Blind Nation Essay, Research Paper
Blind Nation
The color of our skin automatically makes us a suspect in today?s stereotypical world. ?Despite the civil rights victories of 30 years ago, official skin color prejudice is still reflected throughout the Criminal Justice System.? (Racial profiling, A.C.L.U) Many African Americans know that we are dealing with a subtle form of discrimination, and that our nation has gone blind. We live in a country where Jim Crow ?Justice? is still enforced. The question arises about if we had made any progress since the civil rights movement. There are many incidents that show that our Criminal Justice System is being unfair and bias towards African Americans. Many African Americans are innocent victims of harsh, brutal police abuse, racial discrimination in police shooting, and racial profiling. Many organizations have tired in the past, and still are trying to protect the civil rights of African Americansthat are innocent victims.
Police brutality towards African Americans has been a problem in the past and is still very much a problem in the present. March 3,1991, the beating of a young black man named Rodney King projected the brutal reality of police abuse towards black people. The Rodney King incident exposed a new form of subtle discrimination towards the black community. Several officers beat King, who was dragged, clubbed, and hit with a Taser gun, while 23 other officers watch the horrible beating. King suffered skull fractures and nerve damages to his face. When the officers involved were brought to trial and found not guilty of the charges pressed against them, riots broke out in then city of Los Angeles. A year later the officers were trailed again and found guilty. They were sentenced prison time. Incidents like this happen all the time and have to stop. Another example, of police abuse towards Americans of color happened in December 1996. Two black men died in handcuffs at the hands of the Palm Beach County sheriff?s deputies in Florida. Lyndon Stark, age 48, died of asphyxia in a cloud of pepper spray while his hands were handcuffed. In February 1997, James Wilson, 37, an unarmed motorist was kicked and punched by three Hartford, Connecticut police officers after a brief chase which ended in front of the Bloomfield Police Station. The beating was so intense that other police officers intervened to stop the fight. These victims of police brutality were all black. It is a fact that abuses by the police remains a significant problem in our country.
Many states have permitted officers to use deadly force when it?s deemed necessary. Many officers use extreme measures under inappropriate circumstances. For example the case, Tennessee vs. Garner, involved Edward Garner, a 15 year-old unarmed kid, who was shot and killed while running from the police. In 1985, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for a police officer to shoot a suspect in event of himer trying to run, if they do not pose an immediate danger to the officer and the public. Statistics show a clear pattern of racial discrimination in the table below provided by Memphis Police Department.(James J. Fyfe, Blind Justice: Police Shootings in Memphis)
Person Shot and KilledWhiteBlack
Armed and Assaultive57
Unarmed and Assaultive26
Unarmed and Not Assaultive113
Incidents like these aren?t rare. They occur on a regular basis. It?s usually a minority person that is the victim of being shot and killed, even though heshe was not armed and not assaultive. Another incident like this occurred in New York City, to Amadou Diallo, a black man who was shot 41 times by the police. Examples of police abuse cause many Americans (particularly those of color) to distrust the police.
Many African Americans have had their problems with law enforcement in the past and in the present. The color of their skin makes them a suspect to policemen who are prejudice. A new subtle discrimination has been enforced by police officers in the last decade that is now becoming a serious problem. Many policemen are bias and think that an African American person should not be driving luxurious cars, and if they do it automatically makes them a suspect. It is morally wrong and unlawful to make false accusation based on someone?s skin color. The Civil Rights Movement gave us the right not to be judged based upon our religion, sex, or race. Many policemen disregard this law and make racial accusations towards people of color anyways. ? They may not evoke the feelings of ?Let my people go? or ?We shall overcome.? But for Americans subjected to the embarrassment and fear of even relatively minor episodes of discrimination based on race- ?driving while black? or ?dining while black,? to use the bitter slang for such events ? the hurt is very real nevertheless.? (Brad Knickerboxer, New Face on Racism). The problem that we are dealing with is called racial profiling. It substitutes skin color for evidence as grounds of suspicion by law enforcement. There are many innocent victims of racial profiling across the country. Racial profiling has become a federal civil rights issue. Many Africans Americans including actors, members of congress, and business leaders have been humiliated by being stopped because of their skin color. It is an issue called ?Driving While Black.? In a survey provided by the A.C.L.U., they found that 73% of the people that had stopped on a Maryland interstate were African Americans, while they only make up 14% of the people driving on the busy interstate. With the number of growing allegations that police are using racial profiling to decide which motorists to pull over, some states are gathering information to see who is actually being stopped for alleged traffic violations. Many minority leaders are saying that if you were to gather information to see who is actually being pulled over, it would show that African Americans are routinely stopped for what they call ?Driving While Black.? ? The primary reason that police department have been able to get away with racial profiling is because they refuse to collect the evidence that would prove that problem exists.? (Michelle Alexander of the American Civil Liberties Union?s Racial Justice Project) This has been happening for the past decade or so. ? This is an issue that has been affecting police community relations not only in the state, but in the country? it is a high time for law enforcement to take this issue seriously.? (John Crew, A.C.L.U.) It is not fair African Americans to be victimized by racial profiling.
These problems are long overdue and most come to an end. Many organizations are trying to protect the civil rights of African Americans whose rights are being violated throughout the country. We cannot continue living on with racism and discrimination in our presence. There are a lot of people who still do not know about the hidden racism in today?s society. ?Many people are unaware of the degree to which zero tolerance, blindly applied, produces unfair results. Misperceptions and stereotypes often play a subtle role in shaping the outcome of decision-making in individual institutions. These disparities really do raise questions that have not been adequately answered.?(Brad Knickerboxer, New Face on Racism). There are official police profiles that suggest the targeting of black males, not because they are racially inferior but because they are statistically (according to the police, anyhow) more likely to commit crimes. The stereotypes are too pervasive. They must take responsibility for their use of these stereotypes and do their best not to allow situations to escalate based on statistics. Law enforcement decisions based on hunches rather than evidence are going to suffer from racial stereotyping. Although many law enforcement officials deny the problem of racial profiling, there is strong and compelling evidence that racial profiling occurs on our roads and highways throughout the
country and is a nationwide problem that demands a solution.
Works Cited
Fyfe J., James, Blind Justice: Police Shootings in Memphis)
Knickerboxer, Brad. New face on Racism-The Christian Science Monitor,
abcnews.go/sections/us/DailyNews/racism000114.html
?Driving While Black-racial profile under study?, 2 June 1999, CNN News,
cnn/US/9906/02/racial.profiling
?Racial Profiling?, A.C.L.U., aclu/profiling.
Другие работы по теме:
Blinded By Food Essay Research Paper Blinded
Blinded By Food Essay, Research Paper Blinded by Food Before I planned to blindfold myself and go through the weekly family Sunday night dinner, I knew one thing. That thing was: in this experiment I want to come a step closer, to see which is better; being blind or deaf. Hence, on this adventure I want to learn the pros over being deaf than blind and maybe the cons another time when I make myself deaf.
Blind Ambition Essay Research Paper Blind AmbitionJohn
Blind Ambition Essay, Research Paper Blind Ambition John Dean was counsel to the President. He wanted power and superiority. To advance up the ladder, John Dean got involved in certain activities. Some of which were not legal. One example would be the extortion of money. John Dean didn?t really think of the consequences but of the rewards.
The Computer Age Essay Research Paper Ben
The Computer Age Essay, Research Paper Ben Purdue 8/24/01 It is my prediction that the biggest issue we will face in the coming century not only as a nation but also as a planet is finding a blind between security of protected information and freedom of information. I say this because as a computer security consultant I understand the need for security of important information, however I as a programmer I understand such issues as the battle for open source code and freedom of information as a hole.
Cathedral Essay Research Paper Life is a
Cathedral Essay, Research Paper Life is a learning experience but sometimes the lessons come from people and places we would least expect them to. This was certainly true for the narrator (who remained nameless) in Raymond Carver s short story Cathedral . A visit from an old friend of his wife s is going to take place.
Losing A Sense Essay Research Paper Do
Losing A Sense Essay, Research Paper Do you ever wonder what it would be like to live everyday seeing only blackness? Or how about never being able to hear music and the soft voice of your mother? I can?t imagine how my life would be without my sense of sight or sound. I definitely look up to people whom are blind or deaf because they are so strong and courageous.
Cathedral Essay Research Paper CathedralThe story
Cathedral Essay, Research Paper Cathedral The story, “Cathedral,” is written in first person point of view. The title is a depiction for what happens in the story. A cathedral is a symbol of faith and strength, and an important factor to this story. The story is about the conversion of a man who is depressed about life and who has a nonchalant view to faith. “This is a man who lives a reclusive, isolated life, trapped in the prison of his own skin and his own bigoted and skewered way of looking at the world.” (Wired for Books).
BlindFaith Essay Research Paper Blind FaithIn the
BlindFaith Essay, Research Paper Blind Faith In the story “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, the main character, goes through a major personal transformation. At the beginning of the story, his opinions of others are filled with stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice. Through interaction with his wife’s blind friend Robert, his attitude and outlook on life changes.
Richard Wright Essay Research Paper In his
Richard Wright Essay, Research Paper In his development of this theme, Richard Wright alludes to several stories from classical Greek mythology, most notably the stories of Oedipus of Thebes. Like Sophocles’ stories of Oedipus, Native Son intertwines the idea of hubris (”excessive pride”) with the idea of blindness.
Grace 2 Essay Research Paper GRACEIn the
Grace 2 Essay, Research Paper GRACE In the story Cathedral and A Good Man is hard to find the characters achieve a certain type of grace in one level or another. Although these stories seem to have nothing to do with grace, especially A Good Man their basis is built on the grace that one achieves. One might think what is grace.
Cathedral Essay Research Paper Jessica BoehmerCathedral People
Cathedral Essay, Research Paper Jessica Boehmer Cathedral People in society are alienated in various ways. Alienations have a stereotype of being negative and offering nothing to the normal person. In the short story, Cathedral, a blind man, Robert, is the assumed alienated character in the opening of the story.
Richard Cory Essay Research Paper EssayIn the
Richard Cory Essay, Research Paper Essay In the poem, ?Richard Cory?, Robinson describes the character, Richard Cory, as being wealthy, generous, handsome, and courteous. Regardless of his social status,
Billy Budds Innocence Essay Research Paper Billy
Billy Budds Innocence Essay, Research Paper Billy Budd~ There is a lot to be said about innocence. If one is with innocence, than one can so no wrong but that isn?t all. Innocence is not always a good thing. It can make a person na?ve or blind to certain or all evils, which would seem as if they were blind from the world.
Cathedral Essay Research Paper Cathedral Essay In
Cathedral Essay, Research Paper Cathedral Essay In the story ?Cathedral? by Raymond Carver a variety of elements of short fiction contribute to theme. Raymond Carver uses a great variety of elements to render a theme
Cathedral Essay Research Paper Raymond Carver
Cathedral Essay, Research Paper Raymond Carver’s Cathedral The Husband?s Enlightenment Raymond Carver?s "Cathedral" is narrated from the point of view of a hostile and ignorant husband, whose wife has invited a blind friend to spend the night. The narrator is, through his forthcoming descriptions of his wife and the blind man, viewed as extremely bitter.
Third Eye Blind Essay Research Paper Dr
Third Eye Blind Essay, Research Paper Dr. Ernest Everett Just, was born in 1883 and he died in 1941. He spent most of his life trying to understand the mystery of biology, being a biologist himself. He has many contributions to the branches of science, for instance the facts about fertilization and pointed the way toward a better knowledge of the way all cells work.
Wait Until Dark Essay Research Paper Wait
Wait Until Dark Essay, Research Paper Wait Until Dark Frederick Knott The play “Wait Until Dark” has a melodrama form about it, which opens in the first act with a confused plot. It is a normal size play with three act in it. The whole theme of the play is centered around a total of seven actors, each of which have pretty active parts.
Cathedral 2 Essay Research Paper Cathedral The
Cathedral 2 Essay, Research Paper Cathedral The story is about a blind man who visits a married couple. He is an old friend of the wife, but the husband does not look forward to see the blind man (called Robert) because he does not know what to expect. He has never known any blind persons and his picture of these is based on a very little foundation.
Blind Man Essay Research Paper This story
Blind Man Essay, Research Paper This story The Blind Man is about a woman named Isabel, who has a husband named Maurice. The two of them had been married for 4 years, before there was a certain accident. This accident took place at Flanders, and resulted in the blinding of Maurice. The two continued to live together for the next year, and pretty much, all was well.
Love And Friendship Essay Research Paper Two
Love And Friendship Essay, Research Paper Two men lived, and two men died, And each saw the world through a different pair of eyes, And throughout their ventures, they often stopped to cry,
Wonderful Ezenzeleni Essay Research Paper
“Wonderful Ezenzeleni” For here the blind had eyes given to them. In the outside world they were condemned. For here the blind could make anything without the use of eyes
King LearBlindness Essay Research Paper King Lear
King Lear-Blindness Essay, Research Paper King Lear is in many ways like Nunez in the story The country of the Blind . They are both simliar because they both do not realize that they are both blind in what others think of them. They might think that they are right beacause both of them think that the people around them are inferior because of the way that they appear.
Blind Oedipus Essay Research Paper Blind OedipusIn
Blind Oedipus Essay, Research Paper Blind Oedipus In “Oedipus The King” by Sophocles, we see a man, Oedipus, who can see but cannot see at the same time. Oedipus has been chosen to look for the murderer of the former king, Laius. Little does he know that he, a few years prior, was the one who killed king Laius. He has also been destined to kill his father and marry his mother, which he knows he’s destined but does not see that he already has.
Oedipus Essay Research Paper Oedipus is a
Oedipus Essay, Research Paper Oedipus is a blind old man. He is the son of a former king of Thebes. His father?s name was Laius and his mother was Jocasta, the former queen. In the previous tragedy, Oedipus inadvertently killed his father and married his mother. He had four kids with his wife. Moreover, his wife/mother was going through a lot of stress so she decided to hang herself.
Sight And Blindness A Metaphor For Humanity
’s Place In The Universe Essay, Research Paper In Oedipus the King, sight and blindness were used as a metaphor for humanity’s place in the universe. The gods and unchangeable fate remained hidden from humans; therefore, they were blind to the truth of existence. It is ironic that the only insight Oedipus had into the gods’ will was through a blind man.
Madame Bovary Essay Research Paper In Madame
Madame Bovary Essay, Research Paper In Madame Bovary by gustave Flaubert, the theme of fantasy not always being reality is carried throughout the novel. Emma prefered the fantasy world to the real world. She spent most of her time yearning for a life with passion, exitement, and bliss. She was blind to the world around her, she longed for the romantic fantasy life she had dreamed about since she was a child.
Ray Carver
’s Essay, Research Paper Ray Carver s character Bub, in Cathedral, seems irritated and sometimes hostile. His lack of self-endurance is portrayed in his initial actions. The vehemence of his prejudice is surprising. His initial anger and anxiety seem way out of proportion to the situation, as if the blind man were threatening to him somehow.
Love Is Blind Essay Research Paper Love
Love Is Blind Essay, Research Paper Love is Blind: I am sitting at my desk, and suddenly it hits me: a beautiful idea for a new website, that ‘one and only’ offering to catapult my entrepreneurial fantasies into instant success. I am confident it will work. I know everyone will visit the site. Even my family loves the idea.
Blind Conformity In The Crucible Essay Research
Paper Crucible Essay – Blind Conformity Blind conformity to mass thought is an issue that greatly affected the events of the Salem Witch Trials in The Crucible. The tendency of the townspeople to conform blindly may have come from their religion. Puritanism did not encourage individuality, and anyone who was “different” was looked down upon.
Through The Eyes Of The Blind Essay
, Research Paper Through The Eyes Of The Blind You can never seem to know what’s going on in another ones life, unless you put your feet in there shoes, so to judge, is simply ignorance. Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is a story about how the narrator is uncomfortable with having his wife’s blind friend, Robert, over.
Blindness In Oedipus Rex Essay Research Paper
Blindness in “Oedipus the King” In Sophocles’ play, “Oedipus the King”, one of the main themes is blindness. The author uses physical blindness, as well as intellectual blindness to illustrate Oedipus’ status
Wisdom Or Stupidity Essay Research Paper WISDOM
Wisdom Or Stupidity Essay, Research Paper WISDOM or STUPIDITY ?Did you never observe the narrow intelligence flashing from the keen eye of a clever rogue?how eager he is, how clearly his paltry soul sees the way the to his end; he is the reverse of blind, but his keen eyesight is forced into the service of evil, and he is mischievous in proportion to his cleverness?? (282) I selected this statement from the essay because it can be looked at from many different points of view.
Keller Essay Research Paper For inspiration one
Keller Essay, Research Paper For inspiration, one needs look no farther than the story of Helen Keller. Here was a deafblind woman who, despite the loss of her sight and hearing as a toddler and the obstacles of her time, learned to read, write, and even to speak. Plus, she even graduated cum laude from college as the first deafblind person to ever do so! The story of Helen Keller is the story of a normal child who, at the age of 18 months, was suddenly shut off from the world but, against overwhelming odds, waged a slow, hard but successful battle to re-enter that same world.
Helen Keller Essay Research Paper Helen Keller
Helen Keller Essay, Research Paper Helen Keller This novel is about the amazing accomplishments Helen Keller has achieved. Her appearance was not much different from others even though she was blind and deaf. Helen had long light brown hair that was always tied up in a bun, with very thin lips. When Helen was a little girl she was very smart, greedy, and stubborn.
Blind Mans Bluff Essay Research Paper Blind
Blind Mans Bluff Essay, Research Paper Blind Man s Bluff Sometimes in literature, the characters in the story make an important contribution to society. In the novel, Blind Man s Bluff, by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew, the brave men and women that served in the Navy s Secret Service did just that. If it wasn t for them, many more lives would have been lost and more land would be destroyed.