beliefs of the “Black Lives Matters” movement that seeks equal justice and treatment for black Americans and other minorities?

DIRECTIONS:

Your paper is a personal essay. Write an essay expressing your thoughts and

opinions about the killings of Mr. Floyd and Mr. Brook and the other issues raised in

the above essay. Approach the subjects and issues raised in whatever manner and

however you wish to address them. Also, address the following questions in your

paper:

Address these questions:

• What are your reactions to these events?

• Did you participate in any such events in Houston or elsewhere?

• Do you believe police brutality exists in the U.S.

• Are black American and other non-white Americans victimized by

discrimination from the police, the government, businesses, and white society

in general despite freedoms gained particularly from the Civil War

Amendments (13th, 14th, and 15th), the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s,

Civil Rights measure of the 1960s (Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights

Act of 1965, Fair Housing Act, and others)

• Is there racial bias in policing?

• Have you been the victim of discrimination by the police?

• Do you support, do your oppose, or do you no opinion about the goals and

beliefs of the “Black Lives Matters” movement that seeks equal justice and

treatment for black Americans and other minorities? Or do you believe their

claims are incorrect or exaggerated?

7

• Do you support the ideas postulated by protestors that police agencies across

the US should be “defunded” and whatever removed from police budgets be

rerouted to social service agencies?

• Do you support the ideas of protestors that the police should be less violent,

should cease using military tactics and equipment against citizens?

• Do you believe all monuments to Confederate leaders be taken down because

these men were racist and traitors to the United States?

• Demands are being made and considered by military leaders and some Senators

that U.S. military bases named after Confederate Army generals be renamed

because they were racists and traitors? (e.g., Fort Hood, Texas; Fort Polk,

Louisiana; Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Lee, Virginia; etc.)

• The Confederate battle flag, the “Stars and Bars,” is being banned from public

display at sporting events such as NASCAR as a result of the protests and

demonstrations across the U.S. The National Collegiate Athletic Association

(NCAA) has expanded it Confederate flag to prevent any championship

events from being played in states “where the symbol has a prominent

presence.”

• Many Southern states used to have the Stars and Bars as part of their flag.

Mississippi is the last state to have such a flag and is in the process of

removing the Stars and Bars from the flag. Is this ! or not? Is this symbol

offensive to you? Is it offensive to others (who, do you think, would be

offended?)

• At the end of the essay I state that “(t)he protests sent a message to the nation.”

What message do you thing they sent? What message, if any, did you receive

from the protest in Washington, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and cities and towns

across the nation?