lot of racism in America, and a lot of people really wonder will the microaggressions, microinsults, the institutional racism will ever stop. People look at our president Donald J. Trump with his campaign of “Make America Great Again” does he mean the bad times for the African Americans? The bad times, for the Asian Americans? Do white people in general categorize all cultures/ ethnicities other than white as minorities? There are two articles that come together, to grow on this idea, to answer the questions above and to explain in full detail. Both of these articles, compare on what and how plenty of “minorities” feel in America. The speech essay “Analyzing Some Thoughts On Mercy” and the argumentative essay “6 Reasons We Need to Dismantle the Model Minority Myth of Those ‘Hard-Working ‘ Asians” by Ross Gay and Rachel Kuo deal with the problem with racism shown by white supremacy. Through these texts the

Flight from whiteness is more common, and many whites fear they are losing their country to minorities. Many voted for Donald Trump because they believe he will take away their fears. They also believe he will bring back their country the way it used to be. His victory in the 2016 presidential election brings white pride and power out of the shadows. A 37-year-old prison guard says that “Trump has eliminated the feeling of being afraid to speak your mind as a white man.” There is nothing wrong with being white.” Many videos on social media show white pride and power out of the shadows. One of those videos shows an 83-year-old Korean woman being push to the ground by a white woman who shouts “white power!” The white woman was not afraid to speak her mind. What she did was a cowardly act.

The election of Barack Obama as the 56th president of the United States raised many hopes that the “Black struggles” was finally over. For conservatives, Obama victory reassured their beliefs that there was no longer such thing as racism and that every American had equal rights and opportunity to pursue the American dream. While many people have come to believe that all races have equal rights in America, Tim Wise argues in his documentary “White Like Me” that not only does racism and unconscious racial bias still exist, but that also White Americans are unable to simply relate to the variety of forms racism and inequality Blacks experience. This is mainly because of the privileges they get as the “default.” While Wise explores the variety forms of racism and inequality today such as unconscious racism, Black poverty, unemployment, inadequate education system, and prison system, the articles by the New York Times Editorial Board, the Human Rights Watch (HRW), and Adam Liptak further explore some the disparities in the criminal justice system. Ana Swanson points out in her article, “The Stubborn Persistence of Black-White Inequality, 50 Years after Selma” that while the “U.S. has made big strides towards equal rights,” significant gaps still remains between the two races. With the Supreme Court striking down a “portion of the Voting Rights Act that stopped discriminatory voting laws from going into effect in areas of the country with histories of disenfranchisement,” civil

Ever since the case of Trayvon Martin being shot in 2013, dozens and dozens of cases of injustice have been brought up to the eyes of the media and the law. Lately, the majority of those cases have been about police brutality, and it’s taken such a strong effect on the public that movements have been born out of it, such as the BlackLivesMatter movement. The situation has reached a point to where President Obama stepped out and addressed the issue at hand. The central issue here isn’t only the barbaric tactics that law enforcement resorts to, but the fact that the power police officers have as enforcers of the law is and has been abused over and over.

“I never saw racial violence in my school, I never saw the frustration or the anger between the races. We were a very cohesive group. You just feel like we all lived in peace and harmony for the most part and to see racial violence occur is completely a new phenomenon here.” Here, Knowles states that his personal experiences growing up in Ferguson show that tension between races hasn’t existed since before his childhood. His main argument is based on the idea that if he didn’t see any racial conflicts, there must not have been any. This “out of sight, out of mind” argument normalizes his experiences as a white man, taking them to be the experiences of the average person. Beyond that, it tells of a degree of mistrust that he holds towards his community. Mistrust enough to prevent him from reconsidering the representative nature of his own experiences when confronted by the testimony of the crowds of protestors claiming to have witnessed a divisive racial relations. Both this statement and the one above have the effect of undermining the protestors, showing that Mayor Knowles considers their actions to be misguided, unnecessary overreactions, and their claims to be unfounded

The topic of whether or not there is racism in the legal system is becoming increasingly debatable among certain groups. The obvious evidence that has been glaring in the faces of the public for decades says it all: the criminal justice system is, and always has been, swayed by racism. Despite this, the opposing side of the argument - which mostly consists of privileged whites – diligently argues that racism was outlawed decades ago. There are also African Americans who are unaware of how their race is constantly being oppressed. However, the younger generation is quickly becoming culturally and politically woke and passing on the knowledge. Although racism is not explicitly stated in the law, racists are still hiding behind the supremacy of the country. White policemen have went as far as mindlessly killing young black people and claiming it was done out of self-defense. White judges will find loopholes in the legal process when dealing with an offense committed by an African American. They are targeting African Americans and punishing them more harshly than the white people who commit crimes.

“I’m not racist, I’m colorblind”. To many people, racism had ended since the civil right movement, when we no longer accept Jim Crow’s ideology. Nowadays, many people in our society believe that racism is no longer a problem of our society. They believe that people are no longer being judged base on the color of their skin, but it is based on their skills, their characteristic. It is the false belief that race is no longer exist and that people are treated equally in our society with President Barack Obama or Oprah Winfrey as an example. However, people don’t realize is that racism is still exist inside America. As President Barrack Obama says, “racism deeply rooted in America”. In fact, ignoring race doesn’t end the problem of race since the problem doesn’t get addressed as racial problem, but rather the problem of the individual. In other words, the society fails to recognize the existence of racism. It fails to recognize the fact that racism has become the system of America. More importantly, racism has become the controller of our criminal justice system. Instead of crime control, the justice system has become a system of racial control. It has become the new tool for the White Supremacist to maintain its power. Incarceration is no longer the issue of crime, it has become the racial issue. That being said, it’s the People Church that has the power to resolve this problem. It is the

We must acknowledge that people of color are still thought of as a different. There are still people in the world that believe being racist is right, but there are also some who believe that everyone is equal. But often what we hear about is the racial profiling within the American walls that we all live in. “Nationwide, driving while black has been criminalized, racial profiling used for traffic stops and searches for suspected drugs or other reasons, the practice especially common in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Texas” (Rodriguez, 2012). “Los Angeles has settled many lawsuits arising out of more than 50 deaths related to lethal police choke holds, and many other cities are paying out large sums to settle instances of police misconduct” (Angola, 2013). Due to the demands for services, the police presence is generally situated in poorer communities as the crime rates and calls for service are statistically higher in these areas. As a result of greater police presence, those who reside in poorer neighborhoods have developed a perception that police use excessive force frequently (Weitzer, 1999). This information is understandable that police are called to poorer communities but this does not make an excuse for what has been headlined on the news for the past couple of weeks.

Over the years, there has been a rise witnessed cases of hate crimes, either caused by police brutality and/or by our own government officials. It has become a controversial topic among black and white communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes to their own families and friends which sometimes result in life being lost. In the article this demonstrates the government's role in "initiating and prolonging racial suppression and provides the explanation for police brutality to become a federal

The United States of America is a country with a history built on diversity and promise of opportunity. Striving to blend multiple cultures and sectors of individuals into a melting pot. However, some state that it has failed citizens, as even after a century of attempting to not see colour African Americans continue to struggle to be viewed as equal and not be discriminated against. In our modern day, "racially open" societies, racial profiling towards African American men can be witnessed frequently in their everyday life. American citizens have witnessed countless cases of police brutality and in recent unlawful murders of black lives, it has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place on their local newsrooms or in front of their homes. Over the past decade police abuse remains one of the most serious human rights violation in the United States. Police officers are trusted and expected to respect society as a whole and enforce the law, yet a great amount of the population feels unsafe because of the colour of their skin. Racism is a global issue that is widely conversed, yet it is still a growing concern amongst the nations of the world. Racial discrimination and/or can be defined as any action, whether intentional or not, based on a person’s race, which has the effect of imposing hate towards an individual or group. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity

“Racial minorities, particularly Black Americans, have had a long and troubling history of disparate treatment by U.S criminal justice authorities.” (Birzer, 23) I am not here to give you another lesson on slavery, Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s or any other struggle we faced in our history, but I do want you to keep it in mind as you read about the current struggle we still face in 2017. You would think that America would give us a break since we’ve been fighting for equality for centuries, but they are not simply because of the color of our skin. When I say “they” I mean White America. Now, don’t get me