Unfortunately, we live in a world where racism and racial injustice is increasingly prevalent. This was always the case but our inability to discuss its presence and its impact really hinders us from progressing as a society. I am sorry to break it to you, but racism is not something that will go away if not discussed. So, let’s talk about it, shall we?

In light of present situations, let's discuss institutional racism in  specific, with Micheal Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Aiyana Jones and Vonderrit Meyers's cases garnering more and more attention. I could go on, but unfortunately, if I were to list every African American to die in the hands of American police in 2014, I would surpass the word limit set for my article. 

The lives of these people were taken in cold blood and the Caucasian officers on the other side of the gun are almost never held accountable. Why, you ask? Because the American judicial system exists to protect these law enforcers.  Because of white privilege. Because of the way that these cases were treated. One of the biggest examples of this is the mainstream media and how these incidents were portrayed. 

In the mainstream media, African American victims are constantly demonized and put down. Take the case of Michael Brown for example, an 18-year old boy who was shot 6 times for no apparent reason by Darren Wilson and left to die on the ground for over 4 hours.  If we were to pick this case apart by the media’s depiction, you would see them praising Darren Wilson for doing his job and blaming Michael Brown, fabricating details to support this. 

Michael Brown's incident was excused because he was a ‘thug’, and the fact that he stole cigarillos has been brought up relentlessly, even though it has been proven that Darren Wilson had ZERO clue of this when he brutally murdered him. And even if this was to be true, let me ask you one simple question: When has the punishment for theft become death? 

Several people have been asking, was this really about race? The answer to that is YES, this has everything to do with race. The fact that an African American is killed by a police officer in America every 28 hours, the fact that these police officers are not held accountable for their actions and the fact that Darren Wilson and the police officer in the Eric Garner case was not indicted. How does this not have to do with race? 

To end this off I would like to extend my condolences to all those lost this year in uncalled for police brutality, and leave an extensive list of things that African Americans have been killed for this year: 

- Selling untaxed cigarettes 

- Holding a toy gun 

- Skittles 

- Dodging subway fare

- Sleeping

By: Aroushey Saeed