Police Protests

Young African-American men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by police officers according to a Guardian study that recorded 1,134 deaths at the hands of law enforcement officers in 2015. Despite making up only 2% of the total US population, African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 made up more than 15% of all deaths logged this year by an ongoing investigation into the use of deadly force by police. And then police departments across the country have the nerve to act so violently to peaceful protests, no, this must come to an end.

For veterans of the wars Ferguson protests so closely resemble, the police response has appeared to be not only heavy-handed but out of step with the most effective ways for both law enforcement and military personnel to respond to demonstrations. “The police are standing with bulletproof vests and rifles pointed at people's chests,” said Jason Fritz, a former Army officer and an international policing operations analyst. That’s not controlling the crowd, that’s intimidating them. The first thing that went wrong was when the police showed up with K-9 units. The dogs played on racist imagery, it played the situation up and the department wasn’t aware of the imagery. Instead of calming the situation down on the second day, the police responded with armored vehicles and SWAT officers in bulletproof vests and military-grade rifles. I can’t think …show more content…
In front of them, a row of police officers, also in riot gear. Just one lane of road separates them from hundreds of protesters. "We are not your enemy," they chant. "We just want justice." Armed men carrying assault rifles paced the roof of, a store that was damaged in protests. Customers inside said they were not afraid to be out even as the noise of police sirens and helicopters fill the air. Protesters chanted, "They have given us no justice! We will give them no