According to the Sentencing Project, There are 2.

2 million people in the nations prisons

and jailsa 500% increase over the last 40 years. What caused this drastic increase, was the
changes in policies and laws, not the changes in crime rate. People of color make up 37% of the
U.S population but make up 67% of prisoners; in the 2.2 million inmates, 1 million of them are
African Americans. In modern society there seems to be discrimination towards other races,
even in the criminal justice system.
Discrimination towards African Americans has lead to a movement called, Blacks Lives
Matter. As their website, black lives matter, said This is Not a Moment, but a Movement. This
is a national organization that is working towards the authority for Black Lives. In 2012, after the
murder of Trayvon Martin, this movement was created, but it is still working for Black Lives.
While putting in effort for their campaigns, they demand, most of all rights. Along with rights they
demand to redress past and continuing threats towards African Americans, ending the death
penalty, the recognition of the affects of slavery, and investments in education, health services
and job programs.
All of this discrimination, in my opinion, should have been fixed by now. Over the years
as our nation has developed, there have been new settlers, we can refer back to our nations
history. Although history was in the past we should look towards the future of our country. We
are not living in the past where there is one dominant race, but we are living in a society where
we should treat each other as equals because thats how society should and will be.
Acknowledging the other point of view/both is very important because seeing what both sides
want will give a better understanding of the sides want.
Although many people may not be advocates for equality, it is still important to
acknowledge their point of views. Understanding their perspective may be challenging but not
impossible. Knowing that there is/was new settlers in our country can change laws to benefit
one individual but hurt others. For those who arent advocates for certain topics that involve race
seeing a movement going on that protest for rights toward African Americans can be
overwhelming. They may view it as taking it too far but all the #BlackLivesMatter campaign is
doing is fighting for anti- discrimination on blacks.
Society says that we are all equal, but when seeing what happens in places like the
criminal justice system, not everybody is treated fairly. This affects me because I worry about
our countrys future, if what is happening now doesnt end by the time the new generation
comes in they wont know how to get along. We will have divided states, when I say states I
mean a large amount of people who will no longer acknowledge another person based on their
traits. Lets work together to not have a segregated community.