Police Brutality And Racial Profiling

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)

Racial profiling isn’t something new to today’s society. Most recently there were incidents in which the officers were accused of mistreating blacks such as Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. “Racism versus professionalism: claims and counter-claims about racial profiling” written by Vic Satzewich and William Shaffir discusses racism versus professionalism with officers. Their argument is more biased towards the police force and they argue that it’s part of their job. “

We hear about police misconduct case and wonder, Why don’t they do anything to stop this? Many say that we should keep the police officers’ perspective in mind. Others say that these actions are due to racism or post 9/11 paranoia. Whatever the excuse may be for these cases, there should be no need for violence anywhere. Police brutality videos go viral and reveal to the world that it actually happens and that it may happen to you too. This pervades people with fear and anger because their civil right are being violated. Riots are the outcome making the streets unsafe and chaotic. Statistics show percentage of the movements taken upon these criminal acts performed by police officers. We can put a stop to this and we will put a

Police brutality against minorities has been a severe issue America has faced for almost a century, with the problem originating with the National Prohibition Act in 1919. Crime grew as the demand for illegal alcohol did as well, causing many law enforcement agencies to increase the use of unlawful practices. The motives for authorities to brutalize citizens is usually racial profiling, but can also occur with differences in religion, politics, or socioeconomic class. Police officers use of excessive force is most commonly associated with minorities, African-Americans specifically. Notable victims such as Rodney King and Frank Jude were fortunate enough to live another day to tell their story, however, Sean Bell and Timothy Thomas, both gunned

I stand here today to present you with the issue that needs to be addressed immediately: racial injustice and police brutality. America is base on the fundamental principle of equality and freedom to be individual. However, this cannot happen due to the unjust to we, the blacks. Our ancestors helped through the civil revolution, many great people- such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, President Obama that try to create equality for people. America is a place where people of different color love and accept each other despite their differences. Throughout history, black people being treated brutality that led to the death of many innocent blacks who were killed by police officers, and we need to put a stop to this. People will always hear that their black male or female were killed by a higher authority figure; however, they still face no consequences. Most of the time the police officers that are not held accountable for the killing of unarmed black males because no criminal charges are pressed against them. There are still police officers on the street, discriminating blacks because they do not believe that blacks are equal to them. Many police officers that will kill even a young black male or female and then get a away with it. Yes, all human lives are valuable, but today I am specifically addressing the black lives matter movement. Blacks lives matter movement is important because we are addressing the white supremacy in our nation. It is an cry out for help

But if we have better communication between the good cops with the community, there would be less of the bad cops who kill for no reason. Police brutality against African Americans have been increasing over the past couple of years. Proper training of law enforcers and better education to the community will help ensure some of these incidents would not end with a life lost. “Police need to learn more than logistics of policing but also the broader significance of their role in society” (Police Need Better). In this statement it is saying that yes, the job of the police to enforce the law, but also to ensure the safety of general public. Many Caucasian officers are getting away with the senseless killings of the African American population. For instance, in the case with Michael Slager trial, there was a mistrial declared. “A judge in Charleston declare a mistrial Monday after a jury deliberated 22 hours over four days without reaching a unanimous verdict. Slager, 35, testified he feared for his life when he shot Scott, 50, in the back as he fled a traffic stop in April 2015” (Bacon). There is now a delay in the justice that Walter Slager deserves.

America as a people gloat when it comes to our freedoms we think we have it better than every other country out there but the protectors of our freedom are becoming fear and hated because of the injustices committed by certain officers. Some say life of an officer is hard because they do not know if they will ever see their family again after they drive out of their house in the morning, others might say every officer knows what they were signing up for so they should not be pitied. Police officers face dangers everyday but profiling and racially motivated brutality is not justifiable and officers should be severely punished for committing these crimes.

Statistics show that police are taking the balance too far. Some people call it self defense, but if it 's really self defense than shot below the belt just to stop them from attacking instead of shooting to kill. And they wonder why people protest and things lead to more violence. Statistics show that a black man is killed by a law enforcement every twenty-eight hour (Brutality In The U.S). Thats sad to say, but it’s true. Black Americans are more than twice as likely to be unarmed when killed during police encounters than Caucasians (Police Violence). Approximately 1,149 people were killed by officers in 2014. Approximately 470 people killed by officers in 2015. Thirty-two percent of black people were killed by

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.

Police Brutality is defined as the use of excessive force by police officers when they encounter civilians. Police officers are defined as people who are responsible for the prevention of crime. Brutality is defined as, “savage, physical violence.” Police brutality has been alive and well for many years, but a majority of the cases had been recently. Dating back to the times of the Civil Rights Movement and even before, minorities have been treated with little to know respect by police officers. Racial Profiling is defined as, the act of suspecting or targeting a race based on a preconceived idea or notion. Police brutality and racial profiling are more prevalent among minorities than non-minorities because of stereotypes they have place on minorities.

In the past year there have been 300+ fatal shootings between police and African Americans some of the most famous cases are Michael Brown of Ferguson Mo, Eric Garner of New York, Tamir Rice of Cleveland, Eric Harris of Oklahoma, and Freddie Grey of Baltimore all of these men were shot and killed by police, only 2 out of the 5 cases have the police

Out of those 346 people, 30% of the victims were unarmed, and fewer than 1 in 3 black people killed by police in America were suspected of a violent crime and allegedly armed. It’s clear that there is a problem amongst police. I believe not only does it have to do with the racial factor, but with the superiority and power that police abuse. Over centuries, people of African descent or people of color- have endured violence in many prejudice ways. Today, police officers are using excessive force, deadly beatings and shootings, that are in no way excusable. In history, violence against certain races, today, police brutality, had been and is still used to suppress blacks and protect the power for the government and “superior” white races. Since

According to data received from the Centers for Disease Control, between 1999 and 2011, 2,151 whites died as a result of being shot by an officer compared to 1,130 blacks. However, all of these facts do not justify the cases when officers abused their power, it only obliterates the “Black Lives Matter” definition that the trend of blacks being victims of violent encounters with law enforcement because officers are racist towards black people.

For the past three years, the number of police killings in the United States have gone up. It has been reported that the police kill an average of 930 person’s per year. Since 2012, these numbers have mostly been ruled by people of color. Some names more known than other such as: Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Walter Scott, Yvette Smith, John Crawford III, Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner (Killed by Police) . In addition, all of these reported killings shows at the time of the killings the victims were all unarmed. So the question of whether or not these victims should have been killed, come to mind first. Officers are usually told, “Shoot to harm, not to kill” when the suspect is unarmed, however all these unarmed people were still killed. In one particular instance, Walter Scott, the footage of the shooting shows that the officer not only tainted the crime scene, but lied about what actually happened (Feige 1-3). Situations like these happening more frequently, scares the entire population of people. Are the police given too much power? The next question is, “What could actually be done to prevent these unnecessary killings?” There have been different theories that have been proposed to help decrease the number of police killings. One theory was that with the use body cameras, the number of police incidents should reduce with time.

On average, a police officer takes the life of a citizen every 7 hours in the United States. “Police Brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful purpose.” According to Mapping Police Violence police have killed over 1,049 people in 2017 alone. Black people were 25% of that which is outrageous considering the fact that they only make up 13% of the United States population.