According to the Guardian project, which keeps track of police killings in America, around 136 black people have been killed by police officers thus far in 2016. Philando Castile, a man shot and killed in a car during a traffic stop alongside his girlfriend and 4 year old daughter, was marked the 123nd. Days after a holiday in recognition of the freedom of a nation’s people, a reminder came as in how far the struggle for the black man has come.
African American males throughout history have tragically been held responsible to comply with authority, but have not ever seemed to possess it. From master, to the white man, to now the law, many points could determine how African American men have been suffering from structures designed for failure. African American people have been transitioning from being turned into slaves, from being segregated against, and now from being belittled by today’s society. As a slave, the African American man had no rights. They had no rights to say “I am free,” or to even be capable to read it if it were on paper. All the mean while the brown woman was being taken advantage of with no man holding authority to stop it and still live. They were trained like dogs to breed, work, and not say a word. As the time passes they’d become free, but to a certain area they were to be. To live confined to a limited to a certain area and when out of it you’d be told that you did not belong. Some could tell you how they’d arrest you, beat you, and drop you off somewhere far from home. Around the place you considered home was where there was nothing but poverty. Not the best of the best but whatever was less. African American people being in those segregated, proverbial communities brought about a way to affect them as whole. Drugs were assumed to be brought into the communities by government as a way to destroy the people. Drugs became what employed many of the African American men and once it became an epidemic, the government declared “War on Drugs.” Now, the participation rate of African American is at a 67 percent rate in the labor force compared to all males.
Arresting those for having what was given to them just as a way out but to also gain profit. Jails compacted with the men, leaving the woman to fend for themselves, for the kids to grow fatherless in pain with aggression and most of all continue the cycle. The men are eventually released to a world where they are no longer socially accepted because of their record and have to try to live again. About 34 percent of all working-age black men that are not incarcerated are ex-offenders. After the deaths of civil rights activist, the disappearance of organizations like the Black Panthers, and anti drug organizations like “D.A.R.E.” came to an end. This caused a huge majority of the African American population to transition. Of those 25 years old and up, 48 percent of African American men have attended college. Gangs that were originally started to protect African American neighborhoods are now being misunderstood by the youth, leading them to not only cause havoc amongst their own but also set themselves up for failure while affecting the overall image. Over time there has become plenty of opportunities to gain equality, but where are the black men that have taken advantage of those opportunities?
