Police brutality in today’s society has been in the media more than ever recently thanks to the rise of social media. Pages have been created just to support the families of those harmed or worse, killed in deadly police altercations.In recent years minority’s like African Americans and Latinos have been the target. America has a relatively higher homicide rate compared to other developed nations, and has many more guns per state. Why police brutality is important quastion today?
Use of police force are very common in America, lethal and non-lethal. Without a doubt, training for police has become more standardized and professionalized in recent decades. Few also doubt that most police officers are decent people who “risk their own safety for ours every single day,” as former President Barack Obama stated.
Police officers have one job and many people respect that, but why is it that police are seen as bad people? Many people do not trust the police because in recent years what they have done in the dark has been brought out into the light.brutality doesn’t just fit in the category of force it is meddling with evidence, framing innocent people, and instigating situations. Black parents have to have “the talk” with their children as young as 4 years old about the procedures to follow if they’re stopped and questioned by law enforcement.Incidents of African American being senselessly killed has left trauma in the black communities. There are spoken and unspoken rules we must follow in order to be treated with dignity. In 2014 Erica Garner, a new york native who was suffocated to death while being arrested for selling cigarettes. His death caused outrage in the us.It brought attention to unnecessary tactics to restrain black people and the intent to kill while restraining someone. Activists chanted “I Can’t Breathe” as a resistance to police brutality.When Garner was being choked he repeated cried out he couldn’t breathe and he was ignored and murdered. Unfortunately the police officer was not persecuted and the case is still being investigated.
The start of “law enforcement” sparked during slavery when slave patrols or catchers would go out to keep order in communities and slaves in order.Beginning with the civil rights movement in the 1950's and 1960's, police brutality reached new heights.
Cruelty against black people had always been prevalent in America but There had to be a way the law could tie into the way we’re treated.Dr.Martin Luther king jr stated, “We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality,”.Dr.King wanted to uplift blacks to stop the law if it’s against us.Boycotts were started and black people brought cases to the Supreme Court. In 1966 the black panther party was formed by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. The organization was formed to patrol black neighborhoods and protect the residents from being victims of police brutality.They recurved backlash for being pro black and being self defensive toward whites attacking them. In 2013 the “Black Lives Matter Movement” was founded to after the death of 17 year old Trayvon Martin another black kid who was shot and died without getting justice.On the official website it states “The Black Lives Matter Global Network is a chapter-based, member-led organization whose mission is to build local power and to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.” This movement of change has grown so much laws are being created to prevent cases of murder during simple arrest.Police in some some states are required to wear body cameras to record their actions.Cutting off their camera can result in losing their job. Even though times have changed we still have lots of work to do.
