The Racially Motivated Murder of Michael Brown Over the course of the past four months, there have been four cases of unarmed African American men being murdered at the hands of the police. And, as is to be expected with such a precedent laid out before this specific case, in these past four months none of the officers have been charged, and at most have been placed on administrative leave. With the case of Michael Brown, an unarmed African American teenager of only 18, who was shot six times, and two of those shots being in the head. On August 9th, 2014, Michael Brown was shot six to seven times by a then unnamed officer. Michael Brown and a friend named Dorian Johnson were walking home when they were aggressively approached by said …show more content…
Officers are seen armed with mounted machine guns, military grade gear, and automatic weapons. Darren Wilson’s name was not released until the 15th of August, nearly a week after the shooting of Michael Brown. It is disclosed that, not surprisingly, he has been put on paid administrative leave and no disciplinary action had been taken against him. Now it is October 22nd, 2014, and Officer Darren Wilson is still on administrative leave and the protests are still ongoing. Even after organized protest and community wide outrage, after eyewitnesses debunking the police department’s reports, the Grand Jury still has not decided to bring an indictment against Darren Wilson. (Climax.)
The event, so extremely recent, is nothing short of tragic and an outrage. It is a glaring example of the state of police forces in our nation and the need for their reform. It is now October 22nd, and the Grand Jury, as well as the Ferguson Police Department, are showing no signs of acknowledging the damage they’ve caused to a community, a nation, and are still refusing to punish an officer, even under the scrutiny of community, an entire nation, these events are proceeding just the same as their predecessors, and perhaps they always will.
Racial discrimination in our society has reached its tipping point such that rioting has become a last resort. After the deaths of two young African American males that occurred due to police brutality , the public has been in an uproar, fighting and hoping for change;however the means of fighting aren’t seen as appropriate. The majority of the population argues that the rioting that had occurred in Baltimore and Ferguson, where the shootings happened, were unjustified. The media depicted the rioting to be criminalized and unrelated to the cause. It was portrayed that African Americans took the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray as an excuse to loot and raid.On contrary to popular belief, the rioting in Baltimore and Ferguson were adequate actions that took place. It wasn’t until the rioting occurred that investigations of these cases followed. Because of the investigation it was found that the problems at hand were more than racial issues highlighted by police brutality, but racial abuse in the system of the cities.
Latest showed encounters between civilians and law enforcement officers that have taken place through the United States cities such as NYC, Ferguson, Missouri, Baltimore, and also, Cleveland has sparked the conversation about discrimination against the African American community, frequent circumstances by the white law enforcement officers. Now furthermost cases, the white officers were not charged with any offenses. Unlike the NYC ex-police Officer Liang who has been charged with manslaughter. Furthermore, the grand jury did not render the correct verdict.
There were no charges made against officer Wilson even with the suspects that claimed Michael Brown didn't do anything wrong . Police brutality has made black people take a stand and they formed the Black Lives Matter Movement.The Black Lives Matter movement started in 2012 after George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch coordinator for the gated community, shot and killed Trayvon Martin. Following Martin’s death protests, rallies, and marches were held all across the nation. The Black Lives Matter movement includes all the ways in which black lives are less powerful at the hands of the state, it is a call for action against brutality by police and vigilantes, people who take the law into their own hands by trying to catch or punish someone in their own way. Politicians are also trying to straighten gun laws to prevent homicides like Bernie Sanders. Sanders wants stricter background checks so guns won’t be in the wrong hands. He also wants to ban assault weapons to citizens that were made to kill people. I personally think this can help improve our nation because it will give people with a criminal history less chances of owning guns but it also gives a right to people without a criminal background to be able to own guns for their own
The family of Michael Brown wanted justice for their son in which they felt was an unjust shooting. His mother was quoted expressing mistrust towards the police, "You 're not God. You don 't decide when you 're going to take somebody from here.” (McLaughlin, E. C. (2014, August 15) The family was obviously hurt by the shooting and wanted justice and support. The community began protesting the shooting and Officer Darren Wilson. Chaos broke out in Ferguson and a State of Emergency was issued. The community felt that the shooting was unjust and did not trust police officers. The community response to the shooting often attracted attention and made many political statements. Darren Wilson’s family were interested in maintaining his innocence. They hoped that the investigation would prove to the world that Wilson acted out of self-defense and did not violate Brown’s rights. The Criminal Justice system’s interests all hoped to create reforms and eliminate racism in police departments. On the local level many had to maintain safety in the community and assure proper police procedures. The state had to step into issue curfews and State of Emergencies to keep the state safe despite protests and riots as well as make sure Darren Wilson did not violate any laws of the state of Missouri. The state also hoped to create reforms to better race relations. On the federal level was the investigation which hoped to find out if the
Ferguson the little adjunct town of Missouri, where not much but a normal day proceeds. Until the day of August ninth of twenty fourteen. A young man was shoot by a Ferguson police officer. Michael Brown (the man that was shoot), was only eighteen years of age and he was shot by Darren Wilson (the police officer) sparked controversy in that little town of Ferguson. Many questions were asked on who was actually at fault. Was it Browns fault for assaulting the officer or was it Wilsons fault on the case of police brutality. There are always people that are going to try to make the other look bad because they supposedly saw what happened, but did they really. The fact of it being is that you may never find out the truth because Michael is dead and the only one that knows the absolute truth is Wilson, seeing he shot Brown, and that is also if he is telling the correct situation of the matter. Mike Brown shouldn’t have been shot, he was an un-armed man, but was he really innocent?
To citizens, Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown of out racial prejudice. To police officers, Darren Wilson killed Michael Brown out of self defense. The media focused mainly on the citizens negative reactions, consequently labeling Darren Wilson as a racist murderer. The officer received numerous death threats, putting his life in danger. Ben Brumfield and Brian Todd, reporters for CNN state, “Fellow officers have been by [Darren Wilson’s] side day and night, as deadly threats have driven the former Ferguson police officer into hiding…” This is a prime example that media can ruin the lives of officers, as well as put them in legitimate
For the last score police brutality has been a controversial topic for many people. Many people argue that law enforcement is no longer doing its job properly. Instead of working to build a safe environment, many police officers are always been extremely detrimental to society. They are marginalizing and brutalizing the community, especially black people. The police are not doing their job properly. Actually, so many black people have been killed unjustly by the same authorities who suppose to protect them. Take as examples the treatment of Amadou Diallo, Ousmane Zongo, and Eric Garner, who were marginalized, brutalized and killed by some police officers who were supposed to protect them.
In the past 2 years, there have been 490 people killed by the hands of an officer. Out of those 490 people killed, 138 of them were black. When innocent people are killed people look to the justice system to give us peace, but look over the case or they simply just cover the case up.
A number of African American people have been murdered by members of the police force and there still has yet to be any justice for them. The fact that members of a force that are meant to protect us, are actually killing many, brings on a feeling of uneasiness and distrust. They’re targeting innocent members of society for no other reason than their skin color. And justice hasn’t been accomplished in honor of all the people that were murdered. This proves just how unjust the criminal system is and how much work needs to be done to bring justice and equality for every gender, race,
According to Apel (2014), on August 9,2014, Michael Brown,18, an unarmed black man of Ferguson, Missouri was shot and killed by a white police officer named Darren Wilson. Considering the evidence, a grand jury decided not to indict Wilson. This sparked a nationwide protest. People came from near and far to protest the judge’s decision. It was no peaceful protest, it might have appeared to start out as a nonviolent protest, but like many protests, it quickly turned violent. People wanted justice and the people felt as though the system once again had felled them. Barnett (2014), a reporter says that after the shooting groups such as the “New Black Panthers,” demanded a rebellion against the officer who shot Brown. For a while the head of police was not going to reveal the name of the officer who killed the Brown, but after a series of violent protest, the head of police released the officer’s name. If violence was not used during the protest it would not have received worldwide attention. Furthermore, the public would not have known the officer who killed Brown. Due to the amount of attention the Michael Brown’s case received and because of the amount of passion the protestors had and how they were willing to die to get their point across sparked attention. Requiring many people who were in the political spotlight to
Brown, was unarmed, and shot on August 9, 2014 by a white officer. The shooting and result in his death caused a “firestorm of protests and re-animating national conversations on issues of race, policing, and violence in the U.S”, according to Vice News (2014). Brown was shot and his body was left on the ground dead for nearly four hours before he was taken. His funeral was conducted two weeks after, according to USA Today, the Reverend sadly mentioned that Brown was laying on the ground dead for four hours like his “life… didn’t matter” (2015). I do admit the death threats that the Ferguson Police Department received from families, was dangerous. However, one can only put up with so much discrimination and inequality before they snap and say or do terrible
This incident would have produced nothing more than another report for resisting arrest had a bystander, George Holliday, not videotaped the altercation. Holliday then released the footage to the media. LAPD Officers Lawrence Powell, Stacey Koon, Timothy Wind and Theodore Brisino were indicted and charged with assaulting King. Superior Court Judge Stanley Weisberg ordered a change of venue to suburban Simi Valley, which is a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. All officers were subsequently acquitted by a jury comprised of 10 whites, one Hispanic and one Asian, and the African American community responded in a manner far worse than the Watts Riots of 1965. ?While the King beating was tragic, it was just the trigger that released the rage of a community in economic strife and a police department in serious dec...
Officers are trained and taught different polices that require them not to be biased towards any gender or race. Such officers include Sunil Dutta, if you don’t want to get shot, tasted pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you.” (Dutta) uses policies to their advantage. Lack of African-American officers, mainly in communities with citizens of color, can lead to an inquiry that there is a bias in law enforcement agencies and their policies. With recent events in the news displaying the misconduct of officers in an African-American communities like, in July of 2014, where the death of Eric Garner because of “chokehold” by a police officer hit home for many African-Americans and made them question the legislative decisions on policies causing a distrust and lack of confidence within the police departments, shying away citizens from
The New York Police Department has a mission to "preserve peace, reduce fear, maintain order," and protect its civilians in their communities (NYPD, 2016). On the contrary, civilians do not see the police officers as individuals who are there to protect them because they do not trust the police officers or the justice system. In the past few decades, police officers have not been held accountable for their actions in a few incidents where a few unarmed young black males were killed by the police. Communities responded to this issue with the Black Lives Matter movement with protests nationwide to show support for the unarmed young black men who were killed by police. In response to the aggressive policing, methods of using body cameras and detailed incident reporting ...
Police brutality and racism are an ongoing problem in our country. It goes back hundreds of years with no sign of it stopping. Police officers have been abusing their power since they have been around. Abuse against African American males by white police officers is getting out of hand. Most officers face no punishment at, and all there is a special code that they follow. Officers follow The “Blue Code of Silence”, which is a code that means they look out for one another. Even with video recording devices, the news, and social media, these events still go on. African Americans take most of the abuse and it looks like there is no end to this. This is a reflection on our society, and it makes us look ignorant to what is going on around us.