Driving While Black Thesis

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ESSAY 1 “I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color.” -Malcolm X Not everyone shares that view with Malcolm X, especially not the white police. Policed abuse their power and freedom and use it as a means to oppress and discriminate against people of color. Two innocent black boys were shot and killed by police near the campus of Jackson State University in Mississippi in 1970 but the incident was overshadowed in the media. Forty years later, an emergency technical assistant, Maurice White, was assaulted by a highway patrol officer for no good reason when he was hurrying to get a patient to the hospital. Many more stories in between those years and beyond have been told about…show more content…
Driving While Black is one of those ways. Driving while black refers to the racial profiling of black drivers which can lead them to being pulled over by the police and to be searched, harassed or arrested for a trivial reason. (Wikipedia, 2014). Black teenagers when taught how to drive are also given extra rules to follow just because they have a different skin color from the police. They are taught how to not look suspicious. Asides the rules given to them pertaining driving, rules are also given in regards to how to act near white police to avoid any trouble that could come their way. “Never run in the view of the police officers, Always zip your bag fully so as not to be suspected of shoplifting, Never leave a shop without a receipt so as not to be accused of theft” are some of the instructions commonly passed on from parent to children so as to try and avoid police brutality. (Graham, Lawrence.…show more content…
They might say that blacks are treated the same way that the police treat people of other races but that blacks commit more offenses and that is why there are more stories of blacks versus the white police in relation to other races but that cannot be the case because blacks are not only bothered and committed for crimes they committed but they are also stopped and harassed unnecessarily when they are innocent so this means that there is racism involved. They may also say that because blacks make up a high percentage of the crime population, they deserved to be checked and scrutinized more carefully but if they do this, it is wrong as it goes against the right to equality and police officer safe not legally allowed to racially profile

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