The Case Of Michael Brown 's Death

All across the nation, in the news the black community has been making their voice heard, in regards to white police brutality, and murder against the unarmed black community. Many of these brutal attacks and flat out murders of unarmed black people haven’t been largely prosecuted, some officers have even been acquitted of any wrong doing or murder. This has led to outrage in the African American community at large. The shooting of an unarmed black teen named Michael Brown caused the racial strain in this country to break.

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.

Just this April, the city’s Police Accountability Task Force found that the Chicago Police Department has “no regard for the sanctity of life when it comes to people of color.” Chicago’s population is 31.7% white, 32.9% Black, 28.9% Latino, and 5.5% Asian. However, the Task Force reported that the city’s police officers shoot Black residents at significantly disproportionate rates. Between 2008 and 2015, of all people injured or killed in police-related shootings, 74% were Black, 14% were Hispanic, 8% were white and less than 1% were Asian. The report found almost identical numbers when it came to statistics regarding the use of Tasers. The report also analyzed all people stopped by police during the summer of 2014 and found they were 72% Black,

On August 9, 2014 a white male police officer named Darren Wilson fatally shot an African-American male named Michael Brown to death in Ferguson, MO. An investigation was immediately launched through the collection of evidence from the crime scene, an autopsy of Michael Brown’s body, and interviews with witnesses. For several months following the shooting and after the Grand Jury met, there was immense public speculation over whether Officer Wilson justifiably shot in self-defense or in racially motivated cold blooded murder. The ballistic evidence collected from the crime scene and from the autopsy corroborated Wilson’s story that he was justified in what transpired that fateful afternoon.

Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases are examples of federalism-civil rights debate and government-sanctioned discriminatory treatment

Michael Brown, an unarmed black male was shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9, 2014. According to a report issued by the Department of Justice, Shortly before the shooting, Brown stole several packages of cigars with his friend Dorian Johnson, from a nearby convenience store and shoved the store clerk who tried to stop him. Police officer Wilson had been notified by radio of the robbery and given descriptions of the two suspects. Brown, eighteen at the time, and his friend were walking down the middle of a city street when Officer Wilson arrived on the scene and stopped them. He ordered the pair to walk on the sidewalk, but the two refused to do so. Though details of the events that followed

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).

On Saturday, Eric Garner’s mother spoke to the thousands of demonstrators who took the streets in protest to Garner’s unlawful death, she said, “Keep on doing it, but do it in peace.” Garner was a New York shop owner, known for illegally selling cigarettes. Daniel Pantelo, the officer responsible for locking Garner in the choke hold, responded to a 911 call about Garner illegally selling cigarettes once again. Officer Pantelo pulled Garner into a choke hold after refusing to talk with Pantelo and his colleagues. Garner pleaded,

On July 17th, 2014, Garner was arrested on suspicion of selling “loosies”, single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps. The incident was captured on video tape and made publicly available shortly after and went viral. In the footage, the asthmatic, three-hundred-fifty pound Eric Garner was put into an apparent chokehold in an effort to subdue him after he told the arresting officers that he “was tired of being harassed” and refused to comply with their orders. In the footage audio Garner can be heard exclaiming “I can’t breathe” eleven times before the chokehold is released. Garner had to be hospitalized immediately, and was pronounced dead less than an hour after the incident. Garner’s death was ruled a homicide and the officer responsible

On July 17th of last year Eric Garner was stopped by the police to be confronted about selling untaxed loose cigarettes illegally. Eric Garner verbally resisted arrest by arguing with the cops about the terms of his arrest. After bickering for a few minutes the cops proceed to perform a chokehold like maneuver, which acted as a catalyst toward the imminent death that would come of Garner. Prior to Garner’s encounter with Daniel Pantaleo his aggressor and rest of the NYPD cops, he already had several health issues such as diabetes and asthma. Consequently, this sparked a powder key of mammoth proportions, with outbreaks of destructive riots and protests. Furthermore, two notable contrasting interpretations of this controversial case are those

According to our lecture,“Racism and discrimination are what we call a ‘root problem’ in society because it also affects the way we discuss” various social topics such as violence (Reali, 2018). Hence, the stereotype that young African-American men are violent, which is most likely why the policemen automatically detained Grant and his friends for violent behavior. As for discrimination, the policemen also treated these Black men in an unfair manner by using the N-word, pushing, and physically harming them. It brings up the question of “What would have happened if these men were white,?” and if things would have turned out differently if they were. Furthermore, the gunshot that killed Oscar Grant is another example of the policemen’s prejudice and discrimination towards African-Americans, since he allowed a prejudgement thought influence his actions, even though there was no need to use violence (Reali, 2018). In my opinion, this goes back to the prejudice and discrimination that has lasted hundreds of years against African-Americans that still continues to affect these minorities. One of the characteristics of this minority groups is the unequal treatment they experience with having “less power over their lives than members of a dominant group have over their own lives,” clearly being the case, in which Grant had no power over the fate of his life. (Reali,

Many of the people in Ferguson felt that this young man was fatally shot based off the color of his skin, and that this would not have happened if he was white. In fact, there is a large amount of African American individuals who believe that officers are “morally bankrupt” (Mcwhorter, 2014). This position is taken by countless communities across America (Mcwhorter 2014).

Ever since I was young, I've always thought of my step-dad as a hero. I affectionately called him "Jake Justice," after a muscular, brave super-hero police officer in the show Rescue Heroes. Seeing him come home every night in his crisp black uniform and K-9 unit police car was often the highlight of my day. To me, there was nothing cooler than what he did - putting bad guys in jail. Even as a young child, I knew the importance and the dangers of what he did. Every night I would tell him to be safe. I constantly thanked him for what he did. And for a while, most of the world followed my sentiments and gratitude as well.

Last year, I was browsing on YouTube. A title got my attention, so I clicked on the link. I started to watch the video. It was a dark skin man being forced by police officers until death. Eric Garner a dark skin man was on his 40s who was a victim of police officers mistakes or to be realistic it was training for them. Garner has suffered after the police officer tight grip his neck in order to restrict his breathing. Garner gave in at that moment but the police officer was remaining the force on him. Melanie Eversley states, “The refrain "I can't breathe," said by the asthmatic Garner to police at least 11 times as police held him to the ground and before he died, became a rallying cry for protesters who claim a pattern of misconduct by

different narrative poems by analyzing text structure and figurative language and produce their own alternative narrative poems.” This unit is called, “Unheard Voices.” Prior to this learning segment, students explored whose voices are heard in our culture and whose may go unheard by many and examined the ways that news outlets, media, and political organizations give voices to certain narratives. Students analyzed a controversial topic, the Michael Brown Case from different perspectives and learned the concept, “lying by omission.” They also read a dominant and an alternative narrative on Martin Luther King Jr. and compare and contrast them.