Article and video: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/04/obama-my-brothers-keeper_n_7207328.html
Supporting article: http://www.wsj.com/articles/obama-condemns-violence-in-baltimore-in-response-to-freddie-gray-death-1430246886
Over the past year or so we all have heard about multiple cases of police brutality inflicted upon the black community in America. Regardless on if you believe these cases to be just or unjust there has been many conversations surrounding the protests in Baltimore and Ferguson. The real question is there increased discrimination against people of color in America still? The answer appears that, yes, there still is a lot of discrimination. Throughout the protests and the violence, President Obama has spoken out multiple times on how the current violence has been mounting up for years and just has not been touched upon.
Obama is correct, do we really pay an abundance of attention to all prosecutions of people of color being arrested? I do not think we do. There have been years of documented white brutality on to black people; such as Emmet Till. Emmett Till was killed back in 1955 by two white men for whistling at a white woman. The men were not arrested nor charged for the violent murder. Emmet Till was 14. There have been numerous people before and after Emmet Till. Once we hit the 21st century there have been plenty of headlines about this problem starting with Trayvon Martin.
In the second article it mentions how Obama has probed police departments more than any other administration. It is important to notice this because Obama is a political figure who recognizes the inequality still just on a skin color basis. This issue is a hot topic at the moment regarding people like Mike Brown and Eric Garner. This has also triggered many public protests and movements with saying like "I can't breathe" and "#BlackLivesMatter." Personally, I do not believe equality has been reached yet and like Obama said in the article, this is more a social issue than a political issue. Regarding the law we mimic a state of equality but socially we have not yet gotten there. That is why the My Brother's Keeper project will be a blessing to this country.
I think that the My Brother's Keeper project should have been established a long time ago. There are so many people that have common stereotypes of people of color. For example, a Spanish guy selling cocaine or a black guy stealing out of a store. Even to this day, my friends lock their car doors when a guy of color walks by because they think they're going to jump to something. There are so many problems going on with race in this country especially with what we heard about police brutality as Riley mentioned. It's absolutely unacceptable. All of these encounters just cause people to think less of colored people. There are whites people that still think they're dominant over black people especially in the south where they believe the confederacy is alive and well. It's just sickening to think that in the 21st century we still have issues with race in this country.
ReplyDeleteNo we have not reached equalty as a society even though it is a law. I think that this alone is very disheartning in our society today. And how do you solve this? It is a social issue and cannot be addressed like a political one. I don't have the answer like a politican does, but I know one thing, they do not push the issue while they are in office. I think this is very sad because if it was the other way around and white men were being targeted, the politicians would find a way around it. There needs to be a change soon and one for the better.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a good step forward but I can't help but wonder why this hasn't happened before now. This has been such an issue for such a long time I don't understand why only now Obama, the most powerful man in America plans to do something once he gets out of office, not while he's in office where he has more influence. Besides that I think that it is a great idea. Minorities at this point aren't equal in the basics like education and healthcare so if we can make more programs like My Brothers Keeper I think that we will all experience greater equality within America. I don't know why people don't support equality more in America. If all of us in America have equality then potentially we can increase the prosperity of the nation and we all can benefit from that.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that we have not reached equality in our society, whether it be racial, gender, etc. There definitely needs to be more programs like My Brother's Keeper to really make an impact and to get others involved. Personally, I had no idea that My Brother's Keeper existed. There definitely needs to be more awareness of what is going on and what people are doing to help fix it so that others can get involved and come together to solve this issue. Yes, there are laws set in place that is supposed to stop social injustice, but it is clear that they are not solving the issue completely. And I am not sure that if the issues of racial and gender inequality can ever fully be overcome, because you can't erase it. Nobody can forget that blacks were enslaved hundreds of years ago, and that they were segregated and to this day can still be segregated. Nobody can forget that females were looked down upon in the early 1900's. These things are always going to be there, and that is why I do not believe we can full erase these inequalities. Yes there can be things put in place like My Brother's Keeper, but I do not believe it can ever be resolved 100%.
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