8. How Racism works in 2014

The author of this article begins with a false story circulating about Michael Brown and his shooter, Officer Darren Wilson. There have been people defending Officer Wilson, saying that Michael Brown was a killer and fractured the officer's eye socket, therefore, Officer Wilson was only saving his life. These attempts of justification have no supporting evidence. Michael Brown had no evidence of serious wrongdoing and the fracture of the officer's eyeball was nothing but a myth. However, once you dive into the media, you will find tons of people who buy into this fantasy. As one of the Wilson supporters said: "We'll all see this in the end that it was a good shooting. You know, it was a good kill." The author also points out that in all kinds of crimes, the victim is immediately blamed. We see this on sexual assault cases and when young black men are killed by white figures, like police officers. Fox host, Geraldo Riveira, openly criticized Martin Brown's outfit. "If you dress like a thug, people will treat you as a thug."Other websites published lists of crimes the Martin may have committed, all of them with barely any evidence. To the author, the genesis of this situation was that when people see black men, they automatically think of crime, and they will find any "proof" to justify this unfair association. In other words, people believe in the myth of a dangerous thug because they have to. Without these 'monsters', their worldview wouldn't stand.
Jamelle Bouie's point with this article was to show how ridiculous any justification on what happened in Ferguson with Michael Brown is. He starts out by talking about the false news that has been circulating America and the world, and how if you look at things with an objective view, there would be no need to go further into both the Officer's or Martin Brown's character. An officer shot a teenager and he would be punished. However, since Martin Brown was black, it is a different story. Jamelle Bouie points out the issue that America has had with white powerful men getting away with things in the past and provides examples of other cases in which blacks and women have had their rights oppressed by them. He supported his evidence with various quotes, especially Fox news and a booklet written by Olive A. Adams. His language is simple and straight to the point, and he explains all his arguments clearly.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/09/the_new_racism_michael_brown_and_trayvon_martin_deny_it_exists_and_smear.html