Have you ever been considered less than human or regarded as a possession or object based off of something you have no control over? Unfortunately, many people in America can honestly say that they have, which is entirely unacceptable in today’s world. Hello! I’m Sophia. I’ve been researching the topic of racism in America for the past few weeks and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned. Ever since America was founded, racism has been heavily present in our society, and that is something that needs to change as soon as possible. I’m going to be going over topics like civil rights, influential figures in black history, and the impact that modern anti-racist organizations have had in today’s world.
There has always been a fight for racial equality in America. Ever since the first Americans settled on the East Coast and kicked Native Americans off the land they’d had for centuries, there was a fight. And even now, hundreds of years later, we still see that fight in action – through our actions, through our words, and through amazing people. From the Emancipation Proclamation to the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968 to the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, people have not stopped fighting for their God-given rights to life.
Now, there are several important figures I’d like to mention who were catalysts for racial equality movements. First, and probably the most well-known, Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a civil rights activist who certainly changed our world for the better. He was assassinated on his own hotel room balcony, April 4, 1968. Next, George Floyd. He was one of the main reasons for the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in mid-2020. He was suffocated to death under the knee of a police officer, May 25, 2020. Lastly, Tamir Rice. He was a twelve-year-old boy from Cleveland, Ohio carrying a toy gun. He was shot on sight by a police officer who felt “threatened”, November 22, 2014. Do any of these deaths seem justified to you? They shouldn’t, because they aren’t. And these are far from the only examples of people whose lives were needlessly taken from them because of their race.
Fortunately, there is a positive side to this story. The Black Lives Matter movement is an organization founded in 2013 shortly after the shooting of seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin. The group is committed to fighting to end racially charged police brutality and trying to make the world a safer place for black youth. Their message particularly took off in mid-2020 after the murder of George Floyd, and they used that momentum to bring light to other police brutality killings and emanding justice for these needless deaths: names such as Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Elijah McClain to list a few. Their impact extends far beyond just the 2020 resurgence, though. Today, nearly a year after the death of George Floyd, that message is still being taught, learned, and shared all over the US and the rest of the world.
I hope you enjoyed my speech. I also hope you come away from it with some more knowledge about racism and injustice in America, the people who helped shape our modern views on civil rights, and what we are doing to raise awareness for these things. Remember: racism hasn’t gone away, and it likely won’t for a long time, unless we as a country do something to make it better. Thank you!
2021-3-23-1616509511