Abstract
Over the last two years in the United States the African-American people have been fighting a war within our own backyards. The Washington Post reports that since January 2015, the police have shot and killed over 175 young black men ranging from ages 18-29; 24 of them were unarmed. On the flip side 172 young white men were killed, only 18 being unarmed. With these statistics there are similarities in the numbers but, blacks were killed at rates disproportional to their percentage of U.S population (1.Washington Post). Of all unarmed people shot and killed by police in 2015. With 40% being black men make up just 6% of the nation’s populations. In the wake of the killings of Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Alton Sterling, and many more the world has been made more publicly aware of injustices black people have to handle when dealing with law enforcement. Crime in the black community is nothing new in the black community or should I say black on black crime. There is a bad stereotype that has been put on black people since slavery times that I believe has help fueled the violence between the police and my people.
Merriam- Webster defines cultures a particular society that has its own beliefs and way of live and diversity as the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization. I would define of cultural diversity would be the existence or variety of people in from different environments with different states of mind.
A police force is defined as an organized body of people, given power by the state to enforce the law, protect property, and limit civil disorder. However, amid controversial relations between police and civilians in today’s society, many often question whether or not the police force’s purpose is actually fulfilled in reality. Since 2015, police have killed 964 people in the U.S. And although composing only 13% of the population, Black people constituted 25% of those killed by police (242, mappingpoliceviolenc.com). These killings are often identified as police brutality: unreasonable and excessive use of force used to accomplish a lawful police purpose. By its definition, police brutality contradicts the purpose and abuses the power that police officers have. Police brutality is a rising, yet unsolved issue that remains relevant in today’s society. Increased tensions between the African American community and police officers continue to affect the interaction with one another. When police officers are not representative or have a relationship with the people they are supposed to protect, cultural differences and racial tensions create a bias that targets and automatically views these communities as dangerous. These circumstances are the foundation to why to police brutality is still a trending manifestation in black communities.
The brutality of the police force has been a long worldwide problem, but especially between the years of 2012-2016. Black people are being unjustly beaten and shot in plain sight for doing nothing while being unarmed. Journal of African American Studies “Blacks are viewed as deserving of harsh treatment in the criminal justice system” (482). “Black males with more “Afrocentric” features may receive longer sentences than blacks with less Afrocentric features like lighter skin and straighter hair”(482). Nowadays it is important to know about the police force. It’s important to know our rights as citizens and be careful around cops. Not everybody is good, but not everybody is bad also. In The New York Amsterdam News 21 people were killed by Chicago police in 2008. Entire families were being attacked. They believe it’s because of their skin color and how they are different. The year of racism started off with the world seeing the police murder of Oscar Grant. “The media have pushed people away from hearing the issue of police brutality, and it has fallen off of the radar screen.”(2) “You can’t give in. They will try to make an example out of you, try to break your spirit!”(2) African Americans say do not trust the cops with anything. “They will ruin you.”(2)
Black on black violence is an enormous problem in the African-American community. Living in a neighborhood that is mostly minority, many may have witnessed a lot of black on black violence. The black on black violence has continued to arise in many communities and continues to be a problem around the world. Black on black violence is ignorant, and many black Americans should be coming together instead of killing one another. African-Americans people should be helping each other achieve in the world, instead of putting one another.
Police brutality is becoming a trend in America. Tensions among the public and especially the African American community are rising due to the latest cases of police brutality. Many people believe that we have come far in this society but to be honest Racism is still a factor. The use of brutal and lethal force by some police officers leading to unnecessary deaths have African American parents on edge to send their children outside for anything. Law enforcement and people whom we trust with our lives are the very same to take it. Some people may want to argue that these cases such as the shooting of Michael brown and choking of Eric Garner are isolated incidents. Others would argue that the work of a police officer is too difficult and that sometimes an officer needs to use such force in order to enforce the law and protect him/herself while on duty. Law enforcement proclaims to feel threatened however what about the civilians who feel threatened of becoming the next target or victim of prey. The society is well aware that not all police commit these crimes and that we do still have law abiding officers. However, with the effort from everyone we can eradicate the bad apples and create a safer road for the officers and civilians.
Police shootings are unfortunate events but whenever there is a shooting, the topic of race emerges. Police shootings have always been the highlights on news channels and there is always the racially biased narrative that keeps repeating itself yet no one seems to dispute this narrative. However, did you know that studies show a police officer is eighteen and a half times more likely to be killed by a African American male than an unarmed African American male is to be killed by a police officer? In fact, a recent “deadly force” study by Washington State University researcher Lois James found that police officers were actually less likely to shoot an unarmed black suspect than unarmed Caucasian or Hispanic suspect in simulated threat scenarios. Some would argue that there are still police shootings all over America and they occur when police officers
“What are you following me for?” “You shot me. You shot me!” “Please don’t let me die” “Officer, why do you have your guns out?” “I can’t breathe.” “I don’t have a gun. Stop Shooting.”(The Last Words). These were some of the last words from victims of police brutality against African Americans. Police brutality has been occurring ever since the police force began, but recently, the police have been targeting African Americans. In 2016, more than 250 African Americans were killed by the police. Most of the victims were unarmed and have not committed a serious offense. These frightening statistics do not have to continue. If the average American recognized the severity of the issue and raised their voice, this inequity
Police brutality against African Americans has become a hot topic in the media. Police brutality is when excessive force is used when it is unnecessary. During the civil rights movement, African American men and women fought for and gained their rights. They may have believed that their suffering had ended there but there is still a long way to go. In Martin Luther King Jr. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, he writes about how African Americans are being treated by police and the court system. He describes it as “ grossly unjust treatment” (paragraph 6). Today it is three times more likely for a black person to be killed than a white person. One out of three of the black people killed by police were armed and suspected to have committed an actual crime
Police brutality has been the most prominent form of racism captured by the media and since the 1992 Los Angeles Riots protesting the death of Rodney King, it still dominates headlines. After more than two decades later, the number of innocent, and unarmed black American deaths have only increased along with the acquisition of the police accountable. According to “More Than 250 Black People Were Killed By Police In 2016,” Julia Craven states that “34 percent of the unarmed people killed in 2016 were black males.” This is unreasonable because according to the same article, “black men make up only 6 percent of the U.S. population.” The numbers are disproportionate enough to show that there is a clear target against blacks. This statistic of black males compared to their white counterparts also show a significant disparity as statistics John Wihbey and Leighton Walter Kille provide in “Excessive or reasonable force by police? Research on law enforcement and racial conflict,” clearly state that unarmed blacks were killed at twice the rate of whites with “31.17 per million, while just 1.47 per million white males.” There is clear cut evidence of racial profiling in policing as blacks who make up a only a small amount of the U.S. population are killed at a much higher rate than whites who make up a majority of the population. This is obvious discriminatory intent by the hands of the police,
African-Americans have been victims of crime since the 1600s: the beginning of slavery in the U.S. During slavery, African-Americans’ were treated unfairly because they were thought to be inferior. Although slavery ended some time ago, African- Americans are still being treated poorly, because some people still believe blacks are inferior. Unfortunately many of these people work for law enforcement. This causes fear among the African-American community, especially African American males. The long history of police violence against African-Americans proves that everyone is still not treated equally, which is causing African- Americans to dislike law enforcement, and fear their lives, and start movements to bring about
In recent years the on-going clash between the Chicago Police Department and the city’s black youth have epitomized in the shooting of Laquan McDonald by a Chicago police officer seventeen times. Since, the city has witnessed large and violent protests and further endured racial out lashes and anti-police sentiment. As a baseline for understanding, this violence too is subject to only a few Chicago neighborhoods mostly on the city’s south and west sides where poverty is high and opportunity is slim. Some startling statistics involving race and the Chicago police verified by Chicago’s police accountability task force has concluded that in Chicago, African-Americans are shot nine times more than whites. In addition, blacks are stopped eight times more frequently than any other race (Johnson, 2016). Further, according to the study almost 300 African-Americans were shot by Chicago cops between 2008 and 2015, compared with 55 Hispanics and 13 whites. Since the McDonald shooting and the police scrutiny that has followed, violence in Chicago have risen astronautically in the year 2016 to date with 1,587 shot and 270 dead in only six
Did you know, every 28 hours an African American is killed by a police officer or security guards? If not, have you seen the popular trend #blacklivesmatters on sociable media? This is truly unfair to them because the police officers are not treating them inclination other relations of different breed. Police official do not parley African Americans equally inasmuch as of policies that aim African Americans, increased count of black deaths object by to inhumanity, the number of somber vs. pure apprehend.
The tension has been rising between the black communities and the police in the last few years, one of the reasons is that the police are adopting new tactics and ways to cope with the high amount of crime in the poor neighborhoods. This means that the police are getting extremely aggressive towards the people they are supposed to protect and serve. We are seeing more and more situations in the news as well as on the social media of black people being treated poorly by the police. This means that there are poor black families and whole neighborhoods where people have grown up fearing the police and seeing them as a threat to their life instead of seeing them as a help and protective service. And this just grows more violence because that is not the way people are meant to see the police.
According to Angela Y. Davis, state, police, and military violence still exists today and plays a major role in deteriorating black families. Angela said in her book, Freedom is a Constant Struggle, “ Local Police Officers are being trained like the military and Soldiers are trained to shoot to kill.“ Soldiers are being taught to kill instead of to stun their opponent. However, when the victim is white the soldiers stop and try to make the best of the harmful situations. When a victim is black they do not get the same benefit of the doubt as their white counterparts when encountering a police officer. Many black victims that encounter police violence end up getting shot and more than likely die, instead of getting multiple warnings like their white neighbors.
Over the past five centuries, black people have endured violence in many different ways. Today, police officers use deadly, excessive force that leads to inexcusable assaults, beatings and shootings.
Every month it seems an unarmed african american teenager is killed unjustly by a police officer and the cop responsible walks away free. According to dailywire.com the ratio of unarmed black men to unarmed white men killed by police in 2015 is seven to one. This statistic is very shocking because it shows how an african american is seven times more likely to be killed for committing the same crime as a white person. This is almost identical to what happened a few decades ago with lynchings. Unarmed black men and women convicted of crimes then killed without a trial, just one person taking the role of the judge and jury. Donnovan from newsone.com says, ”A deeper analysis by the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement found that, in just 2012, police killed more than 313 black people — one every 28 hours. MXGM also found that 44% of those killed were unarmed and 43% were not in