Police Brutality In The Media Essay

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There has been controversy in the world about police brutality and whether police have used excessive force to apprehend a subject is increasing. Police brutality has been around for a long time, but it just now televised. In the late 19th century, the issue of police brutality was often tied to business owners’ efforts to break up strikes by workers attempting to organize and form labor unions, also on a day known as Bloody Sunday where a group of peaceful protesters were literally beaten to the ground, sprayed with tear gas, and water hose by the police (“Police Brutality”). Even in 2015 in Baltimore Freddie Gray, 25-year-old African-American male, died while in police custody due to injuries in the spine and in some parts of Baltimore the …show more content…

The minorities are vulnerable to the media because the minorities are shot and killed by the police. In the case of Michael Brown, who is a minority, being that he is a young black male, who allegedly was walking illegally in the middle of a street was shot by Darren Wilson a white police officer. In the accounts of what transpired Wilson the police officer said that Brown attacked him in his car, but an eyewitness alleged that brown was shot while holding his hands up in the air and was unharmed(“Police Brutality”). However the headlines in the media are emphasizing race, black vs. white, which is a controversial topic due to the history of black and white people. Do to events like slavery and segregation, yet the media seem to play on race instead of facts. Next, People don’t process or take in the truth. For example, in the case of Eric Garner, people bypass the part of Eric selling illegal cigarettes and all people hear is the Eric was put in a choke hold. The media realize how to exploit the minority faults. For instance the minorities have a low literacy rate. That means a most of the minority population don’t know how to read and write. The media know how to use their power to get an emotional reaction without providing a considerable amount of information and that can cause people to make irrational decisions. Lastly, how the media is affecting minorities because what …show more content…

Department of Justice has investigated the police forces of several large cities for systemic police misconduct, including, harassment of racial minorities, false arrests, and excessive use force. (“Police Brutality”); however this can often be difficult when the media come into play can often misinterpret facts about a case. This is media’s way of using their power to add on even more pressure on U.S. Department of Justice to the pressure that they are already under to make sure to victims get justice. The first thing the U.S. Department of Justice have to do is investigate and a majority of complaints against of police are thrown out upon further investigation. For examples A 2006 Justice Department report, stated that only 2,000 of the more than 26,000 citizen complaint of police brutality filed nationally in 2002−less than 8 percent−were found credible("Police Brutality"). The U.S. Department of Justice also have find evidence which includes testimony, documentary evidence, and physical evidence. The media can often twist people in to saying thing that are not true, and twist videos into only show what they want people to believe. In recent new, In South Carolina a female student was slammed on the ground and throw a cross the classroom. The media didn’t display the entire video where the teacher tells the girl to leave, then the assistant principal, and the officer tells her to leave. When she doesn’t leave he tries to grab

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