Hands Up, Don't Shoot!

Diego Diani, a part-time student at Northern Virginia Community College and full-time certified Dental Assistant who's dedication is to provide fairness and quality service for everyone. As time seems to be flying by, I happen to love to discover and question the unknown more and more. Given that I'm looking forward on becoming a Sports Medicine Doctor, I must find an answer to every question. In this case, I happen to do a little research on how Police brutality is a consequence of systemic racism and unequal justice to many civilized citizens. 

In every civilization there is a set of laws and a set of rules that make sure we live in a disciplined society. Police officers are supposed to serve and protect, not to cause harm; inducing citizens to look up to Policeman as protectors, yet while still being afraid of them. Within the past few years, society has experienced outrageous situations with Police officers and the use of unnecessary force when arresting citizens. The deaths of Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, as well as the murder of Eric Garner describe exactly the unethical treatment citizens are receiving throughout the nation by law enforcement officials. In 2014, thefreethoughtproject.com and CBS News’ author Jennifer De Pinto and team staff released the news article, “Michael Brown and Eric Garner: The police, use of force and race,” coupled with a daring and audacious meme on Police brutality, where the authors argue the misconduct and repugnant behavior of Police officials on recent events towards civilized citizens. In the dauntless meme and article, the authors claim that Police brutality is a consequence of systemic racism and unequal justice, where Police officers have misplaced the trust citizens have placed into their hands by abusing the privileges the nation has provided them with when exceeding the use of force, while getting away with their crimes by simply showing their badge.

March 1991, a group of researchers for the University of Utah: Lee Sigelman, Susan Welch, Timothy Bledsoe, and Michael Combs stated in the scholarly article, “Police Brutality and Public Perception of Racial Discrimination: A Tale of Two Beatings” how an African-American resident of the city of Los Angeles, Rodney King, was beaten by four white officers of Los Angeles Police Department unjustifiably, given to his race and the unequal treatment citizens go through day by day. Sigelman and the team of researches claimed that officers excessively used their force when they “used a stun gun on King and repeatedly kicked and hit him with batons. […] Approximately fourteen months later, the trial against the four officers ended with non-guilty verdicts,” causing the city of Los Angeles to explode in violence as happened identically in March of 2015 in the city of Baltimore withthe death of Freddie Gray. This clearly manifests how Police officers have been taking advantage of the power they are being provided with throughout history, knowing that in the long run they will get away with their wrongdoings, simply because they happen to be the so called “law.” Similarly to the death of Eric Garner, who was killed given to the use of a chokehold by an infuriated officer; days later the officer was found innocent.

So what happens then? When someone, whose responsibility is to enforce the law makes an error and fails to accomplish what they have sworn to do? What happens when they manage to break through the legal system that was designed to punish all with equal and fair justice? In December of 2014, David Rushton, an author for MintPress News wrote the article “4 Cases of Unpunished Police Brutality with Video Evidence,” where he examines police misconduct and how often police officers do not face discipline, and explains how as years go by, the topic of police brutality and misconduct towards civilized citizens is a consequence of systemic racism and unequal justice, which lately, has become more and more common. At least that is what it seems like. Systemic racism and unequal justice towards minorities, blacks in particular, did not just start a few years ago, this issue has been a problem for many years, even after Martin Luther King, Jr. made his “dream” come true; to allow all whites and blacks to be treated equal. The only reason why society has noticed a huge impact on systemic racism and unequal justice towards minorities and African-Americans today, is given to social media and the improvement humanity has gotten with technology. Thanks to the ability to access cellular devices equipped with recording cameras, individuals are able to capture discriminating scenes towards innocent citizens by law enforcements, as well as inequities done to other citizens, given to their race. 

Per example, on March of 2015, white citizen of Oak Madison, Michigan walked on school grounds with an open carry gun. Police officers did not say anything to him, indeed, they did follow him and eventually asked him to leave the property, but given to the knowledge of the citizen on his constitutional rights, Police man were not able to arrest him, nor submit him in any way since the white citizen initially stated how “he had the right to carry his gun in hand as if he were to be walking his dog. The question is, would this have happened if the citizen were to be black? [Most likely, the] black citizen would have gotten arrested, if not shot” (De Pinto), because officers would have thought that he was a threat. If social media did not currently exist, many citizens around the nation would not have been aware and known most of the negligence being done today.

It is unacceptable to have law enforcement officials break the law. How ironic is it to feel safe, while living within a herd of wolves. As Rushton says, “How can we protect ourselves from the very people we have trusted to uphold the laws that we ourselves make to protect us?” Altogether, it is adequate to state that justice is not perfect, but if justice is not perfect then how can we even begin to see how to fix it. There just happens to be too many variables within these abusive incidents, systemic racism and unequal justice towards civilized citizens, causing society to accelerate at the speed of light where everyone struggles to keep up with. This is a valuable discourse that should not end with police departments, but should seek to investigate the system in place that contribute to the unequal administration of justice in America. The question is not who should watch over us, what we should ask ourselves is, “WhoWatches the Watchers” (Rushton).