Police Brutality and Race Police brutality is not a new problem in the United States. It has occurred throughout history and has affected all genders, ethnicities, and races. Recently, however, police brutality towards African Americans has become a controversial topic in the news media, and has prompted heated discussions and angry public outcry about race relations and civil rights throughout all sections of the country. Ever since the Michael Brown shooting in 2014, which was caught on camera and viewed widely on national television and on social media, the police have been under scrutiny by both the news media and the general population to stop their use of physical force and unnecessary violence when apprehending and confronting criminals.
There is a belief among some people that racist white police officers are hunting down innocent black men(Bandler, 2016). But thanks to a series of numbers brought to our eyes by the hand of a Heather Mac Donald, statistics from 2015 show that cops kill almost twice as many white people as black people (Mac Donald, 2016). On top of these statistics, the majority of the black victims were handling some kind of deadly weapon(Bandler, 2016). This does have a direct correlation with the amount of force used within the police force simply because of judgement and the way an intense time could alter the way people think or feel about specific situations(Bandler, 2016). Today, these specific situations almost seem like any traffic stop or crime confrontation(Bandler, 2016).
Injustice within police brutality among African Americans In recent years, there has been many controversial cases among African American with police brutality. As a police officer’s job is to serve, and protect all, their judgement and decision making among whom to serve and protect has been brought up to the public eye. There has been unjustified shooting, excessive beatings, fatal choking, and unfair treatment because of the color of one’s skin tone. Lives are being taken, families are being destroy and as a result, the impact of police brutality among African Americans have to be mandatory discharged in society today.
“Frequent exposure to media reports of police abuse or corruption is a strong predictor of perceptions of misconduct and supports the belief that is common.” (France-Respers 1). But unfortunately, it also brings me disheartened feelings. Recently, I was on twitter and I stumbled across a video of a young white male who was roughly about twenty to twenty-five years of age who was being handled so aggressively by about six officers while he was NOT resisting.
By September 1, 2015, the United States police have killed 776 people and 161 of those people were unarmed at the time of their death. There have been too many incidents where police have injured or killed someone that could have been prevented. Using maximum force with a suspect has become a routine in situations. Officers have not been given the proper training to deal with fatal situations. If they were given more training, police departments would have to spend more money on training, but police brutality situations would decrease lives would be saved, and police would get their good reputation back.
The issue of race within the police force dates back to the 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice, which considered the lack of minority officers one of the central problems in policing at that time. Almost 50 years later and
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.
A news report released by CNN on April 10, 2015 displayed three examples of use of force abuse by on duty officers. Of these three incidents the results were a man dying in police custody after a dog allegedly mauled him, a mentally ill man being was shot dead after his family called police asking for help, and an officer who shooting into a vehicle after a car chase, killing a man who was initially suspected of drunk driving. Of all three incidents the deceased happened to all be Black men. Incidents like so have led to the formation of groups like Black Lives Matter. Instances such as these open up debate about if police are using excessive force based upon the suspect’s race.
The Plague of the United States era, society is insistently assured by police and their apologist, is not the extensive abuse and other frequent misconduct by law enforcements officers, but the expanding “disrespect for authority” that is being encouraged by “liberals” and those more extensive individuals called “libertarians” The widespread media coverage of police brutality has become too common within our societies everyday life, thus causing destruction of the communities trust. Savage treatment is continually afflicted among African Americans as a replacement form of punishment. A substantial number of casualties of police brutality are African Americans, for instance during August 9th within a house of Brooklyn, an African American
People hear of police killing innocent black men and blame them for being racist. However, after further research, I argue that their claims are not true. When it comes to police shootings, blacks aren’t the only targets. Far many more white people are killed by police which shows that this is definitely not a racial problem. Based on data collected by the FBI, crime rates have gone down but the number of police shootings have increased.
The True Lies of Police Brutality According to The Guardian’s death-by-officer database, police have killed 264 black people in 2015 of which sixty-eight were unarmed (as of 29 November 2015). All Americans feel the extent of police brutality whether they are a victim, family member of a victim, or watch the events unfold on television. However, the issue of police brutality has become a central issue for racial equality. Racial equality progressives have used police brutality as the rallying cry for their agendas.
Police brutality, since the birth of our nation, has had a history of lawmen overstepping what their authority grants. We can see how these lawmen viewed themselves as being above the law as far back as the settler days when the west had outlaw like police. Many western videos depict the ruthless Sheriff acting as the judge and executioner. The beginning of substantial documented police corruption and brutality were attributed to the poor labor workers. These events were related to the labor strikes such as the Lawrence textile strike of 1912 and the Pullman Strike of 1894 where police arbitrarily beat striking workers for no reason (McPherson, John Bruce). Another major event of mass brutality by our government included the Ludlow massacre
This paper focuses on why police brutality is a major issue in our society today, as it affects African Americans. Throughout this paper, police brutality as it is directed toward African Americans will be thoroughly explained and the main factors associated with it. It will also show the relationship that links police brutality and African Americans. The portion of my paper entitled “Reaction” will then discuss how the narrative has raised my insights in regard to my own comfort zone, triggers and learning edge as defined by Miller and Garran.
The truth is no one regardless of race deserves to be mistreated by the police. The reality is that citizens did not merely prefer to live in neighborhoods with poverty-stricken housing arrangements, underperforming schools, substructures that are collapsing by the minute, few grocery stores that provide healthy options, and proper medical care. There were many factors that shaped those neighborhoods such as white departure, the black breakout of wealthier black citizens, no investment within the community, slack business loaning systems and government strategies that are allocating groundwork and public transport to certain parts of cities and not others locations. The people that are living in those communities, even at times stuck in those communities make decisions that are not the best for them or those connected to them. These decisions are made within that environment for the sake of survival.
Throughout history the role of power, specifically in the police institution has been a controversial topic. Police work started as an institution purely based on personal and community judgment, often leading to wrongful verdicts. Specifically policing in the 1970’s through the 1990’s experienced a significant amount of change. In order to diminish or reduce corruption the Knapp commission, and Blue Ribbon Panels were put into place. However, throughout time police policies, and state laws evolved into a new institution devoted to “ service and professionalism, and responsibility for public safety and ethical conduct”(Dodge, Rennison, 120).