Black Lives Matter Chicago - Research Paper Example

Black Lives Matter Chicago 1.0 Abstract The extrajudicial killings of Black Americans, triggered a hot debate on civil rights and racial profiling leading to the formation of a movement called The Black Lives Matte. Several black- American activists made efforts to ensure the ongoing existence and massive scope of the movement. They met with prominent leaders to catch the attention of governments and also held demonstrations to sensitize people on the objectives of the movement. The Black lives Matter movement is not only a concern for the United States of America, but also for nations worldwide. It has held over 700 demonstrations activities worldwide such as highway marches, traffic blocking, making demands to meet prominent leaders and defying malls. The activities aim at bringing sustainable change through ending racism and upholding the human rights. The movement considers the demonstration activities as a disruptive process done with no polite approaches to ensure that the issues are addressed seriously. In addition, the movement also attempts to shift the focus of government laws towards its agendas in order for it to be successful in achieving the objectives of bringing change to the world. 2.0 Background 2.1 ‘#BlackLivesMatter’ Trayvon Martin, An unarmed black teenager, was shot dead by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, igniting a hot debate on civil rights and racial profiling when the defendant was acquitted, in July 2013, after the court decided that he had not committed an offense. The issue was so sensitive to an extent that black Americans decided to form a movement identified by the hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter”. The black- American activists who fueled the movement were Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi, and Alicia Cullors. However, the movement gained more popularity in the year 2014 with another black American, Michael Brown, being shot (Falcon 218). Since then, it has gained worldwide attention due to its ongoing existence and massive scope. In addition, the organizers and the protestors have met with prominent leaders, including President of United States, Barack Obama. The objective of the movement is to bring an end to mass incarceration and police brutality of African-Americans. The movement also demands that the United States of America police departments be militarized. However, there are additional cases that made the movement gain more momentum such as that of John Crawford III and Eric Garners death, all in the year 2014. In Chicago, the movement also had a protest in relation to Freddie Gray’s death caused by a Baltimore police, with various Chicagoans participating in hundreds matching (Transformative Spaces). Thesis statement: Following the death cases of several black Americans, Black Lives Matters movement emerged not only to hold demonstrations whenever an issue affecting black people occurred, but also to bring a sustainable change to United State and other parts of the world by focusing the attention of laws towards ending racism and upholding human rights. 3.0 The Black Lives Matter Methods of Bringing Positive Change in the World. 3.1 The Black Lives Matters Movement Statistics shows that the current number of Black Lives Matter chapters has reached 23 in Ghana, Canada, and United States of America. As of 2 March 2015, there have been more than 700 demonstrations by “Black Lives Matter” worldwide. The most significant demonstration is that of August 2014 during the Labor Day weekend (Prupis). The movement organized an activity known as ‘Freedom Ride’ that brought at least 500 blacks in the U.S into Ferguson, Missouri. Its supporters and members rode from New York City to more than 15 areas including Washington D.C and Chicago. The ‘Freedom Ride’ activity conducted was similar to the one that took place in the 1960s where more than 20 movement members were arrested at Mall of America in Minnesota. The movement can be more linked to the case of Rekia Boyd. Her case involved Dante Servin, a Chicago police detective, firing shots on a mass at West Side Street. Despite the reckless act from the detective, he was only charged by involuntary manslaughter. However, the movement can also be linked with Chicago in relation to the activities that took place such as the Chicago Tribune, industrial movement, and among others. In Chicago the movement was dubbed in the social media using the hashtag #ShutDownA14 (Editorial Board). 3.2 The Agenda of Black Lives Matter Movement The agenda of the Black Lives Matter Chicago movement is not just to hold demonstrations whenever an issue occurs. It is a movement aimed at bringing a sustainable change in the United States and the world. To ensure that the demands and goals of the movements are achieved it has engaged in demonstration activities. The activities involve highway marches, traffic blocking, making demands to meet prominent leaders and defying American malls. One of the goals of the Black Lives Matter Chicago movement is to end racism. According to O’Donohue (In Common objections to the Black Lives Matter movement) it is “Racist institutions and people need to stop making things about race by treating people of color unfairly. Until they do, we should all point out their racism and criticize them for it” (Theorgernizertc). The movement aims to bring people of different races together and curb the division caused by racism. The other goal of the movement is to uphold the human rights. It emphasizes that all humans are equal and, therefore, they have equal rights when it comes to life. The movement is opposed to any act that will make a certain group of humans feel inferior. It is out of the objective that the movement name is formed. The movement also aims at bringing the positive change by making the public concentrate on important things affecting their daily lives. It, therefore, views racism as nothing but an obstruction; “All this race stuff just divides us against the real problems like class and government abuses of power” (Theorgernizertc). The movement views the issue of racism as a divide and rule tactic used against the exploited population of working together to their common goal. It considers racism to be an element used to maintain the power of class and state. The movement also aims to ensure that both the right of the black and whites have been addressed since all of them matter. In addition, it does not condemn only blacks’ extrajudicial killings but all of it in general. The movement’s goal is to end the police brutality regardless of the victim’s race. 3.3 Disruption Agenda as a Tool for the Movement The movement activities are aimed to be done through disrupting of the activities so that the problems can be addressed. It believes that change is a disruptive process and can only be understood in that manner. The movement argues that, polite approach to situations is a means of failure since they are not seen to be serious. The movement aims to make the world a better place by ensuring that the laws formulated and implemented treat humans as equals. It aims to see a country in which punishments will correspond to the offenses. The dream of the movement is to see a country in which the poor citizens will not be jailed for cheap labor but for offenses they commit. It wants a country in which police involved in extrajudicial killings is punished accordingly. The movement has declared to break the law until all these issues can be addressed. The movement in Chicago used the hashtag #ShutDownA14 to try and disrupt the activities that took place in the identified cities. Their intention was to shut down businesses, schools and other institutions. According to the news release, “More than 90 unarmed people have been shot by police since Jan 1, 2015. On April 14, 2015 an unprecedented group of prominent voices of conscience will come together with relatives of the unarmed, shot down by police in a movement determined to STOP this murder.” The Black Lives Matter Movement also organized a train take- over four times in Chicago. The fourth event had their facebook page stating, “We gather to encourage the Chicagoans to confront the realities of police violence against the black and brown people” (Telesur). 3.4 All Humans are Equal The objective of the Black Lives Matter movement is making the United States of America and the whole world a home that humans feel equal. The feeling of equality should come regardless of ethnic grouping that one belongs from or the class. In Garza’s, one of the co- founders, own words, “…Malcolm talked about self-actualization, self-love and being really rooted in who we are unapologetically. When [Opal Tometi, Patrisse Cullors and I] created Black Lives Matter, it absolutely was about: how do we live in a world that dehumanizes us and still be human? The fight is not just being able to keep breathing. The fight is actually to be able to walk down the street with your head held high—and feel like I belong here, or I deserve to be here, or I just have right to have a level of dignity” (Smith). 3.5 The Voice of Change The Black Lives Matter Chicago movement aimed at making the world a better place through addressing most of the societal problems. The movement has managed a shift from rights of workers to extrajudicial killings. The movement tackles the problems depending on the ‘issue attention cycle’. The problems in the movement are tackled one by one and when they occur. The process has made the world be a better place since by the time all the problems that affect the societies’ day to day lives will be addressed (Prupis). The movement’s goal is to bring change to the world through a broadening of the issues that it tackles. For example, the act of bringing together racial justice and immigrant rights on the May Day rallies. The idea of broadening of issues helps the movement to gain more supporters thus increases of their bargaining power. It also saves time as it reduces the costs and time taken to address specific issues in the society. The movement through broadening of issues achieves one of its goals, which is, uniting the people. Immigrants may be coming from different ethnic groups and the introduction of a singular action for all makes them unite. Garza acknowledges the diversity of issues addressed by the movement. As she puts it; “Suddenly, we began to come across varied adaptations of our work–all lives matter, brown lives matter, migrant lives matter, women’s lives matter, and on and on. While imitation is said to be the highest form of flattery, I was surprised when an organization called to ask if they could use “Black Lives Matter” in one of their campaigns” (Garza). Another example of the broadening of Black Lives Matter activities in Chicago include the one dubbed “#JusticeForRekia” that was conducted on 12 May 2015 (Blackslivematter). In the event, the aim was to condemn the killing of Rekia Boyd and Dominique Frankline by police. The movement also conducted a panel discussion in Chicago known as “#Kick the Kickbacks”. 4.0 The Black Lives Matter’s Expression of Historic Dilemmas of Anti- Systematic Movement 4.1 The Agenda of Ending Historical Racism Racism is an attitude and belief that some races are inferior compared to others. According to Wallerstein, Black Lives Matter movement is more of a social movement as opposed to national movement (Wallerstein). The movement aim at ensuring that the blacks are treated as equals to the whites. The historical alignment of the system has made the blacks not viewed as equals, but inferior to the whites. The blacks are viewed as inferior beings and thus taken through all types of atrocities including genocide. The movement expresses the failures of the systems in areas like Chicago. In the system of United States of America system, blacks form the majority of the poor in the society. Boggs argues that America has perfected racism in relation to modernizing the vice. He argues that, “After freeing the slaves, it then segregated them off on the basis of color as inferior to the rest of the population, both in law and in fact. For this crime the United States will occupy a position in the annals of history comparable only to that occupied by Hitler Germany for the crimes it committed against the Jews” (Boggs). According to his argument, Boggs justifies why a movement such as The Black Lives Matter, is important. The systematic failure has made blacks engage in unlawful activities like selling drugs and killing out of hatred (Lindsey and Johnson 169). The offenses committed by most of the blacks are as a reaction to what the white society expects from them. The blacks in the society, since the times of memorial, often feel powerless, afraid, and resentful of their white counterparts. The fear concept explains why some of the blacks decide to run whenever they see a white police. In addition, Rodriguez stresses the fear by stating, “Americans live in a cavern of fear, a psychic, numbing force manufactured by the so-called entertainment industry, reified by the psychological industry, and buttressed by the coercion industry (i.e., the courts, police, prisons, and the like)” (Rodriguez). The fear among blacks, when interacting with whites, may link to the slavery activities. The slavery made some of the blacks feel inferior and, therefore, linking the inferiority to all the acts against them. The Black Lives Matters movement is, therefore, a modern method of expressing the need to address the perception. The problems addressed by the movement today can be linked to the historical past situations. The rate of killing of black Americans in United States can be compared with the one witnessed during the “Jim Crow era lynchings” (Kos). It is the violent policing that have made the blacks be the target and has made racism be a national crisis in the United States. 4.2 Unity Agenda; The Means to an End All the ethnic groups in Chicago and America at large should come together to fight racism. Most of the races in the United States at a given point went through some aspect of racism. Despite some being voluntary or coaxed, the races were sidelined in the society. The first introduction of the Irish- Americans, Germans, Italians, Slavic, Jewish, Spanish among other ethnic groups in America was characterized by discrimination. It, therefore, means that all of the ethnic groups at a given point were victims of circumstances. There is a need for the entire ethnic groups to come together and oppose the vice (Theorgernizertc). STL Socialist Coalition for Black Liberation supports this by saying, “We cannot truly say 'Black Lives Matter' if we’re not also improving the material circumstances of America's black and brown people, alongside fighting against police violence” (Prupis). 4.3 Racism as Unsolved Matter in United States Black Lives Matter Chicago communicates basic information that people should be treated equally despite ethnic groups. The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, third United States’ president, despite being a slave holder, that all men are equal gave the real truth on how humans should treat one another. The fact that he pointed it out showed that he already knew it to be a problem of great magnitude. Actually, one would have described it as a time bomb during that era. It, therefore, shows that the racism problem is not born today, but has managed to go through generations. Garza describes the racism acts as “a disease that has plagued America since its inception.” (Smith). Racism major challenge is Universalist beliefs and the main challenge for universalism “has been racist” (Wallerstein). The paradox, therefore, makes racism an ever ending practice in most parts of the world. 4.4 Agenda of Linking Black Lives Movement to other Activities The Black Lives Matter Chicago movement also points out the historic anti- systemic movement by its engagement in May Day activities. May Day roots are linked to the Haymarket Affair that happened in Chicago the year 1886. May Day is remembered by the labor rights rally bombing in the Haymarket Square. Several people lost their lives during the violent crackdown on the union members and workers (Prupis). The Black Lives Movement has conducted several of its activities on the May Day celebration dates. It has been involved in the support of labor rights as was in the May Day event. The involvement of such activities has seen it gain popularity as it addresses several of the community problems. 5.0 The Black Lives Matter Speaks Local Manifestation of the Global Problem 5.1 Racism from Chicago High School Principle Racism in high school is depicted when River Forest high school principle discriminated some of the students from joining the Black Lives Matter movement. Racism has led to a ridge even in the school activities; “Several white parents, none of whom would speak on the record, expressed confusion and dismay that their children were prevented from participating in a "Black Lives Matter" event Feb. 27 that was limited to black students only” (Bibbs). Racism is a global problem that people do not want to talk about and if they do it is in silent voices. It is a generalized kind of thinking that if one white person is a racist then all of them are. The issue of racism has grown to be a global problem with the members of black race viewing their problems to be on their own and not on others. It, therefore, explains why some of the students were turned away during the planning of the Black Lives Matter movement. According to Bibbs, the issue of race causes some discontent in all gatherings including institutions as witnessed in Chicago Tribune (Bibbs). Most of the activities conducted are based on the race, which one belongs to and therefore discrimination. The community in its totality and even the institutions in them promote the vices like racism. Racism as a global problem is passed from generation to generation through the adults that promote the vice (Lindsey). 5.2 Chicago Police Plays the “Sweet Home Alabama” and Monitors Cell Phones The “Sweet Home Alabama” is a song by Lynyrd Skynyrd which is commonly associated with segregationist policies in the southern part of U. S. The level of racism has gone a notch higher with the state officers not fearing coming forward as racist. The people expected to cub the vice are the same people that promote it. According to Coalition to Govern America, “Chicago police said they are investigating an incident caught on video during a weekend “Black Lives Matter” protest in which a police escort car cranked “Sweet Home Alabama,” a song some interpret as a tribute to the US South’s segregationist policies” (Coalition to Govern America). The fact is that not much effort is put in place to see that racism is stopped in the country. The late Dr. W. E. B Du Bois said, “A system cannot fail those it was not meant to protect” (Prupis) From Bois point of view, the solution of the problem is by developing a system that addresses the needs of all people. One of the police in Chicago also gave a hint that they monitor the cell phones of the protestors (Handley). The police are, therefore, going against the human rights of privacy to counter attack the protestors. 5.3 “Every 28 hours” The Black Lives Matter is an expression of the global problem that is witnessed in the United States of America. Research findings by Malcolm X Grassroots Movement show that an “every 28 hours a black man, woman, or child is murdered by police or vigilante law enforcement” (Kos). The major problem that is witnessed in today’s world is a situation in which a system has failed to recognize some of the community problems. There are various problems required to be addressed by the system and they include official neglect, drugs, poverty, deindustrialization, law enforcement surveillance, oppression and endemic racism. Racism is a great problem in the United States of America including Chicago as seen in the Chicago Tribune. The United States systems are the ones that have created and perpetuated discrimination in the country. As a result, many of the Americans’ life aspects have been affected due to discrimination. Research shows that individuals with African- American name are discriminated upon when it comes to hiring in state. The ripple effects associated with stereotyping and discrimination are many and of magnitude in the society. Black Lives Matter Chicago is a movement that holistically tries to tackle the problems of the United States society. It aims to end discriminating practices that are committed in the United States. The movement goes beyond the policy issue and tries to tackle the problems even at the ground level. The movement also helps in the enlightening the ignorant society members in relation to the problems they face. Obasanya supports the awareness creation notion by saying that, “I can’t say that there is a concrete answer on how to confront people who remain blissfully ignorant towards such issues of inequality. But taking our role, for example, I hope that by demonstrating publicly and portraying a respectful show of black empowerment, we are confronting some people who may be blind to such issues.” Chicago is historically known as a place where police are not held accountable thus very important area for Black Lives Matter. Due to demonstrations such as that of Baltimore, Chicago City Council has taken steps to stop police torture and other related crimes (Hawkins). 6.0 Conclusion Black Lives Matter is an American movement started by black- American activists namely, Patrisse Cullors, Opal Tometi and Alicia Cullors. The Black Lives Matter is a movement that expresses and aims at correcting systems failures in states like Chicago. The United States of America system’s influence has made blacks to form the majority of the poor in the society. The historical alignment of the system has made the blacks not to be viewed as equals of the whites. Racism has grown over the years to be one of the major community problems. Racism is a global problem that people do not want to talk about and if they do it is in silent voices. The agenda of the Black Lives Matter movement is not just to hold demonstrations to address issues like racism. Its aim is to change the world by making it a better home for all humans. The movement activities aimed towards making the world a better places are multi- dimensional. It has a broadened concept of tackling issues with an aim of addressing all the major issues and uniting the communities. Bibliography Blackslivematter. “Black Lives Matter: Chicago.” Black Lives Matter. http://blacklivesmatterchicago.tumblr.com/ (accessed 18 May 2015). Boggs, James. “Chapter 7: Rebels with a Cause.” Libcom, http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/amreboggs.html (accessed May 31, 2015). 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