Laura Saini Policing With Force

Police brutality has become crucial to the American justice system. The most controversial crimes are those related to police misconduct. In Policing with force, blogger Laura Saini argues that police brutality stems from race and racial profiling. She uses the popular story of Tamir Rice, a 12 year old boy who was unlawfully shot by a police officer to persuade the reader that police brutality is wrong. Human rights activist, Jesse Williams delivered a speech about racial issues that occur within our justice system. In Williams speech he references victims of police brutality to help relay the message that we need to enforce equal rights and justice in our country. In 50 essays, Ta-nehisi Coates writes The Paranoid Style of American Policing

in which he provides different examples of police using excessive force which had fatal results.
In the Paranoid Style of American Policing Ta-nehisi Coates us pathos to appeal to and sway the reader’s emotions.

He uses personal stories as well as popular ones to get his point across about the excused crimes of police brutality and how they affect families as well as communities. For example he explains the story of 19 year old Quintonio Legrier who suffered with mental illness and arrived outside his father’s home carrying a bat. In fear for his safety Legrier’s father called the police and upon arrival one of the officer’s shot Legrier seven times and he died. They also managed to kill his neighbor, Bettie Jones. Legrier’s mother Janet Cooksey could not understand the actions of the officers. “What happened to tasers? Seven times my son was shot. The police are supposed to serve and protect us and yet they take the lives. Where do we get our help?” (Janet Cooksey). When Melvin Jones, the brother of Bettie jones was told about the possibility of an investigation on the officers his response to it was “I already know how that will turn out. We all know how that will turn out.” His response only goes to show that there is no confidence in the criminal justice system and there ability to find justice for the families that have lost loved ones due to the reckless behavior of our police officers. Coates states in the reading “ When

policing is delegitimized, when it becomes an occupying force, the community suffers. The neighbor-on neighbor violence in Chicago, and in black communities around the country, is not an optical illusion. Policing is (one) part of the solution to that violence. But if citizens don’t trust officers, then policing can’t actually work.” In other words if we can’t trust the police to de-escalate situations in our communities, who are we supposed to trust? The violence that goes on in these communities is a result in the lack of trust we have in our officers. Even though Coates uses first hand stories from people and their families, it gives information that could possibly have a bias. Most people who would read this essay would have their own opinion on the issue, which would probably be agreeing with the him that police brutality in America is an issue.