Crime In Black Communities

Over the past decade, police brutality has covered major headlines because officers have acted out in ways that have made citizens question their motives. Things such as unjustified shootings, deadly chokings, and rough treatment have all added to the constant problem of police brutality in the black community. Annoyingly, the police officers responsible for the killings and abuse are not held for long before they are discharged to their normal routines. Since many people believe that the issues of police brutality is based on race, officers should be held accountable for their misconduct. Accountability will permit officers to treat all with equality; therefore using the appropriate amount of force on everyone. Often cops are indicted in less than 1% of killings, but the indictment rate for citizens is 90% which is a major problem. If someone does wrong they should suffer the consequence no matter who they are. As a result of misconduct officers tend be mistrusted by their communities. Deaths in the black community often stems from police officers using excessive force such as assaults, beating and shootings.

Data consistently shows that Southern U.S. has higher violent-crime rates than other regions of the United States (Anderson, 2001). The heat hypothesis and the southern culture of honor hypothesis are among the many explanations for the high violence rates in the south. The heat hypothesis claims, heat increases aggressive behaviors (Anderson, 2001). However, Baron and Bell tested the hypothesis and found contradicting results. They found, high heat reduces aggression if there are other discomforting factors involved. Accordingly, Baron and Bell found, aggression increase if heat is the only discomforting variable upon a person. Cohen tested the southern “culture of honor” and found significance in the explanation. He states, crimes rates

My first reaction after watching the video Fault Lines- Baltimore- Anatomy of an American City was that city Baltimore is obviously a dangerous city and there is crime everyday. While anyone can commit a crime, in this particular video it was mainly blacks that were spoke about, I feel that they themselves sold drugs and killed people with guns because that’s the only way of life they knew and were not brave enough to change it for the better. The dealing of drugs was apparently big at one time and more arrest’s meant more money to the state, in order to stop violence and crime with guns, this meant trying to arrest each and every person they thought look suspicious. It seems to be that the black people feel it’s a “war on blacks” and think they are the only ones that we are after but it’s very untrue, it was said by the black man incarcerated that basically if you are of black color then you are going to jail. If people would be more open minded and stopped dragging out slavery from years ago, they would realize that we are not automatically arresting every black person that walks the street, it’s a pattern in Baltimore and it’s up to the ones that live there to change the pattern, prove us wrong and show us that it’s not a war on blacks but a war on drugs.

In America, crime is a huge topic. However, many don't realize that race plays a big role in crime as well, or they choose to ignore that fact. It's important to realize the injustices that take place in crime due to race, and how many laws would likely be changed if we were forced to realize that and make every race a priority.

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.

Often times I hear of board position openings that are organized to address x, y, and z in the Black community with years worth of meetings and minimal community engagement. Or maybe there’s a march being held today for a shooting victim that has been tragically gun down by law enforcement for walking while black, however my philosophy is simple: Organize and Act!

Chapter 4 in The Color of Justice: Race, ethnicity, and crime in America, was about the relations between society and law enforcement officers. This has been a major topic, especially in the United States for a long time. The unfortunate statistic that minorities are more likely to encounter being killed, arrested, and victimized by excessive physical force; has been a real issue even in today’s society. However, police departments are trying to combat the way police officers interact with the community; especially those of color. Although steps have been takes there are still some instances where police aggression happens. With all of the issues that arise between certain minority populated community’s police it is evident that conflict

My greatest fear is losing my kids to the crime and violence in my city. The things that our kids are exposed to in New Orleans makes it hard for a single parent like my-self to keep my kids away. In 2012 statistics shows the city’s violent crime rate was higher than the national violent crime rate average by 110.7%, crime rate total incidents were up by almost 6000 compared to property crimes. With all the drugs, killings, prostitution, breaking and entering, and black on black crimes it scares me to know that your kids are not safe in their own homes.

With the many conversations about the African-American communities and their issues with gang violence, government assistance, and the lack of jobs in their communities it is clear to say that the American Dream or even a moderate lifestyle was not created for all African Americans and Minorities and since we found a way to be noticed, heard, and felt like they’re rightfully a part of something America wants to now label it “war or Drugs” and “gang Violence” thus creating Gang Injunctions in those predominantly of color communities. Now I am not stating that the violence is not present, innocent lives are not being taken, nor are drugs consuming our communities, but what I am saying is that they act as if there is no other approach that could help clean up the streets, provide piece and harmony among all communities, and solve issues for the betterment of the community. Instead they are removing them from their communities, threatening them from going to their neighborhood, and as a consequence they get jail time, an institution that already houses half if not more than half of our black men. The gang injunction initiative is set up to tear apart the minority communities through driving up the prices and making them move, especially if they have a family member who is under the injunction’s rules. Its ironic how they put them in such enclosed space, while they make suburban home for the economically fit causing them to commute and now they are systematically removing them

The idea of violence is instilled in everyone’s head in some way or another. From the time we are born we are equipped with the idea that we must react when we are upset. When someone affects us in a negative way, there is an idea in our minds that urges us to fight back or cause harm to that person. This idea of causing harm stays with us from childhood until we take our last breath. Since 2013, there have been 242 school shootings within America. Even worse, there have been over a thousand mass shootings in the country resulting in mass casualties. Most recently, one single man murdered fifty-eight people at a concert in Las Vegas, Nevada and injured over 240 others. Although the motive may have been different between these shootings, one thing remains the same for all of them, the act of violence.

Police brutality has been a major issue since slavery. In slavery people, mainly whites, were able to do anything to black people without having to deal without dealing with the consequences. Families were destroyed, people died, babies were killed, and many unknown factors still to this day that will never be known. When slavery was abolished, it did not end right away. It took several years and still is not abolished if you look at in a political way. People of power, mainly white, were not happy that a black person could be seen as equals. This is the main reason why they feel it is okay to lash out at black people. There are several major issues that are causing and epidemic in The United States. However, the main issue that seems to be the most discussed is about police brutality in the black community. “Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. “Excessive use of force” means a force well beyond what would be necessary in order to handle a situation. Police brutality can be present in a number of ways. The most obvious form of police brutality is a physical form. Police officers can use nerve gas, batons, pepper spray, and guns in order to physically intimidate or even intentionally hurt civilians. Police brutality can also take the form of false arrests, verbal abuse, psychological intimidation, sexual abuse, police corruption, racial profiling, political repression and the improper use of Tasers”

Gang violence has been around for a long time all the way back to the 1800 and have greatly increased all around the globe ever since. Gangs are a group of people that fight and kill other gangs over turf,money,pride, and drugs. People usually join gangs from around the age of 8 to the age 20. Most gang members join because they have been abused by their parents or because they don 't have a family. Gangs treat each other like a family, that is the most common reason why people join, they want to be accepted, they want to feel like if they belong something.

A challenge I think African Americans families face in the 21st century is black on black crime. Just recently in the Brown vs Ferguson case African Americans properties were destroyed, vandalize, and burned after the verdict of officer Wilson not being indicted. I thought instead of the African Americans going against each other they should have showed more respect and honor for each other. The Micheal Brown case was a tragic loss to the black community, especially after the lost of Trayvon Martin having the same verdict. African Americans as a whole could have shown a little more of a positive response to each other. Black on black crime that occurs when the poorest, weakest members of a population turn on each other out of desperation. African Americans come against peers and neighborhoods who are black. African Americans are the number one race in America by a percentage of 49% of crime within each other, followed by American Indians. Today African Americans are about 13 percent of the population and continue to be responsible for an inordinate amount of crime. The black arrest rate for most offenses; include robbery, aggravated assault and property crimes as you seen in recent justice cases such as Brown and Trayvon. Black on black crime has been a part of the American lexicon for years(Bain & Friends, 2000).

Black voices around the country were being heard as they protested for their lives. It almost seemed like déjà vu for the black community. However, this time, unlike in the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s, the Black Lives Matter movement had a powerful tool in their pocket: social media. The creation of the hashtag “Black Lives Matter” galvanized the movement throughout the nation, as posts from people on both sides of the spectrum spoke out on their thoughts over the current police violence against African Americans. Although the hashtag originally began on Facebook, the Black Lives Matter movement has been able to reach a wide range audience through Twitter.

Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, is located in the northern portion of the state on the Patapsco River estuary, a division of Chesapeake Bay. The city is self-governing and does not fall within any county. (Baltimore, Md., 2015) The vast majority of this city is poverty stricken, which makes it vulnerable to high crime rates. In the first six months of 2013 Baltimore had reported 117 homicides, with a population of 622, 104, (CITY DATA, 2015) this gives the city a rate of 18.8 per 100,000. It was one of few cities that year to actually see an increase in homicides; it was stated by Their City Police Commissioner that more than half of their homicides were related to drugs. Even though, the amount of violent crimes dwindled in 2013,