Police Brutality And Racism In America

America was founded upon the ideals of equality and freedom, so why have the citizens taken it upon themselves to sacrifice the very values that are the foundation of The United States? Racism is presumably nonexistent by many Americans who refuse to face the facts even though many movements, such as the black lives matter movement, have drawn attention to the racist acts that have occurred. Inconsistencies within the police department have given rise to long existing prejudices and given people a reason to believe racism has persisted in America. Racism still exists in America because of distant events in the past that have created stereotypes passed on through the generations and stereotypes upheld in the police system.

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Many people may associate people of middle eastern descent as radical Muslims, but that is often a false idea as are most other crime related stereotypes given to the different races. Police brutality is usually targeted at African Americans because of the past notion that African American people are violent by nature, but that idea had since faded, we hoped. No, that has not faded even a little bit. In 2016 alone “233 African-Americans shot and killed by police”(Nodjimbadem). Eric Garner is a Black man who was killed by the a policeman who placed him in an unnecessary chokehold, a chokehold that would end up with fatal results. Garner said to the man “I can’t breathe”, yet the officer continued to hold on. The man who killed Garner was not charged. This is only one of the many heart wrenching cases that are the product of race driven violence. Many important figures have spoken out on these issues that continue to occur, many NFL players kneeled during the national anthem, in hopes of spreading awareness to all the people watching. Martin Luther King Junior is obviously a very important historian, he was one of the brave men and women who encountered police brutality in the past, that were victims of the polices stereotypes about African Americans, which is still a persistent issue in America and will not stop until the people in America discard the prior prejudice involved in race and realize that we are all equal and