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The Theme Of Police Brutality In Fruitvale Station

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Police Brutality has stemmed from racist attitudes, discrimination, and prejudice to African Americans. In the movie “Fruitvale Station” the subject of police brutality is touched on through the true story of Oscar Grant III an African American young man who was assassinated in 2009. The movie follows Grant who is played by Michael B. Jordan in his final twenty-four hours of life. The shooting takes place after Grant and his girlfriend are on the subway returning home in the early morning on New Year’s with some friends. After a fight breaks out on the subway the police are called and Grant and his friends are taken off the train and handcuffed after a verbal altercation between Grant and the police officers one of the officers takes out and shoots Grant. Grant is taken to the hospital where he passes away. The officer who assassinated Grant was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and spent a year in jail. The main theme this movie follows is police brutality. The reason I chose to discuss this movie is because Police brutality is a very large issue that has occurred too often in the past few years in this country. Oscar Grant is one of the many African American men who have lost their life and left behind a family because of senseless police brutality. Police Brutality is a very difficult issue to discuss because people should feel protected around police rather than fear for their lives and for many people of color this is their reality. Police brutality solely stems from racist attitudes, discrimination, and prejudice of African Americans in the United States.

Racism is the negative treatment of a person based off their race. Throughout history African Americans are the minority group that has faced the most racism and oppression. African Americans began as slaves in this country after slavery ended they were still inferior due to segregation. Race is what has caused this oppression for African Americans making this form of oppression racism. As stated in the lecture “Racism can refer to personal or social beliefs, practices, and different institutions that discriminate against people based on their perceived or attributed race.” (Reali, 2017) Today in society the way that African Americans are

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