Police Brutality Against Black People

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.

Police brutality against the black youth in America is not uncommon news to us, it dates as far back as 1999 when four police officers shot forty-one bullets at and killed Amadou Diallo, a Guinean immigrant, in the Bronx, NYC. The officers later claimed to have seen Diallo reaching for something that looked like a weapon but actually all he had in his hand was his wallet. However, all four policemen were acquitted if all charges in the case, in fact, one of the killer cops, Kenneth Boss, stayed on the force and was allowed to carry a gun again in 2012.

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

Due to recent technological advances, many social justice issues have been brought to light. One issue is police brutality involving minorities. Police brutality is a major problem in our society, but it is a problem that we can fix. In order for any problem to be fixed, the problem must be acknowledged, then whoever has the problem must work for change. In order to fix the problem of police brutality, we must bring light to the issue by utilizing social media, then push for a change is the police force. One significant change the police force could make is the implementation of body cameras. They can offer video evidence in the case of opposing accounts of an incident, they dissuade police brutality, and videos released from police cameras

These are some reasons police brutality has to end because it’s affecting the rate of african americans in america .

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.

A problem that has risen over the past decade or so is the criminal justice system being against African Americans, but to be more specific is the criminal justice system being against African American males. There have been numerous amounts of cases that have come to face dealing with African Americans and law enforcement. The types of cases that have caught the eye of the media and the people of the United States are the ones were law enforcement uses excessive force on an African American or killing an African American teen or adult. Any situation dealing with law enforcement and Africans Americans, they believe they will be treated differently than any other race. Numbers have increased over the years of African American men being incarcerated,

Everyone sees the subject of police brutality as something that creates racial tension and divides us as a nation. I contest this argument because the truth is, the citizens of the United States are tired of seeing this issue and are UNITING to protest what is becoming a norm for Police. The most publicized organization that is attacking this issue at its source is comprised of people across the nation and the group is identified as “Black Lives Matter”. While there is no official

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”

Police brutality and office involved shootings have sparked national debate and created a strain between police officers and citizens. Recently, there have been more home videos that display acts of aggression by police officers. These police officers often use excessive forces or a condescending tone towards people of color which is why there needs to be a better way to mend police and civilian relationship. People should be able to trust the police in their communities rather than fear them.

Over the last two years in the United States the African-American people have been fighting a war within our own backyards. The Washington Post reports that since January 2015, the police have shot and killed over 175 young black men ranging from ages 18-29; 24 of them were unarmed. On the flip side 172 young white men were killed, only 18 being unarmed. With these statistics there are similarities in the numbers but, blacks were killed at rates disproportional to their percentage of U.S population (1.Washington Post). Of all unarmed people shot and killed by police in 2015. With 40% being black men make up just 6% of the nation’s populations. In the wake of the killings of Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, and many more the world has been made more publicly aware of injustices black people have to handle when dealing with law enforcement. Crime in the black community is nothing new in the black community or should I say black on black crime. There is a bad stereotype that has been put on black people since slavery times that I believe has help fueled the violence between the police and my people.

The brutality of the police force has been a long worldwide problem, but especially between the years of 2012-2016. Black people are being unjustly beaten and shot in plain sight for doing nothing while being unarmed. Journal of African American Studies “Blacks are viewed as deserving of harsh treatment in the criminal justice system” (482). “Black males with more “Afrocentric” features may receive longer sentences than blacks with less Afrocentric features like lighter skin and straighter hair”(482). Nowadays it is important to know about the police force. It’s important to know our rights as citizens and be careful around cops. Not everybody is good, but not everybody is bad also. In The New York Amsterdam News 21 people were killed by Chicago police in 2008. Entire families were being attacked. They believe it’s because of their skin color and how they are different. The year of racism started off with the world seeing the police murder of Oscar Grant. “The media have pushed people away from hearing the issue of police brutality, and it has fallen off of the radar screen.”(2) “You can’t give in. They will try to make an example out of you, try to break your spirit!”(2) African Americans say do not trust the cops with anything. “They will ruin you.”(2)

As I was conducting research about police brutality I came up with three questions I wanted to find out. I wanted to know what race group is affected by police brutality the most, why they were affected by this the most and what to do to stop police brutality involving shooting civilian. This Paper talk about how police brutality is a major issue in America right now. There’s many different types of police brutality but police officers killing civilians is something that is issue in our nation currently. After doing reaching this topic I was able to find out that African Americans have been affected by this the most out of any race. African Americans are affected by this the most because in some cases African Americans are usually stereotyped and this causes them to be treated different by police. Ways we can help this issue is by supporting these organizations that are against police brutality and encouraging police officers around the nation to always have a body camera on them at all times.

In recent years police brutality towards African Americans has increased. This violence has resulted in riots across the United States. The August 2014 death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri many Americans, some who are former Civil Rights activists, have spoken out against police brutality. Black Lives Matter states that the movement’s goal is to bring justice to the present unjust police killings of African Americans. Looking at prior cases of brutality and its connection to racial profiling, such as the police shooting of Ronald Stokes in 1962, has led many activists in America to connect these past issues to the current events. FBI director James Comey in 2015 stated, “Police officers on patrol in our nation’s cities often work in environments where a hugely disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color.” Many like Comey, have suggested that police brutality and profiling cease to exist; however, this is far from the truth. As violence towards African Americans increases yearly, the relevance of the past displays the evidence of how the issue is relevant in the present. To understand police violence towards African Americans, the American public must look into past cases of brutality to inform society’s perspective in the present and into the future.

Police brutality is not a new subject. It has been around for numerous years, and like most issues, has resurfaced to the public’s eyes. The recent events brought up the question: Does there need to be a reform in the system in the police system? In this year alone, there have been countless cases of individuals being harmed or even killed by police officers for reasons that continuously are not explained. What has people more attentive to this injustice are statistics showing that most victims in these police attacks happen to be African Americans and other minorities.