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We Stand Together

Cameron Tickerhoof

Professor Babcock

English 137

October 7th, 2018

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We Stand Together

How could a society function while a large percentage of the population feels

discriminated against every day? A country is built by its citizens and how they come together as

a whole. As America developed, white people continuously discriminated against many types of

people. Over time, the discriminated parties fought to tear down these injustices, such as Jim

Crowe laws and police brutality on African Americans, to get to the point we are at now, but this

point in time is still not fair enough for every group of people. Citizens often refuse to

acknowledge the racist components still existing in America. Stand Your Ground law protests

and the Black Lives Matter movement are two parties united with a similar cause. While most of

the country remains ignorant towards daily injustice, these movements fight racial injustice by

illuminating the discrimination present in everyday life, while also showing the humanity in

seeing all races as equal.

The two movements focus on different key points, but they have overarching themes in

common. The Stand Your Ground (SYG) protests come from the Stand Your Ground laws

existing in the majority of American states. While intricacies differ in many states, the general

idea remains constant: a person has no need to retreat, and if he or she feels threatened, he or she

may take lethal force. The protests center around the fact that this law has allowed many

shooters to avoid indictment because they felt threatened. This law’s formula has led to many

calls for reform of the law. The protests also cover the fact that many of the dropped cases are

centered around the murder of an African American person by a white person. According to

PBS.org, a white person killing an African American is 354% more likely to be ruled justifiable

in court than an African American killing a white person in Stand Your Ground states

(Childress). Such statistics are a major reason as to why the Stand Your Ground protests and the
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Black Lives Matter Movement overlap each other. Black Lives Matters Movement focuses on

the injustices against African Americans on all levels of society. The movement exists because

many parts of society do not value African Americans as much as white people in the United

States. If a law that has such strong racial preferences still exists, how can the Black Lives

Matter Movement make any progress in equality?

The ideology of the two movements is fairly similar and relatively simple: all lives are

important and should be treated with equal respect. The focus is on the value of lives, and the

importance of keeping society equal for everyone. SYG law protests take the idea that no one

person should be allowed to kill another simply because one party may have felt threatened. The

protest further builds upon that idea by bringing the discrepancies of each race related to the law,

such as the previously mentioned statistic from PBS.org. Without racial equality, the law can be

twisted even further allowing many murders to walk away free. The value of life is a key

component of the ideology of the Black Lives Matter Movement as well. A person’s life is

worth much more than the color of his or her skin. The main goal of the movement is to reach a

point in time where everyone is valued equally as humans. Until this point is reached, many

protests and movements will exist with the intent of erasing racial injustice and entitlement. At

face value, the context of each movement is very different and relates to a different cause, but by

looking a little further, it is understandable how the two relate to each other. The movements

play on the emotions by advertising that every race has their differences, but we are all one large

community. Humanity is the outstanding byproduct of the two movements, and humanity is the

only word that will allow any full progression of both causes.

The emotions and empathy of humans are used in both movements. Every type of person

belongs to a community, and we all have a shared race or group of people. The Black Lives
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Matter Movements wants to allow its community to feel safe and secure in the larger community

that is our country. “We demand an end to the war against Black people. Since this country’s

inception there have been named and unnamed wars on our communities. We demand an end to

the criminalization, incarceration, and killing of our people.” (The Movement for Black Lives).

The quote is the movement’s end goal for its respective community. Each community has strong

ties with each other, so each of the discriminations and crimes against African Americans affect

the people as a whole. The Black Lives Matter Movement emphasizes this to make its cause

more appealing to the everyday American. SYG law protests use the same type of emotion

focused around community. Some communities are broken by the losses caused by SYG

because many of the shooters never face any kind of justice. 28-year-old Markeis McGlockton

was shot in front of his girlfriend and two children, collapsed and died in front of his third child,

and his gunman was initially allowed to walk free because of the SYG law in Florida (Miller).

This is the type of shooting that drives the progress of the SYG protests. A father murdered in

view of his children is a story that has a strong pathetic appeal as no one would ever want to

experience the death of a loved one. Michael Drejka, the shooter, was not arrested on site

because the sheriff believed what he did was lawful. Protests only became more prominent after

this shooting and refusal of arrest, which eventually resulted in Drejka’s arrest. The pathos

drove these protests in this specific case, and the protests have continued to put pressure on the

SYG law in states across the country. This pressure has led to many well-known figures and

organizations joining in the movements.

Protests and movements require credibility to make any progress in their respective

fights. This credibility gives the protests a strong basis and strengthens the reasoning behind the

cause in the eyes of the people. The protests have strong followings from many African
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Americans and other races alike. The large number of people fighting for both causes has

resulted in many politicians siding with each movement, further building upon the credibility of

each fight. Many politicians promise to reform the SYG laws as a part of his or her campaign.

The Black Lives Matter Movement has also seen much support from many big names. Most

recently, Nike created an ad including former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick which further

adds credibility to the fight for equality. Colin Kaepernick originally brought an immense

amount of attention towards the Black Lives Matter Movement by controversially kneeling

during the national anthem at the start of an NFL game (Meyersohn). As Black Lives Matter

progresses, more racial problems in this society with begin to surface, and the statistics

surrounding the SYG law and racial bias will become clearer. This clarity is vital for the

progression of both movements. Because the two causes are connected, they help portray each

other’s messages over time.

The message both movements try to communicate is very logical and structured. Black

lives matter is a simple phrase that has a strong following and background. It is organized

around the idea that racism still exists in everyday America. White privilege often trumps the

whole purpose of everyone in America being made equal and having the same exact rights.

White privilege is something that the Black Lives Matter Movement is trying to absolve by

playing on the logic that everyone is human, and everyone deserves to have the same chances

while living life. SYG law protest layout the same ideals, but it is more in focused towards all

lives and that no one has the right to choose who lives or dies. Although SYG law protests focus

on all human lives, black lives are most affected by the law. Human lives all having equal value

are why these movements make sense. This key point existing in both fights is the reason the

timing of the movements work together.

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The Kairos of the two movements often align with each other. The SYG law protests

have recently sparked more debate surrounding the McGlockton shooting. According to Liz

Mineo, The Black Lives Matter Movement formed after a major SYG case. Specifically, the

2012 murder of African American teen Trayvon Martin by white adult George Zimmerman.

George Zimmerman’s acquittal kicked off the major SYG protests and induced the creation of

the massive Black Lives Matter Movement (Mineo). The most recent SYG shooting to happen

was the McGlockton shooting, as previously mentioned. This drew in attention around the law

and the Black Lives Matter Movement as it was clearly a case involving discrimination. The

Back Lives Matter Movement has also seen a lot of publicity lately because of the

aforementioned Nike ad. The perfect timing of this ad breathed fire into the fight and called for

more people to join the movement when most of these protests were starting to fade from the

spotlight.

Although the two movements differ in many ways, they share an overarching goal: bring

society together as one organized body. The resulting community would better achieve goals

previously unattainable because of the divided population. Bringing communities together and

drawing attention to human value are why these movements continue to progress. These two

movements will continue to rage on and pick up speed in the pursuit of creating changes in

America and challenging us to join. Will you join the movement and stand with those fighting to

put an end to discrimination?

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Works Cited
Childress, Sarah. “Is There Racial Bias in ‘Stand Your Ground’ Laws?” PBS, Public

Broadcasting Service, 2012, www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/is-there-racial-bias-in

-stand-your-ground-laws/.

Meyersohn, Nathaniel. “Nike Takes Sides, Tapping Colin Kaepernick for New 'Just Do It' Ad.”

CNNMoney, Cable News Network, 4 Sept. 2018, https://money.cnn.com/2018/09/03/

news/companies/colin-kaepernick-nike-just-do-it/index.html.

Miller, Hayley. “Girlfriend Of 'Stand Your Ground' Shooting Victim Says Gunman 'Was Picking

A Fight'.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 24 July 2018,

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/markeis-mcglockton-stand-your-ground-parking

-lot-shooting_us_5b55c08be4b0b15aba9091f4

Mineo, Liz. “Background on Black Lives Matter.” Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 13 Nov.

2015, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/11/background-on-black-lives-matter/.

“The Movement for Black Lives.” The Movement for Black Lives, https://policy.m4bl.org/.