Growing up I was privileged enough to live in a suburban area. I grew up in a small town with the typical ‘white picket fence’ stereotype. I grew up in an area that never experienced a high level of crime. As a full time student at Westfield State University, I have been lucky enough to receive a college education. I have been privileged enough to receive an undergraduate degree from a public university. I am receiving a degree in Communication. As a future communication work, I would be considered ‘a guard of the system’
As a communication student, In regards to police brutality and racism, I am already seeing the media play a significant role in todays society. Currently, our major news outlets are filled with stories of police brutality. The agendas of these media outlets contain the most violent/ outrageous police brutality cases. The media's job is to bring in a large viewing in order to make money. By showing the worst cases, it has unveiled everyday racism that typically gets ignored. In 2014, the Huffington Post published a piece regarding a recent study conducted by the The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. This study focuses on the issue of racism in ‘Stop and Frisk’ cases within the Boston Police Department. “From 2007 to 2010, blacks made up 63 percent of all police-civilian encounters. The number has raised eyebrows because blacks make up only 24 percent of the total population of Boston (Murdock).” Boston is just one of the many departments that deals with police brutality in the wrong manner. As discussed in class, social media platforms contain videos of police brutality. These videos show a number of people standing around watching this happen. These bystanders, then turn to social media, which gives them a voice. In “Javon Johnsons ‘Cuz He’s Black,’ looks at black men dealing with police brutality. It is an emotional poetry slam that looks at the idea of a typical black man playing the role of the “criminal.” It has given people such as Trayvon Martins family a voice to speak out about justice. In “No Justice No Peace: California’s Battle Against Police Brutality & Racist Violence,” shows the families of the victims who have come in contact with Police Brutality. These families come together to protest the injustice their family has experienced. Protesting is a movement that still occurs in todays society. It dates back to women's rights, civil rights, prison reform and much more. In America, the Black Lives Matter Movement uses peaceful protest as a way to raise awareness. Important statements such as “Hands up, Don’t shoot,” or “I can’t breathe,” have been featured in a number of protests to respond to police brutality. The media typically portrays the Black Lives Matter Movement in a negative light. As discussed in class, one of their movements caused an uproar when one of the local ambulances could not get past the protest to respond to an emergency. Our class purposed this question: “Does …show more content…
In the beginning of the book, Wise talks about the difference between white and black families tracing back their ancestry. Wise discusses how far back he was able to trace of his families history. For most white people, it’s fairly easy to trace back a few hundred years. For people of color, it tends to be more challenging to find further ancestry due to enslavement. For me, tracing back ancestry was something I never considered as a privilege. Tim Wise describes white privilege as “For those of us, called white, whiteness simply is. Whiteness becomes, for us, the unspoken, uninterrogated norm, taken for granted, much as water can be taken for granted by a fish (Wise, 2).” Tim Wises idea of white privilege ties in well with another point from “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisbile Knapsack.” Refererncing back to the article, number 21 states : I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.” Personally, I never found a time where I had to speak on behalf of white people as a whole. Wise explains that people could learn about racism by looking at our experiences as whites. For example, “All whites born before, say, 1964 were placed above all persons of color when it came to the economic, social, and political hierarchies that were to form in the United States (Wise, 3).” By taking a look at our United States history, we can see the inequality of black people versus white
As a communication student, In regards to police brutality and racism, I am already seeing the media play a significant role in todays society. Currently, our major news outlets are filled with stories of police brutality. The agendas of these media outlets contain the most violent/ outrageous police brutality cases. The media's job is to bring in a large viewing in order to make money. By showing the worst cases, it has unveiled everyday racism that typically gets ignored. In 2014, the Huffington Post published a piece regarding a recent study conducted by the The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. This study focuses on the issue of racism in ‘Stop and Frisk’ cases within the Boston Police Department. “From 2007 to 2010, blacks made up 63 percent of all police-civilian encounters. The number has raised eyebrows because blacks make up only 24 percent of the total population of Boston (Murdock).” Boston is just one of the many departments that deals with police brutality in the wrong manner. As discussed in class, social media platforms contain videos of police brutality. These videos show a number of people standing around watching this happen. These bystanders, then turn to social media, which gives them a voice. In “Javon Johnsons ‘Cuz He’s Black,’ looks at black men dealing with police brutality. It is an emotional poetry slam that looks at the idea of a typical black man playing the role of the “criminal.” It has given people such as Trayvon Martins family a voice to speak out about justice. In “No Justice No Peace: California’s Battle Against Police Brutality & Racist Violence,” shows the families of the victims who have come in contact with Police Brutality. These families come together to protest the injustice their family has experienced. Protesting is a movement that still occurs in todays society. It dates back to women's rights, civil rights, prison reform and much more. In America, the Black Lives Matter Movement uses peaceful protest as a way to raise awareness. Important statements such as “Hands up, Don’t shoot,” or “I can’t breathe,” have been featured in a number of protests to respond to police brutality. The media typically portrays the Black Lives Matter Movement in a negative light. As discussed in class, one of their movements caused an uproar when one of the local ambulances could not get past the protest to respond to an emergency. Our class purposed this question: “Does …show more content…
In the beginning of the book, Wise talks about the difference between white and black families tracing back their ancestry. Wise discusses how far back he was able to trace of his families history. For most white people, it’s fairly easy to trace back a few hundred years. For people of color, it tends to be more challenging to find further ancestry due to enslavement. For me, tracing back ancestry was something I never considered as a privilege. Tim Wise describes white privilege as “For those of us, called white, whiteness simply is. Whiteness becomes, for us, the unspoken, uninterrogated norm, taken for granted, much as water can be taken for granted by a fish (Wise, 2).” Tim Wises idea of white privilege ties in well with another point from “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisbile Knapsack.” Refererncing back to the article, number 21 states : I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.” Personally, I never found a time where I had to speak on behalf of white people as a whole. Wise explains that people could learn about racism by looking at our experiences as whites. For example, “All whites born before, say, 1964 were placed above all persons of color when it came to the economic, social, and political hierarchies that were to form in the United States (Wise, 3).” By taking a look at our United States history, we can see the inequality of black people versus white