'Community Policing In The Film Mississippi Burning'

On August 28, 1955, fourteen year old Emmett Till was beaten, tortured and shot. Then with barbed wire wrapped around his neck and tied to a large fan, his body was discarded into the Tallahatchi River. What was young Emmett’s offense that brought on this heinous reaction of two grown white men? When he went into a store to buy some bubble gum he allegedly whistled at a white female store clerk, who happened to be the store owner’s wife. That is the story of the end of Emmett Till’s life. Lynchings, beatings and cross-burning had been happening in the United States for years. But it was not until this young boy suffered an appalling murder in Mississippi that the eyes of a nation were irrevocably opened to the ongoing horrors of racism in

The violence that some officers exude to minorities should only be used in extreme, desperate situations not when a teen steals some cigars or is walking home with a hood on. Besides showing an interest in racial justice and issues of race helps to break down barriers, exposed as false perceived misunderstandings, and shed light on commonly held perceptions of a race-infused

Mississippi Burning is a film based on the real life murders on three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. The title Mississippi Burning refers to the burning of crosses and buildings. The “Burning” could also be the two agents who create a spark, which sets the city in flames. The movie takes place in a small town in Mississippi. It is in a small community, where everybody knows each other. It is in the Southern states of America in which there was a lot of racial segregation. The main conflict in this movie is that the blacks are suppressed and are treated very badly.

Whenever I hear about discrimination, prejudice or stereotypes, as they relate to race, ethnicity and you name it, my system aches. Being inhumane and lack respect for your fellow brothers or sisters, regardless of color, speaks volume and causes unsettling issues in our society today. In this assignment, my mission is to share an historic event that took place in Martinsville, VA back in 1949. This case includes rape and a racially motivated justice system, that leads to racial discrimination; ultimately, led to the execution of seven. This case garnered international recognition and eventually left an indelible scar on the world. With numerous evidence of racial discrimination, I have put together a compelling argument which establishes

“Mississippi Burning” is based on the investigation of a missing persons case which turned into a murder case in Mississippi that involved three young students who were civil rights workers involved in Freedom Summer of 1964. Two of the students were Jewish and one was an African-American whom came down to Mississippi from New York City. After the students did not return home the parents pushed for media attention since the Mississippi Police were not doing any investigations. The FBI then had to get involved with the case. Little did the parents know that the police were the ones who actually committed the murder of their children. This film shows us the oppression towards African-Americans, specifically in the south.

‘Fire in a canebrake’ is quite a scorcher by Laura Wexler and which focuses on the last mass lynching which occurred in the American Deep South, the one in the heartland of rural Georgia, precisely Walton County, Georgia on 25th July, 1946, less than a year after the Second World War. Wexler narrates the story of the four black sharecroppers who met their end ‘at the hand of person’s unknown’ when an undisclosed number of white men simply shot the blacks to death. The author concentrates on the way the evidence was collected in those eerie post war times and how the FBI was actually involved in the case, but how nothing came of their extensive investigations.

One community that stands out the most for the conflict between law enforcement and their community is Ferguson, Missouri. On August 9, 2014 Darren Wilson, 28, a white Ferguson police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African-American male (McLaughlin). This case started one of the biggest uproar the nation has ever seen between community and law enforcement. When the incident first occurred there were many pieces of information missing to paint a scenario of how and what occurred between Brown and officer Wilson. Apparently Michael Brown was walking home late at night when officer Darren Wilson and Michael Brown got into a confrontation that lead to Wilson shooting Brown, the case goes

Race, religion, ethnicity, and color have been a constant struggle for societies throughout history. Those of authority at times have used their power to prove a point, destroy the underdog, or just to be plain ole mean. People in the minority have always struggled with acceptance and equality and have often lived in fear of the majority just for being different. The following situations seemed, from the outside, to have been another case of racial profiling and possible excessive use of force. During this case study, the discovery of the entire story will be attempted. Going into it, there is not a right or wrong side but only the facts.

Many of the problems and conflicts between the community and the police are based on situations involving police misconduct and race. Other issues occur because of an experience one has had with the police because he or she is minority. Early resentments from White officers cause a different outcome when handling a police situation that involves a different race as oppose to his or her own. This begins to shape the perception of the residents that witness these actions. It has been shown that an officer’s attitude and behaviors when dealing with a minority is harsher and unfair. Several situations like the Rodney King story and police brutality where a minority was the victim is viewed by the public and discriminatory behavior solely caused by a person’s race or ethnicity. This creates distrusts and suspicion with regard to the way a police department handles these issues. The public is disappointed and reluctant to construct a relationship with his or her fellow officer.

The city of Memphis has shown that black does not serve neither the character nor the position when dares to protect the white man or become his rival. There is nothing we can do about the lynching now, since we are outnumbered and lack of weapons. White peat can get ammunition without paying for them, but the order prohibiting the sale of arms to blacks is applied rigidly. It remains therefore only one thing to do; save our money and go to a city that does not protect our lives and our property or give us a fair trial in court, but that takes us out and murders in cold blood when we are accused by white

Ossian Sweet was an African American doctor that bought a house in a white neighborhood in Detroit. At the time, neighborhoods in Detroit were unofficially segregated. After Dr. Sweet bought the house, he was warned by neighbors that trouble would come and a block club formed to keep him out. Dr. Sweet expected trouble in his first night at the residence, and thus he enlisted the help of family and friends to protect themselves; he also warned the police, knowing they would not help to keep him safe. In his first night, a crowd formed, 11 police officers were present and there was no violence. However on the second night the crowd was allegedly aggressive and Dr. Sweet feared that the crowd would burn the house along with everyone inside, and as a result someone inside the house shot and killed a member of the crowd while also injuring another. The police immediately rushed inside the house and arrested all occupants. After their arrest, the police wanted to charge them with 1st degree murder, but before the trial, the NAACP heard of the case and wanted to provide legal assistance to protect their rights, out of fear that lynching might spread to the northern part of the U.S. During the first trial the temper of the crowd that had formed outside of Dr. Sweet’s house was heavily debated. One of the strong points for the defense was that the prosecutors could not identify who killed the member of the crowd. The jury could not reach a verdict and thus there was a retrial. In

The professors use hard hitting facts that demonstrates the truth behind African Americans and the way the law enforcement perceives them, giving the reader some distinctive insight. The history of the law enforcement along with the criminal justice system has portrayed that they are disproportionality race-based. Blacks are more likely than whites to be racially profiled (Staples 2011), to be stopped by law enforcement, and receive harsher sentences. Unfortunately, it has been shown time and time again that judges, jurors, and the law enforcement finds it challenging for them to sympathize with African Americans. All in all this body of academic work has highlighted external factors that have shaped the lives of Blacks in America without giving due attention to the words of Rodney King, the man who became the face of racial injustice (Chaney and Robertson 2014). Four themes were unveiled in the analysis King’s quotes: appreciation for the struggles of former Civil Rights Activists, appreciation for the legal system, personal feelings related to police brutality, and the desire for non-violence as a catalyst for positive

     The Mississippi Burning Trial” was not for the cold-blooded murders of three young civil rights workers, but rather for the violation of their civil rights. The federal government wanted to break Mississippi’s “white supremacy” stronghold on the South. “The Mississippi Burning Trial” proved to be the opportunity to do so. The three branches of the federal government and their various departments were actively involved in bringing about this civil rights trial in Mississippi and these activities and personal views are well documented in court records, department records, and the press.

Mississippi Burning is a gruesome reminder of some of the pain and hardship that African Americans in the South dealt with because of their skin color. If your skin color was anything other than white, then you were classified as dirty, impure, ugly, and all the degrading names you can find. Having colored skin subjected you to racism and hate crimes as portrayed by the sheriffs and the Ku Klux Klan’s in the movie.

"Mississippi Burning", directed by Allan Parker, is set in the state of Mississippi, 1964. In this film, Parker shows that he feels sorry for black people, by strongly portraying the levels of racism and injustice towards negroes, which was implemented by white people (the Ku Klux Klan in particular) within the state. The Ku Klux Klan was a group of white people who believed that negroes were filth, and that they didn’t deserve to live equally among white people: “We want beautiful babies, not ones with brown faces”. They conveyed their message through strong acts of violence, to instil fear in the hearts of all negroes, and the majority of the state’s population were forced into racism, in fear