Police Brutality Against African Americans

Since the first state-sponsored police forces in the U.S. racial discrimination in police forces has been a characteristic of the American landscape. Racial profiling and police brutality have their roots in enforcement of slave codes, black codes, and Jim Crow Segregation laws. We Charge Genocide, a petition submitted to the UN by the Civil Rights Congress in 1951, documented thousands of incidents of police violence against African Americans alone. Police brutality against Native Americans has also been a regular of colonial culture in the U.S. as well. Official studies have consistently found that people and communities of color are disproportionately subjected to human

From over 300 years African Americans have struggled from being taken from their homeland to being forced into slavery. They regained their so-called ‘Freedom’ but were never quite equal with all. African Americans have been fighting for equality for years and have had multiple leaders bring attention to the issues like Martin Luther King Junior forming marches to Rosa Parks refusing to get up from her seat for a White person. In this day of age African Americans have come to be perceived in the publics view as ‘equal’ however, this is contradicted because police brutality against African Americans has gone viral and is becoming very common in this work force. Minorities in America should protect themselves from police brutality through political action going through the judicial branch because police are taking advantage and abusing their power they are given.

Despite the fact that the days of slavery died down hundreds of years ago, racism still exists in many forms today. It may not be as self-evident as it was back when black individuals had to sit at the back of the bus, but in reality, to this day racism still exists in a vicious however very subtle way. Nowadays racism can occur through cultural institutions, individual racism, as well as racial ideology. These forms of discrimination cause racial inequalities which bring about a lack of opportunity and mistreatment. This paper will focus on the relationship between police brutality and African Americans. Let me be clear though police brutality affects the lives of minorities in general, but mostly this epidemic causes repercussions for

We must acknowledge that people of color are still thought of as a different. There are still people in the world that believe being racist is right, but there are also some who believe that everyone is equal. But often what we hear about is the racial profiling within the American walls that we all live in. “Nationwide, driving while black has been criminalized, racial profiling used for traffic stops and searches for suspected drugs or other reasons, the practice especially common in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Texas” (Rodriguez, 2012). “Los Angeles has settled many lawsuits arising out of more than 50 deaths related to lethal police choke holds, and many other cities are paying out large sums to settle instances of police misconduct” (Angola, 2013). Due to the demands for services, the police presence is generally situated in poorer communities as the crime rates and calls for service are statistically higher in these areas. As a result of greater police presence, those who reside in poorer neighborhoods have developed a perception that police use excessive force frequently (Weitzer, 1999). This information is understandable that police are called to poorer communities but this does not make an excuse for what has been headlined on the news for the past couple of weeks.

Most of the police brutality cannot be attributed to any significant proof but is only based on racial profiling. As such, the police attempted to detain suspects who they assumed to be behaving in a suspicious manner, any form of resistance resulted in fatal shooting. Furthermore, in most cases, blacks who were shot were not armed even though police tried to prove that they had within their reach dangerous items like knives (Russell-Brown, 2004). While carrying out their duties, police officers justify their actions against black people by arguing that they felt threatened or were in a position that forced them to shoot. It shows that speculation and a negative attitude against black people were the main reasoning behind the brutal treatment

In June of this year it was recorded that there had been 490 people killed by the United States police force and a concerning amount of 138 of those citizens were African-American. Compared to the twelve percent that make up part of the U.S. population, thirty percent of the citizens killed by police is disarming. This study was broken down with the inclusion of fatal police shootings by race, ethnicity and region (Joseph). Since the 1992 there has been a great deal of awareness brought to the fact that the black population are the victims most affected in these police brutality instances. It seems imminent that African Americans in particular face this racial injustice compared to white people like myself who are exposed to privilege. For example, in comparison to the media coverage of Michael Brown being justified because he was labeled as a thug and “struggling with an officer, Trayvon Martin who was labeled as “ a kid suspended three times from school”, or 25 year old Derrick Varner who was labeled as “ having a history of narcotics abuse and tangles with the law” (Wing). On the other side of the spectrum a person of Caucasian decent can commit a crime and be treated humanely by police and covered by the media in a good perspective. For example, Jared Michel the Oregon school shooter was labeled as “ fascinated with guns but was a devoted Mormon”, or Elliot Rodger, the Santa Barbara mass shooter who was labeled as “ soft-spoken, polite, and a gentleman”

African American communities that are facing police brutality are more likely to be anti-police. Mail Survey is the research that best fits this proposal. The target population in this study consists of two African American dominated communities, one that is facing police brutality and the other one not so much. African Americans being targeted by police in highly based crime communities as opposed to non-violent ones. The community facing police brutality consists of African Americans in gangs, selling drugs, and are criminals; while the other includes African Americans that aren’t involved with police. The sampling frame that will be performed in this study consists of the following sample criteria: (1) victims of police brutality; (2) they

From deep in our nation’s history, the enmity between law enforcement and law abiding African Americans has been a staple of local relations. From early lynchings to anti demonstrator violence, to the 1991 Rodney King beating and the recent shootings of unarmed african americans, police brutality seems to be on the rise. Many reports have also been on the rise that police have been caught illegally arresting or opening fire against an unarmed law abiding black man. The backlash for police brutality can be explained through one event. The Great Migration, for example, sent more and more black people come into white communities in the north and west. However, policing in the area started going after African Americans in the firm belief that they might hurt the white people. In essence, police limited their promise to “protect and serve” to white people only. Adding to this disparity is the prevalence of white people reporting black people for no reason. Acting out of fear or misunderstanding, these individuals lash out causing even greater racial

This year, the American police have already killed more than 500 people. Of those, 25% have been Black, even though Black people make up only 13% of the population. Last week in Louisiana, two White police officers killed a Black man named Alton Sterling while he sold CDs on the street. The very next day in Minnesota, a police officer shot and killed a Black man named Philando Castile in his car during a traffic stop while his girlfriend and her four-year-old daughter watched. Overwhelmingly, the police do not face any consequences for ending these lives. Our community knows these tragedies, too. Anthony Nunez, Melissa Ventura, Pedro Villanueva and Alex Nieto were all killed by police officers, though none of it was caught on film.

These heartbreaking stories understandably angered the African American communities, bringing them to rally for equality under the law and rightfully assert that Black Lives Matter. Despite the endless, passionate contest for feeling truly protected by cops, there has been little, if any, progress in this movement. Out of frustration and pain, violence has become the next step in this revolution against racism. Consisting of verbal and physical abuse as well as outright disobedience and disrespect displayed toward officers, citizens across America are simply fueling the fire. While only further developing the animosity between the people and the police, violence will do far more harm than

With the overwhelming recent media coverage of unarmed individuals being killed by police officers, it has now brought national attention to the seriousness of these events that should be addressed. One of the most notable event that caught the attention of the media and the public was the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. He was an unarmored black male that was shot and killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. This was not the first or the last time an unarmed person was killed by a law enforcement officer, it was an event that appeared to have caused citizens to start scrutinizing police department’s use of deadly force policy more in depth; especially the black community. According to “The Counted”, a database created by the Guardian that count the number of people killed by police and other law enforcement agencies in the United States; 190 unarmed individual were killed by law enforcement officer as of October 2015; 178 were male, 62 were Black, 28 were Hispanic, 76 were White, and 9 classified as other or unknown (guardian.com, 2015). Although the fact that the majority of the unarmed killing by police officers involved the death of White individuals, we have to keep in mind that Whites make up the majority of the U.S. population and that the number of minorities killed by police officers outnumbered their White counterparts, with the majority being Black individuals. While individuals should comply with the police, there is a need for better police and

Police officers are physically abusing and killing black people every day. Black communities are dissociating themselves from law enforcement because they view them as the enemy. Additionally, crime reporting numbers have been down in black neighborhoods after a series of high profile cases of police misconduct against black men have been surfacing in the news. For example, the crime reporting has shown a significant drop in the city of Milwaukee after a black man in the city was brutally beaten by white police officers. This problem has had effects on police community relations because a lot of citizens don’t trust law enforcement officers. Also, the officers that were involved in the vicious beating of two black men frank Jude and Lovell

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” (Martin Luther King Jr.) The recent injustice produced by police misusing lethal force to African-Americans is increasing much violence and suffering around the nation. This inappropriate use of lethal force by police must be stopped by utilizing cameras, and further training; and if that doesn’t work the federal Government must get involved and investigate these departments.

The abuse by law enforcement officers through their excessive force towards citizens is one of the most serious and divisive human rights violations in the United States that has become a growing national concern. For the past decades, law enforcement officers have engaged in excessive use of force, including but not limited to unjustified shootings, fatal chokings, severe beatings, and unnecessary rough treatment (Human Rights Watch, 1998). Lately, the United states have been in the midst of an epidemic of police shootings of unarmed black men. This abuse persists and affects all communities: rural, urban, and suburban. There is no official statistic that states the number of the many lives that are lost at the hands of the police in the U.S.; however, it is estimated that there is from 400 to 1,000 deaths annually (Amnesty International, 2015). The excessive force by law enforcement is seen as racial profiling toward minorities: African Americans and Latinos. The limited government information available indicates that racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately affected by the misconduct of police officers, including false arrest and harassment as well as verbal and physical abuse. According to the Amnesty International (2015), the African American population in the U.S is 13% but make up of 27% of those killed by law enforcement. Although, there have been other vulnerable groups such as mentally disturbed, homeless people on the streets, and the LGBT community who

If you are a black person living in America, you are more than twice likely to be unarmed when killed during police encounters than white Americans. There’s an ongoing debate about whether or not police officers are too quick to use deadly force when it comes to the case of a black man that is unarmed. Even though some may argue that the police are fair when it comes to dealing with all people of color and do not use force as often as it is believed. It is clear that police officers do, in fact, use fatal action against civilians, especially when dealing with black men.