Alaska (US) CANADA NORTH UNITED STATES PACIFIC ATL ANTIC OCEAN CUBA Hawaiian Islands (US) MEXICO DOMINICAN REP. HAITI Puerto Rico (US) BELIZE JAMAICA GUATEMALA HONDURAS EL SALVADOR NICARAGUA COSTA RICA VENEZUELA PANAMA GUYANA COLOMBIA Guyane (Fr.) SURINAM ECUADOR PERU BRAZIL BOLIVIA PARAGUAY SOUTH CHILE URUGUAY PACIFIC ARGENTINA AmericasMariah Grant, Alfredo Gutierrez Carrizo, Janet Oropeza Eng and Carolyn Stephens United States Guardian newspaper, young African American have expanded throughout the country in the The metaphor of the ‘melting pot’ is commonly men between the ages of 15 and 34 faced the wake of the killing of Michael Brown and North used to describe the US and its diverse religious, highest risk of being killed by police, with a death other lethal police shootings. A movement had ethnic and indigenous communities. But while rate five times higher than for white men of the started coalescing around the slogan and hashtag this accurately reflects the rich demographic same age. Another survey by the Washington Post #BlackLivesMatter, which had initially been America variety of a country that by 2044 will be ‘majority uncovered similar findings: despite accounting for formulated in 2013 on social media by Alicia minority’, with no single ethnic group making a little over 6 per cent of the population, African Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, after Mariah Grant up more than 50 per cent of the population, it American men accounted for almost 40 per cent the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the fails to capture a variety of entrenched social and of those killed by police while unarmed. 2012 killing of Trayvon Williams. From the orth America includes a wide range economic disparities between different groups. These numbers have helped identify the scale beginning, activists used the internet to challenge of communities, including black, From education to health care, employment of deadly force used against African Americans the dominant narrative of the protests as ‘riots’. N indigenous, Latino, Arab and Asian to politics, inequality and division continue by US law enforcement. Furthermore, videos During demonstrations in Baltimore following minorities who together contribute to the to characterize ethnic and religious relations of many of these incidents, some recorded by the death of Gray, for example, while some media region’s rich cultural diversity. This is in itself a within the US. In the criminal justice system, for the police themselves through dashboard and outlets presented an image of the city being reflection of a long and often troubled history, example, African Americans are arrested nearly body cameras, have highlighted how officers looted and burned, activists took to Twitter to beginning with the colonization of what is now six times as often as their white counterparts and have frequently failed to de-escalate situations organize street cleaning crews and share first-hand Canada, Mexico and the United States (US) constitute 1 million of the 2.3 million people before using deadly force. At times, the footage accounts. and the decimation of a greater part of the incarcerated in the US. Consequently, one in contradicted the official narrative from police Throughout 2015, 26 individual Black Lives indigenous population. The ensuing centuries every thirteen African Americans of voting age and also depicted excessive force. This included Matter chapters were opened across the United saw the arrival of millions of enslaved Africans is disenfranchised due to a felony conviction, a a dashboard camera video of Chicago police States. Frequently, this movement was compared until the trade was eventually abolished in the rate four times greater than the rest of the US shooting 17-year-old African American Laquan and contrasted with the Civil Rights Movement nineteenth century. More recently, successive population. McDonald 16 times on 20 October 2014, which of the 1960s, not only by the media and flows of migration from across the world, but However, a major shift in nationwide was not made public until 24 November 2015. politicians but also former leaders of that era and particularly from Central and South America, consciousness of the role ethnicity plays in the While the city claimed that the footage could Black Lives Matter activists themselves. However, have further transformed the demographic justice system began after the shooting death of not be released during the FBI and US Attorney’s while the heritage of the movement’s protests has composition. an unarmed African American teenager, Michael investigations, others interpreted the delay as a strongly informed Black Lives Matter, activists While the variety of cultures in North Brown, by a white police officer on 9 August cover-up intended to quell public outrage. have also emphasized the distinctive aspects of America today is remarkable, many minority 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. On 4 March 2015, Bystander videos also shed light on apparent their activities, extending beyond anti-racism to and indigenous communities also face a the Department of Justice released a report on cases of police brutality inflicted on African encompass African American women’s rights; multitude of challenges to maintain their their investigation into the Ferguson Police Americans. Gaining particular attention was a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) traditions. This is due in large part to the Department, identifying widespread practices video that appeared to show 50-year-old African rights; and cultural rights. continued inequalities they face, rooted in of ethnic discrimination by law enforcement. American Walter L. Scott fleeing while being shot Black Lives Matter is especially notable for past discrimination, and the indifference or The report supported what demonstrators eight times by a white police officer in North the high proportion of women leaders and even hostility certain cultural expressions and community members had been claiming Charleston, South Carolina on 4 April. The its conscious attempts to move away from are met with. The pressures of assimilation, all along: that Ferguson police were unfairly officer who shot Scott was subsequently charged the more hierarchical male-dominated model social dislocation, poverty and the absence of targeting African American residents, violating with murder and awaits trial, while the family associated with earlier racial equality movements. supportive spaces to nurture these traditions their civil rights and engaging in a pattern of of Scott reached a US$ 6.5 million settlement The movement is actively working to end the can all contribute to the disappearance or unconstitutional arrests that turned residents into with the city that bars them from bringing civil marginalization of African American women and silencing of minorities and indigenous peoples. a form of revenue generation. claims over his death. Less than three weeks later the silence surrounding violence inflicted against From Muslims concealing their identities for Since Brown’s death, incidents of police another bystander video emerged of Freddie them, including by police. fear of attack to First Nation youth in Canada brutality against ethnic minorities, as well as Gray, a 25-year-old unarmed African American One high-profile case in 2015 involved lacking access to instruction in their indigenous debates surrounding institutionalized racial bias man, being dragged to a police van in Baltimore 28-year-old African American Sandra Bland, who languages, these barriers are closely linked within the US law-enforcement system, have on 12 April. A week after his arrest, Gray died. was found dead in a jail cell in Waller County, to alienation, prejudice and marginalization. continued. While data related to police shootings The events surrounding his arrest and death are Texas, three days after she was arrested during a Nevertheless, at the same time there are also is not transparently or uniformly collected by still disputed. Six officers involved in Gray’s arrest traffic stop. The events leading to Bland’s death many inspiring examples across the region of the government, independent datasets developed have had charges filed against them; however, at are unclear: while the official account is that she communities actively re-engaging their culture, by various media outlets have tracked the the beginning of 2016, the trials were delayed was found unresponsive due to ‘self-inflicted often as part of broader efforts to advocate for high numbers of African Americans and other after the jury in the first case could not reach a asphyxiation’, her family refuted claims that greater visibility and inclusion. ethnic minorities killed by police. During verdict. Bland would commit suicide. In December, a 2015, according to figures collated by the UK’s Demonstrations against police brutality grand jury decided not to bring any charges in 100 Americas State of the World’s Minorities State of the World’s Minorities Americas 101 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 and Indigenous Peoples 2016 the case; however, the police officer who pulled Right: A young Muslim woman plays volleyball Bland over was subsequently indicted for perjury. in New York City, US. Chris Goldberg. The uncertainties surrounding her death received significant media coverage and drew attention to of the Confederate battle flag, the chosen the invisibility of African American women in location for the shooting also led to discussions mainstream reporting on police brutality. around the important