It has been over fifty years since the Civil Rights Movement and racism until now remains at large within our society. Discrimination against people of color is prevalent in many areas: employment, education, housing, and most notably: the criminal justice system. Fifty years ago, law enforcement would spray down black protesters marching for their rights with a fire hose and release dogs on them; not much has changed with the way police officers treat people of color and the way with which the legal system treats them. Though there have been advances made towards racial equality, racial prejudice has troubled our society until now.
The United States maintains the world’s most prisoners; African Americans make up most of that incarcerated population–an astounding forty percent. However, African Americans make up a minority of the total population: only thirteen percent of the United States’ population (Sakala). “Overrepresentation of people of …show more content…
“Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater” (Gabrielson, Grochowski, and Sagara). From Emmet Till to Trayvon Martin to Mike Brown, African American youth are savagely being killed off, and their killers are frequently getting away with murder. These are just three widely known cases where young, black, youth were murdered in cold-blood; there are hundreds that go overlooked by the media. It is either police officers, or some other group with privilege that get away with killing innocent black youth; they probably think they are cleaning up the streets or they think that their life is in danger; either way, stereotypes are endangering the lives of young, black youth. The legal system is not doing much to seek justice for these victims who lost their lives to racism, when the killers are
The United States maintains the world’s most prisoners; African Americans make up most of that incarcerated population–an astounding forty percent. However, African Americans make up a minority of the total population: only thirteen percent of the United States’ population (Sakala). “Overrepresentation of people of …show more content…
“Young black males in recent years were at a far greater risk of being shot dead by police than their white counterparts – 21 times greater” (Gabrielson, Grochowski, and Sagara). From Emmet Till to Trayvon Martin to Mike Brown, African American youth are savagely being killed off, and their killers are frequently getting away with murder. These are just three widely known cases where young, black, youth were murdered in cold-blood; there are hundreds that go overlooked by the media. It is either police officers, or some other group with privilege that get away with killing innocent black youth; they probably think they are cleaning up the streets or they think that their life is in danger; either way, stereotypes are endangering the lives of young, black youth. The legal system is not doing much to seek justice for these victims who lost their lives to racism, when the killers are