Destroying The Civil Rights: Rodney King And Oscar Grant

On August 9, 2014, an 18 year old named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. From this event sprang countless protests, all stemming from the fact that Michael Brown was African American and that he was killed by a police officer (Sokhi-Bulley). As the protests progressed, the demonstrations were met by increasing police resistance, bringing a growing sense of rage and conflict against the law enforcement of the town as well as the country. Overall, the community of Ferguson, Missouri, has a major problem of police brutality, likely originating from a sense of deep seeded racism within the force as well as the nation’s society. While this may appear to be a straightforward issue, there are many different angles and opinions on the Ferguson debate coming from a wide variety of sources.

Calling them “niggers” and other foul language. Mehserle was commanded to arrest Oscar, while trying to get his arm free from the pressure Officer Mehserle did not give him enough time to get his arm free and shot him. It wasn't even in his right to shoot him, seeing as he was compliant with the officers. It is right for an officer to use a TASER when the suspect is applying defensive force. Defensive force is when the suspect is resisting officers physical control such as not moving or spreading the arms apart to resist being cuffed.

The City of Houston has experienced an outbreak of such police-involved shootings of unarmed individuals, particularly African-Americans. This happens so often that they are defacto City policy. Nonetheless, the City of Houston has not done anything to address the uncontrollable shooting of unarmed individuals by its officers. And, like Officer Castro, the City has not been held accountable for its actions or inactions dealing with the shooting of unarmed individuals, like Baker, by its officers, like Castro. This action, brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which states that, “Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable.

The deadly shooting of Michael Brown by Officer Wilson, unveiled numerous issues within local law enforcement, that resulted in social controversy aimed at all of law enforcement. According to the BBC news, Brown was unarmed when he was fired upon by Wilson (“Ferguson unrest”, 2015). A projection from this incident has emerged, claiming that African Americans are killed more frequently than other races when confronted by law enforcement. The statistics have revealed that African Americans who are unarmed have been victim to violence with

The shooting footage of Keith Lamont Scoot forms part of an outgoing debate on race and abuse of power. Recently, the shooting of black people in the U.S by the police is causing a lot of protests. But, what are the reasons that are leading to this crisis? Is it because of race? To take a posture in this situation is difficult because there is not enough information released and the judicial process of these cases are mostly carried out in secret by the police.

Johannes Mehserle a 28 year old white 2 year Bart officer from the South Bay area. During his duty he made a dreadful mistake of killing Oscar Grant on New Years Day in 2009. Oscar Grant a 22 year old African American and father to a 4 year old daughter at the time of his death. Mehserle and Grant crossed paths that night changing both of their lives. To Many cases have been seen on the news channels, newspaper, and social media where an officer has responded to a disturbance that ends in the death of an unarmed black man.

Injustice The Scottsboro Case shed light on the racial practices expressed in law that made a great impact on the legal system today. The actual victims of the Case did not receive a fair trial due to the color of their skin. The ones who played the victims planned the crime, and their stories made no sense. But like many of the trials during the time it wasn’t based on the actual evidence that was found,or even the defendants ' stories.

The LA riots were so extreme it resulted in hundreds of injured lifes and even lives lost. the Rodney King trial shows the evolution of an era that shuns what happens behind closed doors to an era which shows the harsh reality of police brutality with new means of communication and the growth of technology with the smartphone and

King. America learned at this time that there is a problem with excessive force being used in American policing (“5 Ways the Rodney King Beating and LA Riots Changed America”). After America saw the police drag Rodney out of his vehicle, put him on the ground face first, and beat on him excessively, many Americans felt that the police were using their power in wrong ways. Because of this, changes in the way police are hired and a focus on police relationships with the communities they serve happened. It also brought on many discussions of how juries are made up and where trials take place.

Urine and blood tests revealed that at the time of arrest, King would have been intoxicated. Nurses also reported that the officers who accompanied king joked and bragged about the number of times king had been hit. Rodney King was released on March 7 without any charges. Later, Sergeant Stacey Koon, as well as officers Laurence Michael Powell, Timothy Wind, and Theodore Briseno were indicted by a Los Angeles grand jury. In the trial, the officers and Sergeant Stacey Koon were acquitted by an all white jury, and riots erupted all across

The murder of Oscar Grant was another case of racial profiling. Oscar Grant had been celebrating the New Years with some of his close friends and girlfriend. At 2:00 officers had responded to a report that a fight had broken out on the train. Grant was snatched off a train because police “felt” he was a part of the riot on the train, but he had nothing to do with it. In fact the train conductor said “Grant wasn’t one of the men that had been involved in the fight”.

According to “The Washington Post”, Last year 963 African Americans were shot and killed by police. Ever since the 1960s Africans has been fighting for equality; in the Eric Garner case and Michael Brown, it demonstrated how White police officers abuse and misuse their power towards African Americans. Since the increase of police brutality communities has had marches, rallies, and even the Black Lives Matters movements as a response to show that Polices’ abuse of power is unacceptable. The Black Lives Matter movement was created after radical discrimination it is a political movement to inform and protect Black Lives. (Wesley Lowery.

Police brutality is a civil rights violation, occurring when a police officer acts with uncontrolled power by using an amount of force with regards to a civilian that is more than necessary (Reuters 1). In the past, several years’ police actions of abuse have become very crucial. Instead of police officers protecting and serving the people like they were assigned, they rather murder and anguish them for no cause. The common race being tortured are African Americans. The incidents that are occurring is being overlooked.

Some felt as if this case was justified others felt it was not. This case was unjustified because it was an racial crime , officer ignored proper procedure however; the only threat was being a 12 year old with a toy gun. Thus case was a racial crime because of how he was identified

Are Police Racist On April 29, 2017 Jordan Edwards, unarmed, was leaving a house party that was getting “out of hand”. He was fatally shot and killed while in the car leaving with his brother and three other unarmed teenagers. Jordan was considered a great student and he was liked by many of his teachers and classmates. This is just one of the many times police officers have fatally shot someone that was unarmed and just happened to be black.