Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 song “DNA.” is protesting police brutality in America. The term “police brutality” has been in used since as early as 1872, when an already-detained civilian was beaten in Chicago, Illinois (Chicago Tribune:Police Brutality: A Prisoner Shamefully Mal. treated by Officers. Kicked and Pounded in a Cell ---Probably Fatally Injured).
The increased awareness for the topic reached its peak in April of 2015 but peaked again in July of 2016 (Google Trends: Police Brutality). Police brutality in and of itself is a serious violation of the rights every human has - irregardless of race, gender, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or creed. The protests against police brutality is further supported when Lamar says, “Dodgin' …show more content…
In rare cases, the departments say excessive force may have been used but then goes on to say: “There’s been some bad apples out there, but I don’t think that that is indicative of the entire police department”, “Yeah you got bad apples, but you got bad apples in every occupation” and “They’re out to protect you, and that’s what policing’s about. Are there bad apples? Yeah.” All three of these real quotes from members of the police force and its legal branches allude to the department itself being innocent, implying that a few officers are the real problem and they will be punished; however, this is not the case. Most officers who get caught unjustly assaulting a civilian or exercising excessive force opt to resign instead of facing suspension or being fired and end up simply moving to a different precinct. This is a frequent enough occurence to earn those officers the title of “gypsy …show more content…
However, there is a stark contrast between respecting one’s authority and respecting someone as a human being - treating them with some level of value simply because they are human. Tying the definitions of respect and the statement of respect for a human being versus respect for an authority figure back to various claims by law enforcement officers; each time they say, “The victim did not respect me,” they are really saying that the victim may not have respect their authority. And the officers, in response to not being respected as an authority figure, did not respect the victim as a
The increased awareness for the topic reached its peak in April of 2015 but peaked again in July of 2016 (Google Trends: Police Brutality). Police brutality in and of itself is a serious violation of the rights every human has - irregardless of race, gender, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, or creed. The protests against police brutality is further supported when Lamar says, “Dodgin' …show more content…
In rare cases, the departments say excessive force may have been used but then goes on to say: “There’s been some bad apples out there, but I don’t think that that is indicative of the entire police department”, “Yeah you got bad apples, but you got bad apples in every occupation” and “They’re out to protect you, and that’s what policing’s about. Are there bad apples? Yeah.” All three of these real quotes from members of the police force and its legal branches allude to the department itself being innocent, implying that a few officers are the real problem and they will be punished; however, this is not the case. Most officers who get caught unjustly assaulting a civilian or exercising excessive force opt to resign instead of facing suspension or being fired and end up simply moving to a different precinct. This is a frequent enough occurence to earn those officers the title of “gypsy …show more content…
However, there is a stark contrast between respecting one’s authority and respecting someone as a human being - treating them with some level of value simply because they are human. Tying the definitions of respect and the statement of respect for a human being versus respect for an authority figure back to various claims by law enforcement officers; each time they say, “The victim did not respect me,” they are really saying that the victim may not have respect their authority. And the officers, in response to not being respected as an authority figure, did not respect the victim as a