The Struggles of Black American Teen's Life

It is likely that you have heard or read the phrase ‘black lives matter’. Everyone observes it differently. Some people who are not African-American might want to say, ‘all lives matter’. Some read the phrase and realize that there are problems with how society views African-Americans. The United States has a problem with labeling people based on their skin tone and young African-American men are carrying more weight on their shoulders because of societies racism than ever before. Racial profiling negatively affects African-Americans.

Roxane Gray, states that people in America seem to depict who is threatening and not threatening. This profiling of people because of their race has affected people’s views and has ended lives. America saw Tsarnaev as a handsome young boy and the people were shocked to find he was one of two people who caused a terrorist attack. A man saw a young innocent African-American boy and decided to kill him because he looked suspicious. Profiling people because of their race is not accurate or healthy to the mind. People will never truly know who to fear.

Malcolm-Aime Musoni says that being an African-American teen in the United States is not easy. After the death of Mike Brown, his views of the police has changed for the worse. He can no longer feel the protection that he used to. He has to make sure he is not wearing a certain type of clothing that society has made negative. The fact that he always feels eyes watching his every move is why there is a problem. This is a major problem in the black community, and it needs to be known. It should not take his death for people to start using the Black Lives Matter hashtag.

Roxane and Malcolm-Aime have good points. Roxane saying that Americans profile people as dangerous is giving a big assumption, but there is a lot of truth in it. Malcom-Aime says that he has severe anxiety around the police. Not every police officer has a negative view of black men, but many police officers do. It is not Malcolm-Aimes fault that he must have eyes on the back of his head. People should not label someone as dangerous based on their race, because that kind of outlook can cause a person who is being labeled to be affected negatively. There are people in the United States that see African-Americans as dangerous, specifically young African-American men. This view is mostly by police. “Young black men are 21 times more likely to be shot and killed by police than young white men” (Hannah-Jones). More police are racially profiling, and this is causing problems with young black men like Malcolm-Aime. Black Lives Matter gives African-Americans a voice in a world where they feel this pressure from society to act a certain way, so they don’t seem dangerous. It is sad to know that in my lifetime racism is still going on, but it gives me a chance to fight it. You will never be able to know who is dangerous and who is not. Anyone can be dangerous no matter what race the person is. Labeling a person or race as dangerous can cause that person pain. African-Americans have so much on their shoulders even in 2019. They want people to hear their voice and know that profiling them is wrong. Black Lives Matter is known all over America. It is to give them a voice to show that racism is wrong.