Black Lives Matter

              Black Lives Matter has been a very popular term in the weeks and months following the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Gardner, and Freddie Grey. It is a term that is self-explanatory. Black Lives Matter. There is distrust in the black community that every time they leave the house, they will be in some type of altercation with the police. In this report I have gotten my information about this national movement from The Huffington Post and Heart Light Magazine.

                Earlier this year, Time put out an issue that said Black Lives Matter. This was right after Walter Scott, a young black man, was shot eight times and killed by a white police officer for running away. The police officer was charged with murder, and this spoke volumes. Racism has been a part of this country for hundreds of years. Rupel Shelley of Heart Light Magazine claims, “We don't want to be held responsible for bringing Africans to these shores as slaves over two centuries ago! Of course not. But the fact remains that it happened. Black people continue to suffer for it. White people continue to have the upper hand in America. And the playing field isn't level."

More than half of the black millennials in America, as reported by the Huffington Post, indicated they, or someone they knew, had been victimized by violence or harassment from law enforcement. At the same time 71% of black millennials claim that law enforcement is there to protect them. 85% of whites, 76% of Hispanics, and 89% of Asians also said that law enforcement is there to protect them. Cathy Cohen, chair of the political science department at the University of Chicago and the leader of the black Youth Project claims that, "We know that young blacks are more likely to be harassed by the police. We know that they are most likely to mistrust their encounters with the police.” Jon Rogowski, an assistant political science professor at Washington University at St. Louis said, "White millennials don't report having to explain themselves to police, white millennials of color report that officers stopped them simply to question them about what they were up to.” When black millennials get arrested, they do not believe that they will get fair treatment from the legal system. 38% of all millennials agree with the statement, “The American legal system treats all groups fairly" as found by the 2014 Black Youth Project survey. 28.6% of black millennials believe that the American legal system is fair. 41% of whites, 36.7% of Latinos, and 38.1% of Asians agreed that everyone gets treated fairly by the legal system.

There is racism. Some people know it all too well, and some people think that it doesn’t exist anymore. This country will continue to work through and experience racism until people finally admit that this country still has a problem. America has to find a solution where everyone is treated equally, regardless of whatever makes one person appear different than the next.

By: Naquan James