Police Brutality And Racism

We have all seen the news, and we have all heard of police brutality. The cases are all the same; an african american citizen was killed by a cop for “no reason.” Well, the truth is, most cops are not these racist, Ku Klux Klan members we think picture them to be. Media is the real villain, twisting words and adding in extra details to these stories. Overall, the media is framing the cops into being the bad guys, and unfortunately, the strangers we should trust most are being visualized as the bad guys. “COMMERCIAL is the main problem here. You reporters have deadlines which easily carry with it as much physiological stress as anything the cops get involved in, sincerely,” says Officer E.B. Chase, who is not only a cop, but also worked in
the television business for thirteen years. “But as we all know, if your story is not Hot or Compelling, it won't run (as it will by another paper or news program) the reader/viewership will fall, money for your business will decrease,” Chase says. It’s just as he says; news reporters will do anything to make a story interesting for viewers. Picture news reporters like lawyers: They lie to win the deal, and they’ll do whatever it takes. So, if we took cases where an african american person is told to do something from an officer, and he refuses, resists arrest, and for those actions gets beat down, that to a news reporter’s eyes is a story he can manipulate. The new headline could be something like, “Young Black Man Beaten By Police Officer,” and that would make bank for that news company. Doesn’t it seem like there’s always another person dead to the hands of an officer? Most times, you turn on the news and see these reports and think, “God, our police force has gotten so corrupt.” “The headlines make it feel as if the country is experiencing an unprecedented wave of police violence, but experts say that isn't the case,” Elliot C. McLaughlin, a CNN writer, reporter, producer, and blogger mentions. When you really tally the numbers, there has always been uncalled for shooting from officers. Yes, it sucks that an officer killed someone unfairly, but that corrupt sense of thinking isn’t spreading through our entire police force. “We're just seeing more mainstream media coverage, and for a variety of reasons,” Elliot says. In his article he proves some good points, such as that we have more access to global information with things like the internet, we have video cameras in our pockets, Americans have just gotten more sensitive, and the fact that there are just bad people out there. A problem new generations have is that they are not informed enough.
There was a report on police brutality by Brian Williams, and a former FBI agent had his say on the matter. “Perhaps Brian Williams and much of his audience are too young to remember the beatings by fisticuffs and billy clubs that marked the various confrontations between police and demonstrators in the 1960s, but I remember well,” he goes on to saying. In fact, he goes on and says there were many injuries and deaths of police resisters. “I want my child to obey the law. Therefore, if my child is ordered by police to clear an area, I expect my child to respect that and obey the law. If my child does not obey the law, then, I expect my child to be arrested. Why? Because my child did not obey the law,” he says. If you resist the police, it is by law they arrest you. It is the law, and even though the media is saying these fights and beatings are unnecessary, it is written down in law that you obey the police. Therefore, whether the kid is black or white, it is completely
necessary. Now some people do argue about this whole situation, and say that in fact, police are becoming more corrupt and racist.
Wesley Lowery, a reporter from Washington Post, fights the statement that more black people are killed. In 2015, Washington Post conducted a realtime database to track fatal police shootings. “As of Sunday, 1,502 people have been shot and killed by on-duty police officers since Jan. 1, 2015. Of them, 732 were white, and 381 were black (and 382 were of another or unknown race),” he says. He tries proving his point by stating that even though more white people were killed, there is a smaller percentage of african american people in America. The thing is, most of the people who kill these african americans are not white cops, but african american ones. And most of these shootings take place in violence filled neighborhoods and cities, as former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani says that black communities are just overfilled with violence. And besides, as I mentioned before, if you ever say no to an officer, or resist arrest, then yes, they should take the required force to arrest you, as that is the
law. Media is construing these “police brutality” cases. Reporters make their money on making stories more interesting than they are, and if framing cops is the way to make the money, than that is how they’ll do it. With the larger opportunity to see the news of today, whether it is through television or the internet, or even having a phone to record stuff, we just more of the same amount of drama that we just didn’t have availability to see in the past. So, instead of putting these cops down and making their job harder, we should encourage them and thank them for the wonderful job they fulfill. And, if there are any things you want to say about the cops, at least be more informed about the statistics, the past, and don’t take advice from the news.