“I can’t breathe.”

These were the last words of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black male, who died while in a chokehold of New York City police officer, Daniel Pantaleo, on July 19, 2014. These words have since become known nationally, through hashtags on social media, Tt-shirts of sports teams, and signs in protests on the street.

Garner is just one of many black men that has inspired what’s been called “The Second Civil Rights Movement”.

The first Civil Rights Movement came about in the mid-20th century, to strike down the “separate, but equal” mentality that ran through society at the time. Although the law would suggest that the movement was successful, with the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, some Americans today would say otherwise.

“The Second Civil Rights Movement” began in Feb. of 2012 with the shooting of 17-year-old, African-American student, Trayvon Martin in Sanford, FL. Martin’s shooter, neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman, claims he shot out of self-defense and was found not guilty by the jury.

However, others would beg to differ. African-American, Michigan police officer of 15 years, Jared Womble, says the shooting was “absolutely racist”, calling Zimmerman an “overzealous police-wannabe.” Womble believes that the African-American community has always had problems with the United States justice system, seeing as the country was founded on racism, and he feels that not much has changed.

Womble’s feelings are verified by a recent poll done by NBC News, which revealed that only 12% of African-Americans felt equal treatment between blacks and whites in their local police.

While Martin’s death caused a stir in the nation, it was the death of Michael Brown on Aug. 9, 2014 in Ferguson, MO that brought the country to protest. The story of Brown’s shooting varies. Some, such as Eric DeLanoy, a Caucasian Milford police officer since 2001, argue that the officer who shot Brown, Darren Wilson, was justified.

DeLanoy says that Wilson received a call to investigate a black man, stealing a box of cigars, and when the officer arrived at the scene, Brown fit the description. “Unless you’re an officer, you don’t understand responding to calls,” DeLanoy explains. “If you’re an officer, and you see someone breaking the law, you have to do something.”

However, LaShonda Baker, an African-American West Bloomfield resident, said Brown’s death was prompted by the color of his skin. Growing up with her grandmother in Detroit, MI, Baker is familiar with racism. Born shortly after the Civil Rights riots of the 1960s, Baker recalls a once-booming town of middle-class business owners being left in ruins by the ‘70s. Racial tension plagued this decade. Baker never met her Caucasian father because at the time, it wasn’t socially acceptable for a white man to impregnate a black woman. In a black community, there were many expectations of Baker, but none of them included going to college to become a registered nurse at Henry Ford, which is exactly what she did

. “The first thing you see in a person is their skin,” Baker admits, “but it shouldn’t be that way. One should be judged on their ability.”

Milford High School teacher Maya Kempff, who also grew up in a time of racism, would agree. Kempff was part of one of the first generations of children born in America to German parents. “I grew up with people calling me Hitler, Jew-hater, Kraut,” she recalls. Despite her experiences, she feels her exposure to different cultures and her parents’ education has benefitted her today by teaching her to be more sensitive toward racism. She continues to say: “people need to accept you for who you are and what you are. I hope it [racism] will change. It starts with the younger generation.”

Kempff is not the only one who feels the effects of the past. Shawn Durso, also a Milford High School teacher, was aware of racism growing up, but never experienced it as a Caucasian American. Today though, she feels the topic is talked about more openly and things are questioned more than the days of her childhood. “We’re exposed to the ugliness of racism today,” Durso says, “We’re talking about violence. The more we know, the more we learn, the guiltier I feel.”

This guilt, she continues, comes from the fact that her reality can be so altered from another’s, based on sheer luck. Durso believes that many white Americans still have a different view towards African-Americans, and that this differing attitude has rocked our justice system, as seen through the killings of Garner and Martin. “If they [the shootings] were prejudice, both the justice system and the grand jury system failed us.”