Police Shootings: The Black Youth Crisis in America

766 Words2 Pages

Fact—In 2015 a young black man is nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by a police officer (The Guardian). Thanks to family members and friends of the victims of police shootings the silence has been broken. The American people have been bombarded with video and media coverage relating to fatal police shootings of black unarmed men who were perceived as armed and dangerous. This issue is alarming and I believe that better communication between police and civilians could have prevented the death of these young black men. Education on how to interact with law enforcement will help young people stay safe when interacting with a police officer or any other member of authority. This proposal will address the alarming number of black youth killed by police and possible solutions to the problem.
Media has played a huge part in outing the very real problem with law enforcement in America [Figure 1]. The government released the total number of people killed by police broken down by race. More whites were killed then blacks in total, but minorities only make up about 38% of the US population. When that same data was looked at in a per one million view, the findings were for every one million people blacks were more likely to be killed by law enforcement than any other race (Swaine et al.) [Figure 2]. There is definitely something wrong with the way law enforcement is policing in general and the justice system has taken notice. In the state of …show more content…

Some will say that the police are just doing their job and they put themselves in harm’s way daily. While that statement is true, the duty of an office is to protect and serve. Police should protect the lives of those who fear what they don’t understand. Many young people do not know what their rights are and they fear that being arrested is the end. Not every police officer is looking to put black man in prison, but there is a pattern that cannot be

More about Police Shootings: The Black Youth Crisis in America

Open Document