The Horrible Truth

Many years ago African Americans put up a good fight and received the equal rights that they deserve. Although the law states that they should be treated equal; some of the law enforcement chooses to act in their own way. A huge problem that still presents itself today is racial segregation. Everyday people of different ethnicity get picked out of groups and targeted by others.

The image on the left is meant to address a very serious problem with some humor. Although the image of the young African American boy getting pulled over by a Caucasian cop is humorous, it is realistic. The image is not addressing this problem on the youth level, but more on the teenage and adult level. This image sparks controversy because of how Americans are raised. Some Americans are raised old fashion and taught to dislike people from other ethnicity. Since they are raised this way they don't know any different and just assume that they are always in the wrong and causing trouble. Racist Caucasians are the target of this image but it is also very offensive to African Americans.

When cops go after African Americans just because of their skin color they are violating rights. This causes the African Americans to fill with anger and feel as though they are less of a person. Personally I have seen this horrible act in action. As a Caucasian male I felt embarrassed. While on my way to a party with two of my friends I got pulled over in a small neighborhood for a burnt out tail light. When the cop came to get my information, he saw my African American friend in the passenger seat. At first I didn't realize what was going on and was a bit nervous. After taking both of our information the officer went back to his cruiser, typed in information, and then returned to my truck. Upon his return he walked around to the passenger side and told my friend to get out of the truck, and place his hands on the hood. He asked for my friend's backpack and began to rummage through it throwing stuff on the ground. Innocent as a saint, my friend stood still and waited for the cop to release him. Sure enough the cop didn't find anything and told my friend to pick everything up or he would be fined for littering. At this point I knew what had happened and wasn't about to let it go. When the cop handed me my warning I got his badge number. A few weeks later after we reported him the situation was resolved, but I was still completely outraged with his actions. It was an embarrassment to myself and the rest of Caucasian people for him to act like this. The only reason the cop searched my friend was because he was an African American with a backpack. This cop had no probable cause to search my friend, except that his belief that all African Americans are criminals.

This horrible experience opened my eyes to the huge issue that this picture addresses. When I see this picture I think about that experience, and all of the other Caucasian cops that are segregating people based on their race and not their actions. This image is very effective and it will appeal to people of all races. It is controversial to people that have been segregated because of race. It is also effective on those that have witnesses segregation and those who are embarrassed because of the people committing the segregation.