African Americans in modern America have bound together in unity against inequality to help end the unnecessary murders and unjust police beatings. However, where did these tensions between police and African Americans begin? This question can be answered by looking at the history of police in America and why they were originally established. Police first came on to the scene in 1704 when Carolina established the nation’s first slave patrol that would turn into what we know today as the modern police. The slave patrol had the duty of searching for runaway slaves and returning them to their masters. Therefore, the original reason the police force was established was to deal with black slaves and it seems as if some officers today still hold that as their job title. However, this was just the beginning to the negative police encounters that many African Americans would have to endure. With the ratification of the 13th amendment and the freeing of the slaves the slave patrol became what is known as modern day police. During reconstruction the police began a war to create a new form of slavery, this form of slavery was known as convict leasing. Although, the 13th amendment legalized the enslavement of anyone convicted of a crime it seemed as if it was only used against African Americans. This new method of enslavement sky rocketed the rate of African American arrests and created new laws in the south such as the pig laws which sentenced anyone who stole a pig to 5 years in
Leading up to the establishment of the Chicago Police Department, the first rank of “constable” was created in 1830. Authorization of Chicago’s very own police force occurred on January 31, 1835. On August 15, 1835, the Chicago Police Department was born. The department’s mission reads, “The Chicago Police Department, as part of, and empowered by, the community, is committed to protect the lives, property, and rights of all people, to maintain order, and to enforce the law impartially. We will provide quality police service in partnership with other members of the community. To fulfill our mission, we will strive to attain the highest degree of ethical behavior and professional conduct at all times.” Orsemus Morrison was elected Chicago’s first constable; he was assisted by Constables Luther Nichols and John Shrigley. The three men served and protected a population of about 3,200. In the year 1837, the Municipal Court of Chicago was created. It had co-jurisdiction with the Cook County Court within corporate limits of the city of Chicago. Between the years 1838 and 1854, the Chicago P.D consisted of very few collection of officers, constables, and part-time night watchers to maintain the quickly-expanding city.
Police Relations with Minority Ethnic Communities The Macpherson report was published in 1999 amidst problems of racial inequality and a lack of faith in the police amongst minority ethnic communities. There is an ongoing debate on whether Macpherson’s report was a help or a hindrance with regards to minority ethnic relations and the police; it is this dispute that the essay shall examine. To begin with the paper will look at the problems, which existed prior to Sir William Macpherson’s publication and which led to the publication of his report. It will then proceed to examine the failures of the Scarman report, in order to look at both the prior problems and failures regarding the 1981 Scarman
“The African American community is not making this up. It’s not something that’s being politicized. It’s real”
"There were two cops. One said 'You niggers have to learn to respect police officers.' The other one said, 'If you yell or make any noise, I will kill you.' Then one held me and the other shoved the plunger up my behind. He pulled it out, shoved it in my mouth, broke my teeth and said, 'That's your *censored*, nigger.'"(Abner Louima) The police officers that allegedly performed this act of racial violence on August 9, 1997 had no reason to brutally beat and sodomize Abner Louima. They beat him for the fact that he was an African-American. I will show how I researched a poem by Maya Angelou and how racism occurred in "The Bluest Eye". First, we need to understand what racism is.
Social psychologists have studied the cause and effect of biases, specifically by white police officers towards minorities. Implicit bias, specifically racial bias, describes a psychological process in which a person’s unconscious racial belief (stereotypes) and attitudes (prejudices) affect his or her behaviors, perceptions, and judgments in ways that they are largely unaware of and typically, unable to control (Graham).
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
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.
There are many instances where minorities are not given the chance to prosper in American society. The same system that promises all men equal opportunity has turned its back in the face of minorities. We plan to examine some segments of this system, namely the media and the criminal justice system, exposing injustices burdening minorities in America.
African Americans are targeted by law enforcement more often than any other race (Toth, Crews & Burton, 2008). Because of this the term racial profiling was created to explain the process of targeting people for criminal activity because of race not evidence (Toth et al, 2008). African Americans are over represented in the criminal justice system based on their population amount compared to whites (Toth et al, 2008). African American males are incarcerated at a rate 9 times that of white males in most states, in others that number may be as high as 12 to 26 times more (Toth et al, 2008). Nationwide statistics show in most states 1 in 20 over the age of 18 are in prison, while 5 other states report 1 in 13 or 14 compared to the 1 in 180
Police brutality against African Americans was a huge impact in Los Angeles, California in 1991, and continues to be a problematic situation in America today. On March 3, 1991, a group of white LAPD beat Rodney King. After this incident occurred a lot of negative events started to transpire. A lot of African Americans were angry and demanded justice. The relationship between the LAPD and the Los Angeles community in 1991 were horrific and still continues to be awful today. Police brutality just seems to be increasing more overtime, which means the increase in the community not trusting the police. Police brutality can be a huge disadvantage when it comes to community policing.
There are many ways the criminal justice system plays a huge role in the discrimination against all people of color. Mostly, there are a wide range of studies within the African American communities that expresses concern, prejudice, and even racial profiling in the criminal justice system pertaining to blacks. Judges, jurors, police officers, and even marriages are key roles of the societal disadvantages African Americans have. African Americans are even being arrested more than any other race in America. With societal disadvantages, how can African Americans be striving citizens in America?
The role of police officers is very significant to American history. Police work toward protecting citizens’ rights and helping America become the land of the free. The United States of America is built from the U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights and police play a major role in making sure American rights are met. Evolution has changed many of American history for the better; policing is part of those changes. As new issues in society arise, police must change and adapt to protect and serve the public.
There is recent controversy over police use of force, especially in minority communities such as in African American communities, Hispanic communities, and other publics with large populations of minorities. Increased levels of force among these communities have created challenges for police departments. These challenges include a lack of trust from the community towards law enforcement officers and an absence of respect creating situations that lead to police use of force. There are already various programs in place that attempt to decrease this challenge by educating the public, respecting one another, and giving those who were on the wrong track second chances. A combination of these solutions and the implementation of more of them would decrease the number of contacts between police and minorities that lead to the use of force (Roberg & Novak, 2014).
Throughout the last one hundred and fifty years, there has been a history of tension and conflict between the police and minority communities in the United States. In principle, the police exist to enforce the law and protect all citizens regardless of race or ethnic background, yet police departments across the country have been repeatedly accused of targeting and harassing racial minorities, and of failing to root out racist attitudes and practices within their ranks. In recent years, high profile cases such as the beating of Rodney King in Los Angles and the assault on Abner Louima in New York have only served to heighten concerns over the mistreatment of minorities by the police, resulting in widespread calls for major legal and institutional reforms. The recent shootings of Michael Brown, Ezell Ford, Eric Garner, and Terrance Crutcher underscore the danger Black men and boys face when they cross paths with law enforcement officers. In the absence of a coordinated national strategy, state and local police departments have largely been left to develop their own solutions to the problems of policing minority communities and improving cultural sensitivity amongst their officers. Many departments have sought to reform recruitment and selection policies in the hope of attracting greater numbers of minority applicants, while others have instituted diversity training and education programs aimed at improving police understanding of minority cultures and communities. To date, however, these efforts have yielded mixed results. Some departments have achieved notable successes, but on the whole, relations between the police and minority communities across the country remain strained. of cultural diversity and the police.
African Americans are oppressed by the Jim Crow laws which ultimately separated White Americans and Black Americans by creating Black only restaurants or White only bathrooms. And if a person of African heritage did not comply with these laws? They were likely to be brutalized by police. In this day and age many would like to believe that African Americans no longer have problems when it comes to policing or unjust treatment from society. Unfortunately, this is not the case. With several unjustified killings or beatings of African American people from police over the span of many decades, is there an abnormally high rate of incidents with negative outcomes between police officers and