In the beginning of our IE we discussed in the class about Police brutality and racism in the US. After everything I learnt and discovered from this topic, I’m really starting to dislike the U.S (thanks Erica!) Police brutality is basically the abuse of power by officers. Even though the term “poice brutality” is applied of causing physical harm, it may also involve psycologial harm. That can happen through using threats that are outside of the police law. Not a day goes by without news of another police brutality case or stuff like that. But now that is happening on a daily basis, should we people start questioning if this is the new “norm”?
On August 9 2014, an 18 years old African American boy named Michael Brown was shot by a white police officer (Darren Wilson, 28). This leaded to an excisting tention among the majority-black-city, and protests urepted. You might be thinking “oh he must’ve done something very bad to deserve that” yea, he stole several packages of cigarillos and shoved the store clerk. Three minutes, it took ONLY three minutes from the time officer Wilson confronted Brown, until the officers arrived on the scene to fine Brown dead. Those three minutes have been the source of headlines, protests and unrest in Ferguson.
There was a time when hearing news like these was not so common, but today, with the help of technology, it feels like it’s happening every other minute. But does that mean that the amount of police brutality cases 10 years ago were few? I doubt it. The main reason why we see it so often today is because of our smartphones. We are so used to social devices, so it’s very obvious that we’ll share what’s going on around us to the rest of the world. There are so many cases who became headlines because of some streetwalkers who decided to film what whas happening and upload it on youtube, facebook and other social medias.
Cases like Michael Brown’s are numrous. Like for example Eric Garner, also an African American man who died in Staten Island after a police officer put him in a chokehold for about 20 seconds during the arrest. This leaded to protests and charges against police brutality.
Or what about Scott Freddie Gray who died after suffering a spinal cord injury while in a police custody. Did I forgot to mention that he was a black guy too?
It’s sad, but we can’t deny the fact that police brutality in the U.S has a strong connection to racism. According to www.washingtonpost.com 50% of americans say racism is a big problem. 5 years ago only 33% admited/recognized that racism is a big problem. “International Humanist and Ethical Union” (link and description in the below) have published statistics that shows us that on average black people are shot dead by white police officers almost twice a week. Mostly those African American’s are under age 21.
In my opinion the racism problem in America has changed a lot in a positive way in the past 10 years due to protests, news headlines and social media. Now since people are getting upset by these videos of police brutality, they are speaking up against it. This will (and is) lead to more strict law for police officers. If we look back in the history, americans are actually becoming more aware of the problems and starting to stand up for their rights. A lot of these cases like Michael Brown, Scott Gray etc could have been avoided if the police force followed a more strict law.
Link to International Humanist and Ethic Union: www.iheu.org
Mariam Arfan 