3 Events That Exposed Racism Recently In America
In the short story Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, racism is a theme or topic that is seen more than once. When Walter and his family were looking to move out into a different neighborhood they were notified that the area was mostly white. Walter made a scene within his family saying he thinks it’s for the best if they didn’t move out into that neighborhood but he surprised them when he told Mr. Lidner, who was part of the “welcoming committee in Clybourne Park, that him and his family will be moving into the neighborhood regardless of what the whites think. Walter’s mother was the one who bought the house with the money they had left and she made sure to tell them she did the best she could even though the houses cost twice as much for colored people as opposed to whites in those dominantly white neighborhoods. Another example of race playing a part in this short story was Walter’s perspective on his own race. He notes that the only thing his race does is moan, pray, and have babies. He was really frustrated at the time and obviously doesn’t want to bash his own people but it shows sometimes you could go against your own. To connect with this theme of racism present in this short story here are some examples of incidents that exhibit racism in recent years.
Charlottesville Riots
A rally held by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia that took place in August 2017 sparked national outrage and chaos. Initially, this march took place because of a plan that was designed by local officials to remove the statue of Robert E. Lee who was one of the Confederacy’s top generals. It got ugly when protestors clashed with counter protesters leaving many injured and even some dead. Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe announced a state of emergency because he thought the police force would not be able to do enough to keep the general public safe because of how dangerous the situation had become. A man who apparently was connected to a white supremacist group drove his car into a group of counter-protestors leaving 19 injured and 1 dead. What caused the most outrage nationally was President Trump’s comments on the situation. He never disagreed with the messages both sides were trying to send in this rally and that was the problem. This event left the rest of America baffled as many knew there was white supremacist groups but what many didn’t know is that these groups are still growing in large numbers and continuing to spread hate.
Kneeling in the NFL
Another chain of events that were misunderstood as a protest to the American flag and patriotism were those that took place in the NFL. Many players decided to take a knee in response to the events that were seen as racist in America. President Trump made sure to respond to these actions in several tweets and he spoke about them. Colin Kaepernick, who started the “taking a knee” gesture took full responsibility for his action and is seen as a leader of this movement. Once he took a knee more and more players followed and took action along with him. President Trump had an interesting response to Colin by calling him and anyone else who refuses to stand during the national anthem a “son of a bitch”. Trump’s response didn’t do much for him as more players decided to take a knee after he made this remark. Trump believes that not standing for the national anthem was more about lacking respect for the country, flag, and national anthem but he missed the whole point of the protests. Colin and everyone else who kneeled wanted to send a message about the racist events that have been happening in America. Colin was specifically responding to police brutality that mostly involved people who were black. Colin first took a kneel in 2016 but his movement has only grown since then and he says, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,”. He believes that racism is why discrimination exists and most people would agree. All in all, the more that this message is spread the more people will begin to realize that this is a real issue that occurs in many different ways everyday in America and someone has to find a way or ways to help stop it.
Police Brutality
Eric Garner was a 43 year old father of six who lived in Staten Island. In July 2014, Eric was choked to death by several police officers who accused him of selling untaxed cigarettes. Eric Garner’s last words were “I can’t breathe” and those three words became known throughout America very quickly as a voice for police brutality. He repeated the words “I can’t breathe” eleven times and the officers called an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived they decided not to give CPR to Garner as he was still breathing. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead an hour later. Protests took place around the country and people were using their voice to make awareness of police brutality specifically on African Americans. This group of people seem to be involved with the most incidents involving police brutality. Officers Daniel Pantaleo and Justin Damico were the ones who put Garner in a chokehold and compressed his chest. The case against Pantaleo went on for 2 months and in the end he was not indicted. Acts of police brutality happen all the time and in most cases they are ignored and there is no controversy surrounding them. What we have to do as citizens is join rallies and fight against the wrong-doings in this country like police brutality and especially police brutality linked with racism.
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