What Is Racial Inequality?

While there has been tangible progress made in race relations, inequalities still tarnish the country. In poor black communities across the nation, the lack of opportunity stifles potential and creates a cyclical chain of poverty and violence. Areas with high black populations struggling with violence and unequal policing, have prompted a modern civil right movement called “Black Lives Matter.” Critics of the movement often cite, the supposed inherent inequality in the idea. All lives matter, they argue, why should black lives matter specifically? The movement, however, does not argue that black lives matter more than lives of other races, the movement is saying that black lives matter just as much. Furthermore, it’s an exclamation, that calls for attention to be placed on communities ravaged by violence and poverty that are disproportion black. Similar to the movements of the 1960’s, the BLM movement is causing tension across the country. Like king argued, tension is the catalyst that inspires change and conversation. The nonviolent protests of BLM, seek to “dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored;” that is the “work of a nonviolent resister” (1310). Just as the march that was depicted in Selma, the BLM has sought to seek change without violence, but instead with protests and media campaigns. BLM methods parallel King’s use of non violent protest, in a

For the Social Justice Action Project, Britnee and I interviewed college students in the Northeast region who revealed their views on the Black Lives Matter Movement, racial injustice, and racial profiling. We had wanted to inform people of what the Black Lives Matter Movement stood for and tackle some of the myths and misconceptions of what the organization represented. In the process, the interviewees have expressed their feelings of how today’s society is blinded by irrational thinking and biased beliefs. This project have made us realize that people often blame the movement of being inconsiderate to all lives matter, relating the movement to the “armed and dangerous” Black Panthers, and the never-ending issues of police-to-black killings.

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)”.

For years, African-Americans have been mistreated, criminalized, and socially persecuted. Though the conditions of the African-American community have improved since the 19th century, African Americans have recently become increasingly criminalized and profiled by police officers. These injustices have given rise to many passionate and righteous political movements, such as the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Matter movement. Black activists have been righteously voicing their solutions and impositions of such said injustices through essays, articles, books, and other forms of literature.

Lately, there have been several stories in the news that highlight the mistreatment of African-Americans in today’s society. These stories are horrifying to read as an American who believes in justice and equality for all, and have caused quite a stir in the black community. After the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, a cry went out from the people; the slogan #BlackLivesMatter took life and started to spread throughout the United States. The slogan became even more popular with the people after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. This slogan is used around the United States today as a way to bring light to the long unresolved and underlying issue of racism and oppression of blacks in this country. This transaction

The racial disparities against African Americans lies is shameful, but not surprising. Race matters in the United States. People of color do not receive the same benefits and equality as white people; whether it be in education, the workplace and in the judicial system. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the racial disparities to African Americans in what subsequently led to the Black lives Matter movement. I have chosen a series of photos that capture historical events of protests and movements including an analysis of one of my images.

“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.

While driving down the road, I see a sign, “Black Lives Matter”, and I ponder on the question to myself, “what equality is there in humanity”. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”( Congress, 1776). I ask myself, at the time the Declaration of Independence was being written, did they forget to disclose the statement,” except for Black people.” The vast majority of social media sources, in 2016 have displayed the slogan, “Black Lives Matter”. I asked myself, have Black lives ever mattered in the United States of America, and what can citizens do to provide inclusion of membership for everyone. The history of the United States has shown racial disparities for over 200 years, and while the emancipation of slaves and the Civil Rights movement has shown some progression towards unity; the divide is apparent in everyday life.

Imagine the news headlines filled with nothing but people like you - same hair, skin, defining features - except all the headlines are filled with death. Death at the hands of people we are all taught to trust with our safety. This is how my 2015 summer had been. Days upon days of headlines with black people being killed by “peace” officers. As the list of names grew longer, it became apparent that there was no intention to protect the black community, instead, the public was being “protected” from us. Growing up in a community of minorities, I had come to believe that there was a sense of solidarity in our struggles. I was wrong in thinking our shared status meant unity. At the core of every marginalized community, is a sense of anti-blackness. This harsh realization happened during a class discussion when everyone was throwing into my face that ultimately my feelings and thoughts did matter. I was reminded that I was an other and I stood alone in this fight for my community.

The purpose of an anti-racist, feminist, environmental, social justice activist, children’s advocacy and international development agencies are to raise awareness about racial oppressions, social justice and its relevance to society, and to encourage multiculturalism and to spread anti-racism around the world. As the time change, so does these movements and in the twenty-first century so do their methods to spread awareness on racial oppression, social justice and diversity of multiculturalism. Social movements bring awareness to racial oppression by either protesting or by creating videos of interviews or creating scenes talking about the racial oppression. The goals of bring awareness to any issue is to catch the eye of mainstream media

Even though America is the world dominating superpower and is known to intervene on behalf of the violation of human rights internationally, it fails to acknowledge and correct the flaws its legal and justice system present against its own citizens. African Americans have long been targeted by the police force and have been oppressed by the government before, as we are familiar with the Civil Rights Movement that occurred in 1955 due to segregation and discrimination. The system has justified racial profiling, specifically against African Americans, and granted those with authority the right to incarcerate or punish those they deem dangerous. The actions of the American government have given way to the increase incarceration of African Americans and have allowed white privilege to prevail in the justice system. The social movement Black Lives Matter, although recently acknowledged or recognized, is not based on a new issue but rather an old issue that is quickly reviving due to the injustices Black Americans are facing. In short, social movements are known as politics through other means. They occur when people take to the streets in order to have their voices heard by authority and feel as if they are unable to

The research into racial inequality has mostly focused on the disadvantages experienced by the oppressed group. As the field continues to grow, it has become increasingly important to examine the privileges experienced by Whites (Bonilla-Silva, 2006). But to effectively examine this, the White individual must accept the fact that White privilege and racism still very much exist in the United States and how it affects all aspects of our culture and institutions.

The barriers that separate men have existed for centuries. Race, class, status, these are all ideas that have created a divide among humans. This divide creates competition and tension. Throughout the history of the legal system, justice has been used to validate slavery and other forms of racial inequality. Our system now has changed, but the basic concept has remained the same. According to one study, the judicial system was invented by whites to protect whites and keep people of color at bay (Constitutional Rights Foundation, 2017, p1). This idea of preserving a one superior racial system resulted in a bias still existent today.

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.

I believe that domestic racial equity should be a significant priority for the American government in the future. On July 7, 2016, an Army Reserve Afghan War veteran killed two police officers and wounded two civilians; Two preceding shooting in both Louisiana and Minnesota aroused his resentment against white police officers. No matter whether statutes and policies have directly stipulated internal and external racial discrimination, the domestic racial violence has still not been exterminated from the society. Without the government prioritizing the justice against racial segregation, America won’t be able to better the future of the