Compare And Contrast Racism And Police Brutality

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Recommended: Racial discrimination and police brutality

Racism and Police brutality are two key components that affect the lives of young men in America. A number of Black and Hispanic males have been victims of police brutality for many years because they are primary targets due to racism and racially biased law enforcement. The main question is why does police brutality against these specific races occur so frequently? According to Chaney, “Racism is an ideology, or belief system, designed to justify and rationalize racial and ethnic inequality” and “discrimination, most basically, is behavior aimed at denying members of particular ethnic groups’ equal access to societal rewards. Defining both of these concepts from the onset is important for they provide the lens through which our focus on the racist and discriminatory practices of law enforcement can occur” (481). In addition, police brutality is defined as “the use of excessive physical force or verbal assault and psychological intimidation” (Chaney 482). One may argue that police brutality is a tactic to inflict psychological fear on Black males and can be used to overuse their authority against them. Chaney indicates that “The beating of Rodney King and the deaths of Amadou Diallo in the 1990s and Trayvon Martin more recently are just a few public examples of the historical and contemporaneous ways …show more content…

Surveys and research shows that Black and Hispanic males are more inclined to being victims of racial profiling just because of their appearance. Law enforcement fails to do their job because they allow the race of potential suspects to cloud their decision to follow appropriate procedure. When an arrest is made by a police officer, the police are obligated to make sure that the apprehended suspect is treated equally no matter their race. In addition, Black and Hispanic men are subjected to stop-and-frisk procedures and are more frequently arrested without any probable

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    Works Cited Chaney, Cassandra, and Ray Robertson. "Racism and Police Brutality In America. " Journal of African American Studies 17.4 (2013): 480-505. Academic Search Premier -. Web.

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