Racism and Bias in Modern Times
On February 26th, 2012, neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17 year old African- American, in Miami Gardens, Florida. Zimmerman identified Trayvon as suspicious because he was a black male wearing a hood, and called 911 to report him. The police told him to not approach Trayvon or even leave his vehicle, but Zimmerman disregarded this, resulting in Trayvon’s death. Zimmerman was later acquitted for his crime. He claimed that he shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense, even though Trayvon was unarmed. Racism and bias as shown in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is still present in modern day America as evidenced by multiple cases of police brutality and bias towards African-Americans. …show more content…
This type of behavior also includes verbal attacks and psychological intimidation by a police officer.” Police brutality can often be directed towards African-Americans because of racism or bias - statistics shows that 79% of the people shot by Chicago Police in 2009 through 2013 were black. For example, in 2015, at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina, and African-American girl was slammed backwards into the ground and dragged to the front of the room by Officer Ben Fields for refusing to put away her phone and not leaving the classroom. This is an example of police brutality because the police officer used excessive force to carry out law enforcement. Another example would be the case of Robert Davis, a retired African-American elementary school teacher from New Orleans, who was arrested and beaten by police under the suspicion of public intoxication in 2005. In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, John Henry Berry, an African-American, is burned alive. Although the perpetrators are known, the local police do not acknowledge the incident, leaving the killers unpunished. “‘He’s low sick all right - ‘cause he got burnt near to death.’” (9). Even back in 1933 when people had much stronger opinions on race when making decisions, there are similar examples to today of how police will excuse wrongdoings towards blacks. …show more content…
In 1964, Malcolm X said “The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. This is the press; an irresponsible press. It will make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” In this quote Malcolm X talks about media bias, and how the media can shape the image of how something is perceived by the general public. This is very important in modern-times because media bias extends to how African-Americans are identified by society at large. In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, an African-American named Henrietta Toggins goes to the sheriff to report something and gets shut out and called a liar because she is black. “When Henrietta went to the sheriff and told him what she’d see, he called her a liar and sent her home.” (40). This is an example of bias because the sheriff automatically assumes Henrietta is not telling the truth because she is black. This relates to today because African-Americans still have unfair dealings with the police. A poll from November 2015 shows that one in five African-Americans that had taken the poll had unfair dealings with the police in the last 30 days. Implicit bias is a “hidden” bias, not
On February 26th, 2012, neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17 year old African- American, in Miami Gardens, Florida. Zimmerman identified Trayvon as suspicious because he was a black male wearing a hood, and called 911 to report him. The police told him to not approach Trayvon or even leave his vehicle, but Zimmerman disregarded this, resulting in Trayvon’s death. Zimmerman was later acquitted for his crime. He claimed that he shot Trayvon Martin in self-defense, even though Trayvon was unarmed. Racism and bias as shown in Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is still present in modern day America as evidenced by multiple cases of police brutality and bias towards African-Americans. …show more content…
This type of behavior also includes verbal attacks and psychological intimidation by a police officer.” Police brutality can often be directed towards African-Americans because of racism or bias - statistics shows that 79% of the people shot by Chicago Police in 2009 through 2013 were black. For example, in 2015, at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina, and African-American girl was slammed backwards into the ground and dragged to the front of the room by Officer Ben Fields for refusing to put away her phone and not leaving the classroom. This is an example of police brutality because the police officer used excessive force to carry out law enforcement. Another example would be the case of Robert Davis, a retired African-American elementary school teacher from New Orleans, who was arrested and beaten by police under the suspicion of public intoxication in 2005. In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, John Henry Berry, an African-American, is burned alive. Although the perpetrators are known, the local police do not acknowledge the incident, leaving the killers unpunished. “‘He’s low sick all right - ‘cause he got burnt near to death.’” (9). Even back in 1933 when people had much stronger opinions on race when making decisions, there are similar examples to today of how police will excuse wrongdoings towards blacks. …show more content…
In 1964, Malcolm X said “The press is so powerful in its image-making role, it can make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. This is the press; an irresponsible press. It will make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.” In this quote Malcolm X talks about media bias, and how the media can shape the image of how something is perceived by the general public. This is very important in modern-times because media bias extends to how African-Americans are identified by society at large. In Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, an African-American named Henrietta Toggins goes to the sheriff to report something and gets shut out and called a liar because she is black. “When Henrietta went to the sheriff and told him what she’d see, he called her a liar and sent her home.” (40). This is an example of bias because the sheriff automatically assumes Henrietta is not telling the truth because she is black. This relates to today because African-Americans still have unfair dealings with the police. A poll from November 2015 shows that one in five African-Americans that had taken the poll had unfair dealings with the police in the last 30 days. Implicit bias is a “hidden” bias, not