Victims of Police Brutality: What would You Do?

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What would you or someone you love was a victim of police brutality? Would you report it, fight it, or go on as if nothing happened? Despite research studies proving that the use of police brutality is a part of self-defense for the law enforcement, others opponents disagree on this research and feel they’re abusing their authority and using excessive force.

Police brutality has been around for decades. In the 1960’s, African Americans were seeking to declare their rights to vote, march, or enter desegregated school caused conflicts with the white Americans and were trying to deny any Black citizen from joining anything that included white citizens, but because the African Americans knew that violence was not the answer to their problems, they took it to the streets peacefully until law enforcements started corrupting their legal protesting’s. When civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X led nonviolent marches to protect equal rights, law enforcements did not take the marches kindly. In the south, police departments were violent to these demonstrators, such as back in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, they beaten the demonstrators, sprayed high-pressure fire hoses, and attacked them by using police dogs. At Selma, Alabama, local and state police attacked the civil rights demonstrators that were marching peacefully, using the same harmful techniques as the officers in Birmingham. More than 100 people were injured on what was known as “Bloody Sunday”. (“Police Brutality”, Feb.) Police forces were mostly white in the mid-20th century, and were in charge of patrolling black neighborhoods that were mistreated by the city government. Many of the local residents faced harassment from the white officers and said ...

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...ting me and my family and I hope they wouldn’t let me down in any situation.

Works Cited

“Americans’ Opinions of The Police (sidebar).” Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 17 May 1996. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

“Judge narrows Occupy Wall Street protesters’ claim vs NY police.” Reuters. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services. 27 Nov.2013. Web. 9 Apr. 2014.

“Police Brutality.” Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 24 Feb. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

“Police Brutality.” Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 24 June 2010. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

“Police Use of Force.” National Institute of Justice. 20. Jan. 2012. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

“Standing Up Against Abuse.” UWIRE Text 14 Mar. 2014: 1. Academic OneFile. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

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