The police officers in the first image are letting the white supremacists jump on cars and do other nasty things in congress. You don’t need any context to see that this is happening. People are jumping on top of FBI cars and the police aren’t doing anything about it. The people in the photograph are holding trump signs, a microphone, (I think), and American flags. The people in the photograph are wearing trump caps, they’re not wearing masks during this terrible pandemic. People are sacrificing not going outside due to the pandemic and then we have these Trump supporters doing any action that does not help America recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. On the image to the right, you can see a man riding his bike, doing nothing. In comparison to the picture on the left, the man on the right is holding absolutely nothing that can threaten the police officers. The man on the right is wearing casual clothing (black sweatshirt, grey sweatpants, and sneakers.) These images make me feel terrible about the justice system; The reason I say this is because The white supremacist is jumping on the truck and infiltrating a government-owned building and the police are doing nothing about it. The Black Lives Matter protesters are treated with so much shade By this I mean BLM protesters were immediately maced, shot, and ran over (etc.). Meanwhile, the Trump supporters get nothing done to them which is wrong. The security guards did absolutely nothing to stop the Trump supporters from getting inside the congress. No action was done by officers to try and stop the Trump supporters from entering a GOVERNMENT owned facility. Meanwhile, BLM protesters are getting shot in the street where they have legal rights to walk in the street. The person to the left is holding onto what looks like a debate stand but I’m not sure. The Trump supporter is waving his hand at the camera and smiling. The Trump supporter is wearing a trump beanie. He was also wearing a jacket and a medal around his neck. The images make me think that the police/government don’t care that some white people disobey the law but if it’s Black/Hispanic people they are the first ones to shoot or attack. I don’t think this is right because I think the law should be applied to everyone and not mostly minorities. In the picture to the right, The man is WEARING HIS MASK, a black t-shirt, and sweatpants. The young man is getting sprayed with what looks like water but it could be something else. The man is holding nothing threatening or anything in particular. This image on the right makes me feel unsafe because a police officer could do this to me if I’m walking down the street one day. I wonder how the officer thinks in his right mind that this is ok to do. The BLM protestors are treated as threats apparently and are targeted more than the Trump supporters. The fact that a trump supporter who raided the government-owned building can look at the camera and smile without any consequences is beyond me. Police officers did not do anything to stop them. The police officers let them all in without trying to use the same force they used for the BLM protesters who were peacefully protesting. White supremacy is defined as “the belief that white people constitute a superior race and should therefore dominate society, typically to the exclusion or detriment of other racial and ethnic groups, in particular black or Jewish people.” -Google. To be black in America means going through too many challenges to get by in life. NO matter if you have good ideas or good intentions they will always listen to the white man first. White people have always been protected under the law; the reason why I say this is because 50 out of 80 white people who kill minorities end up in jail. Even if they do end up in jail they don’t serve a life sentence or 15-20 years they’re most likely charged with only assault and a misdemeanor instead of a felony like they should. 9 times out of 10 they will convict the white person case as Actus Rea (Actus rea is the guilty state of mind) They will excuse all physical and documentary evidence as well. Not all police officers/law are the same; some police officers are here to protect everyone equally. The law serves the government most of the time abiding by their rules and training. Most police; officers serve the white supremacist as well. 9 times out of 10 police officers always choose the white man’s word over anyone else. They mostly protect white people but some of the good cops protect minorities as well and treat everyone equally. “If Beale Street Could Talk” represents the key ideas of how they choose the white man’s word over anything else. I do not have a specific quote but I do have a specific scene. The scene I will be explaining is the one when the police officer investigates the girl who got raped; They make her choose Fonny because he’s black and they don’t feel the need to throw a white man in jail for a crime he committed. This scene relates to what I’ve been writing about because it shows that police officers and the “law” choose to protect a white man and wrongfully convict minorities to protect their own kind. Even if they do convict the white man they will choose the option for men’s rea (guilty state of mind). I think Baldwin would agree with the critical points of my essay. He wouldn’t agree on how I look at the world though. He said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” The reason why I would imagine James Baldwin saying this to me is that he’s seen and faced the same racial injustice from police officers and the law. In the passages we’ve read in class about racial injustice, it seems the same as today’s society. If you’re black You’re a “thug” this is NOT right. Just because you are a different color from someone doesn’t make you any different. People have to stop thinking like they’re better than someone else because of color. WE HAVE TO STOP LETTING THE GUILTY WHITE MAN GET AWAY WITH CRIMES. It is not right that people of color get treated differently through the law! Especially since 1 out of 10 Black and Hispanic people get wrongfully convicted and go into life/death penalty because of a lay witness (witness that does not need to be qualified in any area to testify in court).
