Black Lives Matter: A Call for Justice and Equality
In work 'Black Lives Matter Essay Conclusion' we will talk about the problem of racism in the USA and the historical movement Black Lives Matter. Racism has been a part of mankind since the beginning of time. One is not born with racist ideas or attributes. Racism is something an individual is taught and develops to learn over time. Racism almost rarely ever causes damage to the person being racist, it’s usually the receiver who ends up being hurt the most. But it does not just hurt the individual but the community and society are affected just as equally. But blacks have fought and come up with a solution to fight against racism and police brutality. They started a movement known as the Black Lives Matter movement back in 2013, and since then the movement has been trending. The black lives matter movement's sole purpose was to target six problems: end the war on blacks, Reparations, Invest- Divest, Economic Justice, Community Control, and Political Power. But in my specific paper, I’ll be talking about ending demonization, mass incarceration, and the killing of blacks by police. All three issues make the black lives matter movement so important.
A major problem that just keeps on occurring is the demonization of blacks by police officers. The black lives matter movement did not start from just one case of police brutality incidents but it occurred with the continuous visible killings and demonization that led to many black unarmed Americans being killed. But let’s take a look back to the start of the demonization of black Americans and how it all started. It all began during slavery as the image of blacks was tarnished from the beginning. Blacks but specifically black males character were seen as passive, if asked to describe a black male brain of an animal would usually come up. Another example of blacks being stereotyped is the utilization of Blackface. A kind of performance led by white entertainers wearing dark make-up to depict individuals of color in generalizations the performance became famous in the nineteenth century. White entertainers advocated singer shows, portraying generalizations of Dark life as absurd, chaotic, and by and large comedic to the detriment of black culture. Now in today’s time, we see this type of thing all the time, where blacks are portrayed as something solely based on how they dress or how they speak. Painting it as the majority of black males are thugs, this is actually the reasoning behind most police fatalities of blacks. In 2012 a young teenage boy by the name of Trayvon Martin was a victim of this. He was walking back home from a convenience store when officer Zimmerman spotted him. He called the police department and told them that he had noticed a suspicious suspect, he also added that it looks like he was on drugs. The department made it clear that they did not need Zimmerman to follow Martin but he did so. He ended up firing and killing the teen, when police arrived he said that he had been assaulted and felt the teen was armed, but in reality, he was another black unarmed male killed. That incident happened in 2012 but the list continues to grow more and more, there was 985 black that was shot and killed just over the past year (Washingtonpost 2021). And the biggest advocate for this we have seen today is the brutal killing of unarmed black male George Floyd. The killing of George Floyd infuriated the black community and the black lives matter group played a large role in getting officer Derek Chauvin arrested. Not too many officers get arrested for the killing of blacks but this just really shows how important the role black lives matter group has and how they are making change.
Secondly, another problem that continues to occur in America today is the mass incarceration of blacks but primarily young black males. The civil rights act was brought into play, ending legal segregation. But it did not cure the country from anti-black racism, President Nixon stoked white paranoia and promoted the myth of black crime by brutally suppressing prison uprisings. He then used the 'War on Drugs'' to criminalize black citizens and suppress opposition that threatened the economic interests of white elites. As it stands today one out of every three Black boys born today can expect to be sentenced to prison. Ultimately meaning that the stereotypes are true, if you are a black male and born into a poor area and you have a lack of resources such as a good or decent level of education then you are bound to go to prison. The “War on Drugs” also played a big role in many blacks being imprisoned. For communities of color, misguided drug policies and stringent sentencing guidelines, especially in the case of crack cocaine, have resulted in deeply unequal outcomes for blacks. Blacks are much more likely than whites to be charged with violating drug laws. Despite the fact that blacks use and sell drugs at the same rate as whites, 57 percent of those imprisoned in state prisons for drug crimes are black. Studies show that African Americans are incarcerated at more than 5 times the rate of white. At the end of all of this the cycle of incarceration tends to keep happening, 650,000 Americans return to their communities from prison each year. About half of them will return to prison within a few years. A year after being released, almost 75% of formerly incarcerated people are still unemployed. A lack of secure jobs raises the chances of a person returning to jail or prison. Being that they have a criminal record and or a lack of education it makes it almost impossible to get a job, which almost forces them to participate in illegal activities to make a way of living.
Lastly, the biggest problem that has been occurring for decades is the killing of blacks by police. Statistics show that in 2017 police killed 1,147 people in 2017 and 25% of those people were blacks, even though the population of blacks is 13%. This shows that blacks are indeed victims of brutality more than twice their rate in the general population. There are many examples of this happening to name a few George Floyd, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and many more. Often times these killings go overlooked and are just said to be that the officers are simply just doing their jobs. But the question is then posed when was killing unarmed blacks part of protecting and serving or who are you really protecting and serving? There are often times said, “ What would you do if you were the officer and your life was in danger?” But was really any of these officers' life in any type of danger at all? Every single person I named was unarmed and the majority of the police fatalities on blacks are unarmed black men. So I don’t see how a person with a firearm could feel like their life is in danger by a person without one. And most officers do follow the rules and are genuinely good cops but there are some bad cops like the ones who have taken the lives of the blacks I have named. Because I believe and many others that rioted believe racist bias gets in the way.
Such as Dr. Martin Luther King, I too have a dream. I would like to see an end of demonization, mass incarceration, and the killing of blacks by police. I’m tired of seeing all over social media and news headlines there is some type of police brutality or killing of blacks. Overall I just want equal opportunity for blacks and I’m sure that is all blacks have wanted for decades. They have always been the ones mistreated and tricked out of what they deserve. They said black lives matter not only black lives matter. They know all lives matter but they just need help with black lives matter for black lives are in danger.
