Why Do Police Kill African Americans

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)

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

Young black men who are shot by the police are very commonly justified, such as Michael Brown who was shot by police because he went for a cops gun inside a cops car. Slyville Smith was killed because he had a record of various arrests, and refused to put his illegally obtained pistol down when an officer asked him to. Where are the overzealous white cops who are out to take young black men into prisons for no reason? Where are the cops who kill solely because they're racist? Some may argue that cops who are pulling people over for “small” crimes like a broken tail light or slightly speeding is what causes more police brutality, but if a cop pulls a person over for a broken tail light, and they get out of the car with a weapon, is the cop really racist in that scenario? Or is the cop simply protecting himself and others around them? Racism in the police force is virtually nonexistent. I can agree that certain individuals will be racist, but one cop being racist in an entire department of cops does not mean there is an institutionalized issue, and can be cared for much easier; fire the

Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict defines police brutality as the use of excessive or unnecessary force by police against the public. Excessive force is explained to be any behavior or force beyond what is reasonably necessary in order to control a situation. It is a common misnomer that people believe some police use excessive force more often than not. What’s more concerning is most of the time people believe that this excessive force is usually focused upon the African American men, women, and children. This misnomer is typically found to be found in city settings where the population consists of mostly African Americans. The population make up causes the common belief to seem more true than it may otherwise appear.

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.

Police brutality is becoming a trend in America. Tensions among the public and especially the African American community are rising due to the latest cases of police brutality. Many people believe that we have come far in this society but to be honest Racism is still a factor. The use of brutal and lethal force by some police officers leading to unnecessary deaths have African American parents on edge to send their children outside for anything. Law enforcement and people whom we trust with our lives are the very same to take it. Some people may want to argue that these cases such as the shooting of Michael brown and choking of Eric Garner are isolated incidents. Others would argue that the work of a police officer is too difficult and that sometimes an officer needs to use such force in order to enforce the law and protect him/herself while on duty. Law enforcement proclaims to feel threatened however what about the civilians who feel threatened of becoming the next target or victim of prey. The society is well aware that not all police commit these crimes and that we do still have law abiding officers. However, with the effort from everyone we can eradicate the bad apples and create a safer road for the officers and civilians.

The Klu klux klan was the largest terrorist group in American history to murder more than hundreds of thousands of people not only blacks but anyone who was outspoken about their support for civil rights. For example in document A the political cartoon depicts a horse that represents the kkk and two white men who were lynched; one of the men represents a carpetbagger and the other represents scalawags. Carpetbaggers were new people from the north who were working to form new governments and scalawags were white southerners who were supportive of reconstruction. The text states “... another brave, honest Republican citizen has met his fate at the hands of these fiends..” The man was left hanged in a jury room; the kkk would go to extreme measure to make examples out of others to control through fear.

There are so many people getting murder by cops, black people especially. There are many innocent cops being killed as well. People are getting killed every day for no reason at all. When a cop kill an African American seem like nothing is never done. They did not indict that officer for the death of Eric Garner.

Although African Americans may make up 13% of the U.S. population and 14% of monthly drug users, they are 37% of the people arrested for drug offenses. The chances of a policeman stopping blacks are higher than the chances of them stopping whites. It is proven that the police force will ignore the situation of a white person committing a major crime. Compare any case of a black person involved with drugs to the case of Dylann Roof, a white twenty-one year old that opened fire and killed nine black people, and nothing makes sense. Witnesses say he proclaimed his hate for black people right before he began shooting. When he was arrested, the police were very polite to him and never treated him

Over the past three years there has been cases of unarmed people in the United States being killed by police. Cases have been reported from Ohio and Missouri. These cases all seem to stem from police harming or even killing unarmed citizens of African descent. Marches, memorials, rallies and protests resulted after these incidents. Racial profiling is not what police officers are trained to do. They are citizens of the community that are trained to protect the community and not to stereotype individuals due to the color of skin and nationality.

Last year, blacks were killed very often and in bad demeanors by cops. Alton Sterling was pinned to the ground, hands up unarmed, was shot twice in the chest and died. Nothing happened to those cops because they say it was self-defense. Another incident where a black male was pulled over his hands clearly shown on his steering wheel, was shot dead with his wife and son in the car. Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in his own neighborhood just because of his appearance, the man was set

Police brutality is not a new subject. It has been around for numerous years, and like most issues, has resurfaced to the public’s eyes. The recent events brought up the question: Does there need to be a reform in the system in the police system? In this year alone, there have been countless cases of individuals being harmed or even killed by police officers for reasons that continuously are not explained. What has people more attentive to this injustice are statistics showing that most victims in these police attacks happen to be African Americans and other minorities.

The killings of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, and many other victims, have sparked concerns over the 14th amendment. This amendment grants citizenship and equal protection under the law. Activists believe that this amendment is being violated because black Americans are 2.5 times more likely to get killed by a police officer than white Americans. Police officers are more likely found near black neighborhoods due to poverty, unemployment, segregation, and irresponsibility when serious crimes occur in these communities. Police officers tend to kill unarmed black Americans because of this bias. “About 13 percent of all black people who have been fatally shot by police since January 2015 were unarmed, compared

Some of their most deadly violence consisted of: The 1964 freedom summer killing, the 1965 murder of civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo, and the 1981 lynching of Michael Donald. Other events in our history also caused surges in this groups activity. One researcher working for History.com spoke of how, “The civil rights movement of the 1960’s also saw a surge of Ku Klux Klan activity, including bombings of black schools and churches and violence against black and white activists in the south.” The Ku Klux Klan is a relevant part in our history, and it has pushed us to move forth in this search for equality, but The Klan still exists and have avoided punishment in all of their previous and current actions. They deserve significant

In this heartbreaking film, a young child was brutally raped by two white men. It was a sunny day and all she wanted to do was make her parents satisfied by buying groceries. As she walked home a big red truck pulled over, two white drunken men grabbed her, and raped her. She screamed, she cried, and she call her daddy’s name as they pissed on her and violated this 10 year old girl. They left her for dead, but, her brothers found her and they made sure she got home so she would be helped. This young girl bleeding, crying, no one could hear her weeps, but, even if someone spotted or heard this young child, she was black so no one would care.