Samantha Liz

Samantha Bellamy

English 210

February 20, 2020

Have you ever heard of a story of a man who had a seizure because a police officer decided to tazze him for no reason? Police brutality, what do you think of when you hear those words? If you didn’t know police brutality is when a police officer abuses their power to “help/stop” a situation, but in real life the officer is causing more harm to the situation taking place. Police brutality will be mainly seen on people of color or anyone outside of the white race because of the fact of power.

People of color will always be a main target when it comes to police brutality. Why? We may never know the real truth but the fact of the matter is that people of color are being attacked and abused by officers in cases where the victim might be not guilty for the reason behind the police action. According to “Racism and police brutality in America” by Cassandra Chaney and Ray V Robertson both state “The survey, which involved approximately 978 non-Hispanic Whites and 1,010 Blacks, revealed a divergence in attitudes between Blacks and Whites concerning the criminal justice system (Tonry 2011). For instance, 38 % of Whites and 89 % of Blacks viewed the criminal justice system as biased against Blacks (Tonry 2011)” (Paragraph 11 line 3-7). It is clear that the survey in which was conducted to see if black males are more of a victim in police brutality than whites is true and the survey proved it to be true. While this survey was conducted in the year 2011 a change hasn’t been made because of the fact that you can still see police brutality occurring in the present days. Future on in the article both Chaney and Robertson state “ a woman by the name of Christina recounted an incident where her husband was physically abused by a police officer… My husband was really abused by an officer last week. He got out of the truck put his hands up and got on the ground. While he was on the ground the officer tazed him. It was stuck in his skull …then the officer continued to taze him 2 more times … While he was having a seizure” (Paragraph 34 lines 1-9). This story is just sad to ear. A man is having a seizure and the police officer still continue to tazze him. A police officer needs to know when to stop but obviously they don’t and use their power which can be their weapons to “protect themselves” when the victim can be following the order that has been given to them. Police brutality not only needs to stop but equality must be expanded.

Imagine being home and out of nowhere the police decide to show up ( in my opinion that is not cool) and all of a sudden, a police officer decided to stun you with a stun gun because you were in his way. According to “Florida Sheriff’s Deputy Uses Stun Gun 3 Times on Black Grandmother by Zak Cheney-Rice, Cheney Rice states “A sheriff’s deputy in Manatee County, Florida, used a stun gun three times on a 70-year-old grandmother last week after she blocked his efforts to enter her home” (Paragraph 1 line 1-2). Now in my opinion that is not good. An old woman who probably doesn’t have that much strength is getting stun by a gun 3 times is just not okay and I can imagine what damage she suffered because of this. Cheney-Rice continues to state “Florida law allows officer to enter homes with just an arrest warrant if they believe a suspect is present. The Grandson was not present” (paragraph 2 lines 2-3). The grandmother informed the officer that the grandson was not there which was her reason for not letting them in but they wouldn’t listen and instead decided to stun her 3 times. Sometimes in this world people make bad decisions but you always know what you are doing before you make that bad decision so why do it.

As people in the United States we all have freedom of speech but why when we use our voices it ends up in a big problem or worse. In the year 2014 a man named Eric Garner died because of him participating in the black life matters movement but the police officer Daniel Pantaleo started making false accusations about him. In the article “Officer Wont Face Federal Charges in Eric Garner’s Death” Adam K. Raymond states “The incident took place on a Staten Island sidewalk after police confronted Garner because they thought he was selling loose cigarettes. In the ensuing struggle, Pantaleo put Garner in a chokehold, compressing his windpipe for at least 15 seconds as other officers helped hold Garner down. In videos of the encounter, Garner can be heard saying, “I can’t breathe.” An hour later he was dead (paragraph 5 line 3-7).  It was clearly unnecessary because if you ask me the man was there that day fighting for his rights and not selling anything so the fact that the officer decided to do something this big because of what he thought was horrible.

If you place close attention you know every story and article have a similar point, and that point is that police brutality occurs on people of color but mainly it happens without any proof of anything. Officers turn out to be one of the most hurtful people in America in my opinion. You are supposed to be here to help protect the US not cause them pain. Even if the person did something wrong try and find a way to solve the situation without any violence because instead of fixing it, you’re just making it worse. Being a part of police brutality isn’t fun. I remember when I got verbally abused by one because I stopped an officer because there was an old lady bleeding in the ground and all I wanted to do was get help. Sometimes even trying to get help isn’t even good because in the end the officer will just curse you out and tell you to get away. Even though I didn’t care for what the officer had to say I knew someone’s life was in danger and help was needed. Police brutality needs to stop. In my opinion If a police officer is acting out of line and isn’t holding up to their responsibility which is to help protect your states with proper care then you should just be fired. If that doesn’t happen, I see a very dark future coming that no one will want to be apart.

MLA Citation Pg.

• Chaney, Cassandra, and Ray V. Robertson. “Racism and police brutality in America.” Journal of African American Studies, vol. 17, no. 4, 2013, p. 480+. Gale Academic OneFile, https://link-gale-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/apps/doc/A352040808/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=AONE&xid=d60293fd.
• Cheney-Rice, Zak. “Florida Sheriff’s Deputy Uses Stun Gun 3 Times on Black Grandmother.” Intelligencer, Intelligencer, 31 Dec. 2019, nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/florida-deputy-stun-gun-black-grandmother.html.
• Raymond, Adam K. “Officer Won’t Face Federal Charges in Eric Garner’s Death.”Intelligencer, Intelligencer, 16 July 2019, nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/07/officer-who-killed-eric-garner-wont-face-federal-charges.html.

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