Argumentative Essay: The Death Of Tamir Rice

Iman Rahimi
Public Speaking
Persuasive Essay

STEP 1. ATTENTION GETTER
November 22, 2014 was the day that the death of 12 year old African American boy, Tamir Rice, could have been prevented by body cameras. On that day, a Cleveland police officer shot and killed the sixth grader, who was carrying a toy airsoft gun in a public park. It is reported that the police officer, named Timothy Loehman, shot Tamir within two seconds of getting out of his patrol car. Perhaps if he had the weight of a body camera on him, it would have reminded him of his surveillance and made him hesitate before shooting a child holding a toy in a park. Timothy Loehman has still not faced any charges.

STEP 2. NEED
The pressing issue that has been alive since America’s
integration (as well as before that, during segregation) is police brutality. Racial profiling is an undeniable problem that is only ignored by those who are not victims of it. According to Weitzer and Tuch, "Relations between the police and minority groups are a continuing problem in many multiracial societies. Surveys consistently document racial differences in perceptions of the police, with minorities more likely...to harbor negative views" (Weitzer and Tuch, Race and Policing in America: Conflict and Reform, 2006).
Sub-step A. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM
According to NBC, from 1994 to 2014 alone there have been more than 7,300 police-caused murders (Mcclam, 2015).
The majority of civilians killed are Latinos, African Americans, and Native Americans, according to author AJ Vicens from the American Magazine Mother Jones (Vicens, 2015). Yvette Smith, Darrien Hunt, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Timothy Russel, Ezell Ford, Larry Jackson Jr., and Gary Hatcher are all only a miniscule fraction of the people of color murdered by officers of the law in recent times. Since the beginning of 2015, 1077 people have been murdered by police officers, according to KilledByPolice.com, which is a site where the families of victims of police brutality list the names of their deceased loved ones (Killed By Police,
2013).
HARM #1
Defined as unmerited, excessive and aggressive abuse, police brutality is a phenomenon that causes irreparable harm to its victims. The abuse may be physical or psychological, and the victims can feel the effects of this abuse for a lifetime. These effects include not only physical wounds, but also psychological ones. In some cases, the community also experiences the impact of police brutality on its victims.

HARM #2 (same as above)

police officers being falsely accused

Sub-step B.
Inherency
We must act now because people are dying everyday without consequence. To this day, innocent people are losing their fathers, brothers, and sons, as well as their mothers, sisters, and daughters. It needs to be recognized that a badge is not a license to kill.

Step 3. SOLUTION/SATISFACTION
In order to combat police brutality we must make it an obligation for police officers to wear body cameras. This is necessary in order for them to be held accountable for their actions.
SOLVE HARM #1
(re-state the original harm, only now explain how once your policy is in place the harm is either completely solved or at least significantly reduced).Statistics from Rialto, California showed that the use of force by police officers fell by almost 60 percent in the first 12 months after body cameras were put in use (The Guardian, 2013).

SOLVE HARM #2 Another effect of police officers wearing body cameras is the increase of care that witnesses would take in giving testimonies if they knew their answer could be discredited. Not only would this surveillance protect citizens, it would also safe-guard police officers from false accusations.
COST OF
IMPLEMENTATION
The cost of having police officers wear body cameras is the cost of having to provide it for them. According to Philadelphia Daily News, potential costs include ongoing maintenance, the cost of the camera itself, and costs associated with storing and maintain the video footage and recorded data that is collected. In addition, costs would be associated with cataloging and retrieving footage in response to subpoenas, investigations and public information requests. Taxes would be raised (Gambacorta and Difilippo, 2015).
Step 4. VISUALIZATION
(In this step you quite literally ask the audience to visualize how nice it will be once your plan is in effect. The true persuasion comes in this section. Additionally, this is where you would discuss any opposing or alternate courses of action to solve the problem, and you would explain how your policy is the best one.) Police-worn body cameras would develop accountability and trust in America. Some who disagree with the use of cameras may bring up the case of Eric Garner, an African American man who was choked to death by a policeman while many others crowded him. The murder of Eric Garner was caught on tape and released onto YouTube, where millions of people viewed it. Unfortunately, video proof was not enough for the grand jury to indict the police officer who killed Eric Garner. This raises the question; will cameras even make a difference? Forcing policemen and women to be on surveillance would at the very least show civilians that the government does care about citizens of the U.S being killed, and that justice is trying to be achieved. Body cameras are a step in the right direction.

Step 5. ACTION
(This is where you tell the audience what literal action each and every one of them can do to make your plan a reality. In most cases, this would be something along the lines of voting, signing a petition, or boycotting something. Since this is a classroom speech, what specifically you tell the audience to do here isn’t as vital as if it were a “real” speech.)