Sandra Blands Suicide

Addressing police brutality must be done with empathy for and awareness of the plight of the African-American community. Historically speaking, there has not been a period wherein the African-American community was not inhibited by institutionalized barriers. American enslavement provided the foundation for later oppressive provisions that are especially prevalent within inner-city, predominantly Black communities, which, incidentally, many of the prominent instances of police brutality have taken place. Political regimes like the “war on drugs,” “school to prison pipeline,” and mass incarceration criminalize and dehumanize the African-American community, and thus affect the collective mindset of the population. I believe that an imperative first step that has not been taken is acknowledging the effects these may have on the Black community.

In the summer of June 13,2015, a 28 year old female by the name of Sandra Bland was found dead in her cell. Three days before her death she was pulled over by Sheriff Glenn Smith and she was sent to the local Waller County jail in Prairie View, Texas. There are two sides to the story, starting with Ms. Bland was commited suicide and the the argument against that was she was killed by one of the sheriff (Stanford, 2015). She is not the only black female who experienced police violence. She is added on the list of black women who were violently brutalized by police.

Throughout African American history , the police force has been accountable for numerous detrimental deaths in the African American community due to racial discrimination. In 1960s, African American protesters were targeted by the police force because of the their desire to be be deemed as equal. Likewise, in today’s society African Americans are still experiencing active racial discrimination and injustices from the police force. African Americans have expressed their level of frustration with the inhumane actions of the police force. Police brutality of African American protesters has been rebirthed into 21st century by ongoing racial injustices through Henry Louis Gates Jr. and victims of the detrimental equality marches , evidence is presented.

Although we hope our Police force will use their powers for good, but sometimes police misconduct can occur. Often, the police are under great pressure to act as quick as possible, espcially in a murder case and if the murder victime is white, a child, police officer, or prominent. For example, In the 1990’s the case of Rodney King, that not only shows a racist issue within the criminal justice system, but also the issue with abuse from police officers, but changed the country’s views on the LA police force. Twenty- Seven years ago,Rodney King was brutally beaten by Los Angeles police officers.

Images and video of Eric Garner’s murder by police generated outrage and protests across the nation. Many wept for the loss of this innocent, but for Black America, it was just another offense in a long series of transgressions against the black body. To them, the pain was familiar—they had known it by many names: slavery, Jim Crow, mass incarceration. Police brutality was nothing new. This situation was different, however.

I will now present the real-life cases of police brutality amongst the minority community in the United States. There were times when brutality cases did not get much, or any media coverage. People were not talking about it as much when it would occur. Most of the police officers would get off without any form of punishment. However, hundreds of brutality cases have gone to court, but today I will go into full detail on the cases that changed the minority citizens’ perspectives on law enforcement.

These statements developed in reaction to the recent deaths of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man strangled to death by police in Staten Island, New York, and Michael Brown, an unarmed black adolescent shot to death by police in Ferguson, Missouri. These are two recent examples of the explicit racial prejudices that have plagued the country’s history. The Caucasian police officers who were accountable for these deaths were not charged for the wrongdoing nor were they taken to

As police brutality against African Americans is increasing, it is very much reminding us of the civil rights movement. Black leaders risked their lives to ensure that all African Americans would live an equal life as white Americans. The racism and discrimination had been unapparent until recent events such as Donald Trump’s campaign being successful and the police brutality against African Americans. “Every 7 hours cops kill an American citizen”. Many times African Americans are targeted.

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.

The second source summarizes how Sandra Bland's family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Waller County Sheriff's Office The family and activists have raised questions over the traffic stop and whether Bland committed suicide. Cooper, 31, a businesswoman, said the family is concerned that authorities have been releasing information selectively, including dashboard camera videos from the police car of another officer who responded after Encinia stopped Bland. The intended audience of this article is the press and the police departments who lack watching over the people who are incarcerated. The family is concerned with the way the authorities have been handling the situation. The authorities are the ones who caused the problem and now

In the spring of 1991,” In Los Angeles, California, four Los Angeles police officers that had been caught beating an unarmed African-American motorist in an amateur video an acquitted of any wrongdoing in the arrest.” [“1992 Riot in Los Angeles”] We hear and read about police brutality more than we should. Police brutality is a major problem in our country. Many times it is pushed aside or covered up. Sadly we find that a major reason for all this happens, has to do with racism as well.

When Bland did not step out the car the trooper then opened her car door and asked once more; still not receiving the results he wanted he threatened to Bland informing her that he would “light her up” with his Taser. Video surveillance shows the trooper using his knee to pin a woman onto the ground and the woman screaming “I can’t feel my arm… You slammed my f------ head to the ground.” Autopsy reveals that Bland suffered from a “deep tissue bruising to her back” On July 13 Sandra Bland was found dead in her cell allegedly hanging herself with a plastic bag. Sandra Bland was only one of the many victims of police brutality. That leaves us with the question, do the laws today ensure a sense of morality amongst the

In recent news we have seen massive riots following the killings of African American men by caucasian police officers. These all follow after one of the most prominent not guilty verdicts of the 21st century on the Rodney King beating. With these riots we see the words of Teju Cole begin to take life.

I found it particularly disgusting when the L.A. police chief tried to blame the deaths of black men on their anatomy, and how if they were normal they would’ve been fine. This essay was very eye opening for me, and will change the way I look at law enforcement, and even my own family

Although the numbers have kept increasing, there had been eight confirmed law enforcement officers that were killed during separate shootings in Dallas and Baton Rouge, LA. These shootings were committed by African American assailants who were angry with the treatment of the African American community by law enforcement. What was ironic about the Castile shooting was that the police officer who shot him arrested him before for mistaken identity for an armed robbery while he was wrongfully booked to a Minnesota county jail. Despite the details about Castile’s tragic death are unclear, what is known for certain is that four days after his release, the exact same police officer saw Castile driving with a broken tail light and the at the next traffic light, the officer stopped, shot, and killed him while it was aired live for the world to see on Facebook by his girlfriend. These shootings in particular sparked nationwide protests and tension and hostility between law enforcement and the people of the