Police Brutality Book Report

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (Franklin D. Roosevelt). The feeling of fear is being scared of something or someone. African Americans have always feared police officers due to the excessive force caused by police officers in the United States. It could be that African Americans view police officers as monsters. “Perhaps, as Asma argues, we create monsters as a reaction to the fears we experience and our inability to control the world around us” (61). Due to previous experiences between African Americans and police officers, the police officers are monsters due to experiences of past events and also the inability to control police officers in the world. While police officers are known as law enforcements, African Americans

The difference is that even though the law favors both sides, behind the “wall” is that the law leans towards the white community. Society gives special treatment to white people instead of the African American community. Jill Nelson, an author of his book, Police Brutality: An Anthology, states: “Police misconduct toward people of color is a cornerstone of the perpetration of racism and White privilege” (9). Nelson believes that the police brutality that involves African American is due to racial profiling of police officers and ultimately White privilege overall. Nelson also believes that police officers favor White people more than the African American community and that White people will never be like the African American community. Due to society portraying the big differences between the African American community and White people, the police misconduct continues. With these differences, the African American community view police officers as monsters since the police officers view the African American community different from another

Ever since the shooting and death of Trayvon Martin, more shootings and deaths has occurred. Cases such as the Eric Garner case, Akai Gurley case, and John Crawford case has caused outrage from the African American community and Black Lives Matter movement. In order to combat the shootings and deaths of the people in the African American community, people have marched against police brutality in order to make a change in the world. Brad Knickerbocker, staff writer of csmonitor, states that: “Thousands of Americans marched and rallied in New York, Washington, Boston, San Francisco and other cities around the country Saturday, voting with their feet against police brutality – specifically in response to recent police killings in Cleveland, New York, and Ferguson, Missouri, that have wracked a nation still dealing with issues involving racial mistrust and mistreatment of black people at the hands of white police officers” (Knickerbocker). Due to many events that have occurred against black people, “thousands of Americans” marched and fight against police brutality. If people have to march against police brutality, it is obvious that police officers should change their ways of responding to situations. Due to society’s outrage at police officer’s mistreatment of black people, police officers should start to