Esther Kim
Dr. Turner-Odom
AFRS 100-01
Research Paper
15 December 2017
Police Brutality against African American People
There has been a long-time history of police brutality more on African American people than on Caucasian people. White police officers profile African American people as criminals just because of the color of their skin which causes physical, mental, and psychological damage.
Police brutality is an excess and unnecessary use of violence police officers use toward civilians. Police abuse has been going on since the time of slavery when police officers captured slaves who tried to escape. Since this issue has been going on for a long time, I believe that people are getting accustomed to this issue. Police brutality seems to be a big issue in America. However, other countries do not seem to have police brutality as an issue. This makes us wonder why America has higher police brutality than other countries. America is the most diverse country which means there are the most number of people in U.S who are of different race than Caucasians. This idea link race and police brutality together. I chose this topic to argue because recently, the violence against people of color has been brought up more often by the media; however there has been no punishments against the officers or change in leadership to resolve the issue. People do not seem to understand that police brutality can be traumatic for African Americans. Violence is not just physical, it could be
-By definition the term police brutality is “applied in the context of causing physical harm, it may also involve psychological harm through the use of intimidation tactics beyond the scope of officially sanctioned police procedure.” In today’s society we have police known as riot police, who are known throughout the world to use extreme force. Statistics show almost every time the riot police are involved in crowd control, there is at least one fatality and multiple injured. This is why I believe this is one of the most important issues in the World today. Police are there to protect us but from April 2009 to June 2010 in the United States there were 5986 reports of misconduct from police officers. Police brutality has today’s citizens doubting the police department, and how they go about their arrest. Police brutality is an everyday occurrence, especially in cities where there are large communities of Blacks, Latinos and Asians.
Police brutality is the lavish physical assault or verbal assault during police procedures which can involve interrogating or apprehending a suspect. Police brutality originated from the labor worker strikes in the 1800’s through the 1900’s. The violent brutal act of these officers usually formed around the lower socioeconomic class. Since then police brutality has hit an all-time high in the 21st century. In New York alone there has been reportedly over 72 police brutality reports some reports even ended in the deaf of a citizen. There’s been claim of police officers violently choking citizens at traffics stops and beating citizen up in public. There’s been new technology such as body cameras which are used by most police but not all.
African Americans get the most brutality in communities. “Over the last 500 years people of different race, especially African Americans, have encountered a pattern of state sanctioned violence and civil and human rights abuse. To enforce capitalist exploitation and racial oppression the government and its police, courts, prisons, and military have beaten, framed, murdered and executed private persons, and brutally repressed struggles for freedom, justice, and self-determination. (Sundiata,1)”. The African Americans began to fight back against the beating of their race with riots. These riots and brutality started during the middle 1900’s. The government also takes the responsibility for the actions and non-actions of the police officers during race riots and rebellions. But why do blacks feel like they get beaten and harassed by law enforcement? Over the years, police have come to a conclusion that just because someone of a different race is in a luxurious car, they must be dealing drugs or looking for trouble in the community. Law enforcement isn’t trying to harass the community by pulling
There is a major issue with police brutality within the confinements of the United States of America, within society in general. The problem of police brutality is not just a problem with African American, it is spread throughout all the races. “Mr. Castellani who is 20 years old, yelling and pointing at officers, who are posted down the street, after his ejection from an Atlantic City casino for being underage. Four officers rush him, take him down and begin beating him -- a fifth officer soon joins in.”(The Baltimore,Leonard Pitts Jr.). It just so happened that this man was black and had been brutally attacked by police because he said something they didn't like it. It isn't always African Americans that are attacked thought, in 2014 Donovan Duran, a Colorado MMA fighter, was beat and dragged to the hospital by police men claiming Duran was intoxicated and hallucinating. He was brutally attacked because of what he believed in, it didn't have anything to do with his skin color, as he was attacked by white police man and Duran turned out to be a Caucasian man with a family and a job. All of that was taken away from him the moment the cops dragged him into the hospital claiming he wasn't right in the head and the cops found him like that. In 2014 Donovan Duran, a Colorado MMA fighter, was beat and dragged to the
Police brutality has been a major issue since slavery. In slavery people, mainly whites, were able to do anything to black people without having to deal without dealing with the consequences. Families were destroyed, people died, babies were killed, and many unknown factors still to this day that will never be known. When slavery was abolished, it did not end right away. It took several years and still is not abolished if you look at in a political way. People of power, mainly white, were not happy that a black person could be seen as equals. This is the main reason why they feel it is okay to lash out at black people. There are several major issues that are causing and epidemic in The United States. However, the main issue that seems to be the most discussed is about police brutality in the black community. “Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. “Excessive use of force” means a force well beyond what would be necessary in order to handle a situation. Police brutality can be present in a number of ways. The most obvious form of police brutality is a physical form. Police officers can use nerve gas, batons, pepper spray, and guns in order to physically intimidate or even intentionally hurt civilians. Police brutality can also take the form of false arrests, verbal abuse, psychological intimidation, sexual abuse, police corruption, racial profiling, political repression and the improper use of Tasers”
One day a boy named Tyrone and his father were on there way to Six Flags when they were pulled over by a police officer. The cop walked up to the vehicle and Tyrone’s dad asked the officer why he was pulled over. Then the cop asked Blue, Tyrone 's dad, to step out the car so he stepped out the car and the officer searched him. After that Blue tried to take off his jacket but the officer thought he had a gun and pulled out his weapon and shot Blue in his face in front of his 10 year old son. Blue was rushed to the hospital he was in critical condition, Blue died later that night. Police shouldn’t be able to get away with police brutality because officers are responsible
What is police brutality? Police brutality is an act of misconduct done by a member of law enforcement with an extreme amount of force to physically, mentally, or emotionally attack a member of society.Some may view police brutality as something that doesn’t need any attention, but that shouldn’t be the thought of police brutalty in today society. Law enforcement brutality is becoming more common and is often going unnoticed because the courts have not brought the policemen to justice for the misconduct they have shown to people. Officers are sworn in to protect and serve their community. However, some law enforcement officers have abused their rights and authority. These same decisions made by officers have caused severe, if not fatal, outcomes during confrontations with citizens around the world. According to Smithsonian Mag , in 2016 233 African-Americans were shot and killed by police officers.
Police brutality is a crime that is has been surfacing in the news recently. Some people are just starting to realize that these injustices against the black community really occur, while others are well aware. However, the injustices towards African Americans, mainly target black males. Some statistics indicate that since many black men do not have fathers around to guide their lives in the right direction, they’ll automatically grow up to be thugs, hoodlums, hooligans, or gangsters. However, the false foreshadowings are just examples of African Americans being racially profiled. If you were able to ask Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner, I’m sure they would have said that black
It has been more than 50 years since Martin Luther King marched on Capitol Hill to deliver his I Have a Dream Speech. In that speech he talked about how Negros have been crippled by the handcuffs of racial segregation and discrimination. He also spoke of police brutality. Martin Luther King stated “we can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of unspeakable horrors of police brutality. These words are still hold true today and hold just as much relevance today as it did 50 years ago.
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.
It is crazy how much police brutality goes on in the United States. Some names of popular cases are Philando Castile, Rekia Boyd, and Tamir Rice (Lopez, Johnson 6). Is it a coincidence that all three people that were just listed are African American, or that the majority of police brutality cases involve people who are not white? Racial corruption exists in the judicial system as shown by unlawful shootings, stereotypes, and stand-your-ground laws. Somebody has to stand up and do something; everybody has to stand up and do something. But how can anything be accomplished if citizens are just shut down, laughed at and problems only get recognized for about a week or even a couple months and then forgotten about? This is a clear, known issue throughout
Police brutality has been on a steady incline since the 1980’s; but numbers have sky rocketed since the early 2000’s. An article from “USA Today” stated that their research department found that, “cases in which police without justice, destructing the lives of families, and becoming daily dictators in our society today. There are so many Americans suffering everyday due to loss of a loved one who was killed during an as of police brutality; not only are they dealing with grief ,but inly few got what they truly deserved. David Burnham states his research that, “Last year, 96% of cases referred for prosecutions by investigate agencies were declined “(USA Today). Police officers should have to wear cameras within their uniforms to prevent anymore lies from being told and prevent any complications from justice properly being served
White police officers are infamous for using excess force towards young African-American especially in larger cities such as Chicago. It has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place in front of their homes.$1,800,000,000 is estimated to be the annual cost of police misconduct to taxpayers. Although the misconduct isn’t strictly towards police brutality, $1,800,000,000 is incredibly outrageous. There may be a reason to why African-Americans seem to be targeted by police officers. Many believe this could be a sign that racism has been institutionalized in our police force across the nation.
Over the past five centuries, black people have endured violence in many different ways. Today, police officers use deadly, excessive force that leads to inexcusable assaults, beatings and shootings.
Allegations of police brutality by the U.S. police departments have been on the rise for the past two decades. The use of excessive force by police officers beyond what is considered necessary is not a new fact to the world. Many of these encounters with civilians have been unjustified because the majority ultimately ends in death. The police involve the use of weapons such as batons, Tasers, pepper spray, or guns. This may also include false arrests, psychological trauma, and verbal abuse. Some individuals will state they are just doing their job, but others argue these cases can be traced back to poor training and policies. Every police officer has the right to protect himself and the community, but they should be able to discern when to use reasonable or excessive force on the civilian depending on the situation at hand.