The Problem Is Overpolicing Summary

The Problem Is Overpolicing Racism today, comes in a variety of different forms and perspectives. It is not as clear cut and easily identified as in histories past. Racism can be a transparent transaction; as the person giving their racist opinions and the person receiving these racist opinions, can both go about it unconsciously and uncontested. Bias can sometimes be made within someone’s mind without thought. This seems innocent in and of itself, but what does this have to do with the issue of the rising murders of African Americans by police’s hands? Using sociological concepts and excerpts from the article, “The Problem Is Overpolicing” by Alex S. Vitale this paper will explain how unconscious bias has its rightful place in the issues

“Implicit bias—attitudes and stereotypes that influence our thinking and action unconsciously” (Adele lecture notes). In understanding this, we can now remove the motive of trying to attach fault to a person, and now try to understand why this implicit bias occurs. Looking back into history, we can verify the fact that American Colonialism stole Africans and put them to work within America. Once freed of slave labor, ‘African Americans’ now had no beginnings to work their way up the economic ladder. Without education, many of these African Americans did not advance far from the bottom of society. This was passed down from generation to generation and is now still very relevant in today’s demographic (as seen on the graph from Adele’s notes). It is also proven that those who are less financially stable are more likely to resort to crimes to provide what they need. So if more African Americans are involved in crime, it is natural for a police officer to unconsciously assume a black person is more dangerous when approaching them. “South Carolina Law School professor Seth Stoughton rightfully points out that part of the problem with US policing is the dominance of a warrior mindset among police that is instilled through training and police culture. Too often police seem to be looking for a justification to shoot rather than a strategy to avoid shooting, especially when it comes to young men of color.” (The Problem Is