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Police brutality social issue essay
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Police brutality social issue essay
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New York Times Columnist Charles M. Blow tweeted about his son’s experience being held at gun point by Yale campus police Saturday . The debate over racial profiling — already a hot topic on many college campuses — gained renewed attention this weekend when Yale University police briefly detained a black male student Saturday evening. Black students and faculty members at many campuses charge that racial profiling is a fact of life for them, but this student’s experience immediately attracted wide attention. His father is a New York Times columnist who has written about racial profiling and whose Twitter feed attracts many eyeballs. Charles M. Blow, posted several tweets about the incident, saying that his son was held at gunpoint, and that …show more content…
He said he understood the need for police, at Yale and elsewhere, to look for people who match descriptions of various suspects. But he questioned why his son was stopped on campus at gunpoint and told to get on the ground. “Why was a gun drawn first? Why was he not immediately told why he was being detained? Why not ask for ID first?” Blow wrote. “What if my son had panicked under the stress, having never had a gun pointed at him before, and made what the officer considered a ‘suspicious’ movement? Had I come close to losing him? Triggers cannot be unpulled. Bullets cannot be called back.” The column closes this way: “The dean of Yale College and the campus police chief have apologized and promised an internal investigation, and I appreciate that. But the scars cannot be unmade. My son will always carry the memory of the day he left his college library and an officer trained a gun on him.” Yale officials acknowledged to Inside Higher Ed that a student was briefly detained and then released Saturday night. A spokeswoman declined to confirm that the student was Tahj Blow, the son of Charles Blow, or that he was held at …show more content…
The headline on one of the essays — “My Vassar College Faculty ID Makes Everything OK” — focused on the way the authors write that black people are suspected until they can demonstrate a connection to the college. – In June, a black professor at Arizona State University was arrested by campus police in an incident that was prompted by jay-walking that the professor’s supporters said would never have led to the questioning of white faculty member. Video showing the campus police body-slamming the professor attracted widespread concern. The professor is now suing Arizona State, which is moving to fire the police officer in the incident. – In July, the University of California at Los Angeles agreed to pay $500,000 to settle complaints of use of excessive force and racial profiling against a black judge during a traffic stop. The UCLA Black Alumni Association will receive $350,000 of the payment, to be used for scholarships. UCLA also agreed to hold a one-day forum on police-community relations. The case was detailed in an article in The Los Angles
In October of 1993, R.D.S., a Nova Scotian Black youth, was arrested by a white police officer and charged with assault on a police officer in the execution of duty, assault with intent to prevent the lawful arrest of another, and resisting his own arrest. In a Nova Scotia Youth Court, R.D.S. testified that he did not touch the police officer or assault him in any way. He stated that he spoke only to his cousin, who was being arrested by Constable Steinburg, to ask the nature of his arrest and whether or not to contact his mother. R.D.S. testified that Constable Steinburg told him to either "shut up" or face arrest. The youth argued that the police officer proceeded to place both himself and his cousin in a choke hold. Constable Steinburg maintained that R.D.S. assaulted him and obstructed his cousin's arrest. He made no reference to telling the youth to shut up or to placing either youth in a choke hold. (1)
Seals, E. (2007). Police use of tasers: The truth is “shocking”. Golden Gate University Law Review, 38(1), 38-109
The beating of Rodney King from the Los Angeles Police Department on March 3, 1991 and the Los Angeles riots resulting from the verdict of the police officers on April 29 through May 5, 1992 are events that will never be forgotten. They both evolve around one incident, but there are two sides of ethical deviance: the LAPD and the citizens involved in the L.A. riots. The incident on March 3, 1991 is an event, which the public across the nation has never witnessed. If it weren’t for the random videotaping of the beating that night, society would never know what truly happened to Rodney King. What was even more disturbing is the mentality the LAPD displayed to the public and the details of how this mentality of policing led up to this particular incident. This type of ethical deviance is something the public has not seen since the civil rights era. Little did Chief Gates, the Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department, and the LAPD know what the consequences of their actions would lead to. Moving forward in time to the verdict of those police officers being acquitted of the charges, the public sentiment spiraled into an outrage. The disbelief and shock of the citizens of Los Angeles sparked a mammoth rioting that lasted for six days. The riots led to 53 deaths and the destruction of many building. This is a true but disturbing story uncovering the ethical deviance from the LAPD and the L.A. riots. The two perspectives are from the Rodney King incident are the LAPD and the L.A. riots.
Several years ago, four New York City police officers were acquitted after their trial for the murder of an African immigrant. Bill Bradley is quoted in Newsweek (March 6, 2000): "I think that it shows that when racial profiling seeps so deeply into somebody's mind, a wallet in the hand of a white man looks like a wallet, but a wallet in the hand of a black man looks like a gun."
In conclusion, the Kent State shooting was a tragedy that has never really had anyone held responsible. Thirty-eight years later, “Official investigations as to exactly what happened at Kent State were inconclusive.” The days preceding the shootings, the students burned down the ROTC building, protested on the commons, and threw rubbish at police officers. The violent actions of the students put the law enforcement officials and National Guardsmen around them on edge. On the other side, the Guardsmen arrived in full combat gear to put down unarmed college students. There was no reason for the soldiers to fire at the students that were hundreds of feet away from them. Whether one of the soldiers fired in a moment of panic or if they were order to commence shooting may never be known.
Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping someone because of the color of his or her skin and a fleeting suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal behavior (Meeks, p. 4-5). This practice can be conducted with routine traffic stops, or can be completely random based on the car that is driven, the number of people in the car and the race of the driver and passengers. The practice of racial profiling may seem more prevalent in today’s society, but in reality has been a part of American culture since the days of slavery. According to Tracey Maclin, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, racial profiling is an old concept. The historical roots “can be traced to a time in early American society when court officials permitted constables and ordinary citizens the right to ‘take up’ all black persons seen ‘gadding abroad’ without their master’s permission” (Meeks, p. 5). Although slavery is long since gone, the frequency in which racial profiling takes place remains the same. However, because of our advanced electronic media, this issue has been brought to the American public’s attention.
For the past few years there has been an ongoing debate surrounding the issue of racial profiling. The act of racial profiling may rest on the assumption that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to commit crimes than any individual of other races or ethnicities. Both David Cole in the article "The Color of Justice" and William in the article "Road Rage" take stance on this issue and argue against it in order to make humanity aware of how erroneous it is to judge people without evidence. Although Cole and William were very successful in matters of showing situations and qualitative information about racial profiling in their articles, both of them fail at some points.
"The Reality of Racial Profiling." CivilRights.org. The Leadership Conference, 22 08 2012. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. .
Racial profiling is the most idiotic and arrogant thing you can ever do as a person. Usually the people who are affected by racial profiling are minorities, however, any person can be a victim of racial profiling. Some may think that racial profiling is non-existent, however, I would like to bring the situation into focus and show that it is still in existence and has been observed in the past and now in the current year. Although, more than fifty percent of the time racial profiling is conducted it is against a man or woman of color; an African-American in other words. There are instances where a white person can be a victim as well. Trying not to say that there isn't any person out there that is exempted from racial profiling, because there isn't a single person who is just exempted from this cruel method of decision making. In my essay I will talk about racial profiling and what it is, however, you can't forget about where it happens and of course why. Several resolutions will be discussed in this essay to alleviate this problem.
Holbert, S., & Rose, L. (2006). It is difficult to establish whether racial profiling is occurring, In D. E. Nelson, Racial Profiling. Farmington Hills: Greenhaven Press.
A father purchased a toy gun as a birthday gift for his young son. His son went outside to play and and encountered a police officer who shot him seven times. This incident occurred in Sonoma County in October 2013. A similar incident occurred in November 2014 when Cleveland police killed a 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun. Use of excessive force by police is common in impoverished "black" or "brown" communities.
Through his narrative structure, selection of detail, and manipulation of language, Staples demonstrates his understanding of his presence threatening pedestrians. Discrimination is not uncommon, and, sadly, this distorted world will never be rid of it. However, one should still strive to get to know someone before making assumptions about them, as the old saying goes, “Never judge a book by its cover.”
Our criminal justice book defines racial profiling as "any police initiated action that relies on the race, ethnicity, or national origin rather than the behavior of an individual, or on information that leads the police to a particular individual who has been identified as being, or having been, engaged in criminal activity” (Schmalleger 757). I think it is best summed up as the practice of using race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion as the primary factor in deciding who to subject to law enforcement investigations. Racial profiling can be used as a basis for racist police officers to arrest more minorities and this is documented very often. In the article Jim Crow policing, Bob Herbert talks about the unnecessary frisking and racism connected to searching for potential criminals. Herbert makes several points as to why police are harassing the black and Latino population and how it is wrong.
* Cassak, Lance, and Milton Hewmann. Good cop, Bad cop: Racial Profiling and Competing Views of Justice. New York: PeterLang Publishing, 2003.
Racial profiling does indeed exist in America. This practice is especially damaging to African Americans, who are frequently shamed by society as criminals, drug addicts, or welfare abusers. This societal flaw is evidenced by recent injustices to both Mike Brown and Trayvon Martin. Years of abuse of power have brought this issue blazing to the forefront of hot topics in America.