Introduction
It is undoubted that every person’s life should be cherished and valued as the greatest gift. However, it seems that the evident nature of such a statement is not so clear to many people living in the world. The question of ethnic inequality is rather pronounced in the USA, where occurrences of unfair treatment and cruelty against African American individuals are recorded more and more often. The Black Lives Matter movement was founded in 2013 as a response to the death of a teenager, Trayvon Martin, of a fatal shot made by a policeman (“About,” n.d.). The movement’s title eventually became the motto of all the people who feel oppressed and unsafe being Black in the country where the majority of the population is white. The slogan has been used ever since by activists defending Blacks’ rights and protesting against numerous instances of unfairness based on race.
Whereas some people say that all lives matter, it can be easily noticed that not all people’s lives are under threat in present-day US society. Hence, it is crucial to make it clear why exactly the phrase “Black lives matter” bears such significance. By saying so, activists do not mean that other individuals’ lives are of less value. On the contrary, the meaning of this slogan is that Black lives should matter as much as others do. Currently, the situation in the USA regarding African Americans is highly unstable. The latest event that gave way to a new uprising of the movement was the death of a Black man, George Floyd, due to a police officer’s unjustified cruelty at the time of the arrest. The white policeman pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds, which caused the man’s death (Bogel-Burroughs, 2020). The case has gained much resonance not only among Blacks of the USA but also among people from different ethnic backgrounds and living in other countries.
Main body
The reason why more attention should be paid to the problems faced by African Americans is that this ethnic group is constantly under threat. Probably the best evidence of this fact, though rather sad and even humiliating, is the so-called “talk” that Black parents have to give to their children. This typically concerns boys, and this is a kind of conversation no parents from other races have to deal with in their life. Parents of such children admit that having a conversation about racial profiling is an inevitable yet rather negative experience they are forced to face (Gonchar, 2016). What is the most poignant about this talk is that it should take place before the child actually faces racial unfairness. That is, parents must prepare their children for the fact that they will most likely find themselves in situations requiring extremely cautious behavior in order to save their lives.
The conversation parents have with their Black sons is based on a prolonged experience of Black people’s encounters with the law enforcement system. Too often, Black teenagers are being considered suspicious by officers without any reason. Frequently, young Black men are stopped in the middle of the street or required to stop their car merely because some police officer has decided they look like they have done something wrong. Moreover, in many cases, if a Black young man tried to defend himself or behaves in a way that may be considered threatening by the officer, the latter can use a weapon for protection. Therefore, parents have to instruct their children how not to make the officer use the gun even if the child is innocent and not responsible for doing anything illegal (Gonchar, 2016). A striking thing about “the talk” is that it starts with the words “when you get pulled over,” not even “if you get pulled over” (Gonchar, 2016). Thus, parents are almost sure that their child will be stopped and questioned at some point.
Irrespective of whether a Black teenager behaves loudly or calmly, there is a high likelihood of such a boy being pulled over by the police. Parents note that they do not consider all police officers as inherently bad individuals, but they definitely are not the ones looking out for Black people’s best interests (Lopez, 2016). One mother has mentioned that her son is going to grow up to become a large and scary Black man – not because he will indeed be scary but because he will be perceived by society in such a way (Lopez, 2016). Research indicates that Black men are much more often perceived as prone to criminality than white males (Kamalu, 2016). There is a substantial disparity in the number of police stops and detentions based on racial peculiarities. Black drivers are more likely to be searched and prosecuted than Caucasian ones (Kamalu, 2016). Hence, the only way of saving their children from unjust accusations or, worse, death, is for parents to teach them to demonstrate humility in such encounters.
It is necessary to make the public aware that Black lives matter because these lives are too often neglected and jeopardized. Studies show that white police officers unconsciously dehumanize African Americans, especially men (Lopez, 2016). White female students perceive Black teenagers and even children as more dangerous and threatening than white children of the same age (Lopez, 2016). At the same age when Caucasian boys are still believed to be innocent children, African American ones are already perceived as a threat to society. Another research-based on associations indicates that respondents are likely to ascribe excessive aggression and low status to people with Black-sounding names (Lopez, 2016). Each of these instances indicates that Black lives are in a much poorer position than white ones, which necessitates a change in society.
Unfortunately, the mentioned facts and research data represent only a drop in the ocean of prejudiced treatment demonstrated toward African Americans in U.S. society. Therefore, it is not sufficient for Americans to say that all lives matter because there has never been equality in attitudes toward different races. The emphasis on Black lives should be made because these individuals’ physical and mental health is in jeopardy due to racial profiling and workplace bias, as well as other types of prejudice. One can be an entirely innocent law-abiding citizen, but if one’s skin is of an “unsuitable” color, he or she is bound to experience unpleasant interrogations or even force on the part of police officers. Because of such a treatment demonstrated by the law enforcement system, white Americans are also more likely to consider African Americans suspicious and prone to criminal acts. Therefore, it is important to make the problem known to the public and take adequate measures to eliminate racial profiling and make Black lives matter truly.
Brutality against African Americans
The main reason why the Black Lives Matter movement originated was the search of Black people for protection against police officers’ brutality. In most cases, such cruel treatment on the part of law enforcement is not justified. Police brutality in the United States is defined as “the unwarranted or excessive and often illegal use of force against civilians by U.S. police officers” (Moore, 2020, para. 1). Such unlawful treatment of African American citizens can take different forms, including mayhem, assault, intimidation, and murder. In various periods of the country’s history, diverse groups of ethnicities have suffered from unjust attitudes (Moore, 2020). However, Blacks remain the population group that has experienced police brutality more often than others. At present, African Americans compose the most vulnerable ethnic community in regard to profiling and mistreatment by the police. The number of Blacks killed by law enforcement officers is larger than it is for any other race (Matthews, 2020). The question has not received enough recognition from the government. At the same time, the occurrences of African Americans’ deaths from policemen’s hands are too frequent for society and officials to overlook them.
The country has a long and disappointing history of brutality against African Americans. In fact, the number of victims over the past two decades is so excruciatingly high that not all of these deaths have received proper attention from the public (Laughland, 2020). Since 2000, as many as 28,139 people were killed by the police (Matthews, 2020). Out of these, the majority of victims were African American people. Blacks are killed at a “roughly double their ratio in the population” (Matthews, 2020, para. 7). This ethnic group constitutes nearly 13% of the U.S. population, whereas their share in the number of those killed by the police reaches 26%. Out of the 28,139 police-induced deaths, 7,612 were Black individuals (Matthews, 2020). The representatives of the African American race hold the infamous record in such categories of death as ‘asphyxiated,’ ‘beaten with an instrument,’ and ‘medical event’ (Matthews, 2020). There are numerous instances of recorded brutality cases when the victim pleads he cannot breathe, but the officer continues restraining his access to air. The multitude of examples is shocking, but it must be discussed for society to pay attention to this problem.
In 2014, a young Black man, Michael Brown, was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. His body had remained in the street for four hours before being taken away (Laughland, 2020). Witnesses said the man was holding his hands up in surrender, but the policeman shot anyway. Observers of the shooting said at court that they saw something “both upsetting and bewildering” (Somashekhar & Kelly, 2014, para. 3). Namely, the wounded man with his hands raised was walking toward the officer who was shooting at him. Later, the judge decided not to indict the police officer because it was impossible to settle whether or not the killed boy was surrendering or trying to attack the person shooting at him. Such a verdict was viewed as “a miscarriage of justice emblematic of a system stacked against African Americans” (Somashekhar & Kelly, 2014, para. 7). Unfortunately, it was only one of many cases of police brutality that remained not punished.
In the same year, 2014, a Black man, Eric Garner, was killed by a policeman in New York. The man was placed in a banned chokehold, which led to his death from suffocation. A videotape of the event indicates that Garner repeatedly stated that he could not breathe, but the officer did not release him (Laughland, 2019). Five years after the incident, there was no one admitted liable for Garner’s death (Laughland, 2019). Despite a prolonged criminal investigation, the severest punishment the policemen could face was getting fired. Again, no justice was gained, and the death of a Black man from police brutality was not retributed.
An even more horrendous event happened in Cleveland, Ohio, when a twelve-year-old Black boy, who was playing with a toy gun, was murdered by a white officer. This case indicates that indeed, the level of inequality in treating Black and white children has reached an unprecedented scale (Laughland, 2020). Had it been a white boy, the police officer would most likely have thought it was a toy. However, since it was an African American child, the first thought was that he was holding a real weapon. The three cases mentioned above all occurred within four months of the same year, and, as Laughland (2020) puts it, they were “no aberration” (para. 4). This means that the number of Black men’s and boys’ deaths due to the cruel treatment of policemen is not decreasing. Furthermore, the latter are hardly ever punished for abusing their power. Statistics indicate that 99% of police killings committed in 2013-2019 remained without any charge (Matthews, 2020). The problem is overwhelming both at the legal and moral levels.
Between 2014 and the present time, a large number of similar crimes have been committed by police officers, typically, without any charges following. Violence against African Americans is one of the core features of the USA’s authorities (Laughland, 2020). The most outrageous incident of police brutality in 2020 was that of a Black man, George Floyd, who was killed during an arrest on May 25. The public’s unrest has reached a nationwide scale (Laughland, 2020). However, the system remains the same, the White House leadership being dumb to the issue and not demonstrating suitable sensitivity to the problem. The forerunners of present-day police departments in the USA included slave patrols prevailing in pre-Civil War southern states. Those were followed by the legal imposition of racist Black Codes and Jim Crow laws (Laughland, 2020). Historically, the first municipal divisions were represented by white people. Meanwhile, vulnerable minority populations suffered from brutal and unfair treatment. Numerous instances of lynching remained without punishment on the part of the legal system. In the time of the civil rights evolution, police officers used to oppress peaceful protests using violence and force.
Throughout history, the disparity in treating Black and white people increased, and significant positive changes occurred. During the Obama administrations, some steps were taken in the direction of mitigating brutality against African Americans. However, the current administration does not follow the route set by its predecessors (Laughland, 2020). Whereas Obama attempted to turn the law enforcement system from the warrior to the guardian one, Trump did everything possible to make those efforts neglected and forgotten. As a result, a wave of innocent Black men killed by police officers covered the country again. The murder of Floyd demonstrated once again how unprotected Black men are in U.S. society. The officer whose actions led to Floyd’s death was eventually charged with second-degree manslaughter and third-degree murder (Matthews, 2020). Three other officers, who were present at the scene of the crime, were fired without facing any charges. However, even this rare case of a conviction does not have the power to change the general image of brutality in the law enforcement system.
The problem is that conviction if at all, can alter the attitude to the situation of a single police officer who will bear the punishment. Whereas such an outcome is undoubtedly justified from the point of view of the legal system, it can do little to change the treatment of Blacks by white officers in general. Thus, it is necessary to focus on the whole system rather than single individuals representing it. Currently, policemen are trained in sensitivity and de-escalation, and they also are required to wear body cameras (Matthews, 2020). However, such measures are not enough to decrease the rate of violence against racial minorities. Floyd’s death, as well as many other deaths, indicates that if it has happened to one Black man, it can occur to others. Therefore, serious preventive measures are needed to restrict officers from exercising their power and using the weapon without a justified reason.
A few days ago, the city of Ferguson, Missouri, elected its first African American Mayor, Ella Jones. The city is largely composed of Blacks (they represent 70% of the population) (Laughland, 2020). Jones promised to do everything in her power to do people justice. However, for many people, accumulative change is not enough due to its weak capacity. Some consider that it is necessary to break up the whole system and build it from scratch. It is evident that the instances of police brutality are too frequent to overlook them. However, it is crucial to bear in mind that the situation is aggravated not only by law enforcement officers. Access to proper education and healthcare services, the possibility to be employed with the desired company, the likelihood of receiving social support – these and many other options are unequally divided among the U.S. population. It is not enough to punish those who treat African Americans in a brutal way. It is the responsibility of the government and every citizen not to make such treatment possible altogether.
Conclusion
The issue of police brutality against Black individuals is acute and painful. Despite gaining more and more attention from the public of all races and ethnicities, there is currently no viable solution to this horrible practice. The most likely explanation of such behavior is that police officer are not afraid of being punished. There have been numerous cases when no one was charged for the murder of an innocent Black man or boy. As a result, law enforcement employees risk practically nothing when they shoot African Americans at the first suspicion and without any valid reasons. Mass protests, both physical and virtual, do not seem to have the desired effect on the justice system or the government. Meanwhile, serious changes have to be introduced by the latter into the former in order to put an end to the continuous series of brutal assaults and killings. It is significant to make it clear to everyone irrespective of their race, job, or position in society that Black lives matter.
References
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