Allisa Taylor

3rd Period 3-27-17

Research Paper: Black

Lives Matter- Police

Brutality
The polices militarized treatment of the African-American communities have resulted in a

culture of distrust and backlash where police are not viewed as protectors, but as destroyers.

HANDS UP DONT SHOOT!!! This was the last plea from Michael Brown as he begged for

his life, in 2014. The Michael Brown incident demonstrates how quickly an encounter with law

enforcement can result in loss of life for African-Americans. Police brutality has a strong

negative impact on the black community, because of racial profiling, undue use of force, and

false arrest. In the year 2015 there were 1,200 Americans killed by police officers (Hearkens pg.

275) if the amount of police brutality cases could be significantly decreased officers should

prevented their partners form doing something wrong by sitting there watching your partner

beating on an innocent person just because theyre black doesnt mean you have to be

stereotyped
Police Brutality has a strong negative impact on the black community. Police brutality is the

use of any force going beyond that good enough necessary to complete a lawful police purpose.

Although no reliable measure of its number of times something happens exists--let alone one

charting change time-based--its history is definitely long. The types of brutality are excessive

force, false arrest or imprisonment, malicious prosecution, unreasonable search, and rights of

pre-trial detainees. In reports my findings have uncovered that police killed at least 102 unarmed

black people in 2015, nearly twice each week. Nearly 1 in 3 black people killed by police in

2015 were identified as unarmed, though the actual number is likely higher due to

underreporting. 37% of unarmed people killed by police were black in 2015 despite black people

being only 13% of the U.S. population. Unarmed black people were killed at 5x the rate of

unarmed whites in 2015. Only 10 of the 102 cases in 2015 where an unarmed black person was

killed by police resulted in officers being charged with a crime, and only 2 of these deaths

(Matthew Ajibade and Eric Harris) resulted in judgments of guilt in court of officers involved.

Only 1 of 2 officers convicted for their involvement in Matthew Ajibade's death received jail

time. He was sentenced to 1 year in jail and allowed to serve this time only on weekends. Deputy

Bates, who killed Eric Harris, will be sentenced May 31. Racial profiling and false identification

is what cause police brutality.

Police use undue force to deal with African-Americans. What can be done to stop police

brutality would be police officers being trained not to be racially bias towards the innocent black

people and they would still be alive today. The loved ones who are being affected are not seeing

justice police officers should have better improvement on police training skills practical training

with youths. Also work on training with their safety belts and more investigations should be

required since there is a lot of excessive force going on meaning officers are being very rough

when making an arrest. Officers should also work on their attitude by retraining police officers

today in society then maybe more lives can be saved and the community would be a lot better by

helping each other more. Then criminals can be put away and the world wouldnt be as bad as it

is because between the killings that the police officers are causing they are drawing a thin line

between themselves and the community instead the killing rates are going so high. If police

brutality isnt stopped we are going to continue losing innocent black lives. When are we going

to have a better community? When are things going to change so we all can stop screaming black

lives matter killing young teens who couldnt experience the rest of their lives because being

racially biased or controlling their temper as Americans they should be able to say and do as they

please without fearing for their safety?

Police brutality is a result of racial profiling. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as

grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. It is time for decent officers to

stop the madness so African Americans can feel safe again people are scared to even leave

their house without thinking maybe I will be shot or arrested for my skin color because there

use to be a time when officers were doing their job and they use to stop criminals that were

breaking the law there comes a time and place were situations can be handle a little differently

ever situations doesnt deserve a violent reaction towards it sometimes officers should take the

time to talk out the problem in order to resolve the issue in fact when using your gun it should be

when someone is armed or physically trying to hurt someone then you can use your gun not

when an innocent African American is walking down the street with a soda and skittles or

another trying to sell their music to support their family instead officers again shoot before they

ask questions picture yourself just walking down the street minding your own business and your

stopped by an officer and suddenly you feel this burning sensation and your instantly losing site

of your vision because you wore shot not understanding what may have been the cause of that

and come to find out it was because of the color of your skin. Officers feel that just because they

have a gun and a badge they are allowed to do what they please they give a African American

more jail time for a small crime also police brutality has been going on sense 1960s African

Americans have beaten by police officers for the color of their skin Africans have been
mistreated like they are animals such as Martin Luther King Jr for wanting equal rights and

everyone to be joined again as brothers and sisters also Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to

give up her seat to a Caucasian women Rosa Parks quoted herself I have learned over the years

that when ones mind is made up this diminishes fear. African Americans are very strong and

brave they have been through thick and thin beaten and their still rising and still fighting for

whats right stand up and start believing things can be better things are going to change whether

the police does it or we as African Americans take things into our own hands.
Police falsely arrest many blacks due to stereotyping. The criminal stereotype of African

Americans in the United States is related to a group of people with the same race, culture,

religion, etc. prejudiced mental picture according to which African American males in particular

are stereotyped to be dangerous criminals. The figure of the African-American man as criminal

has appeared often in American popular culture and has been connected with results in the justice

system such as assuming certain races of people are more likely to commit crimes and harsher

legal punishments for African American people who were sued in trials. Stereotyping African

Americans are more likely to commit crimes is a significant social problem. Forty-two percent of

African- Americans say police have stopped them just because of their race. Fifty-nine percent of

the U.S. public believes that the practice is existing all over a large area. Eight-one percent

disapprove of the practice (Gallup 1999). For instance, when a White driver is pulled over for

speeding, he is asked a couple of questions such as "Good evening, may I see your Driver's

License and insurance card, please?" and "Have you been drinking tonight?" After the driver

hands over his Driver's License and insurance, he is then in most cases issued a ticket and told to

drive safe and wished a good evening. For African Americans in many cases this is not the kind

of picture/situation that they go through when being pulled over by Law Enforcement for the

same reason. Loren Siegel (1999) writes about a 37-year old man, U.S. Army Sergeant First

Class Rossano V. Gerald and his 12-year old son Gregory. They were traveling across the
Oklahoma border when they had been pulled over twice. The first time by the Roland City Police

Department, and the second time by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, both stops in less than 30

minutes. The second pull-over lasted a little less than three hours. Father, and son were put in a

police vehicle where the air conditioning was turned off and only hot hair was turned on to blow.

They were told, if they tried to escape that the police dog would attack them. The officers did

turn of the recording tape in the middle of this unfair thinking based on race going on. They went

ahead/moved forward to search Gerald's car, not finding anything. This is a prime example of

police assuming certain races of people are more likely to commit crimes. Gerald was pulled

over, treated cruel and shocking because of the color of his skin. Any person is under risk to be

treated this way, anywhere in the United States because their skin color has been connected with

criminal activity that happens.

 Sources

1. www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and.../police-brutality
2. https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/
3. And Still I Rise By: Maya Angelou
4. Black Lives Matter By: Edwards, Sue Bradford
5. http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/racial-profiling2011/what-is-racial-

profiling.html