Abdul Khan
Comparative Cultures
11/28/14
Professor Jamal
I feel that there is still racism going on in America. Black men become the representation
of violence in America. Like the Ferguson case and many more in Missouri in the United States
in the wake of the killing of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer is
as predictable as it is horrific. When it comes to incarceration the US prison population had
reached a staggering 2.4 million people. Another factor in this current crisis, caused by yet
another killing of a young black man by a white police officer, is the militarization of the police.
Rather than serving the public, especially in low income black communities, the focus is selfevidently on intimidating them with overwhelming force and the sort of firepower associated
with a warzone rather than the streets of a small town. The mindset involved as a consequence is
one of confrontation rather than cooperation, oppression rather than consent, with young black
men in particular demonized as gang members and criminals even if they are neither. Social
services and communities are not prepared to deal with the real challenge that mothers face when
raising Black sons into a world that already sees them as targets. There is greater fear knowing
that if should anything happen to this Black man, that justice may never be served, and he will be
blamed for causing someone else to inflict his injuries, robbery, arrest, or death.