My Moral Outlook on Black Lives Matter

1
My Moral Outlook on Black Lives Matter
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institution
Date

2
My Moral Outlook on Black Lives Matter
The “Black Lives Matter” slogan is used to advocate for racial equality across the globe. Though
it might seem like an obvious phrase, what it advocates is visible in society. “Do black lives
really matter?” (Roberts,2017) Not that black lives are not recognized, but the mistreatments and
discrimination behind being a black person among whites are what this slogan is against.
(Edwards and Harris, 2015) Since the times of slavery, black Americans have not had the
freedom to live freely among white Americans. Many black Americans have ended up in prison
or even lost their lives innocently just because they were perceived to be a threat to the rest of
society. Society needs to make a lot of changes to ensure that everybody is treated right
regardless of their skin color, which can be established through some ethical frameworks.
One of the basic framework which can be used it fairness approach to ethics. This
approach was used to ensure that there is fair treatment for everyone, regardless of their state or
race. Over the years, establishing fairness and justice between different races has been a major
challenge. (Mosley et al. 2021) For instance, black Americans have encountered injustices and
unfair treatments from their fellow Americans and even the police. Some have been tortured and
others murdered, yet establishing justices for their families is a nightmare. Eric Garner was
murdered by a police officer for claims that he was selling cigarettes illegally. The police officer
involved was fired from work but that did not serve enough justice since he was never
prosecuted and justice served to the family of Garner. Although there have been movements to
condemn such kind of brutal acts from the police, many changes need to be implemented to
ensure that the police force treats all people equally. Strict rules should be put in place to guide
the morals of the police while handling the citizens regardless of their skin color.

3
Every citizen of any country has his rights. They should live without fear or feeling of
being incomplete citizens of any country, in contrast to how life for blacks has been in the past
years. “why did God make me an outcast and stranger in my own home?” (Bois, 1991) The
rights approach to ethics dictates that any right taken should uphold the rights of the people
affected. For instance, black Americans have their rights just like the rest of white Americans,
but considering their rights is where the problems arise. During the slavery era, blacks had no
rights and all they had to do was spent time serving the whites. There were no morals when the
whites were interacting with the blacks as they saw them as lesser beings, and all they could
provide to them was just labor alone. These slaves suffered a lot of ill-treatments from their
whites who were rude and hostile to them, instead of being kind, just and generous to them.
Even though the slave trade and forced labor were abolished a long time ago, there have been no
enough efforts made towards the rights of the blacks. In some states, there are no rights of free
movement for black people. They have no right of expression before the police and even in
courts. For instance, George Floyd who died after being innocently arrested by police and held
down was never given the right to express himself. (Hill et al., 2020) He died after a long period of
pleading to be allowed to breathe. His death caused a lot of unrest in the united states of America
and also across the globe, with people protesting against this act. Although justice was served in
this case, a lot needs to be done since there are a lot of cases that are unheard of this kind which
violates this group’s rights. (Opie and Roberts, 2017)
Even though the police force is a perpetrator of racial discrimination, the rest of the white
Americans also contribute to the same. Black Americans are perceived as a threat by the rest.
When using the virtue approach to ethics by Aristotle for instance, where ethics should revolve
around the society and not the individual. People should strive towards having good morals