Police Brutality Today across the nation racism and police brutality go hand in hand, unfortunately today police brutality is major concern in the United States. Unfortunately when one usually thinks about the subject topic, the biggest incident that comes to mind is the Rodney King trial. The date of Rodney King police brutality incident occurred on March 3, 1991 in the state of California. King, who is African American, was involved in a high speed chase with four Caucasian police officers from the L.A.P.D., once King was eventually pulled over he was approached by four officers; who were by the officers; Stacey C. Koon, Laurence M. Powell, Timothy E. Wind, and Theodore J. Briseno. These four officers kicked King and hit him with their batons more than fifty times while he struggled on the ground.
The Sandford Police department is faced with many ethical issues since the shooting death of a young black teen in February. The department is facing racial issues in the community that are fueled by the mass media coverage of the case. The police chief has been forced to step down, the community is in a rage, and the news outlets are only reporting information that keeps the community thinking that this case is about the defendant being Hispanic and the victim a young Black man. The Sanford Police department is facing high racial tension among the members of its community. The shooting of Trayvon Martin a young black teen by a Hispanic male; has sparked many protest by the black members of the Sanford community among others.
Rodney King was shot twice with a taser gun and then beat over 56 times with their batons before being taken into custody. It was believed that Rodney King was the victim of police brutality because of his African-American race. This incident being caught on tape quickly surfaced the media and was being viewed all over the world.
8. As many trials on black citizens up until that point have not been treated fairly and that these black citizens have not been able to exercise the same rights as other Americans, the group wants all imprisoned African Americans to be released. 9. In many of the unfair trials involving black citizens, the jury has been biased against the black people, disallowing a fair trial. This tenant demands a trial made of people similar to the people in trial, so in this case black citizens.
When someone gets arrested there is someone to take their place. Drug sentencing should not be based on race. It is 2009 and racism is still a major topic in today’s system. Minorities have been treated unfairly in the justice system since we came to this country. African Americans have been targeted by the system for one reason of being black.
Even those Arab Americans who were already incarcerated experienced unjust treatment by police officers. Events leading up to September 11 2001. Retrieved from http://www.gcsehistory.org.uk/modernworld/terrorism/buildupto911.htm This website speaks about events leading up to 9/11. These events caused a buildup which lead to the events of 9/11. There are quotes directly from Osama bid Laden stating why he chose to target America.
Both black and white people do drugs, and Shakur felt that it is wrong to place the drug stereotype mainly on blacks. In his belief, removing the evil in people will make them honorable citizens and more caring towards one another. Shakur also goes on to say that it is time for black people to stop killing each other, and it is time to start healing each other. Tupac Shakur felt that a black president would have been a heaven sent miracle for the black people; in his opinion black people as a whole were not ready to have a black president. I believe he felt this way because he did not approve of the behavior of many black people; he also felt that the percentage of black people in jail was too high.
Turner writes of the role of communication plays in society to amplify change and what he terms as the playing out of a social drama. Eric Garner, a 43-year-old African American man, on July 19th 2014 was killed when a white police officer constrained him in a chokehold. The resulting response of protest and gathering by the African American community was the first sign or breach that the norm of behavior of the police needed to change. Turner’s reference to breach of norm is the first step in effecting social change. The issue of police brutality struck a chord in the community and the communication began to amplify when the video went viral on YouTube.
Rodney King, a black construction worker in Los Angeles, California, was on probation for previous charges of robbery when he was involved in a high-speed chase with the Los Angeles police department. King was eventually apprehended by the police officers and then beating by at least 3 of the 5 officers to near- death, while the other two officers did nothing to stop or prevent the racially motivated police brutality. The beating was recorded by a near-by onlooker on his balcony and viewed nationwide by millions of American’s. Public outraged ensued and the notorious LA Riots soon followed the horrific beating of Rodney King. Eventually, during the trial of Rodney King against the officers who beat him, the federal Judge, John Davies, harshly criticized King for provoking the officers to commit such brutality and further said that the police men were right in the actions that they took.
Police brutality has impacted our society because it changed the view of local authority; they went from being heroes of our communities to the vigilantes that we watch over our shoulders. Although police brutality has had its effect on our community, there are ways we can reduce the amount of abuse of the police. One of the most famous cases of police brutality takes place in 1991 in Los Angeles, California, where a black man named Rodney King