Black Lives Movement

Black Lives Movement

The African American Community has been marginalized since the formation of the nation. The system of slavery and segregation laws that followed the abolitions have limited the social progress of the members of the community. The community has been limited from developing in the social and economic ranking based on the restrictions on education and social development. Despite parties such as the Black Panthers fighting against the inequalities, the society has continued to be oppressed. The civil rights movements led by Martin Luther King and the radical Malcolm X worked to end segregation laws. Even so, the African American society continues to be oppressed through systemic and institutionalized systems of race. The African American man has been viewed and stereotyped as a threat to the rest of society. As a result, the police have used the justice system to oppress the men under the 13th loophole of the constitution. As a result, Black Lives Movement was formed in 2013 to address the systemic racism in the justice and law enforcement systems. The movement began from the online and physical protests of the police killings in different parts of the society, such as Ferguson. BLM emerged to address the issues of increased police brutality, police profiling, mass incarceration, economic inequality, and reduced political representation.

BLM addresses the concept of increased police brutality towards men of color in the U S. the movement hoped to address and stop the killing and brutal arrests happening in different parts of the country that seemed to be aggravated by the race of the individuals. In a research carried out and published in 2017, the authors explain that “Black youth are more than 50% more likely than White youth in similar stops to find themselves staring down the barrel of a gun. So Tamir Rice and Tyre King, aged 12 and 13, are not tragic outliers, but important examples of a systematic pattern of racial inequality in police violence” (Kramer et al., 2017, p. 23). The research highlighted that half the population of young African Americans is likely treated with force in American society as compared to white counterparts. Different events in the country, such as the killing of Michael Brown, are on the assumption of being dangerous were the reasons for the rise of the BLM. The movement was focused on using social media platforms and peaceful marches to illustrate the increased deaths and use of force in the frisk and arrests of black people. Different videos uploaded in the movement’s twitter feed illustrate the extent of force and dangerous levels of force applied in the arrest of African American men and occasionally women in the arrests. Apart from brutality, the issue of being perceived as guilty at all times was an essential issue addressed in the movements by the police.

The BLM movement was created to address the issues of police profiling. Police profiling and brutality towards the African American society occur together in the community. However, the issues are independent and often happen individually rather than as a dual. Police profiling has been defined as the aspect in which police in the country assume all Africa Americans as being guilty and suspects at all times. This action has created a constant fear of being arrested and harassed by police. As illustrated in a recent research, “for years, though, African Americans have been stereotyped as criminals, with young black men portrayed as criminal predators, physically threatening, and having a biological flaw in their makeup which causes them to be more prone to violence” (Wilson et al., 2015, p.484). That is, the presence of a black man is equated to the aspect of insecurity and threat to citizens and police. In the majority of current movies on the African American movies, the aspect of the ‘talk’ between parents and the teenage sons has been highlighted. The talk refers to the process of a parent talking to the children about how to act when stopped by the police to avoid being shot or arrested. The tradition in the society illustrates the rate of fear and constant profiling that the society has had to endure. African American men are likely to experience profiling and frisking at least once in their lives. The BLM movement was seeking to show the rest of the American society and the world the concept of racial profiling that black men have to experience daily in the society, which is expected to be the beacon of freedom. The movement has, through the power of recording using mobile phones, expressed the various ways in which racial profiling is rampant in society, thus calling for change.

Similarly, the BLM movement was established to fight the aspects of mass incarceration, which has affected the community for decades. Mass incarceration in the justice system has been used to target the African American community. According to theoretical research carried out on the justice system, the author highlights that “Mass incarceration has had an especially deleterious impact on African Americans who represent only 13 percent of the general population, but comprise 38 percent of all U.S. prisoners” (Wilson et al., 2015, p. 157). The percentage illustrates that nearly half of America’s prisoners are of the African ancestry. The number is alarming as it illustrates the targeting and intentional racial targeting and unfair sentencing of African Americans in society. The Black Lives Matter movement has been at the forefront of covering the racial cases and analysis of the verdicts compared to the white members of the society. The movement has allowed the issues of mass incarceration through unfair ruling and verdicts to be highlighted and addressed in the national media. The movement has allowed the rest of the nation to be drawn to the social inequality and deviance of the justice system to be illustrated and discussed in the national platforms. BLM has been able to put the issues unlawful and unfair ruling of black cases to be revealed nationally, thus forcing the government to react and act towards the elimination of systemic injustices.

Moreover, the BLM movement has been able to address issues of economic inequality enforced by the profiling and incarceration of people of color. Addressing economic injustice is a secondary issue leading to the rise of Black Lives Matter. Mass Incarceration leads to the damaging record that lowers the ability of African Americans to participate in various markets and acquire good jobs in the society, thus lowering the economic progress of the society as a whole. According to research on the economic impacts of the mass incarceration of African America, the authors highlight that “The removal through incarceration of a large segment of earners reinforces existing income and wealth disparities” (Pettit & Gutierrez, 2018, p. 1154). The incarceration of African American men leads to two main challenges. One challenge is the removal of one income-earner in the homes. Secondly, it places the aspect of a record which limits African Americans to participate in high-income jobs. The BLM has illustrated the impacts caused by the sociology challenge that starts from the aspect of profiling, incarceration, and release. The constant highlight of the economic challenges and issues caused by incarceration, the movement calls on society to eliminate the issues of systemic racism holding back society.

The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has illustrated to the society the systemic racism and impacts on the basic voting rights. The rise of the movement has allowed the unseen challenges of society to be expressed. The incarceration of the men and women of color is strategic in reducing the voting power of the community. According to a research in 2013, “an astounding 13% of the entire voting aged African American male population is currently unable to vote because of a criminal conviction” (Purtle, 2013, p. 3). The percentage of the African American men that cannot vote based on the records is a clear indication of the manner in which the system has developed ways of oppressing the community. The deviance systems that govern the community have led to voter participation, thus the basic rights of a person in the democratic world. The BLM movement hopes to bring the information into the national level, thus encouraging systemic change. The movement hopes to achieve the systemic change and abolition of justice systems that limit the participation of the community in the basic rights of the democratic people.

The community of African Americans has been oppressed and subjected to inequality through the systemic aspect of increased arrests, assumption of black men as criminals, the increased aspect of a record haunting the community followed by financial strain and voter right elimination. Society has created a system that has put the community down for decades. The BLM movement was developed to ensure they address the issues of inequality based on the racial identity of the African American people. The movement has been successful so far in bringing the conversation to a national level. The use of recorded events and evidence has also allowed the arrests and stopping of several law enforcement officials to be made. However, social justice is far from being achieved in society.