This essay proceeds with an in-depth analysis of racial inequality and social justice, emphasizing the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement that has catalyzed the existing effort that America has been making to eliminate racial injustices. This research is based on the general analysis of authors Azevedo, Marques, and Micheli (2022), who provide insights into the underlying factors for protesting in the Black Lives movement. The essay mulls over these intellectual findings and subsequently tries to shed some light on the detailed levers that the BLM movement has applied in order to respond to systemic racism and racial prejudice. The exploration will get intake not only from the historical precedents that have sculpted the racial dynamics of the U.S. but also from the significance of the contemporary manifestations of inequality through which the BLM movement and their sections drive the challenges to the present racial issues.
The historical backdrop of racial injustice in the USA can be seen as a mosaic, a riot of interrelated, complicated, and persistent warp and weft of systemic racism. The history of the struggle of people to bring to an end slavery and segregation and to fight against discriminatory practices that exist in various facets of society has had a profound effect on the American social fabric since olden times. Systemic racism is rooted in the system by generations, and it has come up in the forms of economic discrimination, educational inequality, and, in the most evident ones, injustices in the criminal justice system.
The historical injustices have thus not only established racial disparities that are very deep but also serve as the foundation for movements to come, such as Black Lives Matter (Tourse et al., 2018). Consequently, such kinds of incidents are not shallow events that encounter people at one time in a year but critical occasions that precipitate the historical continuum of black life and souls being crushed since the advent of African Americans’ lives.
In the past few years, the BLM movement has shed light on the injustice faced by black people, and the criminal justice system, in particular, has turned out to be one of the flashpoints. This space, up to now, has been an important arena where racial differences have been most visible; the aspects of police brutality, racial profiling, and incarceration among African Americans seem to be three times higher than among Mexican Americans (Ghandnoosh, 2015). Being the emblematic instances of police violence against African Americans, these notorious matters have become a cue to start overthrowing the existing situation, resulting in protest rallies of the public and the demand for the needed reforms. This is not the first time we have witnessed blatant racism in law enforcement agencies within the judicial system, which also contributes much to the questions about systemic racism in America nowadays. On the flip side, the issues of racial discrimination became important, and the existing system was seen to be not only the harbinger of the symptoms of it but the actual culprit of seemingly entrenched racial inequality deeply enclosed in U.S. history.
The advent and evolution of the Black Lives Matter Movement mark a crucial point in the struggle between the present and the past regarding injustice on racial grounds. The study of Azevedo, Marques, and Micheli (2022) offers a rich examination of the drivers of support for the BLM movement, indicating its profound relevance and increasing degree of people’s consciousness towards systemic racism. Establishing on a hashtag of “#BlackLivesMatter” after the non-indictment of Trayvon Martin’s shooter, the movement has rapidly morphed into a multi-sectoral network serving as an advocacy for racial equity.
A review by Azevedo et al. demonstrates the multi-face nature of the BLM movement, revealing how different parts of society perceive and prepare to address the movement. The research states that the solidarity pledging for the BLM movement is beyond only the cases to be necessary of police brutality but reveals the also truth of systemic discrimination, as well as significant reforms.
In addition, more than any other movement, BLM has been pivotal in the fight against the systematic issues that circulate mostly around police brutality. This movement has created a focus on the cases of police brutality towards black Americans, which consists not only of the incidents but also the demonstrations that follow afterward, as commented by Ghandnoosh (2015). In the last three years, BLM has been using protests, advocacy, and social media campaigns to further the cause of the victims and their families and has necessitated the establishment of the rule of law and acceptable standards in policing practice.
The movement’s focus on the fight against police brutality is not merely reactive. It constitutes one component of a broader, persisting systemic racism strategy that is entrenched in the criminal justice system. Police violence against African Americans has, on the contrary, promoted awareness about unfair treatment and led to the consideration of such issues in policymaking and the purging of law enforcement in the United States.
The concept of institutional racism, especially in the criminal justice system, is waging a major battle in reproducing racial inequalities in the United States. Racial discrimination can result when excessive reliance is given to institutes due to the form itself and the method of their work. This is evident in the criminal justice system, where African Americans are more likely to get harder sentences, be locked up more often, and have more conflicts with police rather than white people. Ghandnoosh (2015) also reveals many disparities in the criminal justice system. The excerpt retrieved by The Sentencing Project points out how black and Latino communities are overrepresented throughout the criminal justice process, from arrest rates to sentencing decisions. This structural bias does not only affect the persons affected but also affects the society functionally, making the pendulums of destitution, disempowerment, and social exclusion continue in the African American tribes.
Primarily, systemic racism in institutions has sparked alarm in many nations regarding its severity globally, which should be dealt with accordingly. The efforts of the United Nations to fight systemic racism, as per Human Rights Watch (2021) and U.N. News (2022), evidence the wide character of this challenge. Such global recognitions and requests to take action are on the rise today, and this growth is a clear sign of the consensus that exists about the need to face up to and, subsequently, dismantle every manifestation of systemic racism. They emphasize constant and decisive restructuring of institutions on all levels, national and international, to make them fairer and juster in the long run, with no biased policies or methods that create racial divisions. Having a deeper look at racism at the global level illustrates the interlinkage of these problems across borders and the common duty to eradicate them.
The opinions, thoughts, and wishes of black Americans on racism and their mission of battling it are valuable to the understanding of the societal responses to social injustice. The Cox and Edwards (2022) study via the Pew Research Center explores these perceptions in depth and reveals their mixed composition as survivors and fighters; if not yet fully restored, they are cautiously optimistic. Their research indicates that although there is a clear sense of shared black American vision on how to achieve anti-racism, there is, meanwhile, a subtle form of the black American doubt in how feasible the envisioned change will eventually be. This dual reality is important in comprehending the broader societal context where movements such as Black Lives Matter exist. The expressed agreement on the problems challenges the highlighted system’s availability, assistance, and uptake, but the resilience of the entire system favors the change process. The study highlights the need to voice our concerns loudly and continuously mobilize others to take action toward the real and profound societal problems we face.
On the other hand, the role of BLM and other social movements regarding racial inequality in shaping the way societies respond to this issue is considerable. This assertion is not exclusive to the changes in social perception but also reveals the possibility of transformative change, and this is what Cox and Edwards found. The Pew Research Center’s study shows that BLM affected and shaped public discourse to the level that people became more aware of the problems facing racial minorities, and consequently, communication channels were opened to discuss systemic racism. This influence is critical in making societal change since it leads to massive participation from different people and wide support for any efforts to check racial inequality. This projection is obvious and not limited only to the policy level; it is also a gradual transformation of society’s general views on race and justice issues.
In conclusion, this essay has examined inequality and social justice from the angle of the Black Lives Matter movement, having revealed the deep-rooted historical roots and the modern manifestation of systemic racism, especially within the criminal justice system. This movement of the BLM has shown the world the three issues: they have framed public support to address racism and pointed out global views on their significance. This rough count for the unison of widespread efforts and enterprising participation of the international community on the issue of the permanent structure of racial injustice. It implies that working toward equality and social justice is more of a way of life than a destination, requiring ongoing dedication to systemic reform and unity of everybody involved.
Azevedo, F., Marques, T., & Micheli, L. (2022). In Pursuit of Racial Equality: Identifying the Determinants of Support for the Black Lives Matter Movement with a Systematic Review and Multiple Meta-analyses. Perspectives on Politics, 20(4), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1537592722001098
Cox, K., & Edwards, K. (2022, August 30). Black Americans Have a Clear Vision for Reducing Racism, but Little Hope It Will Happen. Pew Research Center Race & Ethnicity; Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/race-ethnicity/2022/08/30/black-americans-have-a-clear-vision-for-reducing-racism-but-little-hope-it-will-happen/
Frimpong, K. (2020, July 10). Black people are still seeking racial justice – why and what to do about it. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/black-people-are-still-seeking-racial-justice-why-and-what-to-do-about-it/
Ghandnoosh, N. (2015, February 3). Black Lives Matter: Eliminating Racial Inequity in the Criminal Justice System. The Sentencing Project. https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/black-lives-matter-eliminating-racial-inequity-in-the-criminal-justice-system/
Tourse, R. W. C., Hamilton-Mason, J., & Wewiorski, N. J. (2018). Racism and Social Justice. Systemic Racism in the United States, pp. 115–128. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72233-7_8
U.N. Makes Landmark Call to Address Systemic Racism. (2021, June 29). Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/06/29/un-makes-landmark-call-address-systemic-racism
U.N. News. (2022, September 30). Little progress combating systemic racism against people of African descent: U.N. report. U.N. News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/09/1129082