Social media plays a big role in today’s society. It connects many people to the world and what is going on around them. In addition, it is a great tool that can be used to access information without having to watch the news. Although it is a useful contraption, it can influence and damage the way people comprehend certain issues. Recently, everything that is associated with law enforcement is antagonized everywhere, from the news to social media. Anything that law enforcement is involved in seems to be hyped by the media in a negative manner. In many cases, the social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook get attached to the idea that law enforcement is not needed or they are not doing their job correctly. Unfortunately, the media attacks …show more content…
Furthermore, the perception of law enforcement has not been helped, but is hindered by the advent of social media. Law enforcement plays a big role in today’s society. Their goal is not only to enforce the law, but to make sure citizens are safe and not afraid to go to them for help. In today’s society however, the media depicts law enforcement as though they are not here to help citizens. In fact they suggest that they are here only to racially profile and kill innocent people. For instance, Michael Brown was a young, African American man who lived in Ferguson, Missouri. He was stopped by law enforcement for robbing a gas station. Later, he was confronted and had an altercation with the officer which resulted in the death of Michael Brown. Shortly after, the loss of Michael Brown, the issue sparked the community and …show more content…
Another unfortunate death took place in the city of Baltimore. Six officers arrested a man by the name of Freddie Gray, after trying to flee from the police. Several days passed and Gray had died from a severe spinal injury. Later, the news revealed video evidence of Gray being put into a van and was completely fine when put in the van. However, when he was taken out of the van Gray could not speak and he could not breathe. This incident provoked various protest in the Baltimore area. Chaos spread throughout the city as civilians trashed grocery stores and lit cars on fire. The whole situation was boosted by social media. Several tweets concerning the riots were spread and how law enforcement was unjust in the situation was handled. Social media played a big role in the Baltimore riots. Many of the protestors provided tweets for locations of the protests which resulted in masses of people crowding around various parts of the city. Moreover, the situation caused a Twitter frenzy, everyone started tweeting about the issue and how law enforcement needs to have certain limitations in enforcing the law amongst citizens. Much of the public relied on social media apps for the facts of the incident instead of watching the news and finding out the truth behind the whole occurrence. The Freddie Gray incident was an unfortunate dilemma that caused the public to lose faith in law
“Small Change: Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted” by Malcolm Gladwell is an article published in the Annals of Innovation, by The New Yorker magazine. Gladwell starts with an example of true activism. He opens the article with a depiction of how the Greensboro sit-ins contributed to the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement. Then the author supplies two examples of protests that have taken place in recent years that some people have said were started and organized on Twitter. He then goes on to clarify why Twitter was not a factor in these events and how media and government can distort certain truths about social media’s role in protests. The author continues the article by explaining why communication and relationships were more efficient before the era of social media and then compares social networking from the past and now. He uses this strategy to illustrate social media’s effect on how we interact and our commitment towards one another. Gladwell goes on to explain the organization of activist groups of the past and its
Racial discrimination in our society has reached its tipping point such that rioting has become a last resort. After the deaths of two young African American males that occurred due to police brutality , the public has been in an uproar, fighting and hoping for change;however the means of fighting aren’t seen as appropriate. The majority of the population argues that the rioting that had occurred in Baltimore and Ferguson, where the shootings happened, were unjustified. The media depicted the rioting to be criminalized and unrelated to the cause. It was portrayed that African Americans took the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray as an excuse to loot and raid.On contrary to popular belief, the rioting in Baltimore and Ferguson were adequate actions that took place. It wasn’t until the rioting occurred that investigations of these cases followed. Because of the investigation it was found that the problems at hand were more than racial issues highlighted by police brutality, but racial abuse in the system of the cities.
On the morning of March 3rd, 1991 an African-American man led police on a high-speed chase through the city of Los Angeles. Approximately eight miles later police swarmed around the car and confronted the driver, who went by the name Rodney King. During the confrontation, officers tortured King until the point he was forced to seek medical care. A case was opened and the police officers were acquitted. This angered many people, specifically Blacks and led to the historical “L.A. Riots’’ , where they felt race had something to do with the case.
According to Apel (2014), on August 9,2014, Michael Brown,18, an unarmed black man of Ferguson, Missouri was shot and killed by a white police officer named Darren Wilson. Considering the evidence, a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson. This sparked a nationwide protest. People came from near and far to protest the judge’s decision. It was no peaceful protest, it might have appeared to start out as a nonviolent protest, but like many protests, it quickly turned violent. People wanted justice and the people felt as though the system once again had felled them. Barnett (2014), a reporter says that after the shooting groups such as the “New Black Panthers,” demanded a rebellion against the officer who shot Brown. For a while the head of police was not going to reveal the name of the officer who killed the Brown, but after a series of violent protest, the head of police released the officer’s name. If violence was not used during the protest it would not have received worldwide attention. Furthermore, the public would not have known the officer who killed Brown. Due to the amount of attention the Michael Brown’s case received and because of the amount of passion the protestors had and how they were willing to die to get their point across sparked attention. Requiring many people who were in the political spotlight to
These changes have manifested both positive and negative reverberations in the way we perform our job. Police officials have contemplated for years over the key to maintaining a positive image for their organization. Unfortunately, several incidents in the past years have altered society's perception of police in some communities. Police in America are no longer strangers to innovation born of scandal.
African Americans throughout the nation watched on social media as police responded to the initial peaceful protests with armored vehicles, riot gear, and the threat rubber bullets, dogs, and guns. These vicarious police experiences impacted them as though they had been confronted with the same treatment, spurring a national outcry against police brutality and the frequent police shootings of unarmed African American men. As social media spread awareness, national and international news organizations began reporting on the events in Ferguson, displaying images of protestors being treated as enemy combatants by police. The images and videos emerging led to an influx of support from many seemingly-unrelated groups who chose to stand in solidarity with the protestors. International media and Amnesty International scrutinized police actions while celebrities and individuals associated with many other oppressed and disadvantaged groups flocked to the region to join in the protest. As in the Civil Rights Movement, images of protestors confronting lines of police in riot gear and being teargassed focused the world on injustices faced by African Americans and forced the nation to take
There is a divide between the public perception of law enforcement. Race is a recurring theme in the opinion on law enforcement. Law Enforcement officers are here to serve and protect its citizens and communities, but that is not always the case. This paper will discuss these racial perceptions, media portrayal, and what can be done to improve the relationship.
The use of social media to shape social perceptions and police response is a stand out difference. While such technological developments are recent they have been key to the Fergusson riots as police attempt to exude restraint. The organization of both movement is also dissimilar. While in 1950s society was united in calling for an end to racial discrimination, in Fergusson the views are split. One gets the feeling that the police use excessive force across the board, not only to blacks. Coupled with the apparent predominantly white police force in a black majority township the ugly theme of race rears
And finally let’s talk about how social media has an impact on gangs plans and their activities. With the help of social media, people can help stop gang plans for violent crimes by catching a possible tweet or an Instagram post. They can catch it and report it to the police before anything comes to fruition. Instead, it is being used as an advantage to the gangs as they are setting plans to do their crimes through social media websites like Twitter.
There has always been a love-hate relationship between the public and the police. When called upon to help, they can be something sent from God, but when they are writing tickets, or taking a friend to jail, the view changes from a savior to a presence that is unwanted and often hated. An effort to improve the public view of law enforcement is being attempted by many departments. Using different styles of policing techniques, mainly community based policing, has proved to be the best way to improve the image of law enforcement.
The story of Michael Brown and many other African Americans refer to how society works and discriminates blacks and other racial groups. Police are just one example of how racism is still happening today and plays a big part in how it is still an issue in America. Police have been harassing and discriminating African Americans for many years and is one of the reasons why racism still exist in America today. One example of police racism that still exists today is the case of Michael Brown. In Ferguson, Missouri, a white police officer by the name of Darren Wilson shot and killed an unarmed black man by the name of Michael Brown.
mostly black communities being affected by the police in 2014 and 2015 from Tray Martin all
Through analyzing more than three million tweets on Twitter, content on YouTube and thousands of blog posts, a study led by analysts from University of Washington finds that social media played a critical role in shaping political debates in the movements during the Arab Spring and it inspired protestors through the Internet platform and spread democratic ideas and demands across the national borders.
Everyone and their dog it seems like have a social media account. As technology continues to make advancements, people are required to make advancements to support technology. It is almost impossible to keep up with everything, especially crime. One major group of people who are just now catching up with the social media trends are those men and women in law enforcement. With millions of active daily users, the threat of crime can be spotted in advance and stopped, the citizens can be alerted and informed of what is going on in their community and stay safe. Law enforcement now is able to use the internet to help; analyze social media, identify threats, reach out, and involve the community. Being able to analyze or “snoop”