A young black man by the name Freddie Gray was on 12 th of April in the year 2015 arrested by the police in Baltimore, MD (Harris, 2015). Gray was later on taken for what many persons in the black community would call a “bumpy ride”. He sustained injuries that led to his untimely death during this ride. It was later discovered in the aftermath of the death that Gray was not fastened to a seat belt and that he had requested for medical attention a number of times before the requests were granted (Harris, 2015). Many residents made an outcry insisting that what happened to Gray was a common occurrence that happened to persons that were taken into police custody.
Numerous riots broke out following the death of the young man all which were broadcasted across the country showing the angry Baltimore residents throwing rocks at the police and setting vehicles on fire as well as the local businesses ( Stolberg et al., 2015) . An outsider would look at this act as an excuse for the people to loot and destroy local business and cause chaos in the name of fighting in solidarity with the popular campaign “ Black Lives Matter ” ( Edwards, 2016) . The major part of media coverage showed the cast in the city whose dominant population is black, as being the home to thugs that only cause harm and make things worse for them-selves. The city has always been labelled a “hood” or “ghetto” and the actions that the media showed across all of its outlets support this claim or rather the portrayal of the city as one full of thugs and violent black persons.
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Symbolic Interactionism
Indeed, some symbolic interactionism may prove an accurate depiction. However, some will come out as a means of the media to juxtapose the variances that exist in the society. Many persons across the country saw the violent riots that were initiated on 25 th April involving the disrespecting of police and destruction of business; however, what many failed to see were the non-violent protests that had been ongoing since the 18 th of April (Harris, 2015). Therefore, persons looking from outside were confined to actions that supported a one-sided symbolic interactionist point of view on the issue and preconceived notions that they held concerning the city of Baltimore and its residents (Harris, 2015). Persons that saw what was depicted and shown in the news and hardly where stories of participants of the protests began miss out on the point stated by those that insisted part of the violence emanated from the patrons from Caucasia that live in various establishments in Baltimore National Harbour who were yelling out racial slurs and threw things at the same to the point of shoving some of the protesting participants.
The manner in which the media handled the story relating to the death of Freddie Gray only served to perpetuate the ignorance of the general public on the city and more so those of the majority race because it failed to highlight the background of the situation as well as the feelings held for so long by the residents of the city. The effect is a furtherance of tension amongst the various races and social classes of the persons that reside in around and within the city. People will always tend to create some form of backlash to try to correct all wrongs they feel has been done whenever they have been treated in an unfair manner ( Buchanan, 2015) . The riots of Baltimore city were termed as being part of the larger campaign called “ Black Lives Matter ” that aimed to bring significant attention to the many black persons and other minority races that were targeted unlawfully and being portrayed as aggressive and violent without depicting the white counterparts in the same manner.
A young black man that had recently graduated from high school was gunned down in Ferguson on August 2014. The shooting resulted in days of riots and unrest in the city. A white officer shot the unarmed teenager for an alleged robbery and assault ( Brown, 2015) . The event angered very many people in the country that helped initiate the “ Black Lives Matter ” campaign that led to the tagline “hands up, don’t shoot” that referred to the interaction of the white police officer and Michael Brown ( Edwards, 2016) . Various people throughout the black lives campaign have articulated categorically that there is a big difference in the manner in which the media portrays and broadcast black criminals as compared to the white criminals as well as how the two deal with the police.
Nick Wing, a writer at Huffington Post spoke out on the manner in which the media treats white killers and suspects in comparison to the black victims in the aftermath of the incident in Ferguson (Wing, 2014). Wing (2014), touches on the various questions raised in response to the images showing black people as the victims of crime. The images depicted the black persons in what would be called “thug” or “street” dress code while the white criminals would be shown as upright citizens that have a positive future despite them having committed brutal crimes because the media chooses to focus on the achievements of the white criminals instead of concentrating on the heinous crimes they have done. The same disconnect is evident in the titles of the articles that touch and cover such like stories. The articles that talk of white suspects note their positive qualities and provides a reasoning that prompts the emotion of sadness and sympathy for the criminal in a manner suggesting the system failed them while they show and discuss the negative things that took place in the lives of a slain black person in a manner suggesting their lives were not worthy (Wing, 2014).
Social Construction
One of the incidences that first sparked the campaign titled “Black Lives Matter” was the shooting of a black citizen by a concerned citizen that was white. The young man was walking down the streets going home from a store that is mostly in a white neighbourhood after visiting his relatives. The person in charge of the neighbourhood spotted the young man and identified him as suspicious judging from how he appeared. The man called the police and was advised not to approach the young man. Instead of adhering to the order, the man approached the young in an event that would lead to an altercation that saw the black teen get shot to death ( Kivel, 2017) . The shooter was found innocent following the outrage of the slaying of the young man. The defendant argued that his life was in danger and the jury was made to make a ruling on grounds and belief that indeed the person had his life in danger and thus had no option but to shoot the young black man.
The law Stand Your Ground has been brought into questioning as it seems to be a law that white persons use to justify the killing of black persons. A white man killed an unarmed teenager in Florida stating that his life was in danger but when a black woman fired a warning shot at an abusive husband in a bid to protect herself and children the law failed to help her. The black woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison. One case entailed a victim trying to escape the wrath of an abuser where shots were fired but no injuries sustained and another where a person felt that another was doing something wrong and hence decided to take their life. The Stand Your Ground is a law that should protect persons that are in actual harm like the young woman ( Kivel, 2017) . However, the woman was black and as such she already had a negative label attached to her and that led to her being treated like a hardened criminal.
Relevance in society
Relations of race have always been a major issue in the society. A good number of labels and misconceptions concerning people depend on ignorance and are too often perpetuated. Things will never change until people begin to challenge the social hierarchies and start appreciating the inherent racism plagues in manner like the ways in which laws are written and carried out ( Kivel, 2017) . The campaign “Black Lives Matter” marks a good starting point for the conversation although it will take serious action from persons outside the marginalized group to step in and cause a lasting effect. A good number of white persons have already begun taking part in the bid to be part of the solution and not the problem.
A movement on social media allowed the white people to contribute to the all that has been taking place and admit on open terms that they usually get preferential treatment when it comes to matters of law enforcement ( Wear et al., 2017) . The hashtag “criminalwhilewhite” became the talk of social media after a decision was made not to indict a white officer that killed a black man for using an illegal chokehold to sell cigarettes on the sidewalk of the city of New York ( Lee, 2017) . White people began to express themselves by posting stories of the things they had done and should not have done in order to get arrested but they were not arrested. Many of the things the white people mentioned or posted rather were worse than the ones black people were killed for.
Tavis Smiley wrote an article for the Time Magazine after observing how the scene of a white biker in gang in Texas led to many people being killed and others being injured and mentioned that the scene was different from the ones that portray black people. In his article, Tavis notes that the scene of arrest was different from the ones that involve black people where the police subdue black persons harshly and pin them down ( Lee, 2017) . In this scene, the whites were seen lounging around and having conversations with the police officers in what would seem like a cordial occasion of two or more persons catching up after a long time being apart and not a situation where a person was murdered. Furthermore, the group was named in a different way as compared to what is usually the case with the black people.
Conflict Theory
A young white man was recently arrested for shooting and killing nine people in a black church located in the south and was heard citing the need to go back to “the good old days” that was a reference to a period that he was not born where the races were apart ( Matter, 2015) . The situation does not only tell that the young man was taught to be a racist but during the arrest, he is walked into custody in a bullet proof vest with the arresting officers elaborating how nice the man is as if what he had done does not count or hold any water ( Matter, 2015) . The black persons that die in the hands of police officers never afford the decency or mercy that this white young man receives and yet they do nothing to deserve their uncalled for deaths or maybe even have lesser crimes than the young man. Such things demonstrate how different the treatment is between black and white people regardless of whether people are willing to speak up or not.
A good number of studies shows that the rate at which the police stops the black people is higher than the ones they do with white people and the same extends to convictions of crimes and arrests on possession of marijuana despite the rates of marijuana usage is the same for both races ( Matter, 2015) . A study conducted by the Princeton University reveals that black people are less likely to find jobs than white people even when the white people have admitted to having been to prison ( Matter, 2015) . Many continue to deny this fact despite the substantial evidence that shows that the two races do not have level fields of play.
Conflict theory insists that social change is enforced by the idea of battle between two competing parties. The hierarchy begins during the early times of the life of a person and the types of houses their parents access, quality of education they get and access to healthcare and other basic needs like affordable and healthy food. It is evident that many disparities exist between races and more light is beginning to be shed on them in a bid to bring forth change in the society. It is well to say that the society has come a long way from the ages of slavery, internment camps and Jim Crow but still the society has a long way to go.
Social Impact
The way in which people deal with and see each other matters a lot because not only does it affect the present day but also the generations to come thus defining the turn the future will take. It is imperative to remove the wedge that exists between races otherwise it will continue to exist and will eventually tear people farther apart to the point where reconciliation and peace as well as harmony will exist only in the minds of people as they will be far from reality. The schools and other similar institutions will lessen in efficiency and neighbourhoods will become barer than before and racism will be passed from generation to generation and nobody will see a problem with it to stand up and stop the phenomenon. It is well for people to begin making the changes today in order to make things better in the future and such changes must be prompt and major to ensure they are effective in their course. Some of the problematic issues have become a story of the past but it is quite unfortunate that they till haunt the present generations. Cities like Detroit and Michigan have their schools closing at an alarming rate that leads to the overcrowding and increased rates of drop-outs in the places ( Lees, 2010) more businesses have left and continue to leave the area choosing to leave for the suburban areas. The economic climate of the place is very low and the effect is the feeling of being stuck by the people that live in the area.
The above situation is what causes the significant problems of the olden days to reoccur and haunt the generations of today. According to Lees (2010), cities that get to the point of where Detroit and Michigan have pave way for gentrification where affluent persons and businessmen and women begin to relocate to such places with the hopes of acquiring and repurposing properties. The process does well to raise the value of the entire place by ensuring it is improved in terms of facilities and amenities hence increased prices of properties that create more wealth for the people ( Lees, 2010) . However, it also forces the original inhabitants out of the place due to their inability to afford living in that area.
The process ends up being more of a problem than a solution to the problem of poverty and low standards of living for people in such like places. In this situation, the labels and pre-conceived notions take course and begin to play a major role in the circumstances. People that are unable to afford the new way of life and all that comes with it are judged or rather prejudged as being unable to appreciate these nice things and thus are chased away. Such is what leads to the segregation of people because it becomes associated with certain races and the notion is that certain races are poor and thus cannot appreciate having nice things around or next to them hence turn to becoming violent and engage in thuggery.
In this regard, these pre-determined notions are affiliated with the black persons that face the full wrath of the society that tends to associate them with violence and thuggery. As a society, the separation of people depending on race is brought forth by these misconceptions about people that allow others to seek justification in causing harm to the others as they easily get pardon seeing that it is common knowledge that the persons harmed are harmful. White people enjoy a getaway free card when it comes to matters pertaining to the enforcement of law and portrayal in the media while the black people are donned as the black ships of the society ( Lees, 2010) . The issue traces to the days of before when races could not stand each other and instead saw people killing others simply because of the colour of their skin.
Conclusion
Relations of race have always been a major issue in the society. A good number of labels and misconceptions concerning people depend on ignorance and are too often perpetuated. Things will never change until people begin to challenge the social hierarchies and start appreciating the inherent racism plagues in manner like the ways in which laws are written and carried out. A good number of studies shows that the rate at which the police stop the black people is higher than the ones they do with white people and the same extends to convictions of crimes and arrests on possession of marijuana despite the rates of marijuana usage is the same for both races.
The way in which people deal with and see each other matters a lot because not only does it affect the present day but also the generations to come thus defining the turn the future will take. It is well for people to begin making the changes today in order to make things better in the future and such changes must be prompt and major to ensure they are effective in their course. Some of the problematic issues have become a story of the past but it is quite unfortunate that they still haunt the present generations. As a society, the separation of people depending on race is brought forth by these misconceptions about people that allow others to seek justification in causing harm to the others as they easily get pardon seeing that it is common knowledge that the persons harmed are harmful. Riots have been seen in the US because of the unfair treatment extended to the black people simply because they are black. These riots are events that are sparked by the wrongdoings done to the black people and as such have a societal and moral backing.
References
Brown, E. (2015). Timeline: Michael Brown Shooting in Ferguson, Mo. USA Today .
Buchanan, L., Fessenden, F., Lai, R., Park, H., Parlapiano, A., Tse, A., & Yourish, K. (2014). What Happened in Ferguson?. The New York Times .
Edwards, S. B. (2016). Black lives matter . ABDO.
Harris, E. (2015). Timeline: Freddie Gray's arrest, death and the aftermath - Baltimore Sun. Data.baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2 December 2017, from http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/freddie-gray/
Kivel, P. (2017). Uprooting Racism-: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice : New Society Publishers.
Lee, L. A. (2017). Black Twitter: A Response to Bias in Mainstream Media: Social Sciences , 6 (1), 26.
Lees, L., Wyly, E. K., & Slater, T. (Eds.). (2010). The gentrification reader (Vol. 1). London: Routledge.
Matter, B. L. (2015). Black Lives Matter: Accessed September , 1 .
Stolberg, S. G., & Nixon, R. (2015). Freddie Gray in Baltimore: another city, another death in the public eye. New York Times .
Wear, D., Zarconi, J., Aultman, J. M., Chyatte, M. R., & Kumagai, A. K. (2017). Remembering Freddie Gray: medical education for social justice: Academic Medicine , 92 (3), 312-317.
Wing, N. (2014). When The Media Treats White Suspects And Killers Better Than Black Victims: Huffington post , 1. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/media-black-victims_n_5673291.html
