Police Brutality In The 1970's

In the 1980s, the United States was characterized by racial politics and police violence. Most of the union jobs were outsourced to overseas, 45% of African Americans were left unemployed in South Central Los Angeles. Presidents Reagan and Bush had undone all the hard work that had been improved in the late 1960s and the 1970s. In the 1980s there was a decline in economic and social gains. Between 1986 and 1992, almost 1.2 million African Americans were affected by poverty, by falling below the poverty line (Lusane 404). Racial discrimination and police brutality had been a reality for African Americans, but those in suburban areas did not accept what was happening.

At the time, the police chief, Daryl Gates employed the use of an aggressive

Police brutality at the time made it difficult for them to live in Compton. It was easier to find an AK-47 compared to finding a job. This occurrence led to high crime rates in Compton. Under the watch of then, LAPD chief Daryl Gates crack trade and gangs were on the rise (Hiatt np). Harassment at the hands of police, Los Angeles riots and the beating of Rodney King by law enforcers pushed the N. W. A. to make music. Music was the only escape from police brutality, crack dealing, 'Reaganomics ' and gangbanging. They were pushed to make music from their experiences in their neighborhood. Dre and Eazy-E, members of N.W.A., were once harassed by police for shooting paintball guns. Ice Cube, another member of N.W.A, explains how there was mistrust between police officers and people in his neighborhood. Whatever happened in the neighborhood, they would never call the police. 387 people had been killed in gang-related activities in LA in 1988, but none of the killings was resolved (Moore np). Most of these people were Cube 's friends. Police mistook every black kid for a black kid for a gang member as long as he had some jeans, t-shirt, baseball hat or tennis shoes (Moore np). Music was the only weapon, a form of non- violent

The song is a parody of the justice system at the time. Dr. Dre acts as the presiding judge, members of the Los Angeles Police Department are put on trial. The lead prosecutors are other members of N.W.A; Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Eazy-E. They question the police officers on unlawful harassment on a section of the members of the public. The officers are then found guilty, but not of abuse of power or harassment but of being "redneck, white bread, chicken shit motherfucker." The offenders are then laughed out of the courtroom, not worthy of a conviction. The courtroom parody plays an important role. Lines such as "police think they have the authority to kill a minority" and "and when I 'm finished, it 's going to be a bloodbath of cops, dying in LA" (Moore np) are controversial. But the courtroom parody shows a high level of metaphor and not lousy intention derived from its literal