Police Brutality History

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Police brutality, since the birth of our nation, has had a history of lawmen overstepping what their authority grants. We can see how these lawmen viewed themselves as being above the law as far back as the settler days when the west had outlaw like police. Many western videos depict the ruthless Sheriff acting as the judge and executioner. The beginning of substantial documented police corruption and brutality were attributed to the poor labor workers. These events were related to the labor strikes such as the Lawrence textile strike of 1912 and the Pullman Strike of 1894 where police arbitrarily beat striking workers for no reason (McPherson, John Bruce). Another major event of mass brutality by our government included the Ludlow massacre