The Black Liberation Movement: The Trayvon Martin Case

This movement affected so many people’s lives. Lloyd Gaines is one example, as he was denied admissions to study law at the University of Missouri because he was black. This doesn’t make any sense to me, as he was a high school valedictorian so he was certainly smart enough to attend the school. The fact that they wouldn’t even give him a chance just because he was black sickens me. Another important figure in the Civil Rights Movement was Jackie Robinson who became the first black American to play major league baseball in 1947. We watched the movie 42 in class which showed all the hardships he went through during his career. Fans constantly booed and threw things at him when he went up to bat. I find this extremely disrespectful and rude. Coaches from other teams made fun of him and tried to make him mad. I admire Jackie Robinson for not fighting back, even though the coaches deserved it. Even his own teammates signed a petition to get him kicked off the team. This really made me mad because teammates are supposed to support and encourage one another, not tear each other down. We also talked in class about a little black girl named Linda Brown who had to walk through a railroad yard to get to a bus stop that took her 21 blocks to an all-black school. There was a school two blocks from her house, but she could not go there because it was a white school. This is

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)

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).

Over the last two years in the United States the African-American people have been fighting a war within our own backyards. The Washington Post reports that since January 2015, the police have shot and killed over 175 young black men ranging from ages 18-29; 24 of them were unarmed. On the flip side 172 young white men were killed, only 18 being unarmed. With these statistics there are similarities in the numbers but, blacks were killed at rates disproportional to their percentage of U.S population (1.Washington Post). Of all unarmed people shot and killed by police in 2015. With 40% being black men make up just 6% of the nation’s populations. In the wake of the killings of Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, and many more the world has been made more publicly aware of injustices black people have to handle when dealing with law enforcement. Crime in the black community is nothing new in the black community or should I say black on black crime. There is a bad stereotype that has been put on black people since slavery times that I believe has help fueled the violence between the police and my people.

The author says that yes, police lives do need to be protected, but they also need to be held accountable. Similarly, black lives should be protected as well, but they should not be “provided justice for their wrongful termination.” In other words, both lives should be protected, just as any life should, but both lives need to be held accountable for their wrong doings, and not punished by social media for doing what is right. Although the author does try and strengthen the support for black lives and blue lives in the article, almost all of the statistics he uses, discredit blue lives. For example, a statistic he uses is that “For every black person killed by a white cop, 71 blacks are killed by other blacks.” Another one used is, “However, the amount of police officers killed on the line of duty pales in comparison to the number of Black deaths at the hands of the police. In 2015, 42 police officers were shot and killed. That was a 14% decline from 2014. Even though the author attempts to vouch for black lives and blue lives, he tends to be a little more biased towards the black

Imagine the idea of living in a society where you are segregated from your peers as a result of the colour of your skin. Envision living in a place that you no longer wish to call home because the people around you are being eradicated left right and center.

Throughout history, black people have been hurt and battered physically, mentally, and emotionally by white people and those who believe they are superior. From the beginning of the 19th century to the ongoing 21st century, black identity has evolved in accordance to the struggles African Americans are facing at the time. From the abolitionist movement to the Black Lives Matter movement, the evolving issues facing black identity in the struggle for equality and constitutional rights can be seen through the literature and writing by the black leaders of the time.

Because of this, we would see people with different backgrounds getting shot and arrested for no reason. Whenever we go on social media, we would see that people are living in a state of fear whenever a police is nearby because they don’t know whether something bad will happen to them. In the article, “Something’s wrong when the law-abiding are afraid of police,” it talks about how a black woman was fearing for her life because a police officer pulled her over. The police officer didn’t arrest or shoot her, but instead asked her if she was feeling fine since she was driving under the speed limit. People started commenting that this black woman wouldn’t need to fear the police officer if she obeyed him. Perhaps that’s true for someone else, but African Americans are living a different truth. The problem with this is that no one should fear a police officer because they are suppose to serve and protect the community. When someone is fearing a police officer then we know that something isn’t right. We see that many different ethnic people are getting killed by police officers because they don’t seem to trust them but white people. That is why as a community, we should train police officers to become more comfortable with residents of a different racial background. Police officers are required to make our society safe but it turns out that they are the one that are causing us to live in a state of perturbation. For that reason, we know that our police officers are

A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

No matter who we are, we are respected or oppressed. Yes, we do have a problem with systemic oppression, rape culture, role models, respectability politics, and mythic individualism. Just like Trayvon Martin was killed for simply wearing a hoodie, this is definitely an example of systemic oppression. Our society is shaped in controversial beliefs. Cosby believes that being a wealthy successful man, now makes him the best and doesn’t care about anyone else, but himself; therefore becoming a mythic individual and “thinking” he overcame respectability politics. Not only does this shape our whole society, but also lives by it, therefore, demanding for an immediate change in our social point of

Think of an example from the news where a person was treated unfairly and contrast/compare them to Steve.

Modern America is known for freedoms so liberating and redeeming that the country has coined the name (epithet), “the land of opportunity.” Despite the wonderful characteristics previously mentioned, many believe America is in the midst of a racism epidemic. Although racism has been far more grave in the Country’s history, social media is dispersing racism like never before. As a white man in society I have never experienced the racial profiling and verbal harassments that many of my friends experience on a daily basis. This, while a privilege, should be an overarching “red flag” to society that there is a race issue in our country. The men and women of America should not be denied the rights and privileges of being an American due to the pigment in their skin. I have realized that the only true way to experience what more than twenty percent of the American population

Imagine. It’s a dark February night in Miami. You step out to your local convenience store to grab a couple of snacks. On your way home, you realize someone is following you. After you confront the person, a scuffle breaks out, and it results in your parents having to bury you at a cemetery. This was the unfortunate story of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. Martin was killed walking home from the local convenience store only armed with a bag of skittles and an iced tea. After being followed George Zimmerman, a local neighbourhood watch volunteer, Martin decided to confront Zimmerman. The end result leaving Trayvon Martin dead and George Zimmerman a free man. The story of Trayvon Martin proves the point that racism will is still alive and

“Black Lives Matter” —an intended progression in society without a hierarchy, merely marching forward by spur of the people. Started by three sisters who continue to keep the organization a chapter-based, left wing social justice operation, it can best be described as “Not a moment, but a movement” by those that follow it. The case that began this outcry involved a man —George Zimmerman— whom, according to Lizette Alvarez and Cara Buckley (2013), “was found not guilty [of] second-degree murder [and] was also acquitted of manslaughter, a lesser charge.” (para. 1). Since its initial start in 2013, the movement follows and protests against police brutality and civil injustice towards individuals of the Black minority; however, this is a prime example of hate breeding hate as the movement, has opened a new floodgate full of antipathy aimed towards the White-community and Law Enforcement Officials. In short, the initial idea of “Black Lives Matter” —which is to bring civil justice to the Black-community— is a good concept, but the execution by its adherents are, ironically, bigoted; the movement needs to either evolve its state of thought or disperse before it further segregates America.

The Black Lives Matter movement has swept across America. It 's branched out with chapters in over 31 cities and held rallies and boycotts across the United States(Sidner). The Black Lives Matter movement started with the outrage of the death of a young man. It continues to take over headlines and raise awareness on police brutality and inequality. However, the movement has met resistance from the All Lives Matter group. This group thinks that Black Lives Matter is a movement to express hatred towards other races. However, statistics, the views of fellow citizens, and the overall purpose of the Black Lives Matter movement, can prove that the movement wasn 't meant to express hate on other races and that we need to support the movement instead of going against it.