Race Related Riots

Most recently, Michael Dunn a white male and a native of Jacksonville, Florida shot and killed seventeen year old Jordan Davis for allegedly playing his music too loud in the parking lot of a gas station. Jordan was an African American male that was killed by a white male claiming to stand his ground. Reports state that Mr. Dunn was making a purchase and getting gas on the fatal night when an SUV

In August 2014, a young Michael Brown was shot and killed by Darren Wilson. What is

The shooting occurred at the Fruitvale train station on January 1st, 2009. At the station, a fight broke out in one of the trains and when the train stopped the fight started again outside of the train at one of the stops. While they were fighting on the train the BART officers were called. The officers came and arrested everyone that was in the fight. A guy named Oscar Grant was in the fight and was also arrested (Meyer). While Grant was being arrested by Officer Mehserle, he resisted the officer’s attempts. Since Grant was resisting he was pushed onto the ground on his stomach to be handcuffed. Johannes Mehserle was having trouble handcuffing Grant so the other BART officers helped him. When Grant was on the ground Mehserle was going to tase him since he would not stop resisting. When Mehserle thought he pulled out his TASER, he instead pulled out his gun. Mehserle accidentally shot Grant with his gun since he thought he pulled out his TASER (Bulwa).

The day prior to Gray’s death, April 18th, is when the true protests began outside the Western District Police Department. Department of Justice’s were asked by congressional delegates to open a criminal and civil rights investigation on April 20th. Gene Ryan, the president of the Baltimore police union compared the protests of Gray’s death to “lynch mobs” and in doing so enraged the protesters and the citizens (Timeline: Freddie Gray’s…). After five straight days of protesting, the governor of Maryland made the decision to send state troopers to Baltimore as the protests elevated. Police city leaders on April 23rd made the executive decision to cancel leave for all officers to increase coverage of the city. A pivotal day in the protests was April 25th, the day protests turned into riots as police vehicles became targets of rage. April 27th was the day that Gray was laid to rest and the day following his funeral proved to be the most dangerous for officers. Several officers were sent for medical treatment as they clashed with rioters who plundered and tore open businesses. The National Guard was called in for reinforcement and as many as 5,000 reinforcement officers were called upon. Baltimore mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, placed a curfew on the city the night of April 27th to hopefully null remaining riots and violence. President Obama was quoted as saying,”the rioters throwing rocks at police and setting cars on fire as "criminals" and "thugs" (Timeline: Freddie Gray’s…). These rioters were detracting from legitimate concerns in the community. The curfew in place met resistance during the night of April 28th as a defiant group of rioters faced off with helmeted police officers. Baltimore Orioles changed their schedule on April 28th as they had to relocate to Florida for their upcoming games. After 200 people were arrested during the riots, over

On August 9th, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by a Ferguson County Police Officer, Darren Wilson, in Ferguson, Missouri. Due to a paucity of information surrounding the shooting, the town of Ferguson has since experienced riotous unrest. The nation’s eyes were fixed on the clashes that ensued between protestors and police. The shooting was brought to people’s attention within minutes when a local singer who goes by the stage name “Thee Pharaoh” shared a couple of photos on Twitter which featured Michael Brown lying face down on the concrete in a pool of blood while a police officer stood over the lifeless body. Those photographs were then circulated hundreds of times over within the first few hours on Twitter and other

During 1992 in South Central Los Angeles, a riot started after the news of four white Los Angeles police officers beating Rodney King was published on TV. It became daily news. The riot caused many crimes to occur; participants of the riot burned down business stores, destroyed properties, and some activities involved guns that have led to many deaths. Many South Central residents were unsatisfied with police brutality and the way their community were being treated. Although the riot only lasted for about a week, about 52 people were killed (Kivisto and Rundblad 82). The whole neighborhood were ruined and destroyed. Ever since that riot, there were over 1 million property loss (Kivisto and Rundblad 82), and over 700 businesses were burned down (Bergesen and Herman para. 1). Many people lost their jobs because their workplace were destroyed.

Brown’s death with streams of violence by smashing store front windows carrying away looted goods from the store, smashing car windows, standing on top of the police vehicle taunting police Officers, Molotov cocktails and other object was lobbed at the police causing the Officers to respond with tear gas, and smoke bomb. All those events were seen around the world on live television and social media outlets.

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

On April 12th, 2015, Freddie Gray was arrested by the Baltimore Police Police Department for allegedly possessing a switchblade knife. While being transported, Gray sustained severe injuries to his spinal cord (80% of which was severed from his body) and subsequently fell into a coma and ultimately died.

He hen punched the officers and grab one of the guns, where he fired shots but didn’t strike anyone because the

On July 5, 2011, two officers tried to search Kelly Thomas but he resisted. When taken into custody, excessive force and beatings happened, and Thomas’ thorax was compressed in the process causing him to choke on his blood. [Thomas] died five days later after he was removed from life support (Llyod). As Wood states, “By that evening riots had begun in South Los Angeles that would go on for six days and have an impact on race relations in America that continues to this day.” Both officers were not charged for order placed against them. This event became very public, as a 33 minute video was released. “Anyone who has seen the grainy but graphic 33-minute video of the incident must acknowledge that it is hard to square with the jury's conclusion

Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Isaac Holmes, Terry Price, Brandon Jones, Anthony Hill, and James Howard Allen. This is only a small sample of Black lives taken by police in the past year. In November 2015, police took 22 Black lives. That equates to one Black life every 33 hours. Do I have your attention now? It’s clear that “Black Lives Matter” is more than just a slogan, hash tag, or organization; it’s a movement. This movement has lead to many protests, and confrontations with police. Not only that, but the controversial question, “Do Black lives matter, or do all lives matter,” has been raised to our current presidential candidates.

of racism that died in the police custody. His skin’s color was the reason of Gray’s death.

Michael Brown, an unarmed African American young man, was shot six times by police officer Darren Wilson in a store in Ferguson and died immediately, Missouri on August 9, 2014.

Community policing in America today has been tremendously affected over the past two years by a number of events involving the police and their interactions with people of color, and minority communities. Most of these problems between the police and minority communities have stemmed from incidents and reports of police misconduct and abuses of power, use of excessive force, and increases in police involved shootings. One major events that drew national attention, caused problems, and put strains on police-community relations involved the shooting death of Michael Brown. On August 9, 2014 Michael Brown, an unarmed black teen male, was shot multiple times by Officer Darren Wilson, a white Ferguson, Missouri police officer. The shooting death of Michael Brown brought about days of public protest and outrage. When the St. Louis County prosecutor refused to bring charges and announced that a grand jury decided not to indict Officer Wilson, it led to major riots and many clashes between law enforcement agencies and citizens. Later, after peace was restored in Fergusons, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) was commissioned to step in and conduct a thorough investigation into both the shooting death investigation of Michael Brown and police practices of the Ferguson Police Department. While the investigation conducted by the DOJ did not find any wrong doings in the shooting death of Michael Brown, it did find that the City of Ferguson, city officials, and the