Trayvon Martin Essays (Examples)

1 Times and Trayvon

The police unit that responded to the Trayvon Martin killing did not do a thorough inspection. They did not even know that Zimmerman’s car was there until his wife attempted to move it. They did not thoroughly canvas the neighborhood and knock and doors—otherwise they would have probably learned that Trayvon was a guest there at his father’s girlfriend’s place. The unit did not even have a homicide division because there were so few murders in the region. For that reason, it may be understood that there were gaps in the procedural work: they were simply inexperienced and not staffed for such an investigation. Would the case have ended up differently had the police been more thorough in their investigation? It is difficult to say: the trial quickly became politicized, which means a lot of talking heads were less interested in facts than in race war.…

Of even more significance is that twelve states go ahead to extend litigation costs and attorney fees "to a shooter who prevails in a civil lawsuit, creating a strong disincentive for a shooting victim to pursue justice in the civil system" (Mayors against Illegal Guns 6)

The Reach of Stand Your Ground Law

Although the Stand Your Ground Law is largely and extensively linked to Martin's case, a 2012 investigation by Tampa Bay Times revealed that "the Martin incident is far from the only example of the law's reach" (Lee). The relevance of this law as a major factor in judges' decisions, acquittals, and prosecutors' decisions, some of which involved cases that did not result in the victim's death, cannot be overstated (Lee).

In 2012, a Louisiana court acquitted Byron Thomas of all charges relating to an incident in which the 21-year-old, after a marijuana transaction turned sour, opened fire,…

Works Cited

Gardner, Thomas and Anderson Terry. Criminal Law. Stamford: CT: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.

Havis, Devonya. Pursuing Trayvon Martin: Historical Contexts and Contemporary Manifestations of Racial Dynamics. Ed. Yancy George and Jones Yanine. Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013. Print.

Lee, Suevon. "Five 'Stand Your Ground' Cases You Should Know About." Pro-Publica, 2012. Web.  http://www.propublica.org/article/five-stand-your-ground-cases-you-should-know-about 

Mayors against Illegal Guns. "Stand Your Ground Laws and Their Effect on Violent Crime and the Criminal Justice System." Mayors against Illegal Guns, 2013. Web. 8 May 2014  https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/images/ShootFirst_v4.pdf

Bloodlines and ace

George Zimmerman allegedly killed Trayvon Martin, an African-American teenager, in self-defense. The case has gotten national attention partly because of the issue of racial profiling. Many people believe that Zimmerman is biased against African-Americans and that he held a stereotypical view of Trayvon: a black teenager, face half-hidden under a hoodie, does not belong in a white neighborhood and is looking for trouble. Another dimension to the case is Zimmerman's own race, which is not clear.

Zimmerman's race is "a complicated matter" (Gamboa, 2012). Initially, the police described Zimmerman as white. Although his last name is Jewish, Zimmerman is not. His father calls him a "Spanish speaking minority." On voter registration forms, both Zimmerman and his mother identify themselves as Hispanic. Zimmerman's father listed himself as white. ace is important in the case because no one, other than Zimmerman, really knows exactly what happened. Zimmerman claims he…

References

1. F. James Davis, "Who is Black? One Nation's Definition." Frontline. Retrieved from  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jefferson/mixed/onedrop.html 

2. Suzanne Gamboa, "Trayvon Martin Case: George Zimmerman's Race is a Complicated Matter.The Huffington Post 3/29/12. Retrieved from  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012 

/03/29/trayvon-martin-case-georg_n_1387711.html

3. 'The curse of Ham': Slavery and the Old Testament. (2003). NPR. Retrieved from  http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1548811

Law Enforcement Opinion

This report will cover a topic that has always been controversial. However, there have been some events as of late, most of them racially and otherwise socially charged, that have forced the argument the subject firmly back into the forefront. Of course, that topic would be law enforcement. While gun violence, politics and so forth are all the rage in the modern blogosphere and social media realms, the topic of law enforcement is high on the minds of many regular people and activists due to, among other things, the events and details surrounding what happened to people like Eric Garner, Freddie Gray, Michael Brown and so forth. There are plenty of talking heads that would paint the police as abusive and authoritarians. However, that is far from being the true picture that should be painted and this report shall aim to fill in the rest of the…

References

Baker, A. (2015). In Eric Garner Case, Judge Rules Against Releasing Grand Jury Evidence. Nytimes.com. Retrieved 16 June 2015, from  http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/20/nyregion/in-eric-garner-case-judge-rules-against-releasing-grand-jury-evidence.html 

Barrabi, T. (2014). Michael Brown Robbed Convenience Store, Stole Cigarillos Before Darren Wilson Shooting, Dorian Johnson Says. International Business Times. Retrieved 16 June 2015, from  http://www.ibtimes.com/michael-brown-robbed-convenience-store-stole-cigarillos-darren-wilson-shooting-dorian-1729359 

CBS,. (2015). Family defends Trayvon Martin amid claims he was aggressor in deadly confrontation. Cbsnews.com. Retrieved 16 June 2015, from  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/family-defends-trayvon-martin-amid-claims-he-was-aggressor-in-deadly-confrontation/ 

FindLaw,. (2015). Are DUI Checkpoints Legal? - FindLaw. Findlaw. Retrieved 16 June 2015, from  http://traffic.findlaw.com/traffic-stops/are-dui-checkpoints-legal-.html

Stand Your Ground Law

'Stand your ground' laws

To inform

tand your ground' laws are extremely controversial pieces of legislation.

Attention-getter: 'A man's home is his castle.' How often have we heard this phrase? This concept is at the foundation of the right to defend yourself by using deadly force against an intruder who invades your home. However, recent laws have expanded the 'castle doctrine' and other, existing self-defense laws. Many of these new laws are called 'stand your ground' laws, the most liberal of which exists in Florida.

It is important to gain a historical perspective on 'stand your ground' laws to understand the controversy

tand your ground' laws are extremely polarizing pieces of legislation.

Credibility statement:

My interest in this topic arose during the George Zimmerman murder trial, in which Zimmerman (a member of a neighborhood watch) was accused of killing an unarmed teenager named Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman…

References

Block, M. (2012). A history of 'stand your ground' laws. NPR. Retrieved from:

 http://www.npr.org/2012/03/20/149014228/a-history-of-stand-your-ground-law-in-florida 

Botelho, G. & Yan, H. (2013). George Zimmerman found not guilty of murder in Trayvon

Martin's death. CNN. Retrieved:  http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/13/justice/zimmerman-trial/index.html

Stand Your Ground Laws: A Cry for epeal

THE EFFECTS OF HYPOXIA

STAND YOU GOUND: A CY FO EPEAL

Stand Your Ground Laws: A Cry for epeal

Academic and Professional Writing for Graduate Students (LS526-01)

The "Stand Your Ground Law" is one of the most controversial laws in recent years and has gained notoriety due to its enactment in thirty-three states so far. Advocates of the law claim that it reduces the threat of violence in society, but the statistics prove otherwise as research shows that the law actually inflames race-based violence (Purdie-Vaughn, Williams, 2015). As such there are several states that have either taken a wary view of the law and have decided to steer clear of it, or have raised issue(s) with enactment of the law while considering it. It is because of this scrutiny the law has been misunderstood by some people, abused by others, and just…

References

Alabama Criminal Code, Section 13A-3-23. Retrieved from  http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/alcode/13A/3/2/13A-3-23 

Campbell, R. C. (2014). Unlawful/Criminal Activity: The Ill-Defined and Inadequate Provision

for a "Stand Your Ground" Defense. Barry Law Review, 20(1): 3-21.

Cook, R. (2012). The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 'Stand Your Ground Law' in Effect in Georgia More Than 100 Years. Retrieved:  http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/stand-your-ground-law-in-effect-in-georgia-more-th/nQSgW/

Second mendment to the Constitution of the United States can often be as prevalent and potentially divisive as the First mendment, which covers freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the establishment caused which has come to justify the perceived separation of church and state. While there are practical and common-sense applications for gun ownership and rights, there are some weapons that probably shouldn't be in the hands of normal civilians and some people should not be allowed to own guns period due to things like felonious history, mental health issues and other similar conditions.

There has always been a butting of heads regarding what the Second mendment refers to and what it does not. To be precise, the ratified version of the Bill of Rights that was signed by Thomas Jefferson stated it "a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of…

A map that shows where concealed carry is allowed and which states allow reciprocity with others.

Washburn, Michael. "Our Favorite Weapon." The New York Times. The New York Times, 28 Jan. 2012. Web. 9 May 2014. .

A profile of prolific gun maker Glock and their ubiquity in the United States gun culture and the homes of owners.

Stand Your Ground vs. Duty to etreat: Why the Former Should be epealed

Florida, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, North Carolina and Nevada all have passed Stand Your Ground laws, whereas Maryland, New York, New Jersey, hode Island, Connecticut and Delaware all have Duty to etreat or Castle Doctrine laws. Just by simply acknowledging the geographical location of these states and their respective laws, one can see a common theme: the Northeastern states adopt a more pro-active approach to avoid conflicting (if one can retreat to a place of security, one must do so rather than impose violence on another); yet in the Southern states, there is a more defiant position in terms of if one is somewhere he/she has a right to be, then he/she has a right to fend off any attack and to use physical violence if physical violence is used against him/her. The difference between these two perspectives…

References

Cameron, D., Higgins, W. (2014). Florida's Stand Your Ground Law. Tampa Bay

Times. Retrieved from  http://www.tampabay.com/stand-your-ground-law/ 

Collins, D. (2013). Lawmaker calls for stand your ground law in Maryland. WBALTV.

Retrieved from  http://www.wbaltv.com/politics/lawmaker-calls-for-stand-your-ground-law-in-maryland/21581192

In “A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement,” co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter Alicia Garza writes about the history of the organization/social movement, the movement’s objectives and core philosophies, and also where the movement fits into the history of social protest in America. Garza covers a lot of ground in a relatively short space, tackling issues as diverse as queer politics, the misappropriation and hijacking of the contributions made by women of color, and the importance of Black liberation for improving the quality of life for all Americans. Garza’s audience is non-Black, and likely predominantly white as Garza clearly differentiates between the “we” of Black women and the “you” of a presumably white audience. Although the article would be more effective if detailed data or statistics were used, Garza effectively clarifies the #BlackLivesMatter philosophy and responds to critics of the movement using rhetorical strategies like pathos, ethos, and logos.
Garza writes “A Herstory”…

post brings up a number of topical issues associated with domestic violence as it relates to women. However, the claim that domestic violence "is not only a crime of oppression, but of sexism" is astute but should be modified to include the concession that domestic violence also occurs to men. The claims that domestic violence is an issue in media, and that it is global, are certainly true but not justified by any statistical evidence. Certainly, global cultures (Italian culture, for example, is highly patriarchal) although no examples are provided to support the claim that domestic violence is a global issue.

This post offers a comprehensive account of Slate's argument concerning the pitfalls of how distributive justice is implemented. The author is excessively deferential to Slate and would benefit from a greater degree of assertiveness. While it is true that fair allocation of resources is essential for the well-being of…

Court System

In recent times, no court case has attracted as much attention as that of George Zimmerman. In this text, I summarize the most significant facts of the said case and explore the key laws that were violated. Further, amongst other things, I will also summarize the outcome of the case and my opinion on the outcome.

The State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman

The Case in Brief: A Summary of Important Facts

Charged with second-degree murder in one of the most publicized court cases in recent times, George Zimmerman was on 13 July declared a free man after the jury deemed it fit to render a not guilty verdict. The charge in this case stemmed from the shooting to death of an individual by the name Trayvon Martin. Pursuant to the said shooting, the state charged that Zimmerman stalked and shot at Martin who was unarmed at the…

References

Botelho, G. & Yan, H. (2013). George Zimmerman Found Not Guilty of Murder in Trayvon Martin's Death. Retrieved from  http://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/13/justice/zimmerman-trial/ 

Clark, D.S. & Ansay, T. (Eds.). (2002). Introduction to the Law of the United States (2nd ed.). The Hague: Kluwer Law International.

Gaines, L.K. & Miller, R.L. (2009). Criminal Justice in Action (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Scheb, J.M. (2011). Criminal Law (6th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Mass Media & Values

The author of this report has been asked to answer a rather broad but still important question. The question at hand is whether the mass media is simply a representation of the broader cultural values, attitudes and stereotypes of a society or whether the mass media is involved with shaping the same rather than just being a reflection or representation. The author of this response does not mean to be non-committal or waffling but the answer is actually a little of both. There are some instances where mass media is simply just groveling to the masses but there are some instances where narratives are being established and cultural trends are being written. What is true in a given situation usually depends on the situation but it is not entirely hard or difficult to tell which is happening in a given instance. While mass media output is…

References

ABC News. 'Fox's Temptation Island Draws Fire'. ABC News. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Al-Jazeera. 'Hungary Journalist To Sue Syrian Refugee She Tripped'. Aljazeera.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Cassell, Paul. 'The Physical Evidence In The Michael Brown Case Supported The Officer [Updated With DNA Evidence]'. Washington Post. N.p., 2014. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

Darren O. 'What's In A Name: Do MTV, History, And TLC Have Branding Issues?'. starcasm.net. N.p., 2013. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.

The right to use force in self-defense an important civil liberty and right, ensconced in the Second Amendment of the Constitution. Because of Second Amendment assurances, all Americans technically have the right to bear arms in self-defense. Some states have attempted to restrict Second Amendment rights, but the vast majority of states have implemented “some statutory version” of the Castle Doctrine (“What is the Castle Doctrine,” n.d.). In fact, some states like Florida have taken the Castle Doctrine a step further to invoke what are commonly called “stand your ground laws.” Whereas the Castle Doctrine only applies to a person’s “castle,” or home and private property, stand your ground laws can be invoked in any situation requiring self-defense. There is no real reason, evidence-based or otherwise, why Americans who are protected by the provisions of the Constitution should not be able to defend themselves if and when faced with a…

Bernie Goetz is a vigilante that shot 4 black male youths in 1984. The victims asked Goetz for five dollars to play video games and Goetz accepted. He stated he would give them each five dollars and proceeded to shoot all four, leaving one paralyzed for life. Goetz was eventually caught and later went on trial, receiving 1 year of prison and serving eight months. He lost a civil case against him by one of the victims, but failed to pay a 'single penny' after filing for bankruptcy even when the judge stated he had to pay. W

Regarding how society viewed him at the time. There were three camps. The first supported his actions, believing he was in danger of being beaten and robbed. The second believed the victims, thinking they just wanted to panhandle to play video games. The third believed Goetz, but saw his actions as extreme.…

The authors do not state that public perceptions of severity should be discounted, but merely that these should not be over-emphasized, as was the case in previous literature.

Another existing mode of measuring crime severity is that of economic models. Economic measures of costs may seem more objective, but given that they also involve speculative losses (such as lost productivity), they are not universally agreed upon. One widely-used model to estimate crime severity is the Bradley-Terry continuum which posits that stealing something less than $5 is less severe than stealing "something worth $5 -- $50, which itself is less severe than trying to steal something worth more than $50. Additionally, stealing or trying to steal a car is ranked more severe than the other theft items. Selling marijuana is also ranked less severe than selling harder drugs such as heroin, cocaine, or LSD" (amchand et al. 2009: 143). The authors…

References

Perry, B. (2003). Where do we go from here? Researching hate crimes. Internet Journal of Criminology. Retrieved:  http://www.internetjournalofcriminology.com/Where%20Do%20We%20Go%20From%20Here.%20Researching%20Hate%20Crime.pdf 

Merl, J. (2013). Victims of 1999 hate-crime shooting endorse Mike Feuer. LA Times. Retrieved:

 http://articles.latimes.com/2013/apr/18/local/la-me-ln-feuer-guns-20130418

Police Interviews

The author of this report has been asked to conduct two interviews of police officers with six basic questions being the crux of both interviews. To protect the anonymity of the officers as well as a way to get the most honest and complete answers, the identity of the officers as well as the departments they have or do work for will not be identified in any way, shape or form. The answers garnered were insightful, honest and illuminating. The perspective they offer is perhaps not nearly as known as it should be given the reporting going on as it relates to the incidents in Ferguson and other places where cops have been shot or allegedly unarmed and/or innocent people on the street have endured the same. While there are two sides to each story, both the police and the people have the right to have their voice…

References

Cooper, H. (2009, July 22). Obama Criticizes Arrest Of a Harvard Professor. The New

York Times. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/23/us/politics/23gates.html?_r=0 

Reyes, D. (1994, November 2). Only One Drunk Driver in 500 Is Caught: Enforcement:

Even with tough Highway Patrol policy, probability of arrest in California is small.

Communications Media -- Media Culture

Stories Covered

Meet the Press June 24, 2012 (NBC)

The mainstream news program, Meet the Press June 24, 2012 (NBC), focused primarily on some of the different views about the most important needs of the nation between Republicans and Democrats. More specifically, the moderator raised the issues of racial profiling laws in various states, immigration policy reform, the potential consequences of a pending Supreme Court decision on President Obama's Affordable Care Act that has been the source of so much conflict in political circles since the first months of the current presidential administration. Other topics of discussion included the national budget in connection with the need to generate revenue, the current conflict over the "Fast and Furious" debacle and the bizarre allegations leveled against the U.S. Attorney General, and predictions about the different challenges faced by the respective presidential campaigns of President Obama and the…

.....police brutality against people of color has a long history in the United States, the Rodney King incident and the media attention it received promised to alter policy and public discourse. Yet police brutality continues to be a problem and threatens to undermine civil rights in America. Police brutality against visible minorities also erodes public trust in the institution of the law and the system of law enforcement. Those effects are palpable not only at the community level but also at the individual level of perceptions of police, as one study shows a substantial number of Americans have evolved contempt for law enforcement, suspicion of law enforcement, or "perceive law enforcement as agents of brutality," (Chaney and Robertson 480). Community policing models cannot take root or hope to mitigate or reverse the effects of these results unless there is a nationwide policy change to law enforcement organizational culture and training.…

In a news story presented by the online version of NBC news, a major American network, an article about #BlackLivesMatter includes photographic imagery of a large social protest that took place in 2013. The protest followed in the wake of George Zimmerman being found not guilty on charges of second-degree murder of an unarmed black man—an event that showcased the extent to which even the law fails to protect the lives of innocent people of color. In one photographic image used in this news story, the photographer captures a significant moment in the protest in which five individuals together hold up a large banner that has written on it nothing but the hastag and name of the organization #BlackLivesMatter. The background of the banner is black and white stripes, which is symbolic and reflects the interracial harmony intended by both the organization and the photographer who captured the image. This…

By allowing his children to address him by hist first name, Atticus is dismantling one of the many traditions that serve to reinforce and perpetuate traditions that ultimately only serve to delegitimize the experience and perspective of certain people. This forces the viewer to take Scout's recollections and narration more seriously, because although they are the memories of a relatively young child, the viewer cannot help but treat them with a little more respect in recognition of the respect that Atticus, as the most idealized character in the entire film, grants them.

Thus, taking a cue from Atticus, Scout and Jem are respectful and relatively well-behaved, but are never hesitant to question or challenge attitudes and behaviors that they perceive as unjust or unjustified, and particularly in the case of Scout, are especially sensitive to behaviors that hypocritically contradict the ostensible moral standards of society. hile is worth noting that…

Works Cited

Edgerton, Gary. "A Visit to the Imaginary Landscape of Harrison, Texas: Sketching the Film

Career of Horton Foote." Literature/Film Quarterly 17.1 (1989): 2-12.

Foote, Horton. To kill a mockingbird, the screenplay: and related readings. Boston: McDougal

Littell, 1997.

media in the United States plays an increasingly more active role in what we see, what we hear, how we think, and how we learn about the rest of our world. The media today is comprised of massive, powerful conglomerates and has replaced the small, independent news agencies that once produced the news. Instead, the dissemination of the news has become the responsibility of large corporations whose primary business is most likely something other than collecting, researching, and broadcasting the news. Journalism is no longer the primary responsibility of most news agencies. The new responsibility is generating profits.

Take the example of the one of the world's largest news media companies: Rupert Murdochs's News Corporation which owns the Fox News Agency. In addition Murdoch's Corporation owns an additional individual 26 televisions stations and a majority interest in 7 others. The News Corporation has total assets in excess of 52 billion…

Social psychology is a very broad field that takes in the many varieties of group dynamics, perceptions and interactions. Its origins date back to the late-19th Century, but it really became a major field during and after the Second orld ar, in order to explain phenomena like aggression, obedience, stereotypes, mass propaganda, conformity, and attribution of positive or negative characteristics to other groups. Among the most famous social psychological studies are the obedience experiments of Stanley Milgram and the groupthink research of Irving Janus (Feenstra Chapter 1). Authority figures are very important in influencing the behavior and attitudes of groups, as advertising pioneers like Edward Bernays and Nazi propagandists like Josef Goebbels realized early in the 20th Century. Human beings naturally categorize others into groups, and attribute values, attitudes and stereotypes to them, while they also tend to favor members of their own group (Feenstra Chapter 2). Social psychologists have…

WORKS CITED

Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. Penguin Books, 2006.

Cooper, S. "A Closer Look at Racial Profiling" in S.J. Muffler (ed). Racial Profiling: Issues, Data and Analyses. Nova Science Publishers, pp. 25-30, 2006.

Ewen, Stuart. PR!: A Social History of Spin. NY: Basic Books, 1996.

Feenstra, Jennifer. Introduction to Social Psychology. Bridegeport Education, Inc., 2011.

Corruption Within the Criminal Justice System

Although the American system of criminal justice and jurisprudence is widely regarded as a model for democratic nations across the globe to emulate, with its guarantee of due process and protection from illegal search and seizure standing as pillars of liberty, glaring defects still exist which warrant further improvement. From the disturbing trend of disproportionate arrest and sentencing among minorities, to the inability of courts to adequately enforce prohibitions levied against sexual predators, America's criminal justice system is imperfect at best, and inherently broken at worst. Widely publicized court cases such as the recent trial of George Zimmerman, a Florida vigilante charged with, and late acquitted of, murdering a young African-American man named Trayvon Martin, only serve to expose the fundamental flaws which are still far too prevalent within corrupt law enforcement agencies, an aging and outmoded judiciary, legions of overburdened prosecutors and defense…

References

Associated Press. (2013, August 29). Montana judge's remarks about raped teen prompt outrage. BBC News, Retrieved from  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23882735 

Feinstein, R. (2013). Juvenile Justice and the Incarcerated Male Minority: A Qualitative

Examination of Disproportionate Minority Contact.

Spitzer, E. (1999). The New York City Police Department's Stop & Frisk Practices: A Report to the People of the State of New York from the Office of the Attorney General. DIANE Publishing.

Gun Control Legislation

The availability of and access to firearms which is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution by the Second Amendment has created a multitude of consequences for modern Americans. The impacts of a loosely regulated gun market include the highest per capita rate of gun-related deaths in the world, major metropolitan areas like Detroit and Chicago struggling with unprecedented murder rates, and toddlers routinely finding their parent's weapons and dying after accidental discharge. Several longitudinal studies have demonstrated that the U.S. is by far the world's leader in both gun ownership and gun-related fatalities, and in fact, America's rate of 10.2 gun-related deaths per 100,000 citizens is more than double the rate of any other developed nation. The Congress has historically been averse to the passage of restrictive gun control legislation, as a powerful firearm lobby led by the National ifle Association has successfully kept the advances of gun…

References

Boodman, S.G. (2006, May 16). Gifted and tormented academic stars often bullied -- and more likely to suffer emotionally as a result. The Washington Post, p. F1. Retrieved from  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp - dyn/content/article/2006/05/15/AR2006051501103 .html

Cooper, A., & Smith, E.L.U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics. (2011).

Homicide trends in the United States, 1980-2008: Annual rates for 2009 and 2010 (NCJ-

236018). Retrieved from Government Printing Office website:

Race in America

Ask five people how they would define racism, religion, and family, and then summarize the definitions. Identify the similarities and differences in the definitions.

When it comes to racism, there were a few different answers. Most of centered on unreasonable or undue attention to the color of someone's skin but there were some caveats in there about being "racial" versus "racist." When it comes to religion, the answers were pretty much the same…they all centered on whether someone thinks there's a god and the belief structure that surrounds it. Family was also quite different. Some people only mentioned people related by blood/marriage but some people included close friends and trusted people as being part of their "family."

Provide your own definitions of each and how they relate to each other.

Racism is any thought or behavior that is irrational and unethical and that is based on race.…

acial Discrimination

The social problem studied in this paper is racial discrimination. acial discrimination is any discriminatory act against a person based on race. A subtype of racial discrimination would be racial harassment. The magnitude of racial discrimination is very high: according to the FBI's most recent HCSA report, 51% of reported hate crimes are based on race (Hate Crimes in America, 2015). However, as Blank, Dabady and Citro (2004) point out, "simply identifying an association with race is not equivalent to measuring the magnitude of racial discrimination or its contribution to differential outcomes by race" (p. 72). In other words, it is not easy to define the magnitude of racial discrimination because distilling the cause-and-effect relationship requires testing and in complex socio-economic environments, experiments are difficult to conduct with adequate controls. Nonetheless, a qualitative magnitude may be discerned in the narratives of men like Malcolm X and Martin Luther…

References

Blank, R., Dabady, M., Citro, C. (2004). Measuring Racial Discrimination. NY: NAP.

Hate Crimes in America. (2015). Civil Rights. Retrieved from  http://www.civilrights.org/publications/hatecrimes/nature-and-magnitude.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/ 

Jones, E. M. (2000). Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control.

South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press.

Diversity

There is no real difference between the racism that Du Bois witnessed 100 years ago and the racism seen today. The same WASPs who were the controlling elites in those days are still the controlling elites today -- only there has been a strain of political correctness introduced into the culture that covers the racism. Nonetheless, the Puritanical racist mentality fostered by the WASPs has also trickled down from the elites to the "middle class" which arose in the post-War period thanks to hefty incentives and kickbacks from the government. Du Bois witnessed Jim Crow laws that hurt blacks -- these were everywhere: in the Army, in the neighborhoods in the South, in schools, on buses, in diners. There was one set of laws for whites and another for blacks. Today, de-segregation has largely eliminated the "Jim Crow" standard, but different laws are on the books now -- laws…

References

Jones, E. M. (2000). Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control. IN:

St. Augustine Press.

PBS. (2010). People & ideas: W.E.B. Du Bois. Retrieved from  http://www.pbs.org/godinamerica/people/web-dubois.html

Songs of Sorrow

"The Sorrow Songs" is a message that is related to the spirituality of the African-American people. In summary, Dubois gives what he perceives as a message of the African-American people, which is that of hope, not only in that particular time period, but also subsequent generations. Without doubt, African-Americans have made a substantial contribution as to what the United States is as a nation. This, in particular, does not take into account the work that the African-American partook and accomplished for the economy of the United States while being slaves, or the influences of African-American playwrights and originators as significant as all that was. Instead, this takes into account the manner in which the African-Americans' struggle for freedom and liberties instigated by the United States to extensively analyze its morals and epitomes. More so, this caused the United States to question itself, whether it actually was the…

References

Craven. J. (2014). Please don't tell me all lives matter. Huffington Post. Retrieved 30 November 2015 from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/julia-craven/please-stop-telling-me-th_b_6223072.html 

Du Bois. (1903). The Souls of Black Folk; Essays and Sketches. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1903.

Gooding-Williams, R. (2009). In the Shadow of Du Bois. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Massey, J., Tenhoor, M., Korsh, S. (2015). Introduction: Black Lives Matter. Aggregate Organization. Retrieved 30 November 2015 from:  http://we-aggregate.org/piece/black-lives-matter

This free essay discusses the National Anthem Protest which was first started by Colin Kaepernick in the NFL and has now spread to many players both in the NFL and other major sports.  We will provide you with example titles, related topics, an outline as well as all the major parts of an essay (thesis statement, essay hook, introduction, body, conclusion, works cited).  This can be used as a template/guideline/reference in helping you write your own paper.  If you need help writing, please review our "how to write an essay" tutorial.

In 2016, a football player with the NFL named Colin Kaepernick made the decision to stop standing for the National Anthem as a means of protesting the fact that unarmed African Americans are killed by police in disproportionate numbers, usually without any repercussions for the officers who engaged in the killings.  After hearing from a veteran that he found…

Potential Topics:
Police Brutality and Race

Police Violence and African Americans

When Does the Use of Force Become Police Brutality?

Police Brutality and the Black Lives Matter Movement

Police Brutality and the Blue Lives Matter Movement
Alternate Titles:
The Use of Violence: Is there a Limit to the Amount of Force Police Officers Should Use on a Suspect?

Why Just Comply Is Not the Answer to Police Brutality

Are Minorities the Victims of Higher Rates of Police Violence?

Police Brutality: Is there a War on Cops or a War by Cops?
Outline:
I. Introduction - Definition

II. Body
A. Definition
B. Racial Disparity in American Criminal Justice
C. The Black Lives Matter Movement
D. Subsequent Killings
E. Delrawn Small on July 4, 2016
F. Alton Sterling on July 5, 2016
G. Philando Castile on July 6, 2016
H. Blue Lives Matter
I. Police Brutality and Attacks on the Police are…