Background
Racism has always been a problem in the global culture. Although the idea is not new, the understanding of racism has evolved. In most cases, Black people face racism from white people, and they tend to be the underprivileged race. There are many cases in the United States where blacks have been oppressed due to cases of racism. Significant parallels exist between the Black Lives Matter (BLM) Movement and the Black Panther Party (BPP). Indignation among African Americans over police brutality gave rise to social upheavals (Library of Congress, 2022).
In 1966, police killed 16-year-old Mathew Johnson when he was unarmed, and in 2013, police killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. The tragic murder of Mr. Floyd sparked indignation over police violence worldwide. For the rights of African Americans, both social forces conflicted. Racism is still a problem today. Among other things, there is injustice in the criminal justice system, education, and housing. Furthermore, despite the abolition of slavery, Black people have encountered difficulties since the pre-colonial period. This paper will analyze the Black Lives Matter Movement by giving a history of the movement, a theoretical framework, and an argument for the value of the movement.
History of the Movement
Although America is a place of freedom, its continued support for slavery over the years remains a significant contradiction. Slavery came to an end in 1865. But its effects may still be felt today. Africans were forcibly brought to European plantations in the 17th century to provide cheap labor. Blacks, however, were an oppressed population without income or property after the end of the slave trade. They were still seen as a lesser race as a result (Howard University, 2020).
In contrast to their white counterparts, black people have experienced racial segregation, mistreatment by police enforcement, and injustice over the years (Brooks, 2020). Racial animosity and conflict have been stoked by it. America has recently continued to see historically high levels of police violence. When black people interact with the police, many are violently detained, shot, and occasionally murdered.
Other races are not subject to the overuse of force. For instance, a black individual trying to engage in a physical altercation or resisting arrest by police is likely to be shot. Shooting would be the final option if a white person did the same. The BLM movement was sparked by the rise in black deaths at the hands of police enforcement. Notably, this online community has been drawn to this social media activity, which started in 2013.
Numerous eyewitness accounts and video clips documenting racism and police violence have appeared online recently. Such data has gained considerable traction on essential websites like Twitter and Facebook, where each shared post receives thousands of views per hour (Lee, 2020). Social media alone may achieve this level of engagement. Since then, prominent politicians and public figures have joined the campaign to support changes that would lessen the amount of violence used against black people by the police.
After George Floyd was killed, there was a civil disturbance in Minneapolis for many days, which was followed by tense protests that resulted in property destruction and assaults on law enforcement and protestors in other large cities, including New York, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Atlanta (Lee, 2020). This occurred when a police officer killed Mr. Floyd; he was dismissed on May 26. Three days later, he was accused of third-degree murder (Britannica, 2022). Police brutality is when cops use excessive or disproportionate force on a citizen. Notably, police harassment can take both physical and verbal forms (Campbell, 2021). Once more, it might involve the destruction of property, harm to the mind, or even a potentially fatal action.
However, compared to other races, African Americans experience more police violence. Black people—especially men—are three times more likely than white people to be killed by police enforcement (Anderson et al., 2021). Police killed unarmed black males more often than unarmed African Americans. These murders have racial overtones.
Meanwhile, police-related fatalities, which can occur through chokes, shootings, and other methods, are the sixth-leading cause of death for males of all races, particularly those between the ages of 28 and 29 (Brooks, 2020). The fundamental issue the cops are dealing with is racial profiling. Both the American public and the police are prejudiced against people of color. African-Americans have long been the target of stereotypes and discrimination in the country, which has caused a widespread misconception about how safe Americans are around black people.
Black racial profiling has been established as an issue. Hence, the research must offer potential remedies. Black people have become a more marginalized population with less access to income and resources than other racial groups. The BLM would look to see whether changes might be made inside the police force to lessen their abuse of black people (Gawthrop, 2020). Perhaps they should behave more responsibly and with greater tolerance towards people of color. The nation should also discuss how to treat black people more equitably. Stereotyping is largely to blame for these issues.
Theoretical Framework
Michael Omi and Howard Winant developed the idea of racial formation. The authors examine the country’s historical causes of racism and inequality. Systemic racism has existed for a long time. African Americans have always been undervalued and disadvantaged, and they still are. Black people encounter more racial injustice and prejudice in the criminal justice system than white individuals. Race and racism in the US have been fashioned by a century-long fight between white dominance and resistance by people of color, claims the racial theory in “Racial Formation within the United States” (Omi & Winant, 2018).
Race and racism cause violence, injustice, extortion, and degrading treatment; thus, they inspire resistance groups and philosophies (Francis & Wright-Rigueur, 2021). Beyond the oppressors, the oppressed also felt the need to understand and explain the modern world as they tried to make sense of the tragedies that had befallen them due to conquering, abduction, mass murder, slavery, marginalization, and extermination.
Mass incarceration has been a current racial agenda in North America. There has been a serious talk about how color rationalization is similar to gender discrimination. Omi and Winant (2018) characterize the development of racial projects as a crucial component of racial formation, connecting representations of racial identities established through the approach of racialization to the mobilization of resources across financial, political, and cultural aspects.
In this sense, mass imprisonment might be viewed as a contemporary racial project since it mobilizes the criminal justice system to address resource allocation disparities on a large scale, thereby seeking to institutionalize racial inequality inside the state (Omi & Winant, 2018). Therefore, antiblackness understandings are involved in how mass incarceration functions as a racial project that upholds notions of blackness created via earlier histories of colonialism, enslavement, and discrimination in North America.
The term “colorblind racism” was used by author Eduardo Bonilla-Silva to characterize the new kind of racism, which entails a more passive reproduction of white power and privilege than earlier forms of racism. Many individuals who engage in colorblind racism may not consider themselves racists (Saad, 2018). This shows that most Americans do not view themselves as racists and do not have prejudice against individuals with different skin tones (Buchanan et al., 2021). Even though racism may take many forms and is still pervasive in the United States this century, the idea of “racism without racists” is essential. We are currently experiencing the minimal degree of police brutality ever seen. Human rights have long been a top priority for the movement.
Unfortunately, racism is pervasive in our society, and countless innocent people are slain. A diverse group of people gathered to protest for this cause. The BLM is interested in how colorblindness impacts the American criminal justice system (Saad, 2018). The movement aims to discuss its significance and the actions required to ensure the campaign’s success in achieving its objective of social justice for Black people. Racism is still a problem today. Injustices in the criminal justice system, education, housing, etc.
Additionally, colorblind racism may be observed in our legal system, where Black individuals are given harsher punishments for the same offenses as White people. The system should look at how frequently the police treat African Americans (Buchanan et al., 2021). A white man may receive a ticket and be prepared to go, while an African American may be removed from the vehicle or possibly have a pistol drawn (Saad, 2018).
Black people have always faced barriers since the introduction of slavery in the past. Slave traders and slave owners first brought forth racism and inequality in America. On paper, multiple laws and customs declared that African Americans weren’t fully human, started it then, and sustained it. Similar resistance, such as the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, has been witnessed, resulting in immense societal changes. The BLM campaign has taken the shape of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
Main Argument
By declaring that America is a colorblind society, the presumption is that it has put behind it the racial differences that have been present since the commencement of slavery. This is because blacks and whites have been unequal since ancient times (Younes et al., 2020). Although we would have expected it to have disappeared by now, it still exists, and many people choose to ignore it or channel their animosity in other directions.
A white person’s chance of being killed by police is 25 times lower than that of an African American (Bhambra, 2017). In 2019, 24 police killings included black people (Younes et al., 2020). Some believe that police officer goes above and beyond to defend their communities’ citizens and regularly risk their lives before anybody else to shield citizens from the risks and crimes that society exposes them to.
There have been many ways in which the social circumstances of that era and our own influenced the creation of social movements. The goal of social activities is to fulfill a shared societal purpose. Political and social organizations have become more organized on social media in recent years.
There weren’t many media outlets and tools accessible throughout the BPP’s existence. Social media has two distinct effects on social activities (Omi & Winant, 2018). The first was to extend mobilization venues that didn’t exist in conventional mobilization approaches and to speed up recruiting, mobilization, communication, and information distribution.
The population has a higher level of education, and they are more aware of their rights and the current situation. Another socioeconomic condition that has always existed is gentrification. Even though it persists, however, people continue to fight for their rights. Because of an increase in rent that many white people can pay because they have better employment, black people are being driven out of their neighborhoods.
People band together to advocate for their rights due to these socioeconomic situations. Societal movements today were made possible by the social conditions of that time. Since the dawn of time, African Americans have been engaged in conflict. Black people were impacted by and given a voice by men like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
The BLM faces several limitations in attaining its purpose. The movement has to convince a larger population to back its fight against racism, as it supports a minority group. Having to convince a large population to support your fight against racism can be tedious. Most individuals may state that the country belongs to them and the other races do not have equal rights while in the country. Financial capability can also act as a limitation. The movement will need a vast source of income to facilitate the filing of cases and encourage specific offices to advocate for racial equality.
Conclusion
Society needs to work together more than ever to push back against indifference. Many people who experience the suffering and disregard that African Americans continue to face have a voice thanks to social movements like the BPP and BLM. When it comes to noting the disregard for Black life, you can rely on Black people to ensure their voices are heard. We all know that Black people were introduced to America around 300 years ago as three-fifths of the population, and that America was built on the backs of Africans.
Furthermore, it is unacceptable that black individuals. Today, those sworn to defend the public must fear for their lives when approaching police officers. The race-neutral rules and regulations that lead to racial inequity in the criminal justice system must be replaced with new ones. The public’s perspective must be changed to radically alter American society and the judicial system. American culture and the judicial system must undergo a significant shift in public opinion.
People may learn more about colorblind racism by participating in the BLM social movement. Society believes that the movement can finish the task that the Black Panther began. Although it hasn’t established any foundations like the BPP, individuals do not doubt that its members will carry on their outstanding work. The Black society believes that Black Lives Matter’s success would leave a lasting impact on the direction the BPP was going, and that this was the perfect time to repay all their sacrifices by continuing their activism.
References
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