On September 17th 2015 a young teen was stopped by an officer
for J-walking. The teen resisted arrest so he was struck several times with a
baton by a police officer. After several minutes the officer thought that he couldn’t
handle the situation on his own so he called in for backup, the teen was then
wrestled to the ground by several officers. People on the street that were
recording and watching the incident unfold were yelling at the police “he is
just a kid what are you thinking” “that’s just a child”. It resulted in the
sobbing teen being arrested (lookdifferent.com). The number one question being
asked is “would they of attacked the teen if he were white”. People today
believe that it wouldn’t have happened and they wouldn’t have used such extreme
force if he would have been white. I disagree
with this, I believe they would have taken the same actions but it just wouldn’t
have been made such a big deal through social media and been all over the news.
Racism is a big topic in today’s society; racism means “the belief that all members
of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race,
especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or
races”. People today blow racism out of proportion; they think that certain
things wouldn’t happen to people if they were white. Many people believe that
if you are white you are treated better than any other race. Racism is taken
way too far when it comes to social media, people share incidents involving
police brutality and state that this wouldn’t of happened if he would have been
white, however this is not the case. Whether you are white, black, Hispanic or
any other race police will treat you the same and they will take the same
actions. If a white person were to resist arrest the officer would have
attacked him as well and called for backup, it doesn’t matter what race you
are, if you break the law or resist arrest or act as if you’re going to pull a
gun out on an officer than that officer will handle the situation the same way.
Social media is where the racism starts because people state “oh it wouldn’t of
happened if he was white” those are the kind of comments and statements that
make me mad because if I were to resist arrest the same actions the officer is supposed
to take, he would take not caring what race I was. Another example is that if a
black teenager and I both have suspended licenses and we both got pulled over, I
wouldn’t be let go he would arrest me just like he would arrest the black
teenager. I disagree with racism and I believe that everyone should be treated
equally and have all the same opportunities, your race should never matter. I also
disagree on how people all around the world on social media blow everything out
of proportion and make racist comments. If It weren’t for social media
incidents with the police wouldn’t be turned into racist topics and they wouldn’t
be as big of a thing as they are today.
Sources: http://www.lookdifferent.org/
This is very true. Not everything that happens is because of race. It is usually because of the actions of the individual. People are arrested for crimes that they commit, not the color of their skin. Social media does blow things way out of proportion too. They make it seem like every time an African American is accused of something, it's because they're African American, and not because of what they did
ReplyDeleteRacism in America is alive and well. It doesn't seem like people of color feel safe in their own home now. It's sad that after all this time people still feel objectified because the color of their skin. People get so riled up about the "police brutality" videos because they feel like racism takes play in everything. Although if you compare videos of white people getting arrested versus people of color getting arrested is there maybe a slight chance that the police officers are more aggressive with people of color? The man who went around shooting people in Chattanooga and was captured alive. While in Dallas, a man of color, who was also mentally ill, was shot six times in the chest for answering his door with a small screwdriver. At no time did he make an aggressive step towards the officers but they they shot him and killed him right in front of his own mother. Im not saying that all police officers are racially motivated when it comes to their jobs but there are some that are. You cant escape racism, it's everywhere
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