There have been many protests all over the country due to many conflicting controversies that have occurred over the years. For example, from the Trayvon Martin case, to the Mike Brown case, and now to the Eric Garner case. All of these cases have something similar and that is the fact that these three African American boys have been killed by White police officers. Many protesters have been acting on this card of a racial issue in all of these cases, while on the other hand many argue that if these men were white there would be no protests. I, however, do believe racism does exist in this country to this day, but however I believe that if our officers were better trained on how to handle situations like these, some of these cases could have been avoided. We can tie this back to the civil rights movement and how African American marched through towns fighting for equality. Many of these protesters protesting throughout this country due to these cases have the same intentions,mindset and goals that they want to reach. We can also see their determination for change which is a parallel comparison to the African Americans way back when the civil rights movement was taking place. My question is do you believe that these acts of homicide, by the white officers, were carried out due to the fact that these men were African American? Is this really a racial issue or is this issue really due to the fact that our law enforcers (police men) lack the proper knowledge and skills it takes to handle situations like these?
I agree with Seneti, I think this is an issue of race. It would be understable if this incident happened a couple of times, but this seems to a be a pattern now where young African-Americans are being killed by white officers. I am sure that these officers are trying to do the right thing but make split-second reactions made by the conscious, and part of their conscious is racism. However maybe the media only presents us more controversial cases where a white officer kills a African-American because there will be a bigger reaction then if a white officer killed a white.
ReplyDeleteThe whole issue with white officers and black suspect is getting out of hand. Being a police officer does give you authority, but I am always worried that they take this authority and use it to their advantage. Saying they protect people and abide the law, when really they might just not know anything about it. I did extra research and watch the video of Eric Garner being strangled and in the end seeing him deceased. Two things. First, I don't understand why he was getting upset that they were only telling him to stay in front of the cigarette store. Second, I don't understand why the officer strangling this man did not care to stop when he started saying "I can't breathe". Their really is a lot of problems concerning this, and I really hope it gets solved soon because then we might be the next victim to this whatever race we are.
ReplyDeleteI believe that police officers definitely take advantage of the power they are given. They have this power that normal people do not have. They may be acting on what they believe is just and the right thing to do, but it may not always be correct. I feel like this issue does deal more so with race than proper training. Any sane person would not try to commit murder if unnecessary. However, if this person has a racist perspective, they may act on there skewed perception more so than what they were trained to do.
ReplyDeleteWhether it is a race issue or not, which I personally believe is a very likely factor, police should definitely be more adequately trained. Unexpected events occur every single day, so police officers that commit to protect the law and the people should know how to defend it properly. Regarding race, it is difficult to determine whether these were acts of racism because we do not have proper statistics displaying rates of other races being killed by police forces - we have nothing to compare this to. Just because articles about white men being shot by officers does not make headlines, it doesn't mean that they are obsolete. We need to take into consideration that this kind of thing happens to all different types of people, not just the black race.
ReplyDeleteRacism existed a long time ago and still exists today. Are these cases and the way they ended a result of racism? I don't know about that. I would say that it is quite a coincidence that all these victims are black but I strongly believe cops don't and haven't had a good control over society for a while now. We see people getting tickets day in and day out for the most meaningless things but where is the law when it comes to someone getting raped or mugged? Cops need to get better control over society and stop thinking they're doing something giving out tickets for being parked on red.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what everyone is saying. This whole thing is all about race. I believe that the Police officers are more than equipped with the knowledge do handle these situations. It is there job to do so right? I do believe that these cops aren’t racists, but like Mr. Colglazier said in class they could be racists and just don’t know it. They just have a mindset that they think isn’t racist but could actually be racist. I don’t think these acts were acts of racism by the cops I think the public is just looking at it this way because it was a white cop and Black perp. If it was a white cop and a white perp, I guarantee that we wouldn’t be hearing about this story.
ReplyDeleteI believe these police brutality cases are the outcome of abuse of power and lack of training. Although it doesn't seem coincidental that all these cases happen to be white cop against black civilian, but I have to agree with Carter when he says that if it was a white cop and a white civilian then the news wouldn't be as big. Even so, this is still wrong. Officers of the law should know in their training how to put someone in a chokehold to be able to arrest them, but they should also be trained to know that there is a difference between that and putting someone in a chokehold that ends up killing them. When Eric Garner repeatedly shouted "I can't breathe" the officer should have known that further actions would have serious consequences, yet he still continued to suffocate the man.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this is both a matter of race and a matter of police training. While it is true that people may hold racist mindsets without knowing it like Carter said, I also believe that if these cops were better equipped to deal with these types of situations, then it would help solve this problem. I do not think that it is solely a racial issue. There have undoubtedly been cases where white police officers have shot white men, but because race isn't a factor in these situations, there is less news coverage, and less controversy.
ReplyDeleteI agree that this is a race problem because it goes back to slavery, and how bad the blacks were treated by the whites. People are blowing this out of proportion because it is a black and white thing. People only care if a black man is killed by a white man. But people do not care if a black man kills another black man
ReplyDeleteI think it is horrible that a police officer would go as far as to choke a man to death. This seems to be a racial problem though we cannot know for sure. I think the mini police cameras are a good idea and that it will keep the citizens feeling more comfortable.
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