Police Brutality By will Batchelder

As a white person, would you expect to be laying flat down on the side of the road for speeding? When you walk into a convenience stored you feel as though the clerk is only staring at you? Well this is the reality for African Americans. This has been an issue that has been non-stop over the years, and we see no changes. The Fourteenth Amendment states that no “state can deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection laws.” According to New.Mic, “black men — who constitute 6% of the nation's population — account for 40% of the 60 unarmed people who had been fatally shot by police by that time.” Also,”98% of these events did not end with an officer being charged with a crime.” In the Fourteenth Amendment it says that everyone has equal protection. How do African Americans have equal protections when they are being shot unarmed? Nothing is changing because there are no consequences for the officers who are firing.

Black Lives Matter is a grassroots organization that has had a huge impact on trying to restore these rights. As an organization BLM protesters go into streets and put on large scale campaigns. These campaigns have been quite effective. BLM has had a huge impact on past elections and who citizens have voted for. This is helping their organization because more people have started to get involved and care. Black Lives Matter-Minneapolis started a hashtag called “#realeasethetapes,” because last December in Minneapolis, Jamar Clark, was shot and killed by the police as an unarmed black man at the age of 24. According to dissentmagazine.org “The demand to release tapes is one that resonates deeply with the community.” BLM is demanding tapes to be released so everyone can see what really happened. This way they can expose the police. Black Lives Matter has been very effective and has done a great job on showing crimes by the police, but at the same time it is still ineffective. According to editor.currentaffairs.org, “It seems as if the movement is spinning its wheels a bit, uncertain of how to proceed in order to reach its goals, which also remain undefined. It has turned to somewhat bizarre tactics, like regularly protesting Bernie Sanders rallies. Also, if we analyze what it means to protest “Black Lives Matter,” I think it ironically concedes too much power to white people.” We see in this quote that there are some weaknesses with BLM when it comes to the slogan and what direction they are heading in.

As a country we need to figure out a way to resolve this issue. If this keeps continuing our society will be even more corrupt. We will see no changes and more people will be angry and hurt. It is very hard for an African American to live in society today because of police brutality. They are losing family members and close family friends. Black men feel under suspicion and not equal. Police officers have to think hard before they pull the trigger. The rate of unarmed black men being shot is a serious police issue. The statistics show that there have not been consequences really at all for the police who have fired. This is one of the biggest issues in our nation’s society today and there needs to be a change.

https://mic.com/articles/129981/10-police-brutality-statistics-that-are-absolutely-shocking#.EXvTDtQuB

http://editor.currentaffairs.org/2015/12/the-limitations-of-black-lives-matter-as-slogan-and-movement/

https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/black-lives-matter-minneapolis-symbolic-demands-winning

https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-racial-discrimination

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Created with images by Fibonacci Blue - "Protest against police brutality" • Fibonacci Blue - "Rally against police brutality" • Fibonacci Blue - "Speaker at Justice for Terrance Franklin rally"

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