Police brutality is an ongoing issue in American society, where innocent black Americans are being targeted and killed or beaten for no reason by white police officers. Although there are many video's of incidents online for the world to see, not many arrests are being made. This brutality is, to me at least, racism in another much more horrifying form. Another reason for these unjust attacks is the perpetuated stereotype of black people being untrustworthy thieves. The people being targeted are often just going about their daily lives. These police officers always play the “I felt threatened” card but in the numerous videos that are circulating almost all the victims are unarmed and extremely passive due to the fear of being killed. This problem prevails because not nearly enough arrests are being made and many people still have racist mindsets and don’t see the humanity of these killings and attacks.
All that can be done is for peaceful marches to continue to happen such as the ‘black lives matter' marches and for influential people to continue to spread the message such as Beyoncé did in one of her music videos. The videos are evidence and people must continue to record these incidents, don’t just be a bystander. Almost everyday there is a new hashtag going viral of someone trying to get their story heard and dealt with, this sometimes works and if enough people join in the people sometimes get justice. Anyone who believes in human rights for black people must continue to fight for justice.
The American government must do something about this epidemic because police officers are government workers. Unbiased judges must sentence these officers accordingly. These changes can be implemented through arrests being made so that other police officers see that it's not acceptable for such behaviour to take place. Also on the other side of things black Americans mustn’t put themselves in places or situations that appear suspicious because police shoot now and ask questions later and sometimes never. Violent protests cannot take place, only peaceful ones .
I'm unsure if these changes will be a success because racism gad been a problem for so long and many things have been done to try end it. This problem is a personal problem of the police officer, he or she needs to make a change. I can't change the mindset of a some one else. If these changes are a success then black people in America can stop living in fear and family's can stop losing innocent members.
I often think about, how to end police brutality? What I currently do to assist is not much, I repost the odd video here and there on my Instagram story and use the odd hashtag but nothing truly tangible. I always wanted to become an activist for black human rights and a part of the youth and future of the world. And if it is still an ongoing issue then I'll join in on the protests and hopefully by that time my social media footprint would have grown enough for me to reach a bigger audience and spread the message. Just because it isn't happening here doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect me and sadden me. My role currently is a helpless bystander who can't do anything except watch.
