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Many different conflicts arise throughout the world. I wanted to focus on one that takes place in the United States. Police Brutality is a major issue in America and I feel most passionate about this topic. There have been many incidents that have left America in shock. Creating division in our country because of the different stances on this issue. We ask ourselves why is police brutality still prevalent in today’s society. Is it the blatant racism existing in the police force or officers who just weren’t trained well? Many excuses are made to back police officers, but no excuse can make up for the unneeded violence. I will be using the OODA loop to analyze police brutality.
When observing police brutality we have to take into account all sides and all the factors. Police brutality is the use of unnecessary and excessive force against another individual. For example, the victim could be complying with the cop’s orders but the officer may use excessive force and throw the victim to the ground, punch, kick, or choke the individual. This ends up leading to distrust in our law enforcement officers and makes the citizens question their safety. Although this is a major problem today, police brutality has been around forever. Police brutality was mainly seen back during the civil rights movements where African Americans would be beaten by cops. This excessive force was to suppress African American voices and preserve the power of white people. The police are given too much power and then feel they can act, however. Officers should use their power to serve and protect the citizens, instead of taking advantage of their power and using it to brutalize innocent victims. It seems almost as if police brutality is causing more harm to the public than actual criminal perpetrators. People then feel the need to get that power back which causes an uproar. We live day by day obeying the law that police officers enforce but some are using this power violently. One thing we all know is the medias portrayal of police brutality which is much different from reality. Nowadays, we turn on the TV and can immediately tell which party the news channel supports. Spreading information through biased and deceitful ways is an easy way to spread misinformation. We constantly see new videos of police brutality popping up on social media outlets or news channels which then shows us that it is very real and could happen to anyone.
Officers already work in an environment generating hate towards all criminals, no matter how big the offense may be. This causes officers to act on their emotions rather than in a professional manner. Acting on emotions leads to unnecessary excessive force in times not needed. We have officers who go as far as lying, hiding evidence, or not telling the whole story, making us question just how efficient our justice system is. We were taught at a young age that law enforcement officers are here to protect and serve and that they are to be respected. For the large part, this is true. Because we are humans with different DNA and emotions, there will be bad apples in every facet of our society. We should, therefore, not apply the actions of these bad apples to all of society. Everything should be evaluated on an individual basis.
If we consider cultural influences and internal factors, there is a certain targeted group associated with police brutality. It seems many African Americans are victims of police brutality especially because of racial profiling. Racial profiling is assuming a certain race may act a certain way and is usually seen in a dark light. Officers usually have a set notion of what type of age, race, and class usually perform criminal acts. The problem with this is that many minorities fall under that category. Minorities then always become the primary suspects even when doing nothing wrong. Police shoot and kill African Americans twice as much as any other racial group. This shines a light on the corrupt justice system bias. This then leads to movements and discusses the position of Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter is a movement started to protest police brutality. This movement was made to show that Black Lives do matter. Not that they matter more but that they simply should be treated the same as every other single person. It’s crazy how we have protested against a group performing criminal acts, that should be protecting us from such. You also have individuals with larger platforms pushing for a solution to this problem or simply for the rest of America to recognize this conflict. For example, Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the pledge of allegiance. This was to raise awareness of police brutality, and while Colin Kaepernick caught a lot of heat, he still got his point across.
Some statistics include that in 2015: 1,307 Americans were killed by police. That is a huge amount considering that there are only 365 days in a year (Petrohilos). In that number, police have killed at least 104 unarmed black individuals. That makes up about 35% of unarmed African Americans who were killed by police while African Americans only make up about 13% of the population in America. This number also could be much higher due to underreporting.
Currently, some officers who use excessive force end in little punishment. We need to make a change in our system that won’t allow police brutality to happen anymore. To restore the trust in the American police, they must be routinely and randomly drug tested along with being tested for racial bias. There is no reason why there should be racist cops. All officers must wear body cameras and no exception for turning the cameras off. Communities of color need less policing. Start by decriminalizing addiction and petty offenses. We must also start to diversify our police departments. Hire more women and more minorities. These are simple and reasonable adjustments that should be in effect now.
Citizens should be able to have trust in the officers that protect their community. Police brutality and the inability to stop it shows that the government is drawing out the racial suppression prevalent in today’s society. As a result of the public eye, this makes officers reluctant to do their job because of the criticism. Subsequently, causing communities and officers to feel threatened by each other. We need to make a change now, there are no exceptions or excuses that can make up for the violent behavior officers have been performing. We do not live in a utopian society. Our views and beliefs are different from the world as well. The one universal constant is our humanity ; and as such, each human being on the face of the earth is not alike. Our human emotions sometimes dictate how we may act or react to certain situations. Our humanity encompasses the good, the bad, and the ugly. There will be conflict and dissension. It seems the bad and the ugly are what’s being prominently portrayed around our country and the world. We must acknowledge that we are a nation of rules and laws. Without these, we are barbarians.
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