Modern Repercussions of Slavery
African Americans have suffered from systematic oppression since their arrival here as slaves. Throughout history black people have struggled to be treated fairly in our society. The root cause of this oppression is slavery. Since the abolition of slavery America's society and government have tried to find ways to still suppress black people. Modern forms of black oppression include mass incarceration and police brutality. Despite continuous injustice, black people have not given up reaching for justice. Social movements such as Black Lives Matter is one way black people are persevering against the injustice
Mass Incarceration
- Mass incarceration has become another way to enslave black men.
- White men that have been to jail are more likely to be hired than black men with a clean record; with this stipulation already in place adding a criminal record to a black man makes him virtually unmarketable. Incarcerating black men creates a cycle of restraining them
- Black men are often incriminated for drugs: drug use, selling drugs at higher rates and are given longer sentences. Despite many states legalizing drugs like marijuana many of the black men in jail on account of marijuana have not been released.
Police Brutality
- Police brutality is not a fresh topic, most black people have felt that they could not trust the police
- All black people are very self aware when it comes to crime and police, We know that other races would not be punished the same way; if a black man and a white man commit the same crime the black man is going to deal with a more severe sentencing.
A Few Reasons Why Police Have Killed Black People
Try to avoid the following
- Standing in front of your building at night
- Breaking up a fight in a nightclub
- Reaching for your ID
Black Lives Matter
- Is a response to black people being mistreated for so long, even after America was supposed to have changed their ways.
- Does not mean other lives don’t matter, BLM is a way to remind society that we matter and we are treated as if we don't.
- It is a movement demanding society to recognize what we go through as a race.
Mike Brown Would Have Been 19 Today
This video is very powerful in that it names all of the Black people murdered by police officers. This is a great representation of the BLM movement because it shows how prevalent this problem is and the lack of coverage society has for the killing of innocent people.
Further Readings
These topics are too expansive to accurately argue in one page, therefore these links are other articles that explore more in depth the topics I mentioned.
- https://www.bustle.com/articles/171561-10-shocking-cases-of-anti-black-police-brutality-and-the-lessons-they-teach
- https://www.preceden.com/timelines/307336-mass-incarceration-timeline
- https://rampages.us/biasinmassincarceration/2016/04/28/bias-in-mass-incarceration/
- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/sunday/criminal-justice-reforms-race-technology.html
- https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C22&q=black+lives+matter&oq=b&httpsredir=1&article=1400&context=esr
References
-Acquaye, Alisha. “10 Shocking Cases of Police Brutality.” Bustle, Bustle, 13 Nov. 2018, www.bustle.com/articles/171561-10-shocking-cases-of-anti-black-police-brutality-and-the-lessons-they-teach
- Alexander, Michelle. “The Newest Jim Crow.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 9 Nov. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/11/08/opinion/sunday/criminal-justice-reforms-race-technology.html.
-Apollovice. UNIV 200, rampages.us/biasinmassincarceration/2016/04/28/bias-in-mass-incarceration/.
- “Mass Incarceration Timeline.” Spanish Armada Timeline | Preceden, www.preceden.com/timelines/307336-mass-incarceration-timeline.