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Alesia Zichler
Professor Dickerman
English Comp 101
December 12, 2014
I Can’t Breathe “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” Martin Luther King Jr. said this in his “I Have A Dream Speech” in 1963. Martin Luther King Jr. said this fifty years ago and today in the twenty first century, African Americans are still fighting for equality. Race relations in the United States is a problem that is constantly arising in communities all over. If nothing is done about the relationships, mainly between African Americans and white people, and Muslims and white people, then nothing will change. The pervasive belief
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In New York, in this case, there was a black man, who was put in a chokehold by a white cop and ended up dead. In the video that is on the Guardian News, it shows the police officers trying to arrest Garner. There was one officer standing behind Garner and when they tried to arrest him he began to resist. The officers did not telling him why he was being arrested or what crime he was committing. After the police officer that was standing behind Garner could not place Garner under arrest, he put him in a choke hold. Under the law it is illegal for a police officer to put a suspect, or anyone else in a choke hold, because it can lead to choking and death. He was on the ground still in a chokehold repeating the words, “I can’t breathe” and the cop continued to keep him in the chokehold (Duncan). After a few minutes Garner stopped responding and was dead …show more content…
Even if you can get one person to change their mind about black people or people of the Middle Eastern descent then you are doing something to change the world. Changing one life is better than changing none.
To educate someone about how racism is still happening, the person would have to be open to listening to the conversation, because if the person does not want to hear about it then they will shut down the idea completely. Racism is still happening in today’s culture and in everyday life and if nothing is done about it and we stay uneducated about how it is happening, nothing will change and it will continue to be a battle that black people and all other races will fight
Martin Luther King Jr’s Dream has said to have been fulfilled. However, others claim that the dream has only been taken at face value, thus, misunderstood. In John McWhorter’s article, “Black People Should Stop Expecting White America to ‘Wake Up’ to Racism,” he refers to past and recent events to establish the difference between society’s fantasy and the misinterpreted Dream of Dr. King.
In Dr. King’s words: “Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear drenched communities, and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty.”
Martin Luther King, Jr., attempts the near impossible–to convince a country run rampant with racism that African Americans are human beings, and that they deserve to be treated as such. His speech is powerful and effective; his message transcends time with his ability to stir the moral conscience of the country as a whole while still delivering hope to the African American people. Though Dr. King’s words are poetic and eloquent, they demand action within the hearts and minds of all listening. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., will not rest until, “all of God’s children,” can sing together, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we are free at
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
In Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, he elaborates on the injustices that were wildly plaguing America in the year 1963. Black people all over the country were being treated unfairly, locked up in prison for false crimes, and refused the great opportunities that white people were so lucky to receive. Before the year 1963, President Abraham Lincoln was the last person to make such an impact in the equal treatment of all people, so for about 100 years, blacks had no one to back them in their fight for equal treatment.
Throughout history, African Americans have encountered an overwhelming amount of obstacles for justice and equality. You can see instances of these obstacles especially during the 1800’s where there were various forms of segregation and racism such as the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan terrorism, Jim- Crow laws, voting restrictions. These negative forces asserted by societal racism were present both pre and post slavery. Although blacks were often seen as being a core foundation for the creation of society and what it is today, they never were given credit for their work although forced. This was due to the various laws and social morals that were sustained for over 100 years throughout the United States. However, what the world didn’t know was that African Americans were a strong ethnic group and these oppressions and suffrage enabled African Americans for greatness. It forced African Americans to constantly have to explore alternative routes of intellectuality, autonomy and other opportunities to achieve the “American Dream” especially after the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments were passed after the Civil War.
First, racism still plays a big factor in today’s society as it did fifty years ago. Some might say that everyone has equal opportunity, but some people in America will never see that blacks and whites are equal. Humans have the tendency to judge what is on the outside before seeing who the person really is. The South is the main area where the darker colors mean there is less opportunity and lighter colors mean that there’s more. In today’s society the ability to attain the American Dream is heavily influenced by race. While it is still p...
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Martin Luther King Jr. from the “I Have a Dream” speech on August 28th, 1963. This quote is one of his most famous, because a significant amount of people could relate to it and even after more than fifty years people still do.
On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner was attempted to be arrested for evading the state tax law on selling cigarettes. This was not the first time he was arrested for selling cigarettes for an illegal price. The officers tried to detain Garner, but he resisted against the officers. In the heat of the moment, the officers were startled by Garner’s size and tried to take him down by grabbing ahold of his neck to lower him to the ground. According to the New York Times, Garner pleaded 11 times “I can't breathe” until they choked him to death (1). The white police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, was found to be the one that had killed him. He was brought to the jury, but the case resulted in no criminal charges against Pantaleo. This is not the first police
Eric Garner was selling cigarettes, an action that didn't require any physical involvement between him and the police, however, the police places Eric Garner within a chokehold, blocking his airways. After many attempts of Garner telling the police officers “I Can’t Breathe,” the refused to release their grip and ultimately killed Garner. Their justification for their actions was Garner’s “resistance,” although I believe even if Garner did resist, that didn’t give them the right to take his life over cigarettes. One of the police officers were placed on modified duty (stripped of badge and gun) the other placed on desk duty while Eric Garner was placed in a
"I Have A Dream" and "Victory Speech" are two amazingly powerful speeches delivered by two big leaders of the American nation: Martin Luther King and Barack Obama. Both of these speeches are united in the hopes of creating a better country and achieving the American dream. The two discourses are an introduction to a change or to an improvement. Although these speeches are fairly similar, their purposes and audience are different.
Martin Luther King Jr. and Barack Obama were both leaders in this nation, one who lead a movement and one who lead a nation. The two are not so different, they were the leaders of movements in the phases of America, Martin Luther King lead the civil rights movement given equality amongst the blacks and whites in America and Barack lead the movement of a new generation of democrats and republicans who seek for a new America.
Throughout the world, racism has been represented through the discrimination of people of different races. These unfair actions have sparked the mindsets of civil rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr to pursue change. One quote from Martin Luther King Jr, “ I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…” This quote means that so far as a human race, we have not yet advanced enough to be broken from the chains that racism has input upon us throughout time and as long as we have these chains, we as humans will not be able to truly and peacefully interact with one another.
Martin Luther King Jr said in his speech “ I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.”“ Tens of thousands flocked to the national mall for the ceremony celebrating king's address, the culmination of a historic, march on Washington for jobs and freedom, that drew crowds of 250,000.” ( "Civil Rights Movement." Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History. Ed. Thomas Carson and Mary Bonk. Detroit: Gale, 1999. N. page. Biography in Context. Web. 2 Jan. 2017.” “It would be easy to assume that the stirring words of Martin Luther King Jr's ` I have a dream speech ` affected Americans most of all. HIs goading of a nation live up to the democratic principles fits founders was a sharp.” ( Snyder, Elliott. "How Martin Luther King's 'I Have A Dream' Speech Changed The World."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 03 Jan.
In the court case, City of Los Angeles v. Lyons, a black man was pulled over by Los Angeles police department for driving with a burned out tail light. The police officer then proceeds to put the man in a chokehold (Eichelberger). Pulling someone over with a burned out tail light is completely apart of protocol, but immediately putting them in a chokehold afterwards is unnecessary. It brings up questions as to whether or not police officers were trained this way. The ruling of this case was that they had to prove that every person stopped by the Los Angeles police department, was put in a chokehold (Eichelberger). People wondered, was one person not enough? If they did it to one person then they have to have done it before to someone else. It seems like these cases are protecting policeman from their own unjustly