Rape Police Authority And Power

In the past years we have seen many riots and debates over the racism and inequalities in our criminal justice system. We have heard story after story, and watched video after video of police brutality and racism in America. We saw the unfair outcome of the Zimmerman and Treyvon Martin case. When George Zimmerman followed and fatally wounded Treyvon Martin, a seventeen year old African American boy who was walking around the neighborhood, just because he looked suspicious to him. In 2014, we saw the riots in Ferguson, Missouri after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown by a white police officer, sparking a debate over the

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)

“Most officers involved in these killings are hardly indicted, much less convicted, for excessive use of force. The criminal justice system’s high volume of contact with people of colour”. (Burton, 2015). This is a major cause of African-Americans’ unequal proportion of deadly police encounters, as well as of larger perceptions of prejudice in the black communities. “Black lives matter” has become the accumulating social movement to bring light to the inequality and unjustifiable act and the legal system is failing to up hold the citizens right and the basic

Racial injustice against people of colour is an immense, ongoing issue that has not only targeted lives but has also taken many innocent lives. In America, these racial divisions date back to the days of slavery, where black people were denied of their basic human rights because of discrimination. In present day, some individuals view America as a post-racial environment, due to such victories as electing a black president; but the brutal, fatal and unjust events in Ferguson, Missouri prove that these divisions are still present. On August 9th, 2014, an unarmed, 18 year old black teen was shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer. The events that led to the death of Michael Brown occurred on an early morning where Mr. Wilson stopped Michael Brown and a friend after leaving a convenience store. An altercation occurred which prompted Mr. Brown to flee and officer Wilson to begin shooting. The death of Mr. Brown caused the city to stand up against police brutality through peaceful protest, looting, and even violence, to gain justice for Mr. Brown and his family. As the protests grew, the police used military tactics such as, tear gas, to “maintain order” during the unrest of the city. In recent, news the grand jury decided that Officer Darren Wilson was not responsible for the death of Michael Brown, which led to a larger public outrage not only in America, but also across the

Despite the important racial progresss our society has made since Emmett Till’s death, from the civil rights era, to present increase of police brutality has still left the Black/African American community in shadows of segregation. The second most recent shooting of teenager Michael Brown has left citizens in ongoing battles with law enforcement officers of Ferguson, Missouri. New Statement (2014) reports, Missouri police similarly attempted to retain control of the narrative, claiming Brown had stolen cigars, and then paying for them, and then claiming he was a bad child and attacked the officer who shot him” (New Statement, 21). Brown autopsy reveals he was gun less and shot six times. Police brutality is not solely about Ferguson, Emmett Till, or the civil rights movement, but it is simply about the history of capitalism and police brutality in America and having many forms of it.

Over the last two years in the United States the African-American people have been fighting a war within our own backyards. The Washington Post reports that since January 2015, the police have shot and killed over 175 young black men ranging from ages 18-29; 24 of them were unarmed. On the flip side 172 young white men were killed, only 18 being unarmed. With these statistics there are similarities in the numbers but, blacks were killed at rates disproportional to their percentage of U.S population (1.Washington Post). Of all unarmed people shot and killed by police in 2015. With 40% being black men make up just 6% of the nation’s populations. In the wake of the killings of Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, and many more the world has been made more publicly aware of injustices black people have to handle when dealing with law enforcement. Crime in the black community is nothing new in the black community or should I say black on black crime. There is a bad stereotype that has been put on black people since slavery times that I believe has help fueled the violence between the police and my people.

a few years now, police brutality has become an extremely controversial topic and has raised many debates and questions about law enforcement and civilians. Police brutality has been common for decades. However after the death of African Americans such as Michael Brown, Alton Sterling, and Philando Castile, many other African Americans have rose up in protest and anger. The anger stems from these men dying at the hands of police which the civilians believe they died from situation that should have been handled differently. Cases like these have caused a major divide with African Americans and law enforcement. Many people wonder where the relationship between the two went wrong and how police brutality became such a big issue that seems impossible

Police shootings are unfortunate events but whenever there is a shooting, the topic of race emerges. Police shootings have always been the highlights on news channels and there is always the racially biased narrative that keeps repeating itself yet no one seems to dispute this narrative. However, did you know that studies show a police officer is eighteen and a half times more likely to be killed by a African American male than an unarmed African American male is to be killed by a police officer? In fact, a recent “deadly force” study by Washington State University researcher Lois James found that police officers were actually less likely to shoot an unarmed black suspect than unarmed Caucasian or Hispanic suspect in simulated threat scenarios. Some would argue that there are still police shootings all over America and they occur when police officers

Police use of deadly force in America has become a largely talked about issue and seen more and more every day. In 2012, 602 people were killing by police, 326 of the ones killed were white Caucasians, and 123 were black. The reason I point this out is because a lot of people try to make it a race issue. Which in some cases may be true, but believe that it is more than just race it’s about the police being corrupt all round. The police officers power needs to be limited and these killings need to be stopped.

August 9th marks the two-year anniversary of the fatal shooting of black 18-year-old Micheal Brown. Brown was unarmed when shot and killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in Ferguson, Missouri. The shooting caused many protests that disturbed the area for weeks. The story sparked controversy during the time the police, public, and media attempted to assign blame. Not much has changed since then. Despite “who was at fault” or if the victim was “no angel” (Mapping Police Violence) the issue of police using excessive force is still at an inclined rate. This rate may be inclined but from year to year, the numbers are somewhat consistent. These numbers only become staggering once compared to the low numbers in police brutality around

Police brutality against African Americans has become a hot topic in the media. Police brutality is when excessive force is used when it is unnecessary. During the civil rights movement, African American men and women fought for and gained their rights. They may have believed that their suffering had ended there but there is still a long way to go. In Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, he writes about how African Americans are being treated by police and the court system. He describes it as “ grossly unjust treatment” (paragraph 6). Today it is three times more likely for a black person to be killed than a white person. One out of three of the black people killed by police were armed and suspected to have committed an actual crime

In America, police brutality is on the rise. 1297 Americans in 2014, 1307 in 2015, and 506 this year have died due to police brutality (Police Brutality Statistics). African American individuals are three times more likely to be killed in comparison to a white individual (Mapping Police Violence) . This issue has targeted black individuals because of their race. It has reached a point where many cops are not charged or convicted for their violence towards black individuals.

Police brutality has been the most prominent form of racism captured by the media and since the 1992 Los Angeles Riots protesting the death of Rodney King, it still dominates headlines. After more than two decades later, the number of innocent, and unarmed black American deaths have only increased along with the acquisition of the police accountable. According to “More Than 250 Black People Were Killed By Police In 2016,” Julia Craven states that “34 percent of the unarmed people killed in 2016 were black males.” This is unreasonable because according to the same article, “black men make up only 6 percent of the U.S. population.” The numbers are disproportionate enough to show that there is a clear target against blacks. This statistic of black males compared to their white counterparts also show a significant disparity as statistics John Wihbey and Leighton Walter Kille provide in “Excessive or reasonable force by police? Research on law enforcement and racial conflict,” clearly state that unarmed blacks were killed at twice the rate of whites with “31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males.” There is clear cut evidence of racial profiling in policing as blacks who make up a only a small amount of the U.S. population are killed at a much higher rate than whites who make up a majority of the population. This is obvious discriminatory intent by the hands of the police,

As I have read the two articles of Chaney and Robertson, and Yancy and Butler, it demonstrates that mostly black men and women particularly Africans are the most victim of the brutality by the police in America. The reasons behind this situation is all about race. The results are the racism and discrimination against blacks. There are a lot of instances that unarmed black men and women see as a threat by the police. In other words, it shows that blacks are dangerous and threats. However, having white skin did not see as a threat even if they did something suspicious. Chaney and Robertson states an example of an incident of Rodney King who was beaten by members of LAPD or Los Angeles Police Department. Then, because of this incident, many people

Police brutality is a very controversial topic in America. In my personal experience, a lot of people have a hard viewing police officers in a negative view. These people are immortalized and due to this and they are viewed as flawless. A comparison that could be made is they are like superheroes to people. Would you question The Avengers if they killed the “bad guy”? They are the supposed “good guys” so they’re actions are seemed to be backed by reason. So when you see an officer killing someone who is running away, people may question their innocence. If the officer killed them, then they must have been a threat if the officer deemed them one. As was stated in the first paragraph, black people are two times more likely to be killed by a police officer even if they are unarmed according to the data. It was found that 32% of black people killed by police by in 2015 were unarmed, therefore not deemed a threat that needed to be killed. Even though 68% of them were armed, compared to the percent of white