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Black Panther - Political contexts

Obama was America's first mixed race president of European and African descent. He served from 2009-2017, ending his term, one year prior to the movies release. Obama would end up openly discussing racial issues and condemned the acquittal of George Zimmerman following the killing of Trayvon Martin. Obama has been criticised for stirring racial division and worsening racial relations by openly opposing the police for incidents leading to the deaths of African-Americans. In a March 2016 Gallup Poll, nearly a third of all Americans claimed they were significantly worried about race relations, a higher figure than in any previous Gallup poll since 2001. Obama temporarily reduced employment rates and increased incomes, however the was across all races and didn't specifically help minority groups. During the presidency, Trump vowed to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and expressed a desire to let Obamacare fail, His administration rolled back key parts of Obama's workplace protections against LGBTQ discrimination. Trump's attempt to rollback anti-discrimination protections for transgender patients was halted by a federal judge after Supreme Court ruling extended employees civil rights. Trump took an anti-marijuana position, so it revoked Obama-era policies which provided protection for state-legalised marijuana. Trump reduced the budget for funding for research conducted on renewable energy by 40 percent and would reverse policies aimed at reducing climate change introduced during the Obama presidency.

Trump withdrew from the Paris agreement, which caused the U.S to be the only nation to not ratify it. Trump also withdrew the U.S from the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.

The Black Lives Matter campaign was formed in 2013 as a response to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd. Trayvon Martin was killed in a self of act defense when he attacked neighbourhood watch officer George Zimmerman who is a multi-racial man who identifies as Hispanic. Trayvon was unarmed and visiting his Father, Zimmerman became suspicious of Martin and called the police, afterwards Martin attacked him and was shot by a pistol George was licensed to carry. Michael Brown was killed in an incident, where he attacked police officer Darren Wilson and was shot, claims were made that Brown held up his hands and said don't shoot, which protestors would later use as a slogan, this event inspired a mixture of protest and violent rioting in Ferguson. Eric Garner was approached on suspicion of selling single cigarettes

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