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. Police racism is a very big problem in America. The killings of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and Walter Scott are other examples of police racism and brutality as well. Reasons behind police racism and brutality are simple. People still have a certain way that they think about people of color. …show more content…
Pew Research Center found in a survey that was held, that fifty percent of white people that they talked to think that white people and black people are treated equally by the police, and, thirty eight percent of white people believe that there is no more racial work that needs to be done in our country, which is absolutely insane to me. Americans voted for and elected a president that claims there is no problem with police racism and brutality in America, but there is a problem with officers being targeted. To me personally it is extremely sad to read articles and see headlines on tv about police brutality and that our president sees nothing wrong with it, like many Americans. They don 't believe it exist when its clearly everywhere. I think many Americans think that there is a problem with the black person whom was killed by the police, rather than the officer who actually murdered the person. Many people, like myself, believe that police officers do not always get in trouble when situations like police racism or brutality happen. They do not think about getting in trouble because most of them literally don 't at all. When cops get caught for illegal actions they are just going to get in trouble by there own friends on the force, just to be put on paid leave. Not being caught is a big issue and is mainly why cops think that they can do whatever they want and completely get away with it. In many
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Show MoreHolding Police Accountable for their Killings of Unarmed People of Color Fruitvale Bart Station is where I begin and end my day. The infamous platform in Oakland, California where bart police murdered Oscar Grant, a fully restrained unarmed African American who was celebrating New Year 's Day with his friends and girlfriend. Johannes Mehserle, the police officer involved in the shooting was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Thus, having to spend the minimum two years in prison but being he had time served he only would only spend seven months in jail with possible bail. Murder?
Officers have been killed by the men and women they swear to protect just because of the stereotype that police kill African Americans for no reason. These are mostly good hearted citizens who want to keep innocent people safe from harm. Just like the Salem witch trials where people were accused of being a witch solely because they would commit suspicious acts like “reading books” (Miller 498), these good people are killed solely based on the false stereotypes that people believe. In over 300 years, human beings have not changed and have let fear override their
Preceding Brown 's murder, it was presumable that any unarmed (and often innocent) black person who encountered a Caucasian authority figure could potentially end up in a horrid situation. Eric Garner, Rekia Boyd, Shantel Davis and Oscar Grant, are just a handful of unarmed African-Americans that were killed by police officers across the United States before the loss of Brown.
Just because a police officer assumes they’re reaching for a gun, trying to run away, attack them, etc.. They think they may do that because they’re wearing a badge and trained, nobody can tell them what to do. Most victims of police brutality weren’t even armed or had any weapons on them and they got beat or killed. For example, the shooting of Michael Brown he wasn’t even armed, and he got killed by Officer Wilson. Witnesses said Brown was moving toward Wilson, with his hands up in surrender and Wilson fired 12 shots in total.
As a result, there is a drastic increase of violent outburst between both sides. For the last years, it was reported that 51.5 percent of black were killed by police officers (ibtimes.com). On the other hand, there have been 51,548 assaults against law enforcement and it resulted in 14,453 injuries in 2015 alone (nleomf.org). In the United States, recently, police brutality has been a popular subject all over the news and social media.
In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee the character Tom Robinson is a victim of racial discrimination. The setting of the novel is in 1930’s in the state Alabama. During this time period African American people were still discriminated against and faced inequality. Tom Robinson is accused and later convicted of rape. The jury fully filled with all white men wrongly accused him although there was no evidence proving him guilty.
This is not a racial issue, this is a social problem. By July of 2015, the number of police- related deaths extended to 664 making the country’s police force one of the deadliest in the USA. Out of the total of 644 deaths, 321 were Caucasian fatalities, 174 were African Americans, and 96 were Hispanics. According to the reports, 578 of these deaths were involved guns, others involved car
The police treat the people different depending on ethnicity and that’s pure racism but also a kind of segregation, because segregation doesn’t have to be an effect of discrimination like the schools for example. It can also be a form of discrimination itself and I think that this is an example of it. It’s impossible to deny the fact that american police officers are treating black people much worse than white. For example, last year more than 250 people got killed in the US by the police.
Cops around the United States have been accused of racially profiling black people. This topic has been brought up by everyone around the U.S. and is very controversial. Studies have shown that the majority of deaths by police officers have been people of opposite color in America. Police brutality in America is a growing epidemic that has shown no signs of slowing down. Innocent men, women, and even children have been killed by police officers for no reason.
Some police have gone as far as causing death with excessive physical violence. Many of those deaths were of victims that did not have a chance to defend themselves. Police are more likely to be violent toward African-Americans without any real reason, than any other race. Most injustices are recorded and reported, but most of the time nothing is done. The image of police to protect and serve is damages for many because they feel that they cannot trust the police.
There are numerous issues that deal with the American criminal justice system, but the two I found most prominant that occur on a daily basis is the abuse from police officers and clear racism shown by the American criminal justice system. To begin, racism as we know is a prejudice directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior. In the criminal justice system African Americans are directly targeted and punished in a higher more aggressive way, than say someone who is caucasian and committed the same exact crime. Racism is more often than not, the motive for official misconduct. There are examples of racism from every known region in the United States, spanning across centuries from slavery to
American culture sees police officers as violent, unethical people after shootings. Although not all all people see police officers that way. Over time people and police officers have had conflicts, but recent conflicts have become more violent. Violence against police officers have become an issue because officers have stated that they feel unsafe at work. The society I live in has made police officers look bad.
Racism, the act of “…prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race…”, is a major problem today. It gives people fear, doubt, shame, and sometimes guilt. In addition, racism gives people an awful perspective of life and sometimes, if one is looking up to a racist, the racist’s point of view begins to alter the person’s judgement. Racism could also lead to great conflict arising from those who heavily despise that race and maybe even mass killings, which foreshows that racism needs to be stopped and ended completely.
Everyday Police officers are serving our nation, state, county, and city. Their duty is to help product and to provide a safe environment to the community. Often officer face dangerous scenarios and are at risk everyday. Depending on where an officer works, will usually determine how much he/she is paid and what they do on a daily basis. Well a question that often arises, should law enforcement officers be paid higher wages, because of what they do for the community?
Racism has always existed with humans. Racism is treating someone differently of unfairly simply because they belong to a different ethnic community of have a different religion or nationality. When someone believes their race is better than another and feels superior ro other people because of his of her race, is called racism. Throughout time, many people have lost their lives, or lost their families and children, and are left without homes due to racism. Racism causes wars, which could destroy humanity ultimately.