Police Brutality And Black Teen Discrimination

On Saturday, August 9, 2014 an unarmed 18-year-old male, Michael Brown, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, a Ferguson police officer. There were a handful of witnesses but no concrete evidence on what happened. The police officer, Darren Wilson, claims Brown pinned him in his vehicle and was in fear for his life as they struggled over his gun. Wilson has told authorities that during the scuffle, Brown reached for the gun. He goes on to say the gun went off twice in the car, one hitting Brown while the other missed. Multiple forensics test show that Brown’s blood was on the gun, on Officer Wilson’s uniform as well as the interior door panel which supports Officer Wilson’s

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”

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.

On August 9, 2014 Officer Darren Wilson with the Ferguson Missouri Police Department was on his way to a reported strong-arm robbery at a local convenience store in the city. While on his way, he observed two African-American males walking in the middle of the roadway (#1). Officer Wilson realized the pair matched the description given of the suspects from the robbery call in which he had been dispatched. While still in his patrol vehicle, Officer Wilson drove up to the males, and began speaking with Michael Brown. Officer Wilson told Brown to not walk in the lanes of traffic (#1).

According to an article published by The Washington Post, Michael Browns family preparing a lawsuit against Officer Darrin Wilson and City of Ferguson Police Department. Lowery (2012) also stated “Attorneys for the family said that they disagree with the DOJ’s conclusion that Wilson did not commit any crime and was reasonably afraid for his life when he fatally shot brown on Aug. 9.”(n.d). Furthermore, according to Lowery(2015) the family began preparations to sue after the Department of Justice findings found Officer Wilson’s actions justified. With such cases of police brutality or other excessive force claims can bring lawsuits or torts against police departments and the city. Brown’s family may use lethal force as a motivating factor.

Police brutality against African Americans is nothing new in today’s society. Twenty five years after the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and countless other unarmed African American men and women have become victims of police officers. Riots and protests in places like Ferguson, Baltimore and Cleveland have garnered the issue and unprecedented amount of attention, especially in the media. It has also caused an outcry among the American people for both sides involved. Notably, it has brought about Ta-Nehisi Coates’s penning of Between the World and Me. In his short novel addressed as a letter to his son, he discusses the fear that all African Americans Coates himself saw growing up in Baltimore. He tells his son, and therefore the reader, stories of his own childhood and young adulthood and of the problems and issues he sees within America. These problems lie within the justice system, the education system, and within our society as a whole.

On the unfortunate afternoon of August 9, 2014, an unarmed black teenager named Michael Brown was fatally shot six times after an alleged altercation between him and Ferguson police officer, Daren Wilson. Though there is no video footage of the incident, there are multiple witnesses who attest to the same story, which goes as follows. Brown was walking in the street with one of his friends, Dorian Johnson, when a police officer confronted him and told them to get out of the street. The two responded with the fact that they would soon be at their destination and would then move out of the street. According to an account from Johnson, the police officer grabbed them and they struggled through the window of the police cruiser, during which a shot was fired. After managing to get away from Wilson’s grasp, the two took off in separate directions down the street. Wilson shot Brown a total of six times as he was trying to escape. The reports have varied accounts as to whether or not Brown had his hands raised or not when Wilson was shooting. The evidence all mainly points to an innocent, yet dead, Michael Brown in the end,

Michael Brown was an unarmed black man while Darren Wilson is a white police officer. Cases where police officers shoot citizens has happened before, yet this case has drawn attention from the world because the officer is white, and the victim is a black man. Brown’s supporters believe that Wilson shot Brown because he is black, but police have different stories about the shooting accident. People in Ferguson protests and demand the truth when there is not enough evidence to confirm which side is true. In the case of Michael Brown’s shooting accident, there was no racial discrimination in the case because Wilson was doing his job as a police officer and has not violated any of the laws.

Over the last few year there have been many cases involving the death of a young African Americans being killed in ways that fellow black people would describe as vicious unreasonable manslaughter. The case involving Michael Brown occurred on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was eighteen years old, and was shot to death by Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson police officer. (Bucanan par. 1) After the trial, Wilson was set free as the jury saw him as innocent for his actions. Due to this, and other cases where white police officers were let go after fatally shooting a black man, riots began to arise in different cities. (Bucanan par. 5) The most note-able of these riots would be the Ferguson riots where stores were looted and destroyed and police militarization was required to help settle the protests. (BBC News) The whole reason of the occurrence of these riots is because the black community feels the injustice of law enforcement and that the police force abuse the power bestowed upon them behind the badge on their chest. More specifically there is the issue of racism among the men and some women in the police force. And this is what people of other ethnic background leads to believe is the reason behind the unnecessary manslaughter and police brutality on black people. Like all debates there are always two sides to perspective. For the black community, the main point of view is that policemen are being overly and unnecessarily brutal with their arrests. And men

In our nation’s history, African Americans have been treated unequally by whites. Since then, the treatment whites give to minorities has degraded. Now, white police officers have abused their power towards minorities. This is an issue that continues but we as a society can no longer ignore the fact that this is unconstitutional. African American communities have turned into the targets of racism. This paper will examine the repeated history of police brutality in America in order to explain the racism and injustice involved. America needs a policy to enforce the unjust treatment police give to African Americans.

“Racial inequality is a disparity in opportunity and treatment that occurs as a result of someone's race” (Racial Inequality, 1996-2017, line 1). Racial profiling and police brutality falls under racial inequality. According to Nazgol Ghandnoosh (2017), " Officers' racially biased use of discretion – either intentional or unintentional – is one cause of racial disparities in police contact that are not explained by differences in crime rates" (p. 6). When one group is targeted more than another it will cause the group that is targeted the most to have more involvement. The crime rates for black people is higher than those of white people because more black people are arrested than white people. Nazgol Ghandnoosh (2017), states that, "Almost

On the afternoon of August 9, 2014 an African-American male by the name Michael Brown was fatally shot to death by a Caucasian male police officer named Darren Wilson in Ferguson, MO. An investigation was immediately launched through the collection of evidence from the crime scene, multiple autopsies of Michael Brown’s corpse, and interviews with witnesses. For several months following the shooting, investigation, and Grand Jury decision, there was immense public speculation and scrutiny. The country was divided on the controversial matter and intensely debated if Officer Wilson justifiably discharged his sidearm in self-defense or in racially motivated cold blooded murder. This event produced protests, riots, political movements, and national

It is heartbreaking to see videos, pictures and hear of the cruel, unjust stories of police brutality in today’s media; however, it has become a common occurrence all over the world. One of the most recent police brutality case stories is the Ferguson case. The Ferguson case occurred on August 9th, 2014 when Michael Brown, an African American male, was shoot to death by a white, male police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. Brown was suspected of a strong-armed robbery minutes before his death. The story caused an outrage in the media when Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot Michael Brown, was not indicted on November 24, 2014. Riots took place all

On August 9, 2014 police officer Darren Wilson heard a call on his radio about a shoplifting in progress. It was then that Wilson proceeded on with his day only to encounter 18-year-old Michael Brown and 20-year-old Dorian Johnson were walking in the middle of the street; both of which matched the description of the call that had occurred earlier. The events of that day resulted in Brown’s death. This ultimately aggravated the citizens of Ferguson, who then protested in an effort to stand up for Brown who they believed was killed while surrendering. Considering all the evidence, the grand jury should not have indicted officer Wilson because the witness statements and the autopsy are in favor of what Wilson had reported.

Conflict between African Americans and police has been a continuous issue that has been afflicting American society ever since The Civil Rights movement. The confrontation between these two groups is one of the most serious issues in America. From the Civil Rights era to the present, tension has and still is exhibited through media insinuation, intrinsic human nature, lack of awareness, institutional racism and violence, which divides the two groups. Today in society problems mainly emerge between the two groups due to lack of awareness and different forms of discrimination and prejudice. The commonality of police brutality has become a norm in American society so much so that police officers get away with crimes and injustice everyday.