Racism and police brutality go hand-in-hand. In an article in the Nov 12 issue of the Guardian Statistics show that African American males are being killed by officers twice every other week. (Guardian1.) While Americans of all races can become a victim of police brutality, it affects the African American community out of proportion to all others. The African American communities have been subjected for many years to violence by those in higher authority. Law enforcement tends to use their authority to express excessive force upon blacks. The use of “excessive” force by an officer usually results in unjustifiable act ending in the beating or killing of an innocent citizen. Racial profiling is one of the biggest causes leading to police brutality;
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There seems to be more known cases of excessive force brought to light by social media and news coverage. Excessive force is a major issue because officers are beating killing unarmed citizens for reasons that most people would agree are unreasonable. Citizens all around are feeling unsafe because of the outbreak of how law enforcers and the misuse of authority. Just a few weeks ago a friend of mine I grew up with was arrested and badly beaten by a local police officer claiming he was resisting. 21 year old Giovanti Moschino Young was arrested for failing to show up to a court date for a prior arrest of 3 counts of robbery. Granted he was not the most innocent person in the world, however he did not deserve to be treated so poorly by a police officer whom we are supposed to be protected by. According to the Prince George county police department “In the recording, uploaded to Twitter on Saturday afternoon, a police officer can be seen on top of a young African-American male, punching him in the face and then using what appears to be a stun gun. The struggle is caught on camera by a passing motorist, who uploaded the clip and brought it to the attention of two prominent Black Lives Matter activists, DeRay McKesson and Shaun King.”(Prince George’s county police department) One of the good things about this generation is that we capture everything and post it on social media. Gladly the video of Giovanti went viral and caught the attention of many people. Officers seem to be justifying the beatings and killing of innocent citizens by claiming they were “resisting” and using excessive force. The line between what is necessary and what is needed is very thin. The use of force is no doubt an important aspect of law enforcement; however force should also be used with discretion. The use of force can range simply verbal commands to the lethal force. In various
There seems to be more known cases of excessive force brought to light by social media and news coverage. Excessive force is a major issue because officers are beating killing unarmed citizens for reasons that most people would agree are unreasonable. Citizens all around are feeling unsafe because of the outbreak of how law enforcers and the misuse of authority. Just a few weeks ago a friend of mine I grew up with was arrested and badly beaten by a local police officer claiming he was resisting. 21 year old Giovanti Moschino Young was arrested for failing to show up to a court date for a prior arrest of 3 counts of robbery. Granted he was not the most innocent person in the world, however he did not deserve to be treated so poorly by a police officer whom we are supposed to be protected by. According to the Prince George county police department “In the recording, uploaded to Twitter on Saturday afternoon, a police officer can be seen on top of a young African-American male, punching him in the face and then using what appears to be a stun gun. The struggle is caught on camera by a passing motorist, who uploaded the clip and brought it to the attention of two prominent Black Lives Matter activists, DeRay McKesson and Shaun King.”(Prince George’s county police department) One of the good things about this generation is that we capture everything and post it on social media. Gladly the video of Giovanti went viral and caught the attention of many people. Officers seem to be justifying the beatings and killing of innocent citizens by claiming they were “resisting” and using excessive force. The line between what is necessary and what is needed is very thin. The use of force is no doubt an important aspect of law enforcement; however force should also be used with discretion. The use of force can range simply verbal commands to the lethal force. In various