Comm 160
3/30/17
Law
Enforcement’s Creation of Nihilism
For my final blog contribution, I have chosen to write
about nihilism. Prior to this course, I
was not familiar with this term and I find it to be extremely relevant to many
issues that contemporarily hinder societies.
The sentence from the book I’m expanding on is “nihilism is
characterized by a kind of doom and despair, a sense of meaninglessness and
hopelessness created by prolonged oppression.”
I want to demonstrate how this term correlates to current injustices
committed by members of America’s law enforcement agencies.
In recent years, most Americans have witnessed the
advocacy efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement. There was even a Black Lives Matter protest
held at the Idaho’s State Capitol. The
Black Lives Matter movement began in response to the murder of Travyon Martin
by George Zimmerman. Many felt the
killing was unwarranted and were infuriated when Zimmerman was acquitted of
charges. There have been additional notorious
cases that have galvanized protests throughout the country. The deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown
at the hands of police officers prompted cries for justice from communities
across the nation. These cases are just
a sample of the unjust uses of force that officers exercise on people of
color.
America has a seriously inadequate penal system. Black people account for 13% of America’s
population. White people comprise 64% of
America’s population. Despite this disproportion
of demographics, blacks and whites each total 40% of the prison
population. There are five times as many
white people, yet they have equal numbers contributing to America’s prison
populations. Something is terribly wrong
with this picture. People of color have
been vehemently oppressed by America’s law enforcement agencies. People of color look to politicians for
reformations, but instead have their hands folded and eyes to the sky hoping
for a change.
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