A Black Woman Sat Beside Us

Furthermore while watching this video, I was really shocked to see how the police force was mostly non-whites because I think when people think of an officer violating someone’s rights they mostly think of a white officer. In this case it is Latino officers who are from Newark. In the video you see them mostly stopping and frisking black people.You would think that growing up in Newark and knowing what or economy was like and how non-whites are always targeted, you would think the Latinos would have a little more respect towards people of color. But, that is not the case in this documentary and that just goes to prove former attorney, Song Richardson, right when she spoke in my Criminology class about stereotype

policies that are currently in place to reduce tension between police officers and the minority groups that they serveLaw enforcement officers and the community have been disconnected. Violence and brutality of any kind, particularly at the hands of the police who here to protect and serve our communities. When Ferguson, Missouri exploded after the police shot an unarmed black teenager, the tension between the community and its protectors was laid bare. Ferguson is not the first and certainly not the last community forced to bridge that chasm. In South Carolina a policeman shot an unarmed black male who was stopped for a seat belt violation. The cop asked the male for ID, who then reached under his seat to retrieve his wallet, but was shot in the leg by the cop before he could take out his ID. When the body cam video was reviewed it shows that the trigger happy cop probably was in fear of his life, however it is also obvious that the cop shouldn’t have felt threaten as the behavior of the black male involved nothing unusual. Many would say if the driver was white the cop would have not reacted the way he did.

All across the nation, in the news the black community has been making their voice heard, in regards to white police brutality, and murder against the unarmed black community. Many of these brutal attacks and flat out murders of unarmed black people haven’t been largely prosecuted, some officers have even been acquitted of any wrong doing or murder. This has led to outrage in the African American community at large. The shooting of an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown caused the racial strain in this country to break.

This is proof that there is racial discrimination in law enforcement that affects police brutality. This also reinforces the culture of people of color being less human than white people, which takes its roots all the way back to slavery in America. When slavery was still prevalent in the United States, white people believed that black people(slaves), did not feel pain like they felt pain. After slavery was abolished, black people were still strongly regarded as inferior to white people and white people still saw them as wild creatures rather than human beings. White people saw themselves superior to every other race of people, so it was common for them to mistreat other races that weren’t white. This mindset is not as strong as it was in the past but, it is still strong enough to affect the choices police officers make during interactions with people of color. As a result of discrimination at the police level, many people have turned to court system’s to reach justice.

The woman in the video used her white privilege to defend the ‘suspect’, confirming that he did infact work for her and he was truthful about not committing the crime. By being a white woman, the officers automatically took her word, even though she was just repeating what the man said. Her defense of this man is being an ally, someone who uses their privilege to help members of the oppressed group. The man did say several times that he was disabled, but the officer continually held her hand up to signify that he should stay on the ground.

Last year there were four unarmed black men killed by white police men. One of the men was Eric Garner, who was a

When faced with a threat human instinct is to kill first instead of to be killed. Police are trained to disable a threat and as a last resort, kill. What does it say about America’s law enforcement when an officers’ victim is a person of colour who is unarmed? A recent and well known case of unjust demise by police is 22-year-old Oscar Grant. A young black man gunned down, whilst handcuffed, by a white police officer. Grant was unarmed and posed no threat to the officer. Similarly, 23-year-old Robert Tolan Jr. was given the same fate by an officer who allegedly received inaccurate information about a stolen vehicle. Like Grant, Tolan happened to be a black man shot by a white police officer while unarmed. No

A 2011 shooting of Anthony Lamar Smith, a black driver by Jason Stockley a former white officer from St Louis resulted in a massive violent protest this September when Stockley was announced innocent and murder charges were dropped. The fact that victim was black caused such a massive outrage in the St. Louis city. Would the city respond the same however if the victim was white? It turns out no. In Fresno California unarmed Dylan Noble was shot by police. Officers had received a report of a man carrying a rifle but really just found noble speeding in his pickup truck. When he was pulled over at a gas station Noble got out of the truck and was acting suspicious.

A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

One of the major and most well known cases of racial profiling is the case of Amadou Diallo. Four white officers members of the anti street crime unit fired 41 shots at Diallo hitting him 19 times. The officers contended that they fired in self defense. On Feb 4, 1999, after Diallo,22, reached for an object they thought was a gun while he was standing in the vestibule of his apartment. The object turned out to be his wallet. All four officers were charged with second-degree murder as suspended from there jobs. The officers said that Diallo darted into the entrance of his building and took a combat stance. He pulled out what they perceived as a weapon and opened fire on him. The officers contended that Diallo's death was a tragic case of self-defense. The officers were found not guilty on all charges. Diallo was just another black man that fit the profile of a drug dealer simply because he was black. In the case of Alton White, this similar situation occurred, fortunately for him he was not shot and was set free. He and three other black men were humiliated by being accused of being connected to a crime that they didn't even fit the description of the two Hispanic men. "Everything from being handcuffed strip-searched, taken in and out of questioning, to be told that they knew exactly who I was and my responsibility to the show and the in fact they knew

In the case of Rodney king, I believe that justice was not served, because 4 officers viciously assaulted King with their night sticks after a car chase in L.A. out of the three men that were caught that night, the police claimed that king was the most “aggressive out of the three men. They also claimed that the force they used on king was “justified”. If you look at the video (recorded by George Holliday) the so called “justified” action didn’t look so justified, it appeared brutal as if they were beating animal. If you watch the video you can see Rodney King on his knee’s imploring the officer’s to stop striking him with their nightsticks, but they refused to do so. That night Rodney absorbed fifty six hits from a night stick and seven kicks from two officers. Nevertheless, the four officers’ that did the beating were prosecuted for assault but were not found guilty, which caused outrageous riots in L.A. I feel if Rodney King was Caucasian he wouldn’t have been assaulted the way he was, because you could never pay a white person to brutally

To some Negroes police have come to symbolize white power, white racism and white repression. And the fact is that many police do reflect and express these white attitudes,” the Kerner Commission declared. “The atmosphere of hostility and cynicism is reinforced by a widespread belief among Negroes in the existence of police brutality and in a ‘double standard’ of justice and protection — one for Negroes and one for whites.” The words sound remarkably modern, considering the protesters in Ferguson that chanted as they marched down West Florissant Avenue, “Who do you serve? Who do you protect?”

On March 5, 2016 Earledreka White, a black 28-year old social worker, was pulled over by a Metro Police officer in Huston, Texas for crossing the double white line. During this incident White was placed in handcuffs and charged with resisting arrest and search, a misdemeanor that carries a potential six-month sentence, and jailed for two days on $1,000 bond. Later on in the case White’s attorney released the surveillance video that shows the arrest with the 911 call playing as it unfolds. While watching the surveillance video I was shocked to see the treatment White was receiving for a traffic stop and the way the metro police officer handled the situation. Before this incident White had no criminal record, but the police officer treated her

Two different race men, both confronted by a white officer, and yet it was the minority that received the unnecessary confrontation. I feel that the officer that confronted the black man stereotyped him as being a criminal. When in reality he was doing nothing wrong.

My friend did not expect the police to handcuff him outside of his house in front of his neighbors. He did nothing wrong--an hour earlier he had called 911 to report that someone had broken into his shed and stolen a lawn mower. Yet when the police finally showed up to investigate, they immediately suspected the perpetrator was him. This grievous act was made very obviously due to the fact that my friend is an African American male. The scene of people of color being subjected to bias from law enforcement is unfortunately very common. There are many books and movies that expose this prejudice, including the book Just Mercy. Brian Stevenson, the author, asserts in his book Just Mercy that the race of an individual has the most impact on how he/she is treated within the criminal justice system.