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Police Brutality In The 1960's

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To protect and serve is a police officer's duty and their motto. Police officers are some individuals hero and other people's nightmare. They do so much to protect their cities and communities, but there are also those in the force who create chaos all while “Protecting and Serving.” In the last couple of years, there have been back to back shootings of African-American men, which have taken people’s mind back to the history of police brutality on African-Americans in the 1960’s during the Civil Rights Era. Some people have said we’ve changed since the 1960’s, but if so how far have we come and how much further is there to go? In the 1960’s there was physical brutality, water hosing, dog use, and weaponry usage, but the problems of brutality …show more content…

From each case of these shootings and usage of excessive force have sparked up riots, that fueled up the flames on the issue even more. Every incident that happens between a civilian and a police officer draws attention from the media and public eye, and every case changes everyone's perspective towards police officers and police brutality. The police brutality, the riots that form after every altercation, and the public's view are the current events we see and hear about everyday. Police officers have a dangerous job and never know what they are going to face when they go out for a call. They are trained on how to handle each altercation, but it seems like sometimes they forget their training in heated situations. Mishandling and using excessive force towards any civilian becomes police brutality. Police brutality isn’t anything new to America; it’s been around as long as most people can remember. Typical usage of police brutality in the 1960’s was hosing down protesters, physically beating them down, and even having dogs attack protesters. Today the most common usage seen through the eye of the media is guns. There have been cases of physical abuse also, which is caught on body cameras. …show more content…

There have been several riots throughout United States history. In the 1960s the riot most people hear about is the Detroit Race Riot. This riot took place during the Summer time in 1967. It sparked up because of segregation within housing, segregation within schools, and the rise of unemployment in the African- American community. Police brutality just topped off all of the issues which had been brewing for many years. Rumors spreaded out about the police using excessive and harsh force when they went in to raid a bar. Moments later people started to gather around and then the crowd grew bigger. As the crowd got bigger looting began happening, objects were thrown at the cops and firemen who were trying to put out the fires that were getting worse by every minute, and shots were fired at civilians and officers. As the riot sprang out of control, the Mayor realized the cops couldn’t handle the situation by themselves, so he brought in the National Guard and then later on President Johnson put in 4,700 paratroopers. During this chaotic time, the Mayor set a curfew that started at 9:00 pm until 5:00 am. The summer riot that broke out in Ferguson, Missouri reflects what happened in the Detroit Race Riot in many ways. The uprising in Ferguson sparked up after Officer Darren Wilson

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