Dream Keeper's Conference

In 1974, the civil rights movement had been over for about 6 years, a gallon of gas cost about 55 cents, and the host of the late night TV show “The Tonight Show” Jimmy Fallon was born. However, those were of little importance compared to the historic case of Tennessee v. Garner. This is a case reminiscent of the recent shootings that have induced the “Black Lives Matter” movement. Although the black lives matter movement was not created until 2013, the public outrage at the Tennessee v. Garner case was similar to the anger shown in protests and online in the past few years. However, there was more to the case than just the shooting of an unarmed black man that made it so controversial.

I think many people are blind to the subject of racism because racism of today's world is covert and furtive versus several decades ago when one could be open and public about their acts of racism. Not only is racism causing a discord amongst the citizens of a place that is considered to be a “safe space,” “home of the free and the land of the brave,” and “many opportunities and equal opportunity” for those within its borders and to immigrants who aspire to come here but racism has caused a sense of lost identity amongst many individuals in the African American community. Often looking for ways to figure out who they are aside from what the white man says they are or should be or can do.

For this assignment, I’ve decided to focus on Dylann Roof and the hate crime he committed on June 17, 2015. In summary, during a prayer service, Dylann Roof killed nine people, all African Americans. After the shooting took place, several thoughts of why Roof committed such heinous crime were considered. However, shortly after, a website owned by Roof was discovered. The website contained images and symbols of white supremacy, along with a manifesto written by Roof. After such discovery, it became clear the motive behind Roof’s actions.

The following piece of work will discuss racism within the criminal justice system by viewing the Black Lives Matter movement, the roles of law enforcement and how that effects citizens, and potential solutions to the problems in the system. Within our criminal justice system, it is evident that there is a problem by the ratio of blacks in prison, and the number of police brutality cases in the country.

John Jay Chapman’s essay, “Coatesville”, describes a crime committed by a small mob. The author verbalizes his anger towards the torture and burning alive of a black man named Zachariah Walker in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, while there were hundreds of American citizens that stood by aimlessly witnessing the event happen. In 1912, the author constructed a prayer meeting in which he gave a speech about the crime. He went on to implying that we shouldn’t just hold the people who committed the crime responsible but the nation itself. Convinced that these crimes still exist till this day because our nation hasn’t given up racism or being prejudice. He gives this speech to make the people more aware of their mistakes and provides them with ways to fix them.

Whenever I hear about discrimination, prejudice or stereotypes, as they relate to race, ethnicity and you name it, my system aches. Being inhumane and lack respect for your fellow brothers or sisters, regardless of color, speaks volume and causes unsettling issues in our society today. In this assignment, my mission is to share an historic event that took place in Martinsville, VA back in 1949. This case includes rape and a racially motivated justice system, that leads to racial discrimination; ultimately, led to the execution of seven. This case garnered international recognition and eventually left an indelible scar on the world. With numerous evidence of racial discrimination, I have put together a compelling argument which establishes

I commence with this anecdote for several reasons one of which is to humbly acknowledge my unique, and privileged position as a Black female scholar in the midst of a war waged against Black bodies. Another reason is to recognize police brutality as a national endemic that plagues Black communities, unveiling remnants of anti-Black racism that legitimately suppresses the lives of Blacks in America . The non-indictments in each case concerning the sanctioned murder of Black youths evoke a

“From that point on,” after witnessing the body—and Mamie’s courage—“Mississippi began to move” (Bush 3). On July 2nd 1964, John F. Kennedy signed the civil rights act into law. Now, This was meant to be a turning point in history and the act of gunning down a black youth became a staple case of racism considering it was the case that led to the enactment of the Civil Rights Act. However, within the emergence of this new racism, “African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 comprised more than 15% of all deaths logged in 2015 by investigation into the use of deadly force by police” (Swaine 1) even though African American males only make up 2% of the population. From Emmett Till’s gunning down in 1955 to Walter Scott’s in 2015, we are witnessing history repeat itself when America can clearly see, “of course the evidence is not there, but we are still claiming skin color was not a factor” (Crump 2). The city of North Charleston, S.C., was all too willing to accept the officer’s version of events, even though the physical evidence clearly showed that the officer had landed four out of eight bullets in Scott’s

August 9th 2014, Ferguson Missouri, an unarmed black teen Michael Brown was shot, and fatally wounded by a white police officer by the name of Darren Wilson. As a direct result of deciding not to indict Officer Wilson, the black community was out raged! Riots, looting, and damage to businesses soon followed the judge’s ruling. The trial was unlike normal trials which were treated with more expedience in the process, the grand jury in Officer Wilson case met for three months and 25 days. (Buchanan, et. al. 2014)

In the United States in 1931, during America’s Great Depression, nine African American boys faced what is now known as one of America’s most tragic trails in history. These young boys were accused of raping two white girls while riding a train through Alabama. This accusation brought forth a mob of white people in the town of Scottsboro. The boys spent years on trial for this. The first trial was thought to have been the final convention, little did they know it was only the beginning. A second trial was held for the nine boys that shook the entire nation. After the second trial a third one was held after the judge suspected that the evidence was not properly examined. The nine young boys, known as “The Scottsboro Boys”, spent their lives in and out of a courtroom and in a cell for a crime that today is known to have never taken place.

The memory of incidents such as O. J. Simpson’s high profile criminal trial, the assault of Rodney King in Los Angeles in 1992, and the 2009 arrest and charging of Harvard Professor Henry Gates for racial profiling still freshly linger in the minds of many Americans. The people’s perceptions of justice in these situations continue to represent how the criminal justice system is viewed in present times, and continue defining racial disparity in America (Mauer, 2011).

For the past few years, racial tensions have been on the rise. Although many actions have been taken to prevent these conflicts from occurring, African Americans are still being undervalued by the state. As more African Americans are being turned away with little to no assistance from the American government, anger and the desire for change increased among them. When Trayvon Martin’s murderer George Zimmerman was acquitted for his crime, a great number of Americans were furious at the outcome. Three African American women named Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi expressed their view on a Facebook post titled “A Love Note to Black People” and it ends with “Our Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter” (“Black Lives Matter”). Thus, a new liberation movement for black people was born. The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter rapidly spread throughout social media, bringing awareness of the struggles of African Americans. The Black Lives Matter movement is a call to action to eradicate the dehumanization of African Americans that exists in American society. With the constant targeting of African Americans by the police and the unfair treatment in the criminal justice system, the Black Lives Matter movement is a necessity to combat racism.

This is a topic that really peaked my interest, and this artifact was chosen based off of what I believe to be a demonstration of passion. Law and justice is a passion of mine, and I felt like I was able to analyze the cause and effect of African American communities due to a biased justice system in my discussion. African Americans faced longer imprisonment, unlawful conduct such as excessive use of force, excessive searching under unfair circumstances, false prosecution, and false imprisonment. No evidence was necessary, and it was the word of the white man over the black man. That, in my personal reflection, is appalling and inhumane. The significance of such actions is demonstrated by police brutality today, and how, it still continues

This article was published seven months after the murder of the seventeen year old Trayvon Martin. African American families felt like it was the right thing to do and to have “The Talk” to establish some ground rules on how to act in public without getting perceived by doing the wrong thing ("African-Amercan Parents Give "The Talk" Regarding Racial Profiling"). The article then gives several different accounts of African American families and how each family relayed their message across to their younger children. I feel as this source is very essential and reliable to my research because it teaches me that African American families are looking out for their younger children and those families don’t want the same result as what happened to Trayvon

Almost every member of the black community in Maycomb County is admirable in their personalities and innocent in their nature, and this generalisation makes the crimes against the black community all the worse. Tom Robinson, a man discriminated and accused of a crime that he didn’t commit has come forth to the justice system. The color of his skin determines everything from his background too if he’s guilty or not. A black man’s life is unable to prove innocence because of his race. Poverty has affected many people back in the 1960’s but, if a black man or women were to experience this they would be put on the white