This paper is going to look into Black Lives Matter (BLM)
An international movement that champions for fair treatment of black people by holding protests mostly as a way to reach out. The campaign also uses social media to speak against unfair treatment of black people by using hashtags such as #BlackLivesMatter. The methodology that was used included the use of unstructured interviews, case studies, questionnaires amongst other methods to collect data. It was realized that there is still a mentality mostly among the black people that a lot has to be done to level the ground. It is therefore concluded that there might be instances that the police mainly might have used force to solve issues. Most of the officer's however do-good police work.
Chapter I: Introduction
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is international and is an activist movement mainly linked with the African-American community, and its campaigns against racism amongst the black community. BLM usually hold their protests to speak out concerning issues of illegal police killings, police brutality, racial inequality and profiling in the United States of America criminal justice. There is need to address the issue of difference in America and 2013, the movement began after the shooting of an African-American teenager and later on became known for their street demonstrations. The problem statement for this proposal addresses the unfair treatment of blacks such as the rise in the cases of unjust killings of high profile blacks amongst other injustices. The objective of this proposal is to look at how to reduce these cases and improve equality in the United States. The contribution of this research is to acknowledge there have been some cases that show unfair treatment and to point out that all races matter.
Chapter II: Literature Review
Conley suggests that even though the treatment of slaves varied depending on time and place in the United States, it was mostly fierce, degrading, and included whipping and sexual abuse. The teaching of the slaves was significantly unsupported this was to hinder them from freeing up and prevent them from being rebellious (212). There was an attempt such as the Haitian Revolution that was a failed uprising that was organized by Vesey in 1822 and Turner organized a rebellion too in 1831 leading to some states prohibiting slaves from holding religious gatherings without the presence of a white person in fear of revolution (McConahay et al. 567). Hooker claims that the United States is divided on racial grounds that nonwhites tend to link situations to racial discrimination more than whites do, and it is estimated that 88% of blacks believe they tend to face cases of discrimination as compared to 50% of the whites that say they experience instances of racial discrimination (310). Krieger and Sidney claim that approximately 88% of the black believe they are being mistreated going by the shooting of Martin Trayvon on February 26, 2012, in Sanford Florida. He was a seventeen-year-old boy and was shot by Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch coordinator yet he was unarmed. McConahay et al. suggests that findings from research based on national research by pew seem to indicate that blacks face challenges ranging from applying for a loan or mortgage to police brutality. This follows years later even after having a black president that had raised hopes to create equality (1378). Blacks also believe to be disadvantaged and fear for their safety following the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man on the 12th of April, 2015, when he died while being taken to the hospital mysteriously, but eyewitnesses claim he was beaten while being arrested for allegedly having an illegal switchblade according to Baltimore laws (Conley 214). Krieger and Sidney suggest that the police cannot be trusted and only one year after the death of Freddie Gray, Tyrone West on 18 July 2013 was arrested for having a passenger that looked suspicious and was dragged from the car by his hair and beaten (1363). Conley suggests that blacks started realizing they need to be treated better later on following another incident of torture after an incident that took place in Baltimore on September 2012 after Anthony Anderson after a homicide incident for being accused of taking part in a hand to hand drug exchange (215). There is also a need to level the playing ground for students since this will determine success later on. Equity cannot be addressed exhaustively if education issues are not addressed (Conley 214).
Chapter III: Methodology
The number of subjects that will take part in the research will be around one hundred subjects. The gender ratio amongst the participants will not be of great importance. The participants should preferably come from different ethnic groups, preferably Native American, African American, Hispanic, and Caucasians amongst other groups. The age range should ideally be around 22 years to 35 years of age since this constitutes the young generation that is energetic enough to make a country successful with the ideal average age being proposed to be around 25 years of age. The participants can be of any relationship status. The incentive that can be used is a monetary token of appreciation to participants. The techniques that will be used to get will include unstructured interviews that will be asked to random participants to get their view on the topic. Document analysis will also be undertaken and a lot of information retrieved from scholarly documents. Ethnographic studies or specific observation on the nature of the problem that is being studied. Case studies will also be analyzed, and conclusions are drawn. The approach that will be used will be flexible and informal. The sample size for the attainment of the information will be small and random, and the participants must not have special requirements.
Chapter V: Results
The finding that was drawn from the research that was undertaken was that there was the need to improve conditions and level the ground to allow for equity. The results that were conducted highlighted that the participants from other ethnic groups apart from the Native American felt the urgent need for change in the system. The result for this found unequivocal support to the fact the white does not touch the there is a significant problem of discrimination in the United States. 12% of the participants felt that there was a need for the change compared to 87% of the black counter-parts that manipulated the system is not doing enough to level the ground for all the races. When comparing our studies with those of older studies, it was pointed out that there was similar mentality concerning black brutality, especially amongst the blacks. The limitation of this proposal was lack of funds that limited the scope of the studies and although Black Lives Matter as a movement is widely accepted it is only associated with the blacks creating separation and division in ethnic grounds. Explaining why it is not commonly accepted in the states and though it fights for rights, it is unlikely to take part when injustices concerning other races are involved. However, we acknowledge that there is a considerable debate amongst researchers if the case of ethnicity is a genuine issue or it is blown out of proportion.
Chapter VI: Recommendation
The following are some of the suggestions of actions that need to be taken to reduce instances where certain races feel being mistreated.
Listening-It is recommended that the issues that are being raised by the movement to listen and in return it would be easier to understand their grievances and the change may realize other races are facing challenges too.
Dehumanization-Criminals should not be treated like they are not humans but instead interpreted in ways that respect humanity.
Using your privilege-It was recommended that people should use their privilege to stand up for other groups that may be treated badly.
Protest-People should protest when they feel they are being treated poorly and it should be encouraged since it does not have to be violent.
Punish the wrongdoers-It was recommended that only lousy police officers should be punished without making the entire police look bad.
Chapter VII: Conclusion
It can be concluded that there may be cases where individual races are poorly treated in society. The public should be advised not to victimize the entire police since some police officers are good. Protests are an excellent avenue for people to speak up but it should be encouraged not to involve a lot of violence.
Works Cited
Conley, Dalton. Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth, and Social Policy in America. Univ of California Press, 2017.
Hooker, Juliet. “Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship in Latin America.” Journal of Latin American Studies, vol. 37, no. 2, May 2018 pp. 285–310. Cambridge Core,
Krieger, N., and S. Sidney. “Racial Discrimination and Blood Pressure: The CARDIA Study of Young Black and White Adults.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 86, no. 10, Oct. 2017, pp. 1370–78. ajph.aphapublications.org (Atypon),
McConahay, John B., et al. “Has Racism Declined in America?: It Depends on Who Is Asking and What Is Asked.” Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 25, no. 4, Dec. 2016, pp. 563–79. SAGE Journals,
