Race has been a hugely debated topic that is geared more to the lines of the very recent police brutality that has been continuously occurring throughout our nation.However, only in the last couple years have police shootings against unarmed black men have surfaced from being a passed over everyday occurrence by society to national headlines.
In 1963, a great man once proudly stated how he had a vision of blacks and whites coming together in harmony and peace, joined together by the notion of how the black community “can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality." Sadly, Martin Luther King Jr.'s hopes have not been met even half a century later, while an African-America president sits in the White House, racism still seems to be extensive in America, which is thought to be the most “progressive" country in the world. Too many young innocent black men have died in the control of police officers, who have thwarted the development of a more accepting society towards certain races.
The systematic oppression that is extremely prevalent in American society today seems to be almost fully directed towards the black community, only creating a wider gap between the government and them. Even though view on African-Americans have been slightly better since the first half of the century, there is a distinct outline of how the oppressors want to keep the oppressed destitute which has been undoubtedly shown since the United States' conception. For example, currently in the U.S. black poverty rates are the highest out of any race in the country with over a quarter barely surviving and in dire need of basic needs, compared to less than 10% of whites living below the poverty line.[1],[2]So why is there such a giant gap between these groups? Firstly, the black community seems to unfortunately dominate many low-income housing markets, which in return, creates a path of cyclical poverty among that specific faction. With low-income communities comes along with a poor education system, not being able to foster growth and encouragement that many of these at-risk youth so fiercely need. A lot of them aren't given the right tools outside of their already broken homes to go out and create something better for themselves, and in return, fall back into the routine of crime that they are constantly surrounded by growing up. Many of these kids do not have a strong role model in their lives, which falls back onto them looking towards negative influences such as gangs to replace those absent figures. With this, it also conceives an unfavorable stigma about blacks being “thugs" or criminals which is only brought on because we as a society are doing it to them! We have to help those who have no other means and give them a voice for something that has been going on for over three centuries. We have to stand up and fight the oppressors with them and see that riots such as Baltimore, Ferguson, and potentially more cities are caused by the white privileged turning a blind eye away from those who need it most in our own country. Innocent men such as Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, and many many many more silent victims have died as a catalyst for social change that must be attended to now by our government, and by those who “protect and serve".
[1] http://blackdemographics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Black-Poverty-2012-Statistics-chart.jpg
[2] http://www.businessinsider.com/black-poverty-race-since-march-on-washington-2013-8
