BlackLivesMatter – Contemporary Racism

Protect and Serve Who?

Carolina Escobar — Mon, 01 Dec 2025 17:45:10 +0000

How do you feel about the police? Do you see them as people who are there to protect you from crime? Can you depend on them? This should be the standard and in some areas, it is. I’m sure you can guess as to what I will bring up. You know because it is a huge issue. You know because in 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police officers and it sparked a huge outrage ...

Maybe Ignorance isn’t so Blissful

saltnpepper — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 16:16:10 +0000

A month ago, I would have been so utterly offended if someone tried to claim that I am racist, but now I read numerous articles each week explaining why every white person feeds the racism in our society and cannot help but agree. In no way am I proud to contribute to systematic injustices (especially those targeted at individuals due to their racial identity), yet I will humbly admit that my own ignorance encourages segregation ...

So What Do We Do?

KP5 — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 15:39:32 +0000

As a Black African American in today’s society, the police are my worst nightmare, and I know I speak for many other African-American young adults out there. The actions of individual officers in cases like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor are completely unjustified. Holding a knee on someone’s neck for seven minutes is far from justifiable. Officers shooting through a door when no one answers, hitting Breonna Taylor, is also far from justifiable. The police ...

Black Children At Risk

Madeleine Kemo — Tue, 17 Nov 2020 19:11:32 +0000

Children of color are at a high risk of being negatively impacted by implicit prejudices and biases. The way that people manifest their prejudiced beliefs can be dangerous to children’s ability to learn and be successful outside of the classroom. In a study done by Goff et al. (2014), children of color were much more likely to be perceived as older than they actually were. Young boys of color are then treated as older when ...

A Conversation With a Cop

Madeleine Kemo — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 16:01:48 +0000

I recently met a police officer two years older than me. I started talking to him and having friendly conversation before learning that he was a cop. Naturally, upon finding out about his career, I asked him his thoughts on the current Black Lives Matter movement and police brutality. His response was “Yea, it’s a shame that it was a few bad cops. I work with hispanic people and stuff. I’m definitely not racist.” This ...

Proud to be American?

Tajarie Wright — Sat, 24 Oct 2020 15:50:59 +0000

In the NY Times 1619 project, Nikole Hannah-Jones hosted a podcast called “The fight for a true democracy” where she mentioned a story about Isaac Woodward. He was a 27 year old Black man who had just returned from fighting in WW2. While on his way to see his wife, the bus driver stopped and Isaac asked him if he could use the restroom, he said no. They argued and ultimately, Isaac still went to ...

Police Misconduct: Exposed and Excused?

Maya Illovsky — Sun, 18 Oct 2020 14:18:42 +0000

I listened to the June 12, 2020 episode of the podcast It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, and what I found to be most interesting from this podcast is the matter of police unions. Whether you listen to that podcast, the So Y’all Finally Get It episode of Still Processing, or make clear observations from the news in events that are still occurring today, the point is clear and obvious that history is repeating ...

Kids are Still Kids No Matter their Skin Color

KarlyM — Mon, 02 Dec 2019 15:56:26 +0000

When it comes to police officers who murder young Black or brown kids, the important piece here is that the children themselves were performing harmless acts – yet those acts were seemingly threatening to a police officer. When has there ever been a White child who was sought after by a police officer for just playing in a park? These kids are just kids. Just because of the color of their skin does not immediately ...

#NotYourMule

Wilhelmina Minney — Sun, 17 Jun 2018 16:05:46 +0000

This idea that Black women are the perpetual mules of everyone else has been ingrained in our society. We see it in the media when all we see are Black women marching for Black lives. We see it portrayed in the media with Black women playing the help, the nanny, the supporting motherly character, or the best friend used simply to illuminate the main actress’s character. The image of the Black woman has been, historically ...

Starbucks Doesn’t Serve their Coffee Black

Maia Brint — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 18:34:15 +0000

Early last week, on April 12th, two Black men were arrested inside a Philadelphia Starbucks. The store manager had called the cops, saying there was a disturbance, that these men were refusing to leave the premises, and that she was scared. In response to the call, a group of police officers came inside the establishment, did not ask the two men any questions about their presence in the Starbucks, and immediately handcuffed them and walked ...

Not the First, Not the Last

Maia Brint — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 17:46:24 +0000

Stephon Clark is not the first Black man to be shot and killed for posing an imaginary threat to the nearby community. Unfortunately, he will most likely not be the last person of color to fall victim to police brutality and ignorance. The police officers claimed that Clark was facing them and seemed dangerous and like he was holding a gun. Contradictory to their statements, the autopsy report says Clark was shot from the back ...

National Football League Anthem Protests

zachkatz — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 17:37:51 +0000

Today I want to speak about the National Football League, and the issues occurring in regards to the National Athem protests. This has been an ongoing event for the past few years, especially after the “leader” of this protest, Colin Kaepernick decided to start it. As a result, over the past couple of years, the players have been closely studied, and criticize for every movement they made during and before the National Anthem of an ...

Protests and Patriotism

Carli Weimer — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 20:38:33 +0000

Beginning in August of 2016, Colin Kaepernick, the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, began a national anthem protest. Over the next 13 months, players from various teams in the NFL began sitting, kneeling and speaking out in acts joining Kaepernick. On August 26, 2016, Kaepernick exclaimed, “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this ...

Common’s New Album is Anything But

Brittany Smith — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 19:52:16 +0000

This week, the rapper Common released an album titled Black America Again. It’s genius. Pure activist genius, right before Election Day. His music is complex and interesting, his lyrics exploring the nuances of systemic racism in the United States. He focuses on an array of issues, including mass incarceration, the injustices occurring in Flint, Michigan, and cultural stereotypes, which marginalize people of color and perpetuate systemic inequality. “The Day Women Took Over” highlights the accomplishments ...

Drawing the Line

Connie — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 19:10:12 +0000

Published by an Anonymous Student This week, I learned that my hometown debuted a painted blue line in the middle of the road in front of our municipal building, which houses the library, government offices, police department, and other administrative offices. Multiple government officials posted about it on their official Facebook pages, including pictures like this one from our Committeeman. They presented their action as a tribute to fallen law enforcement officers. Under the Facebook ...