Power

In the United States of America, men and women all around the country put their lives on the line as police officers. It takes hard work, a lot of focus, dedication, and a clear understanding of what role they are supposed to play as a police officer. There are situations where police will lay down their own life to save the lives around them, or go out of their own way to help a person with any random situation. Sadly, it seems like this type of police officer is seen a lot less in certain urban communities. The golden standard of what a police officer is supposed to be, is not practiced in every police station.

The main problem with the officers who do not hold up the golden standard of the police department, is that the badge gives them power to do as they please with no fear of consequence. A police officer can put multiple bullets in you just because you did not stop when the officer commanded you to. “Well why don’t you stop when the officer tells you to? Certainly if you obey the officer’s commands then you will be ok, right?”. The term ‘excessive force’ comes to mind when I hear that statement. The end result does not justify the means at all. There has been a long history of officers that have abused their power which ended up seriously injuring someone, or someone losing their life. Just because someone did not stop when a police officer tells them, that means that they have to be executed in the streets? This is considered ok in the land of the free, because the officer committing the murder has a badge that basically says its ok to kill a person when they deem it necessary.

The infamous case of Rodney King was one of the first police beatings that was actually caught on camera. I have to emphasize that it was the first one caught on actual video tape, because most people living in poor, urban communities, know that this is a normal thing. “The officers beat King, who was already subdued. In the videotape, King continues to try to stand again. Koon orders the officers to “hit his joints, hit the wrists, hit his elbows, hit his knees, hit his ankles.” Officers Wind, Briseno, and Powell attempted numerous baton strikes on King, resulting in some misses but with 33 blows hitting King, plus six kicks. The officers again “swarm” King, but this time a total of eight officers are involved in the swarm. King is placed in handcuffs and cordcuffs, restraining his arms and legs. King is dragged on his abdomen to the side of the road to await the arrival of emergency medical rescue.” (Rodney King. Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation). Rodney King was transported to the hospital with 11 skull fractures, permanent brain damage, broken bones and teeth, kidney failure, and emotional and physical trauma. This was the aftermath that King suffered just for allegedly fleeing a scene. The crazy thing about this whole situation is that, again, things like this happen more than people think. It is normal to beat black men and women in this country if you are a police officer and it is also normal to get away with it. The officers that beat Rodney King all walked away free, with no charges or consequences.

When talking about the differences between White community police officers, and Black/Brown community officers, people seem to forget the history behind these police stations. In the year 2018, people will argue that there is no racism and that we as a country have just moved on and moved passed it. Everybody is treated equally and we are all viewed the same. “First of all, things have gotten better. In 1958, 44 percent of white Americans said they’d move if a black family moved in next door. Forty years later, that number had dropped to 1 percent. Were some whites lying? Probably, sure. But most probably weren’t. When the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, only 18 percent of white Americans said they had a black friend. By 1998, that number was 86 percent. Some people were probably fibbing, but the mere fact that they wanted others to believe they had a black friend is a kind of progress”. (Goldberg, Jonah. “America Is Not As Intolerant As We Make It Out to Be). My question to those people is, when exactly did racism end? Can you point out a time in history and say “ok everyone stopped being racist right here at this point in time”? Racism and prejudice has been openly practiced for hundreds of years in America. You can almost say it is in America’s DNA considering how long it has been going on for. Police officers used to literally terrorize African Americans and support them being hanged, beaten, abused, killed, and ignored when they were in need of help. Now just to make sure my point is not being misinterpreted, I am saying that there is a context that has been set in this country where if you are a police officer in America, and you decide you want to kill or beat someone because they are not obeying your commands, then it will be considered justified because you are a police officer. I am not saying that I think that all police officers are bad people. The huge disconnect between the White and Black communities when it comes to police officers is that many White people simply just do not have to experience any type of racism or prejudice. They cannot see it through the eyes of a Black person because they cannot fathom what it is like when someone wants to hurt you or treat you different because of the color of your skin or because of the area you just so happen to live in. “according to the US Census estimates, Blacks made up 13% of the population. However, in 2015 they accounted for 26% of those that were killed by police, in 2016, 24%, and in 2017, 23% of all those killed by police. In other words, Blacks were the victims of the lethal use of force by police at nearly twice their rate in the general population.” (Beer, Todd. “POLICE KILLING OF BLACKS: Data for 2015, 2016, 2017).

There is a reason why there is a Black Lives Matter movement. It seems like in this country we have to remind people that Black people are also humans. Blacks were seen as only 3/5ths of a person in the days of slavery, and now it seems like we have to try and prove time and time again that we just want to mind our own business with no problems. The image of the Black man has been crucified to the point where you cannot be black and walk outside at night with a hood on your head, you cannot sit at a Starbucks without being arrested, you cannot legally own a gun without being shot by police. We are living in a country where we are told we are free but are treated like prisoners whenever we walk outside. You can draw parallels to how people treated Blacks back in the days of slavery to now because, another thing people seem to forget, slavery was not that long ago. You would be sent to jail for sitting in a place with no job back then, the police would give you time for just simply being homeless, and the same thing happens today. “The Vagrancy Act of 1866, passed by the General Assembly on January 15, 1866, forced into employment, for a term of up to three months, any person who appeared to be unemployed or homeless. If so-called vagrants ran away and were recaptured, they would be forced to work for no compensation while wearing balls and chains.” (Tarter, Brent. “Vagrancy Act of 1866). So 152 years ago, a Black man could be arrested for appearing like he does not have a job or is homeless, 8 months ago two black men were arrested for simply sitting in a Starbucks without purchasing anything. “A Starbucks employee called 911 because two black men were sitting inside the café. Soon after they arrived, police handcuffed the men and escorted them out of the shop. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross, who is Black, said the men hadn’t purchased anything and refused to leave, which led to the arrest.” (McCausland, Phil. “Protests Follow Outrage after Two Black Men Arrested at Philly Starbucks). Police have the power to come and arrest you for anything they see fit. Those men did not commit any crimes, and yet they were still cuffed and put in jail.

There is a huge reason why these incidents have happened and are continuing to happen to this day, and it is all because of image. The image of the black man is tarnished, at a point in time, all black men were looked at as dangerous killers and rapists who would slaughter your family and eat your babies. Today, Black men are viewed as thugs, drug dealers, and killers who will kill or rob you if you get too close. You can go back and look at the pictures of how Black men were portrayed in such a horrific way. They were portrayed in these ways because it is easier to kill the Black life, when you have already killed the image of the Black life. “The Sheriff David Clarke for U.S. Senate draft committee says that Clarke said Black Lives Matter “is a terrorist movement, a hate group and calls it, Black LIES Matter. “Clarke has repeatedly used Lies instead of Lives in labeling the group, and has repeatedly called it a hate group. In his memoir, he calls the group a “terrorist organization.” We rate the statement True” (Kertscher, Tom. “Did Sheriff Clarke Say Black Lives Matter Is Terror Group?). It is usually the case that when a Black man is shot by police, one of the first things that the news will report is if he had a criminal record or not, even if it had nothing to do with the current situation. Many times I have heard things like “He was in jail two years ago so its ok he got arrested for sitting at a Starbucks” or “He used to sell drugs so I don’t feel sorry that the cops killed him”. It is much easier for police to get away with all the crimes that they commit against Black people, because the world has a certain view of Black people. There is a stigma that is attached to Black people, that is so deep that even Black people can view other Blacks as thugs because of what the media has beat into their brains. This is why I made the statement that racism and prejudice is basically embedded into America’s DNA. Blacks can’t go into a store without being followed because of the stigma that you will steal something, or walk past a car without hearing the doors locked because someone is afraid you will rob them, or make too many movements around police without getting shot because they are afraid that you will be violent.

Even with all that said, there has been progress made. There are more ways to expose and show the world the differences that are going on in our own cities. We know that all police are not bad, so the good police officers need to call out the ones that are not holding up to the golden standard of how an officer of the law should act. Any police officer who abuses the power that is given to them should be removed from their position. The many fine men and women who are in the police force who actually care about the job and care about helping all people, need to speak up against these things because as of now, it is starting to look like those types of officers are becoming the minority. We have been taught that with great power comes great responsibility since we were kids, it is time for the police officers of America to put that phrase into action.

Works Cited

2. Beer, Todd. “POLICE KILLING OF BLACKS: Data for 2015, 2016, 2017, and First Half of 2018 — Sociology Toolbox.” Sociological Images Racializing the Abortion Debate Comments, 2018, thesocietypages.org/toolbox/police-killing-of-blacks/.

6. Kertscher, Tom. “Did Sheriff Clarke Say Black Lives Matter Is Terror Group?” @Politifact, 17 Apr. 2017, www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2017/apr/17/sheriff-david-clarke-us-senate/pro-sheriff-david-clarke-group-says-clarke-called-/

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