Addressing the Real Issue at Hand: police brutality, rioting, racism, and government solutions

“Why is it deemed justifiable and appropriate for cops/police officers to kill other cops (friendly–fire) and citizens? Why do cops kill? Are they not taught to maim or slow down someone running or reaching for a weapon? If not, why not? Why do cops kill first and ask questions last?”  Wise words said by Obiora Embry a wise author and poet who articulates what we all are probably wondering. The questions he asked are the questions that have been lingering on our minds. The topic of police brutality needs to be addressed. It is an issue that we all just need to see and know.

Police brutality has been an issue in America more than just what has been recently covered by the news for the past two years. America has been blinded to the fact that police brutality is a very large issue that has happened and is happening. If the media never took an interest in the current police brutality cases and events, many people of America would never know these things are happening. Victim after victim, more than just the few you heard of such as Freddie Gray, Mike Brown and Eric Garner. All victims that have been brutally shot and killed by police officers  This is not a claim to say victims of police brutality do not matter; it is just that people who know who they are do not know other victims such as Eleanor Bumpurs, Robert Davis, Federico Aldrovandi  and many others.  These victims were killed also but did not receive any recognition. Even the President has made comments on the issue calling it, “a slow-rolling crisis” and saying, “it comes up, seems like, once a week now, or once every couple of weeks.” He stated, “This is not new and we should not pretend it is.” Will America finally stand up to the root of the issue instead of trying to use excuses as to why police brutality is okay? Should the blame be entirely on law enforcement?

Sometimes the situations that occur with racism and law enforcement are ignored or people do not want to go the extra mile to find out the truth and why it seems to have skyrocketed in the past three years. Many have gotten the idea that police brutality is centered on the idea of racism. Police aim at the minorities; such as African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians while Caucasians never get hit by the bullet.  Although research has shown that all races are equally victims of police brutality. According to a Pew/USA Today poll conducted in August 2014, Americans of all races collectively “give relatively low marks to police departments around the country for holding officers accountable for misconduct, using the appropriate amount of force, and treating racial and ethnic groups equally.” The Justice Department and media are still focusing on African American deaths.  Sort of backfiring on the idea of racial targeting, people still seem to hold strong opinions on the relationship between police brutality and racism. With the new analysis recovered it is, in fact, making people steer away from racism and look for different answers for all these death of our people due to police brutality. The bottom line is that racism is not the only argument that can be used for the cause of all these killings.

So when the angry Kentucky fans rioted over there loss to Duke this year and their loss to Connecticut the media coverage was slim. Fires burned in the middle of the streets, lawn chairs, clothing, and bottles were thrown and burned.  It was just a sports riot. Fans will riot if they win or if they loss. No big deal, right? Not really. Many people who were involved in police killing riots or protests such as the ones in Ferguson, Missouri and recently in Baltimore, Maryland are saying that if sports can riot and let out their angry or even happiness after a game or sporting event then why can’t victims’ families and other protest and riot also? What divides the sports fans from the Baltimore protesters? But what most people don’t know is that the sports protesters were indeed arrested. Police arrested 2 people for disorderly conduct and 27 were detained. Yes, there was action taken but we can say that they will not have changed curfews, or increased militarized police forces and that is what is making the African American community, Caucasians, and etc. angry. If equally violent situations occur, why are they not getting the same repercussions?

It may seem like there is many reasoning, arguments are perspectives on why police brutality is such a large and widespread issue. Why has is taken so long us to notice how it has gotten and that it will only get worse if we don’t do anything about it. The government talks about equipping all police officers with personal video cameras that record them while in their police cars and patrolling on the street. With the cameras, if they are intentionally turned off at any time then it is considered a felony to an officer. Many other ideas have brought up such as evidence found in a police brutality cannot be tampered with or destroyed, which officials says in already in order but police have not been able to seem to follow it. Cases have been revealed when very important evidence including witness statements and physical evidence has been taken out of the cases or destroyed completely. Even though these great ideas have been brought up, making laws is not that easy and we all know laws regarding police brutality are not going to be made anytime soon. In the meantime Americans should just open their eyes to this issue and police should focus on more training so that cases like Freddie Gray’s do not happen.

Police officers are trained to only use force when necessary, or when they feel threatened by a suspect. Looking past racism, the training that police are receiving is also another reason why police brutality exists. Police are using force when it is not necessary and sometimes feel forced to act in tough situations. According to journalistsresource.org “law enforcement is considered dangerous work, there are countless incidents where officers choose to hold fire and display restraint under extreme stress”. Also according to the police quarterly “even well-trained officers are not consistently able to fire their weapon in time before a suspect holding a gun can raise it and fire first; making split-second judgments, even under ‘ideal’ circumstances, exceptionally difficult.” Additionally the FBI points out that “in 2013, 49,851 officers were assaulted in the line of duty, with an injury rate of 29.2 percent.” With this data, it shows that being a police officer is a hard job and very dangerous. Officers are taught to fire when they feel threatened then the community looks at it as just officers being “trigger-happy” or just shooting  just because they have a gun, but now it is evident, officers are trained to fire and are simply just trying to do their job,… most of the time.

Police laughing and talking with the community, people of the community are happy, at peace, and feel safe, and cases of police brutality are no longer surfacing.  The only videos going viral are cute kitten videos, community buildings and centers are rejuvenated, guns are only fired when necessary and the people and the police are together and in unity. One day this will be the description of America. Eliminating police brutality is going to take work from law enforcement and from the people of many communities but once it happens, we would be at peace, living as we should, with relations with police and the people friendly, then police protecting us and the people honoring them and overall feeling safe.

Works Cited

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “Nonviolence as Compliance.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 27 Apr. 2015. Web. 29 Apr. 2015.

McLaughlin, Elliot C. “New Narratives of Freddie Gray Question Police Brutality Claim – CNN.com.” CNN. Cable News Network, 1 May 2015. Web. 1 May 2015.

Valdes, Manuel. “May Day Demonstrators Clash with Police in Pacific Northwest.” The Big Story. Associated Press, 2 May 2015. Web. 4 May 2015.

Wines, Michael, and Sarah Cohen. “Police Killings Rise Slightly, Though Increased Focus May Suggest Otherwise.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 30 Apr. 2015. Web. 8 May 2015.

Press, Associated. “31 Rioting Kentucky Fans Arrested after Fights, Fires.” New York Post. New York Post, 5 Apr. 2015. Web. 14 May 2015.

Knight, Floyd. “A Structural and Permanent Solution to Police Brutality.” A Structural and Permanent Solution to Police Brutality. Academia EDU, 2014. Web. 14 May 2015.

Knight, Floyd. “A Structural and Permanent Solution to Police Brutality.” A Structural and Permanent Solution to Police Brutality. Academia EDU, 2014. Web. 14 May 2015.

Embry, Obiora. “Quotes About Police Brutality.” (10 Quotes). Good Reads. Web. 15 May 2015.

http://journalistsresource.org/studies/government/criminal-justice/police-reasonable-force-brutality-race-research-review-statistics#sthash.GSJ83A3Z.dpufThe

“Reasonableness and Reaction Time.” Reasonableness and Reaction Time. Web. 28 May 2015.