Inhumane Actions Can’t Be Justified!
CHAPTER 23: HOW DO YOU JUSTIFY INJUSTICE?
African Americans have been oppressed for a very long time. Hope this doesn’t come as surprise. If it does come as surprise then here’s why oppression is still present. For one, black people are trapped in these food deserts, with little-to-no opportunity. The best chance you have at surviving in a black neighborhood is having some type of “power.” Whether that means joining a gang, killing someone, or robbing someone. The rising of killings in the US over the last couple of years has been drastic. As you can see below, some big cities have had murder rate rises in one year of over 75%! Looking at Chicago is very ridiculous. Chicago seems to not have increased too drastically, but look at the numbers! In Chicago 2014, 244 murders were recorded, and in Chicago 2015, there was 294 murders recorded. It’s almost like they found a pattern and stuck to that pattern! These stats are truly sick! At least Chicago’s murder rates didn’t raise drastically. Right? Your attention should also be drawn to the fact that, in 2015 more than 100 unarmed black people were murdered by policemen. Almost all of those black people had no physical interaction with the police. A huge amount of them were under 18 years old.
Personal Experience
Understand this situation from another point-of-view. On the subject of police killings, a young black boy once said: ”As a young black boy, it makes me scared. Gives me this obligation to fight back, but I don’t want to be next.” Strong words from this young African-american man. This is the very reason why this topic is important to learn about. The impact that these events have on the youth is extravagant. This young man was asked if these killings could be justified and he continues to say “Of course not. No one innocent should be killed, especially because of their race. There should be no way that these criminals called policemen are still in the streets.” If you still can’t see what going on in the world, then you should really take a look for yourself! The young black boy seems to know what’s going on around him, as he was asked how these events affect the world, he says “These events just reassured people that no bill passed can eradicate racist people.”
Startling Facts!
Some statistics may prove to be quite mind-blowing. African-americans were enslaved for a jaw-dropping 245 years! The United States is made up of 62% white people and 13% African-americans. If that’s not surprising, then this will surprise you! In 2015, 1502 people were killed by policemen. 732 of those killings were white people and at least 381 were black. Remember that black people only make up 13% of the US population! These numbers are infuriating!
Are you surprised yet?
If what you have been reading hasn’t made you cringe at the sight of seeing a police officer, I don’t know what will. But there’s plenty of great police officers. Some police officers do & protect, and are really great it. The problem is not that all policemen are bad. The problem is, some black people are still unjustifiably dying even after slavery was “abolished,” and that in itself can’t even be justified!
Work Cited
"Timeline Of Unarmed Black People Killed By Police Over Past Year." b uzzfeed.com. Nicholas Quah, 1 May. 2015. Web. 1 Feb. 2017. "Timeline: The Black Lives Matter movement." abc.net.au. N.p., 21 July. 2016. Web. 24 Jan. 2017. "Young black men killed by US police at highest rate in year of 1,134 deaths." t heguardian.com. Jon Swaine, 31 Dec. 2015. Web. 24 Jan. 2017. "#BlackLivesMatter Costs Black Lives." nationalreview.com. David French, 2 Sep. 2015. Web. 24 Jan. 2017.