Policing The Lives Of Black And Latino By Victor Rios Oakland

Victor Rios starts of the book by giving a brief background of his own life and what he experienced as a child in the ghettos of Oakland, California and the events that caused him to turn from his old way of life. During the span of Victor Rios’ juvenile years he decide to join and become a gang member Rios states “I joined the gang seeking protection that I thought police and other authority figures in the community had failed to provide”(Rios ix) Rios’ quote is the most commonly known reason why youth in urban areas seek out membership in gangs which is a lack of protection and involvement from police and authoritative figures in bettering these communities. Along with his membership he partook in deviant acts and so on. Rios talks about this boy he knew that went by the name “smiley” that would hang around the gang a lot. Before “Smiley” was initiated to the gang Rios notes how Smiley would tell him stories of how teachers would treat him punitively meaning that they were aiming to punish him based on his prior actions and his color. Rios mentioned “Smiley” as being a naïve boy, he suffered physical abuse from his parents along with that his parents often kicked him out as a punishment for questioning them and informing them about the negative ways his teachers went about treating him. Soon after “Smiley” was initiated into the gang, Rios states that they became best friends and had a sense of looking

Daniel Holtzclaw is a former Oklahoma City Police Department police officer. When he was a police officer, Holtzclaw sexually abused thirteen black women. He targeted women from poor, African American communities. Holtzclaw ran background checks on women with warrants or other criminal records and targeted those victims. The majority of Holtzclaw 's victims had criminal histories such as drug arrests. Holtzclaw 's crimes were unlikely to be discovered because rape is a highly underreported crime. Only one of the women filed a report. At least 68 percent of rapes are unreported. For every 100 rapes, only 7 will lead to an arrest and only 2 will spend a single day in jail. Men know that and they know it is very unlikely they will be arrested, a police officer like Holtzlaw knows this all too well. Holtzclaw used his power to rape women and he knew that the public would support him because he is a white heterozexual man, he is an exemplar man for the rape culture. Not only did he have the advantage of being a man, but also the advantage of being white and a police officer.

Rodriguez begins to actively distance himself from his family and heritage. On nights when the house is filled with Spanish speaking relatives, he leaves the house as a way of breaking the connection. He begins to imitate his teachers? accents and use their diction. As time goes on, he desires more solitude. Again, this is all normal according to Hoggart. ?He has to be more and more alone, if he is going to get on?the boy has to cut himself off,? (47). This is exactly what Rodriguez does; he chooses his education and the classroom over his

My first scholarly article that I read was Racism and Police Brutality in America by Cassandra Chaney and Ray V. Robertson. The article begins by highlighting the beating of Rodney King in 1992. Police brutality has gone on for a long time, and with the help of technology it has finally been brought to the light. In 1992, four white police officers beat an African American man named Rodney King. The events were caught on camera and were aired that night by a local TV station in Los Angeles. In the video the officers kicked, tasered, and beat King until he was left with an inch of his life. The injuries King sustained were crushed bones, shattered teeth, kidney damage and a fractured skull. The Rodney King beating showed American people the

Jericho Brown discusses a myriad of topics in his poems, from depression to the perils of growing old. However, one of his works stands out to me in particular. In his poem, “Bullet Points,” Brown deals with police brutality. Specifically, he says, “I promise that if you hear Of me dead anywhere near A cop, then that cop killed me.” This powerful statement asserts that the unarmed black teen we consistently hear about in the news was not the one at fault.

This separation from his family caused a longing in his life. But this longing was superseded by what he suspected his teachers could give him. Rodriguez develops a double personality of sorts. The person he is at home, the polite child who lovingly does what his parents ask of him. And then the academic persona he

Determined to help his audience - people who stereotype against and do not understand gang life - find commonalities with gang members, Fr. Boyle shares his experiences with gangs in Los Angeles. At the beginning of the novel, Fr. Boyle articulates his thesis and expresses his purpose for sharing his experiences when he states, “Though this book does not concern itself with solving the gang problem, it does aspire to broaden the parameters of our kinship. It hopes not only to put a human face on the gang member, but to recognize our own wounds in the broken

The unorthodox and nonmatching culture of youth of color is often demonized and portrayed as deviant in mainstream media, even though youth in poorer communities attempt to adjust themselves in ways that can be fully accepted by the labor-force. Although one may be quick to assume that this concentrated working-class culture can easily be defined as malicious or spiteful to the mainstream culture, it is actually “organic capital” that is wrongly misrecognized by the authority. When youth of color in Oakland partake in “devious” or “criminal” activities, it is actually a strong political statement on their marginalization and a valid attempt in trying to get back the dignity and respect that are forcefully relinquished to the criminal justice

Reading your essay on Policing and African Americans, jogged my memory back to a documentary I watched, Slavery by another name. It talks about vagrancy and pigs law similar to the black code that you talked about. These laws damage the African American communities, and up to this day, our communities will never be better.

With all the negative thoughts and feelings about his family, Rodriguez never took the time to repair his relationship with him and his family, because books were very important to him than his family. As Rodriguez begin to separate from his family and culture, his Spanish accent also begin to disappear, which he felt very excited. In the beginning of his article he talked about the first day, he enters the class and could “barely able to speak English” (239). Rodriguez felt that he did not fit in with the rest

Over the course of the study, Rios witnessed firsthand how all the adolescent boys were brutalized by rival gangs, peers, officers, and social institutions such as schools whether the boys were labeled delinquent or not. A large majority of the boys were arrested at some time during the study and all the boys were regularly searched by police on random occasions for no other reason than that the officers believed they appeared suspicious. The boys faced a vicious cycle of social controls that demanded unrealistic expectations. When the boys were unable to accomplish the goals society demanded of them, they were labeled deviants and criminals with no support of the community or state in overcoming the

According to Scott Johnson, “racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense” (Scott Johnson). The United States Supreme Court has ruled that racial profiling violates the constitutional requirement that all persons should be accorded equal protection of the law. However, is this requirement defensible in public policy? It has been proven in previous research studies that racial profiling, if applied correctly, can be a useful defensible public policy. Studies such as the one conducted by David Harris, who is a law professor at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, show that the racial inequality in arrests made as well as crime rates have been reflective of one sided racial policies.(Harris). Also, Harris stated that, “crime rates are equal among racial groups and arrests, convictions and incarcerations are unequal based on the premise that police, prosecutors and courts systematically pick on minorities due to the color of skin (Harris). For example, the Trayvon Martin case is evident that racial profiling was negatively applied due to stereotyping. Stereotyping is an exaggerated or distorted generalization about an entire category of people that does not acknowledge individual variation. Stereotypes form the basis for prejudice and discrimination. They generally involve members of one group that deny access to opportunities and rewards that are available to that group. This is a fundamental

“The African American community is not making this up. It’s not something that’s being politicized. It’s real”

Child of the Dark covers the time period between 1955 and 1960. It gives insight into the way that many Latin Americans lived during these times. The story takes place in Brazil and focuses on the life of Carolina De Jesus and her journey through countless obstacles of life. Like Carolina, many Latin Americans lived in rural areas known as Favela’s. Through Carolina’s experience and everyday life the reader learns the struggles of living in a society governed by the colonial legacy of a stratified society.

Police brutality against African Americans was a huge impact in Los Angeles, California in 1991, and continues to be a problematic situation in America today. On March 3, 1991, a group of white LAPD beat Rodney King. After this incident occurred a lot of negative events started to transpire. A lot of African Americans were angry and demanded justice. The relationship between the LAPD and the Los Angeles community in 1991 were horrific and still continues to be awful today. Police brutality just seems to be increasing more overtime, which means the increase in the community not trusting the police. Police brutality can be a huge disadvantage when it comes to community policing.