One of the most evident forms of racism that can be seen, is police brutality. Law enforcement, is meant to protect and serve the citizens of the community. Through recent years, mostly thanks to media, citizens have seen just how unjust law enforcement treats people, especially African Americans. Of course, it is no surprise to see this, as we’ve seen just how vicious police have been to blacks, in the 1960s; Bloody Sunday, troops supporting the KKK, laws enforced to degrade blacks etc. You’d see blacks being prosecuted and arrested for no reason; you’d see them be accused of crimes they didn’t do, always being found guilty. This is relevant today, as blacks are still viewed as lower class citizens; labeled as ‘thugs’ who come from a problematic
Cops beat blacks mostly because of certain stereotypes (blacklivesmatter.com). Police brutality of blacks is a form of hatred that still very much exists. “Police brutality, and unjust discrimination is still alive, only it's getting worse” (huffingtonpost.com Black Lives Matter). Officers, more commonly caucasian police, discriminate because of the negative perceptions they undoubtedly have on blacks. For example, just on March 14, 2016, an unarmed, african american male was fatally shot and killed because the police assumed he was up to no good . “A Raleigh police officer recently shot and killed an unarmed African American because he ‘looked dangerous’” (http://countercurrentnews.com). Another example is the infamous Trayvon Martin situation. Where George Zimmerman, a local neighborhood watch coordinator, murdered him because he was black and had his hood up. So Zimmerman automatically supposed Martin was dangerous.
The police are pronouncing a campaign of domination and restraint of populations and that movement has the understood endorsement of every citizen within their precincts. This is not a reprobate officer difficulty; this is a cad society crisis (Russell, 2000). Police brutality is the manifestation of a race issue that has been growing over an extensive period of time. Police brutality cannot be fought without addressing the core issue of racism and proper measures of reform through the auspices of the law. It is important that we as a nation set aside time to really discuss the issues that surround institutional racism and institutional bias that creates the stigma that surrounds the African-American population. The police are simply mediums
One might bring up the fact that it is just a few police officers who act with inappropriate force. Yet those few acts have been against a majority of black people and on top of that these acts have been constant . Imagine having to repeatedly see the police beat up or even kill someone who
Throughout history, there has been very few careers that require such a high degree of an ethical standard such as the one required for law enforcement. There is, however, a multitude of careers that require the dedication and heart such as required for a police member. Where this dedication and heart differs relies solely on the difference in the job. Officers are required to be aware of their surroundings nearly all the time as if something were to happen they would be required to navigate through the situation successfully. Somebody such as a CEO for a multimillion dollar company would not require this same quality due to the fact it is not part of their job description and the only individual that he/she needs to be worried about is themselves. However, in today’s society, and with media being an ever growing aspect, some police officers have decided on their own personal way to handle justice. So unfortunately, this small percentage of police contract a huge amount of negative eyes to the profession. This small number of individuals bring a negative view to the police department as a whole and for this cause an issue in the public’s eye. Regardless of what many individuals believe, many of the police officers decide on the ethical side of the job and are hardworking professionals who seek out to just serve the public. However, being an African American male myself the main issue I have and want to combat is the punishment officers should face if
Speaking of police brutality, quite recently, there's been a case of the shooting of an Australian white woman in Minneapolis. There's been a great outcry at the difference of coverage based on this woman and many black men who faced similar fates at the hands of police officers. News outlets immediately picked at the fact that the officer who killed the woman was a Somali black man. Additionally, action was taken just days following the shooting: the police chief was forced to resign. Though this was incredibly unfortunate and absolutely should not have happened to this woman, the rapid pace at which consequences were given out differs from several recent police brutality cases of black men; some cases of which took months to force a police
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
Within the past few years, incidents involving many deaths of unarmed African Americans and police officers have been broadcasted across the media. A large portion of these incidents result in protest and advocation against police brutality. There are a wide range of feelings and viewpoints people care to discuss concerning the topic of police brutality. Usually, when an African American person is killed by the hands of a police officer, people tend to explain how police brutality is the cause and culprit. Some people voice how police brutality is a matter that needs to quickly addressed while others believe it doesn 't even exist and therefore is not a cause for concern. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, police brutality is a
A current theme that has been expressed that ties in with police brutality is racism. One case study from The Journal of African
In the world we live in today, racism and police brutality are raising concerns that society needs to be aware of. Beginning from the mid 1900s and on, racism was an ongoing problem that many individuals acted on from day to day. Whether it was mainly whites who hated blacks or vice versa, there never seemed as if a solution would ever come about. Based on this article about racism and police brutality, it talks a lot about how brutality following the Rodney King incident has change and is more exposed due to updated technology. Racism is not a thing of the past, it exist in this day and happens everyday in front of our eyes. Another point from this article is how the media portrays black as intimidating and scary which often times is the reason why police officers act the way they do when they are encountering a black male. Today’s society is taught to be afraid of black men because they are dangerous and unpredictable. The media account is a short video of how police brutality is caught on camera and how the police are portrayed because of these videos. Because of the new technology officers are no longer able to get away with brutality and not having to answer for there actions. This media account is more of an awareness video of how if someone sees the police physically abusing someone, they should take there phones out and record everything that is going on. Today’s camera phone as said to be the police’s kryptonite because they capture everything that is done by the
Racism in police treatment of minorities has created great disparities in incarceration amongst the races. Blatant cases of racist law enforcement that are covered in the news are a testament to the fact that racism within police departments exists from coast to coast. However, these are only the cases that people find out about; there are countless other cases of police racism and brutality that are not reported.
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 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 United States of America is a country with a history built on diversity and promise of opportunity. Striving to blend multiple cultures and sectors of individuals into a melting pot. However, some state that it has failed citizens, as even after a century of attempting to not see colour African Americans continue to struggle to be viewed as equal and not be discriminated against. In our modern day, "racially open" societies, racial profiling towards African American men can be witnessed frequently in their everyday life. American citizens have witnessed countless cases of police brutality and in recent unlawful murders of black lives, it has become a controversial topic among communities that have seen police brutality take place on their local newsrooms or in front of their homes. Over the past decade police abuse remains one of the most serious human rights violation in the United States. Police officers are trusted and expected to respect society as a whole and enforce the law, yet a great amount of the population feels unsafe because of the colour of their skin. Racism is a global issue that is widely conversed, yet it is still a growing concern amongst the nations of the world. Racial discrimination and/or can be defined as any action, whether intentional or not, based on a person’s race, which has the effect of imposing hate towards an individual or group. As the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity
I believe that this is a question that most people ask, when they hear of incidences of police brutality within the black populations. Statistics on police brutality suggests that black people, particularly men, are three times more likely to be killed by the police in the United States in comparison to the white population. Last year there were a number of cases on police brutality against blacks, however, the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, and Freddie Gray gained much attention from the media and the Black Lives Matter movement (BBC, 2015). This past week in San Francisco, racists and homophobic texts were discovered among some of the police officers in the San Francisco police department (Williams, 2016). This particular story makes me wonder whether some of these stereotypes against blacks are at times the driving force behind the acts of brutality against black men during arrests. In some cases, the black men are not innocent either, but are there other humane options that can be utilized during these arrests. In some cases, the victims are shot more than ten times, is it really necessary to shoot them this many times when other options can be used? Are the arrests made justifiable, or are they made due to these biases? Overall, this example brings into awareness some of the effects of structural and institutional racism in
There is a long history of racially motivated abuse in the United States, but has it translated in the form of law enforcement? There are countless reports and allegations of racial profiling, excessive force, illegal searches and seizures, and entrapment, perpetrated by police officers on a daily basis. In recent years, much due to the prevalence of smartphones, these situations have been well documented and after a continuing string of very publicized police shootings of unarmed Black people, many assert that the entire law enforcement system is inherently racist. Arguably, the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012 sparked the recent backlash and protests though it wasn't specifically law enforcement, but the infamous “Stand Your Ground” law, that resulted in his murderer, George Zimmerman, going free and similar laws that are responsible for officers that use excessive force going unpenalized. In response organizations like Black Lives Matter have emerged and are challenging the system and demanding policy change. Yet there are still those who claim that the system itself is not rigged, but rather its people hyper-focusing on “isolated incidents” and that it is not the systems fault that certain kinds of people are more prone to crime and violence. I have read three pieces of writing that all pinpoint specific reasons and evidence to prove whether or not systemic racism exists in law enforcement in the United States and why.