The article “Lynch Mob: A Misuse of Languages” feels the catalyst of the Baltimore Riots was the angst, frustration and sadness felt by the unanswered questions of how the life of yet another young person of color was taken after an encounter with police officers. The author also defines the Baltimore Riots as “not a lynch mob”. He states that the continued invocation of the term ‘lynch mob’ to mean a protest of the killing of people of color is an egregious use of the word, a slander of the citizens who are protesting and moreover, a diminutive of the horrible history of lynch mobs in this country and especially in Maryland. “Nothing that political partisans or protesters have done — nothing! — comes remotely close to the barbarism executed …show more content…
The piece goes on to say that “gang members, drug dealers, two-bit criminals, wannabes, etc. are taking a vacation and taking advantage of the police not wanting to be in the area because police are the targets for all these gang members and drug dealers.” The video continues on stating that this is all occurring as arrest numbers have dropped 32%; a concerning result of police officers being targeted, fearing for their lives, feel alienated and concerned about doing their jobs. The guest also states “this is exactly what the city government gets…The police department doesn’t feel the police commissioner has stood by it, and the mayor threw them under the bus by inviting the DOJ to come and investigate an alleged presence of racism…{So they} are making no proactive stops; not stopping people and shaking them down, not searching people or looking for guns or drugs, basically just answering the calls to service…taking care of the good citizens who are in trouble…and taking care of their fellow officers because they now have to worry about making a mistake and getting charged with false arrest, false imprisonment, and the loss of their freedom.” The guest also predicts that many of the police officers will leave to find places that will respect them and support them when they make lawful arrests and do their job, leaving only those who would do nothing and mindlessly agree with the
Interestingly, the book does not focus solely on the Georgia lynching, but delves into the actual study of the word lynching which was coined by legendary judge Charles B Lynch of Virginia to indicate extra-legal justice meted out to those in the frontier where the rule of law was largely absent. In fact, Wexler continues to analyse how the term lynching began to be used to describe mob violence in the 19th century, when the victim was deemed to have been guilty before being tried by due process in a court of law.
Wexler, Laura. 2003. Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America. Scribner; 2004. Print
This semester, we talked about how important it is to keep a positive relationship present between the police officers and the community. This theme really starts to emerge in the book in the chapter called, Across the Racial Divide. “There are cities where “clearing corners” is an accepted administratively supported practice: Officers routinely roll up on groups of blacks in public and order everybody to leave” (Kennedy 2011:143). This contradicts the focused deterrence approach they were implementing in cities, and knowing who were committing crimes, and instead officers racially profiling citizens. Also, this correlates to investigatory traffic stops in Pulled Over. “People are especially likely to look beyond respectfulness when, as is true of African Americans, they are a stigmatized group that is commonly and repeatedly subjected to a process that disproportionately disadvantages members of the stigmatized group, and the members of this group have developed a share knowledge of these disparities and of the process that generates them” (Epp, Maynard-Moody, & Haider-Markey 2014:117). This shows that when one race group is always being questioned, or stopped by the police, then there will never be a good relationship between the community and the police. Also, when you had the focused deterrence approach in the cities that implemented in, and police was decreasing crime so that families and business owners can live in a safe place, the relationship will be
According to Dr. Carl S. Taylor, the relationship between minority groups and police in the United States has historically been strained. Some cities have a deep and bitter history of bias and prejudice interwoven in their past relationships. The feeling in many communities today is that the system pits law enforcement as an occupying army versus the neighborhood. Dr. Taylor wrote about easing tensions between police and minorities, but stated “If there is any good news in the current situation, it is that the history of this strain has found the 1990’s ripe for change.
In the wake of the 1992 Riots, the Los Angeles Sentinel and the Wall Street Journal both jumped to politicize the riots, assigning blame, responsibility and power to certain groups and individuals. However that is where the similarities end because the Wall Street Journal tends to steer responsibility away from the Republican government and towards the black communities and leaders associated with the violence. This appears to have been the dominant discourse of the time, seeking to diagnose problems within specific racial communities instead of the country’s institutional structure. Conversely, the Los Angeles Sentinel put all of the focus on the government and the people with the most power and privilege. It maintained a discourse of victimization
This documentary takes place in Newark, New Jersey. One of the most crime filled cities in the United States. Murder, drugs, and gangs fill this city. Many police officers work hard to keep their city safe and others for other intentions. This documentary shows how the police work, their tactics, and the reality of how police officers are working with the community.
The Baltimore City police have faced a myriad of problems in the last year. The riots following the Freddie Gray arrest were reported around the country and created a situation where the Governor was forced to call in the National Guard to protect the city. Community leaders report that African American’s are stopped, searched and arrested at a far greater number than Caucasian’s. The Baltimore city police are at an impasse with the community at this time, it is up to the city leaders and the police officials to come up with some real solutions to the issues that can no longer be ignored.
The over-reactions of a peaceful protest in Ferguson, Missouri prompted the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement is a response to the over exertion of power by domestic police towards inoccent black citizens. According to (Jaccard 2014), today’s police respond to domestic violence calls and peaceful protests as if they were fighting in the battlefield. This has caused some controversy in black communities, where they feel that they are being targeted because of their race. The movement shines light on the now aggressive nature of our domestic police and how their behaviors threaten local
Numerous media outlet’s painted the New Orleans Police Department as if were staffed by criminals who wore badges. Mayor Mitch Landrieu, along with many others, knew there was a growing problem within the NOPD and even invited the Justice Department to assist with a clean up of the law enforcement agency that had grown increasingly lawless. The Mayor even went as far to admit a systemic failure within the department (Frieden). The media set the tone for this story as if there were a serious issue within the department that desperately needed a solution, which is what the NOPD received.
It is almost as if police officers have set a goal for themselves since they have started to protect and serve our country, and that goal would be to get rid of as many “undesirable” people as they possibly
(Marino, G. 2015) The feeling is that police officers are being targeted, merely for being a cop. BLM say’s there is no proof that they are involved in those police shootings. Most Black Lives Matter protests have been peaceful, but, in Baltimore, anger over the death of Freddie Gray escalated into violence. Police cars were destroyed, and several police were injured. The Baltimore mayor called for peaceful protests. Critics argued that the BLM protests result in violence against and disrespect of police officers. Supporters of the police have used the #BlueLivesMatter hashtag to argue that police officers are unfairly targeted and demonized. (Black Lives Matter 2016)
This era is where the shift from a centralized task force has gravitated to a decentralized task force, causing some friction from both the community and the officers that serve it. Police are told that they are needed to listen to the concerns for the community; however, law enforcement is still the primary goal. Police forces now have to defend the values for which the forces were built upon. The idea of problem solving has come into question with police discretion towards certain run-ins with the law. Williams and Murphy argue it is due to the lack of sensitivity from minorities and the concern on crime itself than the community. Kelling and Moore contradict Williams and Murphy, with Kelling/Moore suggesting the era is more about listening to concerns of the community and improving the citizen satisfaction. But both the article came to the conclusion of the silent underlying problems that are becoming more of a “quiet riot” with the police and the
...te police officers of charges stemming from the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King. As a result of this verdict, thousands of citizens rioted for six days. Mass amounts of looting, murder, arson and assault took place.” Riots are one of the most common forms of mob mentality and are shown in this book several times.
Authors, Mather, Winton, and Chang go into a deeper understanding of how police brutality is increasing, and how the LAPD wants to maintain a fine balance with the citizens in the city of Los Angeles. Yet it is hard to come to such agreement when police don’t know the area or the people in the community and instead decide to abusive of others verbally. One of the people interviewed in this article totally agreed that police brutality has highly increased when she says "I want to be very clear: Having more police officers there is not about having a greater presence in terms of an occupying force," Garcetti said. "This is about making sure that we have cops that we know, and that can immediately make a crime spike not become a crime wave." According to the authors, Garcetti isn’t the only one who think police brutality has increased, along with her are many other people that feel policies should take time to think before acting so
The protestors that take part in these movements believe that policemen are actually evil and devoted to taking the lives of their innocent people (“The Truth of Black Lives Matter,” 2015). People who support the “Black Lives Matter” movements state that 1960’s civil rights laws have not made enough progress. These laws made three powerful declarations: black lives matter, black citizens matter, and black families matter. The reality in their eyes is that if this were the case, police violence and brutality should not be specifically aimed towards black people. Senator Elizabeth Warren makes a speech about the unfair discrimination and the situations that are going on every second of the day. “This is America, not a war zone, and policing practices in all cities, not just some, need to reflect that” (Fang, 2015). Sherriff Ron Hickman draws out the perspective of police and what he thinks are the unfair practices within America. “We’ve heard black lives matter, all lives matter. Well, cop’s lives matter too. So how about we drop the qualifier and just say lives matter” (Wing, 2015). Shannon J. Miles allegedly shot and killed a deputy, and police have yet to find a motive. It is logical for them to assume that the Black Lives Matter movement is a major source of the problem. There is an intuition on many police officers