(Above) A 17-year-old Civil Rights demonstrator is attacked by a police dog in Birmingham, Ala., on May 3, 1963. This image led the front page of the next day's New York . (Bill Hudson/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Why You Should Care
Police brutality has made an aggressive reappearance in America towards minorities, more specifically the African-American community. After its initial appearance during the Civil Rights Movement of the late 20th century, America’s law enforcement is still practicing race-fueled violence. This has been evident in the police beatings and killings of unarmed black men and women as in the case of Michael Brown (18 y/o; 2014) and Freddie Gray (25 y/o, 2015) and many more victims. After all of these instances, it is evident that there is still racism in the law enforcement system of America leaving many to question the legitimacy of the justice system. This forum will discuss these senseless instances of excessive force and the perspectives of the different stakeholders of this issue: Members of the Law Enforcement, America's Legislative Branch & The Victims and their Families.
Police abuse against people of color is a legacy of African American enslavement, repression, and legal inequality . For no other reason than color, American society has refined their systems to penalize people by withholding power. In recent American history, the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s was an era most infamous for its public police beatings and killings. Towards the end of the 60s, laws were established in hopes to rid the law enforcement unnecessary use of excessive force. However, the enforcement of these laws proved evidently inadequate in the sudden rise of police brutality in the 90s up until today. |
A Build-Up of Tension
Rodney King
On March 31, 1991, police brutality was brought back into America’s mainstream with the beating of Los Angeles (LA) resident Rodney King. During a traffic stop for speeding, King was accused of resisting arrest and being under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A bystander videotaped officers tasing, kicking, stomping and beating King with batons. He suffered 56 blows from the batons and was kicked 6 times. King also had 11 skull fractures, brain damage and kidney damage. The officers beat him for approximately two minutes.
Four of the officers were charged with excessive force and found guilty. Officers Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell received 30 months in prison while Theodore Briseno and Timothy Wind were acquitted. African-Americans in LA were not satisfied with the charges and soon riots began to erupt across the city. The LA riots lasted for six days and left 53 people dead. |
LA Riots (1991) |
History Repeats Itself
Recently history repeated itself in the events of Ferguson and Baltimore. On Sunday August 9, 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, white police officer Darren Wilson (left) shot and killed Michael Brown (right), unarmed African-American teenager (18 y/o). Wilson's justification was that Brown was reaching for his handgun; however, many witnesses claim that Wilson was the aggressor. After the killing, Brown’s body was left in the street for more than four hours until it was picked up by the paramedics. On that same day, civil unrest started all across Ferguson and even across the country. Along with peaceful protests, there was looting and violent unrest in the vicinity of the original shooting.
According to the news media, there was police militarization when dealing with protests in Ferguson – tanks, tear gas, etc. This unrest lasted for about 6 weeks in Ferguson. The unrest continued on November 24, 2014, when a grand jury decided to acquit Wilson. It briefly continued again on the one-year anniversary of Brown's shooting (Aug. 9 2015). The exact same pattern of brutality, injustice, and social unrest happened with the death of 19-year old Freddie Gray (April 4, 2015) in Baltimore, Maryland by spinal-injury one week after being chased by the police and nearly beaten to death; Eric Garner (July 14, 2014) in Saten Island after a police officer held him at the throat for so long that he suffocated to death; and many more victims, known and unknown to news coverage.
This constant abuse of power by the law enforcement against the African-American community is proof that America’s foundation of racism and inequality has prevailed after so many years into the 21st century.
This has also prompted a call-for-action among the following stakeholders:
This constant abuse of power by the law enforcement against the African-American community is proof that America’s foundation of racism and inequality has prevailed after so many years into the 21st century.
This has also prompted a call-for-action among the following stakeholders: