Black Lives Matter Analysis

Natasha Cruz
"Black Lives Matter"
Literature 237 – Section 2
Professor Johnathan W. Gray

American society needs to reconsider how it treats black communities. "All lives matter," is a universal moral principle, except that it is false in present-day America. The movement that black lives matter is necessary only because in America, black lives are taken too often to not matter. John Lewis' March and Eudora Welty's "Where is the Voice Coming From," both capture the violence of the Civil Rights Movement, although from different perspectives. March is written as a first-hand account of Congressman John Lewis struggle for civil rights. "Where is the Voice Coming From," is written as a first-person account of the killing by a white Southerner …show more content…
According to the article, "The Trayvon Martin Case: A Timeline," on February 26, 2012 neighborhood watcher George Zimmerman called 9-11 to report "a real suspicious guy" a "black male" walking around. The seventeen year old was Trayvon Martin, who was heading home after a 7-Eleven run with a bag of skittles and an Arizona iced tea. Zimmerman followed Martin, without permission from authorities, and the two engaged in an altercation. Zimmerman fired one shot into Martin's chest killing him. Zimmerman's view point can be traced to the narrator's in "Where is the Voice Coming From." The narrator states, "Never seen him before … never seen his face alive, any time at all, or anywhere, and didn't want to, need to, never hope to see that face and never will" (p.1). Zimmerman stated that Trayvon Martin appeared "suspicious," however, "suspicious" meant his prejudice and stereotype agreed with his idea that blacks are criminals. He never saw Martin before, but his prejudice was enough to assault the seventeen-year old teenager ending his life. Another fact that relates to the violence of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Lives Movement, is whites fighting for the power to control and minimize the black individual. The narrator's words towards Summers, "He's out planning still other ways to do what we tell 'em they can't," disturbingly justifies Michael Dunn, forty-seven, killing of Jordan Davis, seventeen, on November 2012 (p.1). The incident began when Dunn confronted Davis and his friends over their "loud music." A verbal argument began to which Dunn responded by retrieving a loaded handgun from his car and shooting ten rounds into the teenagers' car. He shot Jordan Davis who died later on in the hospital. Dunn shot and killed Davis because he did not listen to him, just like whites killed blacks during the Civil Rights Movement because

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