Racism In America
Tyler Carlisle
A History of Racism
A poor, weak black man being whipped repeatedly until his flesh looks as though it is being scraped from his back. The thought of a young black kid crouched to his knees, screaming in horror as he is profusely beaten by the nightsticks of the local police. These are all situations that have been instilled in every American's head from the time we arrived in school. Racism is all around us on a day-to-day basis. We see it in history books, in today's media, and in our own daily lives. The belief that some races are inherently inferior to others is widespread throughout the world and its conviction is unstoppable. This hate and prejudice is an ongoing epidemic in today's society and its effects are catastrophic within our social order.
March 3, 1991, Sgt. Stacey Koon and three other LAPD officers (Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, and Timothy Wind) were caught on tape viciously beating a young African American man by the name of Rodney King. At a nearby apartment, Gorge Holliday captured the footage of the three officers hitting king over fifty times with metal batons before finally handcuffing him. This was one of the most brutal instances of police brutality ever caught on tape. April 29, 1992, only one year later, a grand jury acquits the four officers of all charges and allows them to continue in their positions of power. The people of LA react in a state of shock by this decision and the beginning of the LA riots unfolds. By the end of the destruction, fifty-three people are dead, 7000 people arrested, and over $1 billion in property damage is sustained. This act of racial bigotry caused pain within thousands of families and eventually led to the destruction of an entire city. It went unpunished as though what had happened was not out of the ordinary. However, thousands of spectators disagreed and showed their discrepancies through violence and devastation.
Racism is a learned...
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