ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Uprisings, Protests and the Reasoning Behind Them

Updated on September 26, 2016
Source
Source

By now, I am sure you are well aware of the uprising occurring in Charlotte, North Carolina. This is the direct response to the latest police shooting involving an African-American named Keith Lamont Scott. At the time of the publishing of this article, the official police account states he was given multiple warnings to drop his weapon but did not, resulting in him getting killed. There are conflicting reports as to whether or not Mr. Scott was actually armed. Also, it has recently been learned that Mr. Scott suffered from a traumatic brain injury. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department recently released the footage of the incident but it does not verify the account in the police report and the tape appears to be heavily edited. This lack of transparency contributes to the frustration felt by members of the community and African-American people as a whole. In turn, this frustrations leads to protests and uprisings.

WHY ARE PEOPLE ANGRY?

Unless you have lived under a rock these last few years, you should be well aware of the epidemic of police killing unarmed (often African-American) citizens. After these shootings, this is usually what happens:

  1. There is a large public outcry.
  2. Officers goes on administrative leave
  3. Media demonizes the victim by scrutinizing every discretion in their past.
  4. There is a long investigation.
  5. Cop gets acquitted or there are no charges filed.
  6. Lather.
  7. Rinse.
  8. Repeat.

Another reason for this public anger is the total lack of transparency by these police departments. Very rarely are the videos released to the public in a timely manner. In fact, North Carolina recently passed House Bill 972 which determines audio and video recorded by the police are not public record. This restricts the access the general public has to these recordings. Incredibly, the Republican governor of North Carolina, Pat McCory, stated, “the law will promote uniformity, clarity and transparency.” This really means if the video shows police in a positive light then they will release it, but if it does not then it will get buried. Don’t believe me? Let’s look at the case of Laquan McDonald.

Laquan McDonald was a 17 year old ward of the state with learning disabilities and was diagnosed with complex mental health issues. He was shot 16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke while holding a knife and walking away from police officers. McDonald was approximately 10 feet away from Officer Van Dyke and posed no immediate threat to his safety. It took 15 months for the video to be released and that only happened after freelance journalist Brandon Smith made numerous requests to the city of Chicago to release the video under the Freedom of Information Act. Coincidentally, the officer involved was charged with murder after the footage was made public. These repeated attempts to cover-up the officer’s wrongdoing s part of the reason why there is so much tension. A badge should not grant you extra rights. Unfortunately, the truth is, when you are an employee of the state, such as a police officer or a judge, you are often afforded extra rights that regular people like you or me simply do not have.


AFTERMATH

There is a growing trend in the criticism of social activism and protesting. This trend is mentioning Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and using him as an example of what non-violent protesting is supposed to look like. However, these detractors always seem to forget one of his most poignant quotes which states, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” Dr. King understood the danger of oppressing people and their voices. If people are frustrated and they do not see any steps taken to rectify their issues, it gives them no choice but to rebel.

Let me be perfectly clear: I am not condoning violence against people or destruction of property as a reaction to social injustice. It was Mohandas Gandhi who said, “An eye for an eye leaves everyone blind.” There is definitely truth to that assessment. However, there is only so far you can push an entire segment of your population. There have been non-violent protests for decades and yet these injustices are still occurring. The messages being portrayed is simple: it does not matter what you do; we will continue to kill your brothers and sisters with impunity. It is incomprehensible to me how some members of society simply cannot or will not understand the anger and frustrations of these protestors. This is the result of countless years of economic oppression, overt racism, Jim Crow laws, segregation, police brutality, real estate discrimination and overall sense of being treated as insignificant. That is why people are rising up and although it may not be the right course of action…I get it.

© 2016 David Ramos

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)