Preview

Argumentative Essay On All Lives Matter

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
695 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Argumentative Essay On All Lives Matter
In light of a multitude of minority deaths at the hands of police officers in America, a new movement has sprung up: Black Lives Matter, and with it comes controversy. Some individuals view this political movement as disregarding other lives. Thus, the term “all lives matter” has become a phrase used by those opposed to this group. However, the phrase, “all lives matter” is problematic because it pushes aside the issues people of color face everyday with police and diminishes the meaning of the phrase, “black lives matter.” Although, the term “all lives matter” is not intending to be harmful, it is damaging because it ignores the real and exceedingly detrimental issue of police brutality aimed at people of color, and police violence against minorities must be addressed by policy because the harm and murder of minorities which has been occurring at alarming rates must be halted. …show more content…
But recently some officers have become overly violent, especially toward black individuals, and as a result movements such as, Black Lives Matter have risen up. As The Huffington Post pointed out on July 15th, 2016, “The group Black Lives Matter is trying to highlight that black lives matter less than white lives to the criminal justice system and the American government ,” and in response to all lives matter the Huffington Post continues in the same article, “All Lives Matter, draws attention away from a movement that would help push the country toward the version of itself where all lives actually do matter,” therefore, the phrase “all lives matter” is problematic because it pushes minority issues to the side, allowing for racism to remain ingrained in the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    One of the main conflicts occurring in the United States today deals with police brutality and the relationship between police officers and their communities. Two Books Argue the Case for Police Reform From Within, an article in the New York Times, stated that approximately one-thousand people in America are killed annually at the expense of police officers. This number is shocking to many due to the fact that the amount of violent crime and deaths of on-duty police officers has decreased greatly and continues to do so. This article talks about how police enforcement abuses their powers and how they are thought to have too much power which leads to this abuse. It discusses cases that deal with the Fourth Amendment right of American Citizens and where police have used deadly force in instances that it was not necessary, leading to a movement known as Black Lives Matter.…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “The Black Lives Matter movement is a nationwide chapter-based organization that is committed to validating the lives of African-Americans” (About the Black Lives Matter network, 2016). It is made to be a support system for African Americans that are wrongfully abused and accused of crimes by law enforcement. “The Black Lives Matter movement represents a renewed effort on the part of the African-American community in the United States to counter the violent racism that continues to linger throughout the American society today” (About the Black Lives Matter network, 2016). Although there has been great progress in other aspects of civil rights areas, the organizers of the Black Lives Matter movement emphasize the need to educate all Americans concerning the extrajudicial killings of black Americans by vigilantes and law enforcement authorities across the country.…

    • 904 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the past year there have been multiple cases of “racial discrimination” against the police, these cases have been associated with police brutality. Segregation and racial prejudice was a large part of the history in the United States but not in a positive way. Many Americans are not proud of the way the African Americans were treated by their fellow citizens. Prejudice and racial discrimination are prevalent today in both the same and different ways as when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought against it. In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” he uses periodic sentences, syntax, diction, and allusions to write about his beliefs about the immense struggles African Americans experienced to gain their rights, how he…

    • 1393 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I have a dream…” once said a very heroic man who went by the name Martin Luther King Jr. The world suffers from racial injustice even after huge sacrifices by people who stood up for what’s right. A movement called “Black Lives Matter” nowadays starts conversation and creates more knowledge on the sensitive topic. Many laws should be tweaked so it’s no longer uncorrupt, benefiting and protecting us people.…

    • 557 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I can't breathe, I can’t breathe" are the words Eric Garner repeated multiple times as he was held in a choke hold and brought to the ground by New York City police officer, Daniel Pantaleo. There are countless tragedies that have affected not only the black community, but other racially profiled minorities from the constant monster that all have learned to instill their trust into: The Police. Who does a person call when the murderer wears a badge? These are the questions asked by those affected by the loss of a loved one, or friend as a result of police brutality. As time continues to pass, it has become seemingly clear that one minority is greatly affected by this monstrosity: The black community. There has been constant debate over police brutality and racial profiling in the United States; incidents such as the deaths of Eric Garner and Trayvon Martin have led to the recent movements of the Black Lives Matter Campaigns, and have been widely debated over making many people question, whose life really matters?…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the early 1990’s police brutality had become common; police officers abused their powers and became brutal when dealing with offenders and even non-offenders. One infamous example of such brutality occurred in 1992 in Los Angeles when a black man named Rodney King was violently beat by five officers for being “black.” The five officers repeatedly struck King as a few other officers stood by not paying any attention to the situation near by. Two of the five officers were later acquitted which angered the black and Latino community around the world as did the videotape of the incident. This incident did however put more attention and awareness on the issue of police brutality.…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile, and Freddie Gray are just a few of the names that in the past year have intruded our lives and made themselves known with a commanding presence. With a certain ease, their stories made waves across the country resulting in a mass migration of people to whatever side suited their opinions; the police or the ‘victims’. The ‘sudden’ uptick in racially charged police shootings highlights the problem with society exquisitely! Upon hearing an iota of detail, one side of a story, we jump to conclusions about what happened. But, why is it a problem that we do that? Well, for starters, the victims in these police shooting cases often get the ‘spotlight’ first. This allows for them, or those…

    • 226 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Police Brutality Research

    • 1746 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Blacks are strongly affected by police brutality and biased judgments. Recent months have made police brutality hard to ignore and pose an unexpected challenge to the government, thanks to the black community that isn’t willing to put up with the corruption in the Police Departments. A black movement for the social problem has erupted since the shooting of Michael Brown on August 9, 2014,” That incident sparked a national movement to protest police treatment of African Americans and turned 18-year-old Michael Brown into a putative symbol of racial inequality in America”…

    • 1746 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Color Vs Police Brutality

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The average indictment rate of police brutality against african-americans is 13% (2012 Supplementary Homicide Report, FBI). This is simply an embarrassment of the judicial system when the indictment rate of police brutality against white Americans is a staggering 63% (2012 Supplementary Homicide Report, FBI). With a 50% difference between the two, this implies the superiority persona officers of law enforcement believe they have when it comes to minorities. To stand in a police officer’s shoes and think one can walk away from shooting an unarmed person of color because the judicial system will not indict them is a dishonor to everything law enforcement is supposed to stand…

    • 817 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Racial Profiling, we see it, hear it, and experience it, all because of our skin color, ethnicity or simply because of our names. All throughout the country, millions experience racial profiling whether it’s in a school, a restaurant, their neighborhood, or in jail. Racial Profiling has destroyed the public trust in not only police officers but from everyone around them as well. Listening to movements based on the killings due to being a certain race and learning from the death of Eric Garner and the series of deaths of others, concludes that two issues need to be solved: racial profiling and police…

    • 103 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hands up. Don’t shoot. The image of black men and women repeating the simple action at protest in Ferguson, Missouri and across the globe—generates its power from what happens before that moment. In Ferguson and too many places, police are more likely to pull over people of color for driving-indeed, often for simply being a person of color. But there is lasting power in the stories people never forget. They are stories of ‘broken’ taillights, police brutality that doesn’t show up in an arrest report because there never was one, of no justice because nobody knew where to turn. To help reach beyond Ferguson, the opinion department of Guardian US and the St Louis Post-Dispatch partnered to gather hundreds of reader experiences.…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    #BlackLivesMatter is very popular on social media. It is a movement that has organized protest, met with presidential candidates and other famous people, and received their approval. People who were against #BlackLivesMatter said that it should be changed to #AllLivesMatter. However, people have argued that #AllLivesMatter implies that all lives, black or white, are equally at stake, when they are not. #BlackLivesMatter and #IfTheyGunnedMeDown are examples of following in King’s footsteps in a modern…

    • 675 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the 1960’s there has been an ever-increasing number of race riots which have stemmed from police brutality against Americans of minority descent. One of the most infamous race riots were the Los Angeles Riots of 1992 which stemmed from the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles Police Officers (Martin, 2005). In 1992 the Los Angeles Riots began following a verdict which had acquitted the four police officers who had beaten Rodney King to within an inch of his life (Ralph & Chance, 2014). According to Ralph & Chance (2014) “By the time the Riots (or the uprisings or rebellions, as some prefer to call the events) came to an end, property damages totaled nearly $1 billion, fifty-three people had died, and more than 2,000 people were injured” (Pg.…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Like when there are criminals on the loose, they are there to stop them. Instead, there are others who can’t do their job right, some cops think that the best way to deal with problems are to shoot the victims. The law states that you can’t fire at someone is unarmed. Cops should have better training for when it is the right time to use their gun at the right time. With situations like this, it is the reason why the “Black Lives Matter Movement” exists today. In August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri, 18-year-old Michael Brown African- American was shot by a white police being…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “African American males are twenty two times more likely to be shot by a police officer than their white counterparts. The Oscar Grant case shows this corruption by law enforcement” (Neubauer). This controversial case has been an issue with law enforcements “protecting” our communities when in reality they’re just killing and accusing innocent people because they have the power to. This white officer shot an African American male Oscar Grant, with his gun. According to the officer “he was reaching for his gun but accidentally pulled out his Taser”. The footage that was obtained showed that Grant was already on the ground restrained and did not seem like a threat before he was shot. Many more cases like this one have also shown the same problem, police overusing their power but only when they deal with a colored person. Innocent people have died in the hands of the police and not one single case has been justified in court and it’s all because they’re “black”. The court doesn’t justify or fight for the victims’ rights all they do is protect the law enforcements and say that the victim’s actions seemed like a threat. Black lives matter because we are all equal under the law and if the court doesn’t resolve these issues many more will continue to die in the hands of what we call “safety and security”…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays