Police and the Black Community
Currently, the actual relationship between the African American community and the United States police is going through a bad time. The reasons for that recent civil disorders in the United States are police brutality and the discrimination acts against black people. While the election of Barack Obama as president had seemed to be a new era in American race relations; the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, made clear that nothing had changed. Many African American communities allege that the police routinely use excessive force against members of minority populations (Wintersmith, 1974). During the last years, the grotesque and routine police violence against African Americans has provoked several civil problems like the great Los Angeles riots. The protests against these police killings …show more content…
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality; but, this cause is also related to the past (enslavement period), when white people mistreated and black people in the plantations. The treatment of slaves in the United States varied by time and place, but was generally brutal and degrading. Slaves were punished by whipping, shackling, beating, mutilation, branding and/or imprisonment. Punishment was most often meted out in response to disobedience or perceived infractions, but masters or overseers sometimes abused slaves to show dominance. Slave masters even beat pregnant women, devising ways to do it without harming the baby. All of this background has contributed to the current tension between the United States police and the black community. Some examples of this police brutality are the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore; both cases have created a sense of displeasure on black community in the United
Currently, the actual relationship between the African American community and the United States police is going through a bad time. The reasons for that recent civil disorders in the United States are police brutality and the discrimination acts against black people. While the election of Barack Obama as president had seemed to be a new era in American race relations; the killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, made clear that nothing had changed. Many African American communities allege that the police routinely use excessive force against members of minority populations (Wintersmith, 1974). During the last years, the grotesque and routine police violence against African Americans has provoked several civil problems like the great Los Angeles riots. The protests against these police killings …show more content…
Over the years, this country has witnessed many cases of police brutality; but, this cause is also related to the past (enslavement period), when white people mistreated and black people in the plantations. The treatment of slaves in the United States varied by time and place, but was generally brutal and degrading. Slaves were punished by whipping, shackling, beating, mutilation, branding and/or imprisonment. Punishment was most often meted out in response to disobedience or perceived infractions, but masters or overseers sometimes abused slaves to show dominance. Slave masters even beat pregnant women, devising ways to do it without harming the baby. All of this background has contributed to the current tension between the United States police and the black community. Some examples of this police brutality are the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore; both cases have created a sense of displeasure on black community in the United