State Violence and Minorities

I believe there is quite a bit that can be done with “the system” in order to help alleviate some of the chronic issues that minorities are facing. For one, arrests and large fines for things that aren’t life threatening just exist in order to create revenue for the government. We know that minorities are disproportionately arrested for things like smoking marijuana. I’ve heard of cases where an individual receives more jail time for smoking weed than someone who abused a child. These consequences just do not make any sense and should be changed so they reflect the situation.
I also think the prison system should be revamped so it focuses more on rehabilitation. I feel like once someone is in jail, we mostly just forget about them. We care about locking them up for some amount of time but not about making sure they will be different when they get out. They are usually even worse off after going to prison since they’ve been away from society for so long.
Police officers should be required to have body cameras, especially with the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter stuff going on lately. This would definitely help improve relations between the police force and Black men, as we would know exactly what cops are doing. They would be aware that they are on camera and would be more careful with their actions.
As for trans and queer individuals, I think we need to just take their rights more seriously. For example, I think the controversy surrounding bathroom laws is just ridiculous. They should be able to use whatever restroom they want. It’s difficult for me to understand why such an issue is being made over which bathroom someone can urinate in.

I feel like in general our government doesn’t really care about what people think or want, and that’s the biggest change that has to be made. It’s too conservative right now and afraid to make the necessary changes that protect the rights of its own citizens. It’s like we are just expected to trust in the law and deal with the consequences of not just blindly following it.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Prompt 4

Shows such as The Colbert Report and The Daily Show allow a more general audience to understand and access politics in a way they couldn’t before. They are very easy to grasp and encourage everyday people to have a political opinion. It does further polarization in a way though. These shows are clearly very democratic or very republican in their views. Most people probably only watch the shows that most closely match their political views. This causes them to become further wrapped up in those views and to believe they are right. Instead, people should listen to the other side’s rational argument and formulate their own ideas.
Read more

My Op-Ed

One of my op-eds highlights why declawing, cropping ears, and docking tails on pets is cruel and unnecessary. These surgeries are purely cosmetic and have no actual benefit for cats or dogs.
Read more

13 Reasons Why Research

In researching for my final paper, I read an article about someone who used to be a “Hannah Baker.” She responds to the recent critiques about the show 13 Reasons Why and tells us how she really feels about the show. She talks about how the show does not dramatize or glorify suicide. Yes, some of the scenes were very graphic, but life can be graphic. This girl describes how her life seemed perfect. She had great friends, a loving family, and a job but just spent months feeling incredibly depressed and suicidal. She had a hard time getting out of that. What I found the most interesting was how she talks about how people don’t think the students that hurt Hannah should have any accountability for her death. That Hannah made her choice. She says that people like Hannah need someone to reach out and understand what is going on, and that even small slights can send someone at risk over the edge.
Read more