Fred Robinson
Aug 31,2015
10E
Argumentative Essay
Police brutality today is very much prevalent compared to back in the 1980’s. African Americans and maybe even other races are roused at police and their rivalry towards melanin. In 2015, there have been many highlighted events on police brutality, especially in Baltimore.
Some police throughout the years have been very violent towards black citizens, even other discriminations such as hippies. In the movie “Straight Outta Compton” police were known for picking on black people because they were dressed as “thugs”. Police brutality back in the 1980’s lead to NWA making a song called “Fuck The Police”. When the police heard the song as it was being played on the radio, they pleasantly
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threatened that if the song were ever performed that there would be some consequences. The case of Rodney king has so much to do with police brutality.
A biography on Google states “The Los Angeles police caught Rodney King in a car chase on March 3. The officers pulled him out of the car and decided to beat him brutally while amateur cameraman George Holliday caught it all on videotape.” Then the later king was found dead in his swimming pool. This is similar to what the NWA had been through because they were unarmed black men being picked on by police abusing their authority.
Also in the case of Freddie Gray, similar to Rodney King because of police brutality. Freddie Gray was involved in a foot chase with police officers, but when the police caught him and witnessed that he appeared limb, should have called the ambulance for Freddie’s safety, they didn’t. When the police arrived at the police station, Freddie Gray was not breathing when they arrived at the police station. This case is similar to NWA because the police didn’t do their job correctly and in ways can be looked at as police brutality.
Police brutality has been frequent throughout the years. This, in numerous ways, can be looked at as coming close to a police state. The world would be a better place if police and all around treated all people equally. The ramifications of not treating all American citizens equal could lead to a lot of riots and aka
motion. Bibliography: http://www.biography.com/people/rodney-king-9542141 http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/04/28/a-freddie-gray-primer-who-was-he-how-did-he-why-is-there-so-much-anger/ http://policebrutalityccb.weebly.com/historical-context.html Historical context. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2015. Cappadonna (Ft. Killa Bamz) – Pillage. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2015.
Police brutality has been an apparent mark on the struggles, trials, and tribulations of people of minorities for years, primarily Black people. From the times of slavery to the present unlawful targeting and murders of black citizens with no justification, police brutality has been an enema in Black American culture for hundreds of years. Seen both in James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man” and in the current happenings of the United States. The hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter” has been a focal point in the current struggle for equality of the races. The current outpouring of support for black lives and
To illustrate, majority of blacks are stop by police more than any other racial groups. Police brutality is base on ethnicity. Officers seem to target black communities for many reasons. Racist cops might view blacks as less innocent compared to whites. Growing up as an African American you witness hearing your parents telling your male siblings to respect officers and to interact with them differently than they would do their families and friends. After the fatal shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. The public wanted justice because the incident was not handled properly. The people wanted to express their concerns. After this incident I remember more allegation from black communities begin surfacing that the police use excessive force against them,
This incident would have produced nothing more than another report for resisting arrest had a bystander, George Holliday, not videotaped the altercation. Holliday then released the footage to the media. LAPD Officers Lawrence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Brisino were indicted and charged with assaulting King. Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg ordered a change of venue to suburban Simi Valley, which is a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. All officers were subsequently acquitted by a jury comprised of 10 whites, one Hispanic and one Asian, and the African American community responded in a manner far worse than the Watts Riots of 1965. ?While the King beating was tragic, it was just the trigger that released the rage of a community in economic strife and a police department in serious dec...
Police brutality has been a significant issue for many years.. The people affected by this most of all, are people of color. They are subject to racial inequality by the police and the justice system every day. They are being killed everyday simply for existing. The excessive force used by the police specifically towards African Americans is continuous; with the justice system doing close to nothing to change that. This is one of the reasons they continue to kill and harass African Americans. According to Propublica, young black males are about twenty times more likely to be shot and killed by the police than their white peers are. Murderers are walking free, and innocent lives are being taken. Over the past couple of years, thousands of people have been killed on the hands of the police, both black and white.
Police brutality and racial profiling dates back to the 1700’s in the United States(Rushing). Unfortunately, such treatment by police continues today when police are expected to hold the civic duty to protect and serve. Mistreatment by police is just the start in most cases, when citizens fight back it becomes “brutal”. Police brutality by definition means “The use of any force exceeding that reasonably to accomplish a lawful police purpose.” Police brutality can occur in many different ways with the most common being physical harm. Although that is a big problem, there are other cases of Police brutality that involve acts of false arrest, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, intimidation, etc. An act that can be seen as police brutality could be a criminal running from the cops and an officer shoots a victim with a taser. Many cases of physical harm are police using excessive force to contain and arrest any individual. Since many accounts of police brutality have been directed towards minorities, these cases turn into acts of racial profiling. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Let 's say for example Trayvon Martin, a simple 17 year old black male walking home from a gas station was shot and killed by a neighborhood watch member. This being one of the many
The officers were acquitted of use of excessive force and abuse. This started riots in Los Angeles that rocked our country. This was the beginning of a stigma and stereotype that would be placed on all police officers. The stigma was that Rodney King was brutally beaten because he was black. The media portrayal of incidences across the nation since 1991 only heightened the stereotype. There was a very similar incident in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014 with the shooting of Michael Brown by a white officer. The coverage for Ferguson lasted for weeks and put the police in a very negative light. The Portland Press Herald states that “many police think they’re being stereotyped as racist and brutal” (Wise). There also seems to be a stereotype within a stereotype. Besides the stereotype of police officers profiling young black men, is the stereotype that all young black men are thugs, especially if they’re in neighborhoods known for gang and drug activity. “Our country 's history, culture and social divide feed a subconscious attachment to stereotypes, even in the minds of people with no measurable racial bias.”
For the last score police brutality has been a controversial topic for many people. Many people argue that law enforcement is no longer doing its job properly. Instead of working to build a safe environment, many police officers are always been extremely detrimental to society. They are marginalizing and brutalizing the community, especially black people. The police are not doing their job properly. Actually, so many black people have been killed unjustly by the same authorities who suppose to protect them. Take as examples the treatment of Amadou Diallo, Ousmane Zongo, and Eric Garner, who were marginalized, brutalized and killed by some police officers who were supposed to protect them.
Police Brutality Police work is dangerous. Sometimes police put in situations that excessive force is needed. But, because some officers use these extreme measures in situations when it is not, police brutality should be addressed. The use of excessive force may or may not be large problem, but it should be looked into by both the police and the public. For those people who feel racism is not a factor in causing the use of excessive force, here is a startling fact. In Tampa Bay, Florida, five men died while in the custody of the
Attention Getter: Are all the officers who are intended to "Protect and Serve" really following through with that?
Police brutality is the use of any force exceeding that reasonably necessary to accomplish a lawful police purpose. Although no reliable measure of its incidence exists—let alone one charting change chronologically—its history is undeniably long. The shifting nature and definition of police brutality, however, reflect larger political, demographic, and economic changes. Since the 1970s, Hispanics have come forward in greater numbers and have documented abuses by police, abuses that include unreasonable seizures, physical brutality, and incarceration without cause. Ammunition against police abuse is growing, but the fight on this issue is destined to be a long one. An area of grave concern at the turn of the twenty-first century was the practice of
For example, in 2013 an African American boy by the name of Kendrick Johnson was found dead on his high school gym mat (Johnson). Many believed the high numbers of police brutality killing, white people were killing our African American boys in any way necessary.
Chaney and Robertson, (2013) stated that “The Department of Justice office of Civil Rights has investigated more than a dozen police departments in major cities across the country on allegations of racial discrimination or police brutality”. Police brutality is defined as the use of excessive physical force or verbal assault and psychological intimidation. White police officers who grew up in the south and were raised to see African Americans in a negative way have a lower opinion of them. However, not all white police officers are from the south, some say that police officers are just abusing their power. When we look at what is going on around the country, it appears racism plays a part in police brutality. Even during this new digital age, there are video cameras in police cars facing the front of the vehicle, but that still does not hinder police using excessive
Police brutality is one of the most serious human rights violations in the United States and it occurs everywhere. The reason why I chose this topic is because police brutality happens all the time in the United States and still remains unrecognized by many. Additionally, the public should be knowledgeable about this topic because of how serious this crime can be and the serious outcomes that police brutality can have on other police officers and the public. The job of police officers is to maintain public order, prevent, and detect crimes. They are involved in very dangerous and stressful occupations that can involve violent situations that must be stopped and controlled by any means. In many confrontations with people, police may find it necessary to use excessive force to take control of a certain situation. Sometimes this makes an officer fight with a suspect who resists being arrested. Not all cops in communities are great cops. At least once a year, the news covers a story about a person being beat by an officer. The article “Minority Threat and Police Brutality: Determinants of Civil Rights Criminal Complaints in U.S. Municipalities” by Malcolm D. Holmes from the University of Wyoming, uses the conflict theory to explain why officers go after minorities sometimes causing police brutality. It explains the police’s tension with African American and Latino males. Those minorities are the ones that retaliate more against police officers which causes the officer to use violent force to defend themselves.
Police brutality is an act that often goes unnoticed by the vast majority of white Americans. This is the intentional use of “excessive force by an authority figure, which oftentimes ends with bruises, broken bones, bloodshed, and sometimes even death” (Harmon). While law-abiding citizens worry about protecting themselves from criminals, it has now been revealed that they must also keep an eye on those who are supposed to protect and serve. According to the National Police Academy, in the past year, there have been over 7,000 reports of police misconduct; fatalities have been linked to more than 400 of these cases (Gul). Police brutality is often triggered by disrespect towards the police officer.
Police officers abuse the authority given to them in many ways. First, physically, by brutally beating up individuals that they identify as "suspects." Second, verbally, by calling common citizens names and cursing at them. Third, emotionally, by making people feel bad about themselves and sometimes even traumatized by an event involving the police department. That said, there are also different reasons why such abuses are done; most of them being due to some kind of prejudice. The most common stated reason for police brutality is racism. Sadly, profiling someone due to their skin color is something that has been happening since the beginning of time, and such ideals are still common among people, included (and especially) among police officers. Also, there are other reasons such as homophobia, which has been a growing reason for brutality, and sexism, which also has always been involved in our society.