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White privilege and whiteness
The causes of racial conflict
White privilege and whiteness
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In the world we live in today, racial discrimination occurs in almost every diverse society. The United States is one of the countries in which are no exception to this issue. More specifically, Missouri is a state which holds a vast population of African Americans, causing animosity towards particular races. In the summer of 2014, a reported robbery to the Ferguson police caused a 90 second scene between Michael Brown, an African American teenage boy, and Darren Wilson, a white officer. This act created a massive conflict which lead to the end of the boy’s life. Although one’s perspective differs from another’s, the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson was justified because of Wilson’s self-guardianship, and the physical …show more content…
Eighteen year old Michael Brown, was involved in an intense conflict with Ferguson officer Darren Wilson. When Brown was first encountered by Wilson, the officer may have hesitated not knowing if Brown was armed. For this reason, Wilson may have had the urge to protect himself in self defense, due to an obvious threat and insecurity. When Brown caught a glimpse of Wilson's eyes, Wilson said he felt as if Brown wanted to “intimidate me or overpower me.” Wilson’s initial thoughts were that Michael Brown was physically much bigger than him, which is factually true. Brown, at 292 lbs, would clearly beat Wilson, being 210 lbs, in a physical attack. As Wilson grabbed Brown, he said “I felt like a five year old holding onto Hulk Hogan.” Wilson’s feelings express how tense and insecure he felt during this moment, which lead him to take action. There was a bullet captured in the inside of the driver’s door of Wilson’s police car, which was shot at a downward angle. This shot was most likely fired during the close range combat between Wilson and Brown, and perhaps conveyed how Wilson did not know what or where he was shooting, he simply wanted to protect himself. Many eyewitnesses described this scene as a “punching” or “tussling” action. Others described it as a “fight of tug of war.” However one may call it, it was clearly a difficult and pressured episode. One can imagine the …show more content…
These assumptions are often based on racist stereotypes. Following this episode, protesters broke out in the streets, arguing that “black lives matter,” and that Michael Brown’s death should not go in vein. They used this as an example of racial abuse, and unjustified murder of black people. They claimed that their lives are not valued as much as the whites. This movement caused a widespread discussion amongst all kinds of people, and the subject of discrimination was again a hot topic of discussion in the media. Many would say that Wilson, being white, did not have enough reason to shoot and kill Brown, with the knowledge that Brown has previously committed a crime. Although Brown was formerly guilty of stealing, and deserved a punishment to some extent, many think that the uprising chaos that Wilson caused, was too harsh of a consequence. Taking all of this into consideration, the jury agreed that all lives matter, not just a specific race. To protect the law enforcement’s safety, and those subject to the scene, officers involved have a right to defend themselves if demands are not met. For this specific case, the officer is innocent unless proven guilty that his action was not justified without a reasonable doubt. In other words, the jury can not indict a person if they are not fully proven guilty of
This book is telling a story about two African American boys (Wes A and Wes P) who have the same name and grew up at same community, but they have a very different life. The author, Wes A, begins his life in a tough Baltimore neighborhood and end up as a Rhodes Scholar, Wall Streeter, and a white house fellow; The other Wes Moore begins at the same place in Baltimore , but ends up in prison for the rest of his life. Then why do they have the same experience, but still have a totally different life? I will agree here that environment (family environment, school education environment and society environment) is one of the biggest reasons for their different.
Nikole Hannah-Jones, the author of the article “School Segregation, the Continuing Tragedy of Ferguson,” (2014) writes about how the Normandy school district in which Ferguson students attend, ranked at the very bottom of all Missouri schools for performance. As relayed by Hannah-Jones (2014), the Normandy school district is “among the poorest and most segregated in Missouri” (p. 2). The August 2014 shooting death of a young African-American, Michael Brown, by a white police officer, spurred riots not only in St. Louis, but also in other cities nationwide. Black and white children in the St. Louis region remain educationally divided, and the state Board of Education knows what needs to change in order for black children to gain a better
Tan includes a direct quote from her mother in paragraph six of the reading, and she does not shorten it for an important reason. Tan decides to keep the entire quote instead of paraphrasing to add an effect that a reader can only understand with the full quote. It shows that even though some people speak the language of English it is hard for others to understand based on the person’s full understanding and comprehension of the language. In Tan’s case she is used to the way her mother speaks and uses the language, but to others it is almost impossible to understand. If it were not for Tan summarizing what the quote meant before putting it in the text, few readers would have understood what the mother was trying to convey with her use of the language. Tan’s strategy in including this direct quotation is to show that language differs from person to person even if they all speak the same language. She is implying that the whole world could speak English; however, it would not be the same type of English because of how everyone learns and how others around
There were no charges made against officer Wilson even with the suspects that claimed Michael Brown didn't do anything wrong . Police brutality has made black people take a stand and they formed the Black Lives Matter Movement.The Black Lives Matter movement started in 2012 after George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community, shot and killed Trayvon Martin. Following Martin’s death protests, rallies, and marches were held all across the nation. The Black Lives Matter movement includes all the ways in which black lives are less powerful at the hands of the state, it is a call for action against brutality by police and vigilantes, people who take the law into their own hands by trying to catch or punish someone in their own way. Politicians are also trying to straighten gun laws to prevent homicides like Bernie Sanders. Sanders wants stricter background checks so guns won’t be in the wrong hands. He also wants to ban assault weapons to citizens that were made to kill people. I personally think this can help improve our nation because it will give people with a criminal history less chances of owning guns but it also gives a right to people without a criminal background to be able to own guns for their own
The report included testimony from Officer Darren Wilson, physical evidence, forensic evidence, and many witnesses. According to the Department of Justice report on the incident, Officer Darren Wilson was driving after finishing one of his calls and saw Michael Brown and his friend walking on the double yellow line in the middle of the street blocking traffic. According to his account, officer Wilson told them to move to the sidewalk in which they ignored. He then noticed they fit the descriptions he had earlier heard of the suspects of the robbery, he then parked his vehicle blocking traffic. He attempted to get out of his vehicle to speak to the boys but apparently Michael Brown blocked the car door and started to punch the officer. They engaged in a scuffle where Officer Wilson reached for his gun in which he claims that all he had access to. Michael Brown tried to take control of the gun, according to Wilson’s account. (Department of Justice, 2015) Officer Wilson then regained control of the gun and shot Michael Brown’s hand. Michael Brown then took off and Wilson chased him on foot. Brown started coming towards Wilson. Many witnesses even described Brown as “charging” towards Wilson. (McLaughlin, E. C. (2014, August 15) Wilson warned Brown multiple times and Brown kept moving forward towards Wilson
Besides, the prosecutors presented the case using the influence from the Black Lives Matter movement to the jurors, which influenced the grand jury’s decision as well. Such as, the death of Akai Gurley added more outrage to the movement on police brutality against minorities. However, the testimony specified that Officer Liang did not see the victim before even the incident took place. In this case, he should not have been blamed for killing a minority. Besides, the supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement showed solidarity by validating the verdict, without even realizing that it was a racial discrimination against Liang as well. First of all, this shooting took place prior the grand jury deteriorated to charge a white police officer for the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson. Secondly, this case also took place weeks before a single grand jury conveyed no charges against the white NYPD officer for the death of Eric Garner. As it can be seen that, none of the other law enforcement officers was charged with any crime, unlike Liang where accusations were forcefully turned towards him. As the former NYC Comptroller Liu stated referring to this case was, “in the wake of unfortunately so many deaths of unarmed black me, some cops gotta hang”. The reason behind Liang got convicted due to him being a minority over being
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James has been the cause of many debates about whether or not the ghosts are real, or if this is a case of a woman with psychological disturbances causing her to fabricate the ghosts. The story is told in the first person narrative by the governess and is told only through her thoughts and perceptions, which makes it difficult to be certain that anything she says or sees is reliable. It starts out to be a simple ghost story, but as the story unfolds it becomes obvious that the governess has jumps to conclusions and makes wild assumptions without proof and that the supposed ghosts are products of her mental instability which was brought on by her love of her employer
“Justice cannot be for one side alone, but must be for both” (Roosevelt). The goal of America’s legal system as we know it is that everyone is given an equal opportunity to stick up for what they may or may not have done, as described by former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Also this is what officials strive for, it is not always the case. Facts can be skewed, distorted, or misrepresented to make one side seem to be guilty without a doubt and to make the other side seem as if they have done nothing wrong. The Crucible by Arthur Miller begins and ends with one-sided accusations of witchcraft. It all results from a group of girls who had been dancing in the woods. After two fall sick, the accusations begin. The girls who were dancing, especially Abigail Williams begin blaming others to look less guilty themselves. Accusations are flying left and right so that soon, hundreds are in jail and over a dozen are executed. Abby’s main goal is to get rid of Elizabeth Proctor, so she can be with John Proctor, a man she previously had an affair with. However, John is not interested in Abby and his
Much like the adage, prevention is better than cure many African American parents hoped to prevent an incident in which their child would be disciplined by America. In this attempt the parents would make certain that their child is disciplined beforehand. The method used was physical discipline, a lower wrong than the discipline of America. While reminiscing of the first time his father disciplined him physically, Coates recalls that “Maybe that saved [him]. Maybe it didn’t” (16). As a child one cannot fully grasp the gravity and pain of a parent beating their child. It is only once Coates becomes a parent himself that he understood the complexities of being a parent of a child of color. Coates articulates, “Now I personally understood my father and the old mantra— ‘Either I can beat you or the police.’ I understood it all… Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have and you come to us endangered” (82). Coates, now an adult understood both the love and fear in which his father had when beating him. Additionally, Coates, from his experiences in his childhood understood the growing up as an African American male in America is dangerous and unforgiving. Police brutality is the strong arm in which America uses to discipline young African American teen who fail to comply with their requests. Cooper makes note of this use of brutality by America when she discusses the death of Michael Brown at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson. Cooper
In 2014, the death of Eric Garner in New York City raised controversial conversations and highlighted the issues of race, crime, and policing in neighborhoods that tend to be poor and racially isolated. Garner, an unarmed black man, was killed after being tackled and held in a “chokehold.” According to the AP Polls in December 2014, “Police killings of unarmed blacks were the most important news stories of 2014.” The problem is that young black men are targeted by police officers in which they have responded with the misuse of force and policy brutality. It is evident that this issue affects many people nationwide. The civilians do not trust the police department and the justice system because they hold the perceptions that police officers are immune from prosecution despite their actions. In particular, black individuals, specifically black males, do not feel safe in the presence of police officers because they are not held accountable for their mistakes.
When engaging in the controversy surrounded around Sandra Bland’s arrest and followed death, one quote comes to mind, “ Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation”(Oscar Wilde). While numerous speculations have been created; for the most part America has divided into two perspectives. Those who believe this case is a suicide with a dash of coincidental, and those who believe this case is a homicide with racial intentions. Many ruling Bland’s case a homicide with racial intentions are treating the case like an axiom; however, this is a unique case that requires more than a glance over social media. Others look at this case blind due to racial beliefs and stereotypes. After conducting a personal investigation, I found error on both sides of the case.
Witnesses in this case described Brown and Wilson having a scuffle inside of the car, and the gun went off through the car before Brown jumped out and started running (Dennis & Santhanam). Once Wilson got out the car he immediately started shooting. Brown put both hands in air and tuned around towards Wilson and he shot 5 more times a total 6 shots until Mike Brown was dead on the ground (Dennis & Santhanam). Was it right for him to shoot him that many times, and was he a threat once he was away from Mr. Wilson? Why didn’t he take off on foot, or call for backup? Why did he immediately shoot, as well as shoot him up to six times? Were those ethical decisions, well these are just a few of the questions American citizens were discussing in their
“I always feel like somebody's watching me and I have no privacy.” These are the famous lyrics from one of Michael Jackson's hit songs Somebody’s Watching Me. Now, back when this song was created, there was not as much worry about people constantly being watched by cameras, but it seems to fit in the problem that my generation is facing. In the book 1984, written by George Orwell, the society is always being watched through a device called a telescreen. The main character, Winston, has trouble adjusting to the life of always being monitored, and the fact that if you made one mistake you could be tortured or killed. This book was made in the late 1940’s and was written to show what the predicted future would be like. Many people who have read
In August 2014, four deaths made big headlines nationwide. Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Ezell Ford, and John Crawford III all tragically died at the hands of the police as a result of the use of deadly force. Perhaps more tragic is the fact that all four men were African American and therefore have drawn attention as examples of racial bias held by the law enforcement community. However, their cases have led to much speculation regarding whether or not police use of deadly force is legal, or even ethical. Based on current United States constitutional law and case law, deadly force is allowed, but is regulated to an extent based upon the circumstances which surround its use. Many people believe that regulations regarding the use of deadly
Somehow, even though King was clearly a victim, the jurors interpreted it as King being “in total control” of the situation, a body threatening the police rather than a body being threatened. They saw the actions of the police as reasonable in an act of self-defense. This article can be linked to “Booty Call”, as the author touches upon racial profiling, which is what happened in the King case. Racial profiling is the “potential threat caused by African American men’s bodies” (Collins, 2004). This means that racial profiling acts in a racist “what if” scenario. This leads to the belief that if the police did not hurt King, maybe he would be hurting the public, as the black body is seen as “always already performing within white racist imagery” (Butler, 1993). This reminds me of the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown, in which a white police officer shot a young black man after he allegedly robbed a convenience