Ciara Brown

Mrs. Campbell
January 23, 2015

AFR on Why Black Folks Cant Breathe

The main point that Jason Whitlock is trying to say in this article, has to do with the title,
Why Black Folks Cant Breathe. In thinking about this title, you come to realize the main point
that Whitlock later states, which is, SBI is why black and brown folks feel they cant breathe.
SBI is segregation by incarceration which is what Whitlock feels is a huge problem in America,
today.
His first point is on page 3 when he says, SBI fertilized the cultural rot that makes us
believe prison culture is African-American culture. He supports this statement by qualifying his
claim by talking about his persona experience with police brutality. Having a real and personal
experience on the subject, gives him validity. He has first-hand experience because a member of
his family was tasered and killed.
When Whitlock refers to the tension between the police and minorities, he refers to it by
saying, The tension is thick, palpable and suffocating. These are words that are associated with
not being able to breathe. This just connects with the title, and furthers his evidence on Why
Black Folks Cant Breathe. He is talking about this huge problem that we face in America, and
how we worked so hard to fight against segregation, racism, and Jim Crow laws, but now we are
reverting back to the old ways, but we are modernizing these ideas. Whitlock says that citizens
are stopped, frisked, followed, profiled and made to feel as inmates locked in their own
neighborhoods by a heavily armed occupying force. Whitlock wants it to be known that this is
what is causing the tension, and this is the reason that African-Americans cant breathe. They
are being locked into their identities, and constantly being accused and profiled, and seen as bad
guys. This part can also be seen in Crash when Christine and Cameron were stopped and frisked
by the officers. This is a problem that occurs in America so often, and Whitlock is showing that
without us realizing it, its racial.
Whitlock also wants it to be known that we, as Americans, are being misguided by the
media, and we dont see the actual problem nor do we find actual solutions. We are blind to what
is actually going on, and it needs to change. On the other hand, we are not bind to color.
Whitlock ends the article by saying, Justice is blind. America is not. This poses the idea that
there is something seriously wrong, and it needs to be changed. It is up to us to change these
stereotypes.