Social And Economic Disparities Are Plaguing The City Of Baltimore Essay

Baltimore city had a strong economy, and it was among the top prosperous cities in the United States (U.S)leadingin wages, jobs, and industries up until the 1950s. Since the 1960s, however, the city has seen a decline in its economy as a result of systematic governance failures. Recently, Baltimore has been experiencing an increase in homicide unlike prior years, and in fact, by the end of 2015, various law enforcement organizations predict the city will break its homicide record. As a citizen, Baltimore’s murder rate is a crucial issue to tackle than police brutality because it is symptom indicative of larger issues that need to be addressed and solved in the black community. Three major issues often talked about in Baltimore

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)

Police brutality has been an issue in the United States for decades. Many of the police force today are perceived in a bad way through video footages on social media that displays images of the police brutally beating on citizens to an extent of death. In the article “Police Violence and Citizen Crime Reporting in the Black Community” written by Matthew Desmond, Andrew V. Papachristos, and David S. Kirk, discusses police misconducts causing communities to be an unsafe environment for citizens, especially the black community. Many black men have experienced racial profiling or police brutality in Milwaukee and this continues on to a point where calling 911 for help is no longer a choice for individuals to use due to a publicized case of police violence against a defenseless man, Frank Jude. Jude, as stated in the article, was unarmed, accused, stripped naked, and beaten by the police viciously. This terrifying incident caused many to protest against the police force. Desmond, Papachristos, and Kirk all believed that after this savage case, many residents in Milwaukee, mainly the black community, stop reporting crimes which lasted for a year. In Milwaukee, police violence on black men made an impact on citizens reporting

Wear a mask, a sunglass , carry a bottle of water and an umbrella. This is how you walk in Kathmandu,Nepal, if you don’t want to be sick.Living in an unhealthy environment can bring a lot of health complications.You get sick and spend most of you time getting well. It was a surprise to visit baltimore ,because it was a very clean and green place. There were lots of trees and parks. It wanted to stay in baltimore, until I explored the outer county. I found there weren’t any bus shuttles, the houses were not managed properly , it looked dirty and most of all it smelled foul. And there are a number of people living in such poor conditions in Maryland.The contrast between the inner and the outer baltimore made me think, why is the outer

In recent years and in light of recent tragedies, police actions, specifically police brutality, has come into view of a large, public and rather critical eye. The power to take life rests in the final stage of the criminal justice system. However, the controversy lies where due process does not. While the use of deadly force is defined and limited by departmental policies, it remains an act guided chiefly by the judgment of individual officers in pressure situations. (Goldkamp 1976, 169). Many current studies have emphasized the racial disparities in minority deaths, primarily black Americans, killed by police through means of deadly force. The history of occurrences reveals the forlorn truth that police reforms only receive attention in wake of highly publicized episodes of police misconduct. The notorious 1992 Los Angeles riots brought the matter to mass public attention and prompted improved law enforcement policy. Significant local reforms resulted, for instance, ending the policy of lifetime terms for police chiefs. Additionally, on a broader platform, in 1994, Congress approved provisions to the Crime Control Act in effort to tackle police abuse in a more structured way.

This is proof that there is racial discrimination in law enforcement that affects police brutality. This also reinforces the culture of people of color being less human than white people, which takes its roots all the way back to slavery in America. When slavery was still prevalent in the United States, white people believed that black people(slaves), did not feel pain like they felt pain. After slavery was abolished, black people were still strongly regarded as inferior to white people and white people still saw them as wild creatures rather than human beings. White people saw themselves superior to every other race of people, so it was common for them to mistreat other races that weren’t white. This mindset is not as strong as it was in the past but, it is still strong enough to affect the choices police officers make during interactions with people of color. As a result of discrimination at the police level, many people have turned to court system’s to reach justice.

First, it is crucial to note that police brutality is not synonymous to racism against a particular group. However, there is a stigma that police often racially profile a specific African Americans. In February 2015, two cases of police brutality did not involve African Americans; instead the two victims were a Hispanic shot and killed in Washington State and an Indian-American severely paralyzed in Alabama. Even with this considered, of late, a majority of police brutality cases have involved minorities and specifically African American males. Cases such as Michael Brown and Freddie Gray have sparked a cultural uprising. These trigger event inspired the protests and riots against police brutality demonstrating collective action and physical violence, but the idea of police brutality is much larger than these individual cases, since it is a reoccurring cycle.

Police brutality is a controversial issue that has recently been in the news, but seems to have always been an issue in America. Police brutality refers to the intentional use of verbal or physical attacks directed towards individuals by the police force that result in false arrests, sexual abuse, or death. (Dudley, William 13.) Most of these actions are linked to racial profiling: the targeting of individuals for suspicion of crime based solely on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. (Dudley, William 13.) Statistics about how often racial profiling and police brutality occurs, movements such as Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, and police reform efforts are just a few points as to why this topic is so controversial today.

Racism and police brutality in America” by Cassandra Chaney and Ray V. Robertson touch upon racism and brutality in America. Their article talks about respecting the cops but they also mention police brutality through stories from people that experienced this. Although Satzewich and Shaffir reached out to people to cops to write about their personal experiences and thoughts about racial profiling, Chaney and Robertson’s article is a stronger source because they used several sources and focus on both sides of the situation.

A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found justified in a court of law due to his “suspicious” appearance: a black hoodie and his hands in his pocket. An elderly woman is fatally shot in her home for her relation to a suspected criminal. A married man with two toddlers is choked to death after a minor traffic stop by an officer who later claimed that his unarmed victim was wielding a gun. These people all have a few commonalities: the color of their skin, their presumed guilt at first sight, and their ultimate unjustified death administered by the law force. These are not uncommon occurrences. Due to the staggeringly disproportionate rate of African-Americans killed by the police, and the underlying rampant racial profiling, police brutality towards blacks in America must be called to light.

Excessive force and police brutality have become common terms for anyone keeping up with today’s current events. In 2014, the media covered numerous cases of excessive force that resulted in the deaths of several people of color (Nelson & Staff, 2014). The most widely covered cases by the media in 2014 were of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black male shot and killed by police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri; and Eric Garner, a 43-year-old black male in Staten Island, New York who was put into a choke by police officer Daniel Pantaleo until he lost consciousness and stopped breathing (Nelson & Staff, 2014). These cases brought attention to the seriousness of police brutality and the curiosity of how often it occurs (Brown, 2015).

The crisis in Baltimore city has had a widespread effect on the entire population. Despite, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings ensuring that the security and civil rights of the citizens will be protected; the people of Baltimore have lost faith in those who have the authority to make significant changes within the city. Because of their distrust and constant frustration, the people within the city have decided to riot and cause havoc throughout the neighborhoods of Baltimore. The growing violence within the city of Baltimore shows that the frustration of the people runs deep and it will take a substantial amount of time to correct the issue. Many believe that constant funding will bring about change instantly. There will be change but it will take some time and due to slow progression many become frustrated. The frustration of the people has been compounding due to a variety of things such as lack of employment, minimal funds, and the constant frustration of those in authority i.e. the police. The consistent rioting of the people in Baltimore have led to issues of safety in the area. Those who have decided not to riot must then take refuge within their homes or another safe haven because their safety is being jeopardized. Safety is a huge issue amongst the city of Baltimore and have led to violent crime rates, property crime rates, and unsafe streets.

Over the past few months a lot has changed the city for the good and the bad. I am an eyewitness of police brutality that has taken place on a daily basis there. There are several individuals in Baltimore who have no respect for the police at all and the reason is they feel as if the police officers have no respect for them. A Baltimore resident by the name Freddie Gray died from a spinal injury at the hands of police during an arrest on April 2015. Trust he was the not the first who was injured or killed in police custody in Baltimore. “$5.7 million is the amount the city of Baltimore has paid to victims of brutality, between 2011 and 2014.Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil-rights violations." (Johnston, 2015).

Teens and adults of underprivileged social community were abused and neglected in Baltimore due to the fact of the wrongful death of Freddie Gray. Even though the mayor and the commissioner chosen to turned a blinds eye’s to what had happened. The citizens of Baltimore choose to react and demonstration that the actions of the police department would not go unpunished. To me I am disappointed to know that the brutality still existent and that our civil rights are still being violated in the US. Personal I believe in non-violence but I do not believe a man or women should be a victim of brutality. A victim by definition, “is a person harmed, injured or killed as a result of injustice or unmoral events”.

In his book, Stuck in Place: Urban Neighborhood and the End of Progress toward Racial Equality, Patrick Sharkey sheds a light on wide range of reasons that contribute to the persistent racial inequality among the American society. He also draws attention to the intergenerational neighborhood effects on mobility level (the ability to move upward, or downward in terms of the economic status, education, and occupation) of the residents of destitute areas. In this extension, I am going to present a study that was done on 14 Bangalore slum communities in India, and highlight the main issues that Sharkey included in his book.