baseline argument essay

             Michael Brown was shot and killed over the summer. That may not sound like much because lots of people die everyday, but this killing has a lot more to it. On August 9th, the black eighteen year old, Michael Brown, was shot by a white police officer for "unclear circumstances," says upfront magazine. This controversial topic is being questioned right now by thousands of people, they ask themselves; was this killing based off of racist assumptions by the white police officer? I think it was a racist action. There are many reasons I think this was a racist assumption, but I have stuck to two main reasons; firstly, he had no weapon, in addition nobody knows why he was shot,  and finally, there has been past patterns of this kind of incident.

             My first point I want to make is how he had no weapons. Most deaths caused by the police are because the policeman or woman is trying to protect citizens, but in this case who was the policeman protecting? In addition, hypothetically if Brown had a weapon, the policeman still shouldn't shoot him, let alone kill him. The fact is, there has to be serious measures before a policeman shoots a civilian and in this situation there were no measures. Was Brown killed because of fear? I also want to point out that nobody knows why he was killed. When I add these two thoughts I can infer that most likely some racists thoughts and assumptions were made and the cop decided to shoot.

           My second and final point is how this incident is not a first. For example, on February 26th 2012, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. It was a similar case, Trayvon Martin was just walking when George Zimmerman shot him. Martin had no weapons, he was seventeen. Weirdly enough, Zimmerman was released from jail for the shooting, but later put back in for threatening his wife. Also, white police men in the early 1900s have been known to be quite racists and hurt innocent black civilians. Frankly, it hasn't even been one hundred years since black people were desegregated. Racist stereotypes has most definitely effected present day life.  

        In conclusion, this problem is controversial, but I still think it was a racist decision. This problem has effected many different people's thoughts on the police. Young black men have been questioning walking around in the street, should they be scared to walk in the street. I think they shouldn't have to be scared, but at this point I don't see why they wouldn't be scared.