Three mini-bottles in, Darcy determined he had enough liquid courage and was ready to deploy the necessary means to secure her in the bed until morning. Glaring at the drawer where he placed the method, he groaned at the absurdity of it all. Was he really going to do this to the woman of his dreams and future wife? Fingering the forth bottle, he wavered.…
The Case: In July of last year, a University of Cincinnati police officer stopped DuBose, then 43, for a missing front license plate. When DuBose started his vehicle, the officer pulled a gun and fired a single fatal shot, killing DuBose. The case sparked outrage in a national climate where police brutality,…
extensively analyzes more than 500 incidents of police use-of-force covered by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times from 1981 to 1991. The incidents include but are not limited to those defined as "police brutality". Lawrence reveals the structural and cultural forces that both shape the news and allow police to define most use-of-force incidents, which occur in far greater numbers than are reported, she says. Lawrence explores the dilemma of obtaining critical media perspectives on policing policies. She examines the factors that made the coverage of the Rodney King beating so significant, particularly after the incident was captured on video.…
In the SALON article, White Killers Go To Burger king: Race, Planned Parenthood and our diseased white privilege, Chauncey Devega writes about the sickening hypocrisy of how white perpetrators of mass killings are treated by law enforcement in the United States. Devaga uses examples such as how the Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Dear and the Charleston Church shooter Dylann Roof were treated by police as they were arrested. All of these mass murderers were apprehended by police alive and safe. Dylann Roof was even brought to burger King after his arrest. Devega contrasts this with the injustices that black Americans face on a daily basis. For a black American, even the most mundane interaction with a police officer can have deadly consequences.…
The book opens with a parable regarding mountains. Eli makes it well known that they are heavily disabled alongside various other identities. Using disability to represent himself, the parable of the mountain describes social class and structure as being a daunting mountain. Those at the top scream down to find a way up but it is almost impossible. Although individuals may begin the journey to the submit it quickly gets lonely. The individual has the option to continue climbing or return to their group. Even then that doesn’t account for hazards and changes in the path to the metaphorical summit. This metaphor sets up the remainder of the book brilliantly. Exile and Pride, following the mountain metaphor, is divided into two primary sections; home and bodies.…
Adetiba and Almendrala’s article details the traumatic side effects to viewing videos of police brutality, focusing specifically on its impact on Black people. While discussing the side effects, which are similar to that of post-traumatic stress disorder, the authors explicate the reasons as to why the Black community is particularly vulnerable to these symptoms. Citing a psychologist, the authors explain that since the majority of these videos feature Black victims, Black viewers see themselves as the victims, resulting in feelings of anxiety and danger. Although this article presents the downside to these videos, the authors offer an opposing viewpoint, explaining the political benefits to the videos of police brutality. The author notes…
"No, Lennie. I ain't mad. I never been mad, an' I ain't now. That's a thing I want ya to know"(Steinbeck 106) -George…
While making the comparison to the modern day event in Ferguson, Missouri, Abdul-Jabbar brings to light the Jackson State shooting. Which happened only 10 days after the Kent State shooting. But, “There was no national outcry” (par. 6) not much attention from the media, and not as many protesters. The author of the article inquires and delves into the reason as to why two tragedies that had similar catalysts and outcomes were perpetuated differently. Abdul-Jabbar dissects the factors that went into the way both tragedies were reflected.…
Four officers were charged with the merciless beating of Rodney King. For the first time the world got to see what it was like to be a victim of brutality? King suffered extensive and painful injuries, to include head and face trauma, skull fractures, and nerve damage. The recorded video was powerful evidence against the worst type of police brutality. This event not only proved that some police officers abused their power but also reinforced the distrust between some minority communities and law enforcement. People from all walks of life and different races all waited to see what would happen to the officers involved. As many people predicted if the officers involved were not found guilty of assault and other civil liberties violations…
In the first half of the story “Looking at Emmett Till” by John Edgar Wideman, I learned interesting things about what it was like back then to be African American. In the story, Wideman first starts off discussing when he first saw the picture of Emmett Tills face. Jet was a once a week newspaper that was established to some as “the Black Dispatch”, was stories for the black community. This newspaper was the source of where Wideman first saw the picture of Emmett Till. “A blurred, grayish something resembling an aerial snapshot of a landscape cratered by bombs or ravaged but natural disaster. As soon as I realized the thing in the photo was a dead black boys face, I jerked my eyes away. But not quickly enough.” Reading this shocked me on many levels. At first, it shocked me because of the fact that this kids face was so distorted and destroyed that at first sight someone thought it was a landscape of craters. It also made me feel disappointed and uneasy of the fact that people could do an act like this. Having that much hatred toward another race to me is unbelievable. “Emmett Till’s murder was an attempt to slay an entire generation.” This quote opened my eyes to the same fact. My eyes were open even more so to know that people were okay with showing that they wanted an entire race wiped out. This article showed me hatred and opened my eyes towards the madness that was present in the past. However this story also helped me to appreciate how times have changed and there is now respect and a new sense of safety for different races.…
Although this was written half a century ago in 1964, the relevancy to life in America today is uncanny, as day after day a new story breaks on police brutality. James Baldwin was the one of the first writers to openly report the truth during the civil rights era, as he wrote to inform readers that these were more than news clips, but actual occurrences involving real people. This article’s purpose is to give its readers a glimpse of what it felt like to be beaten for no reason other than the color of one’s skin. The irony is that although this was published fifty years ago, could have been written yesterday, as it appears in today’s society that racism never went away.…
In the past year there have been multiple cases of “racial discrimination” against the police, these cases have been associated with police brutality. Segregation and racial prejudice was a large part of the history in the United States but not in a positive way. Many Americans are not proud of the way the African Americans were treated by their fellow citizens. Prejudice and racial discrimination are prevalent today in both the same and different ways as when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fought against it. In Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From Birmingham Jail,” he uses periodic sentences, syntax, diction, and allusions to write about his beliefs about the immense struggles African Americans experienced to gain their rights, how he…
Charles Kinsey, who provides immense support for the disabled community was seen as dangerous, and was targeted because of the color of his skin. Despite their non-threatening appearance, the police confrontation was a result of systemic racism, which allowed the officers to believe Kinsey was a threat, based on the normalized process that black is dangerous in the history of law and order. Because of the racial bias in the history of the judicial process, black and brown bodies have been criminalized to make their lives worthless and vulnerable in a broken judicial system. Kinsey, who complied to all of the officers demands, with their hands in the air was shot. Even after the officers realized what they had done was a mistake, they still continued to cuff him, while not rendering help, ultimately leaving him to bleed out in the middle of the street. This concept justifies how the perception of black and brown bodies are not valued in the current colorblind justice system.…
A woman by the name of the Kitty Genovese was brutally murdered on Friday 13 March in 1964 in Queens, New York. The 28 year old was arriving home from a late night shift at work, when she was suddenly by a knife by a man named Winston Moseley. She screamed for help, but nobody did anything because they did not want to “get involved.” Winston left her but later returned to finish off what he started. When the police were eventually called, she was already dead. This all took place within half an hour, and thirty eight people were witnesses, but not one decided to help. (“Bystander Apathy”)…
The Lion King is a classic movie, beloved by many. On the surface, this movie seems to be a light-hearted, carefree tale of a lion cub’s journey to justice. However, on taking a deeper look, one finds that the tale consists of conflicting worldviews and philosophies, while presenting the idea of destiny. But which religions and philosophies is it portraying? Let us take a closer look.…