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Why is police brutality a human rights issue? The term “police brutality” is referred to as human rights violations by police. For example, beatings, racial abuse, torture, unlawful killings, or indiscriminate use of riot control agents at protests. So many people reject the fact that police are not allowed to do what they want just because of the power they hold. Can you believe being stopped by the police on an everyday basis just because of the color of your skin? This is a growing problem that can happen to anyone at any time due to racism and ignorance that still exists today. People get judged more on how they look than their personalities and how they really are. Racial profiling can affect anyone, mainly the black community. One thing that bugs me so much is people use racial profiling as an excuse or “extra precaution” to keep people safe. It is only okay if the police know exactly what they look like or if the person is reported by another by their physical appearance.
Real racial profiling is when a law enforcement official suspects someone they’ve never seen before of a crime just because they look. Not only is this morally wrong and illegal, but the police might actually be letting real criminals get away while they might be taking to arrest or track an innocent person just because of their race. Another common claim that people have is that racial profiling is ok in airports because it stops the chance of terrorists. This claim simply doesn’t make any sense because you can’t just tell if someone is a terrorist for their physical appearance. Checking someone that looks middle eastern is not a valid or effective way of keeping terrorists off the plane, because, there are so many countries in the Middle East with all types of people. You can’t assume something of a whole race of people just because one group took part in a terrorist attack 13 years ago. One common misconception about racial profiling is that it only happens to one race of people, African American. Racial profiling can happen to anyone and has become more and more popular in airports that excessively check people that look of Arab or Muslim descent. In the article “Racial Profiling”, the writer explains, “After the event of 911, Arabs and Muslim descent became the main targets of racial profiling. They have reported being kicked off planes and questioned at airports just because of their ethnicity or religion.”
Many tragic incidents have happened in the past few years consisting of racial profiling and the excessive force of police brutality. For example, George Floyd, Daunte Wright, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Dante Parker, and the list goes on. They were all killed at the hands of police because of racial profiling, all of them were unarmed. There is a huge difference in the world today with the system. They treat people of color differently than they do white people, it is so sad, but it is the sad reality we live in.
A few examples of the tragedies that have happened in the past few years are George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Elijah McClain. George Floyd was an African American man that was killed in the corner, handcuffed, and pinned to the ground. He was suffocated to death by Derrick Chauvin, he knelt on his neck while he pinned him to the ground and it resulted in his death. George got justice and Derrick was charged on all counts, the other officers on the scene were all fired for not doing anything. It is so sad because things like this happen every day, and only a few get justice. We are so thankful for the person who caught it on camera or else it could’ve been a whole different story. Breonna Taylor. Breonna was a black medical worker who was shot and killed in Louisville by police officers who raided her apartment. The officers pleaded not guilty and no charges were announced for the ones that fired shots, and no one was charged for causing Breonna’s death. They were terminated and aren’t officers anymore, but there is no justice for Breonna. Elijah McClain. He was a 23-year-old black male that worked as a massage therapist. He died after a violent police encounter, the three police said that he looked like the person that was wearing the ski mask and looked “sketchy”. They pinned him to the ground and sedated him, and a few days later in the hospital, Elijah was declared brain dead. He was then taken off life support on August 30. What do all of these cases have in common? They are all black. They all were unarmed. They did not show any type of restraint or resistment. They all were racially profiled and their lives were taken from them because of it. There are so many victims out there that something like these cases happened to them, too. Say their names.
The risk of being killed by the police force for those of color is extremely high in some cases. It is the sad reality of life, but it is happening right now. The statistics are insane. How many people have died at the hands of the police? It is hard to get reliable figures on killings by the police because so many governments don’t collect or publish this data. The Small Arms Survey says that in each year between 2007 and 2012, an estimated 19,000 people were killed during ‘legal interventions’. (encounters with police) Most of the available data refers to specific countries or time periods, and are often estimated by NGOs for human rights groups. For example, in 2019 police in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, killed 1,810 people- an average of 5 per day. Kenyan, police killed 122 people. Between 2015 and 2018, over 500 people were fatally shot by the police in Jamaica, and over 300 were shot and injured. Around 1,000 people are killed by police every year in America. In countries with high rates of police killings, there is often a combination of factors including inadequate laws, racial or other forms of discrimination, insecurity or conflict, and entrenched impunity.
There is so much wrong in the police system in the world today. I know there are people that want to defund the police, but I don’t think that would help at all. I believe that we need to make a whole change to the system. Not all cops are bad, but the system is so prejudiced that there needs to be a change. We need to make better laws and/or stick to the current laws for justice to take place with police brutality. They are still doing psychological research right now to take action to improve the police system. We need to make a change, and it needs to happen now.
Police must be the last resort to be used only when necessary to protect the public from harm. Until then, municipalities will need to prepare for the impact of increased police accountability and transparency. To see real change in our society, policymakers must remove the barriers and find necessary programming. We need to be smart and follow the science.
So many people are affected by police brutality each day and the numbers keep going up. Racial profiling is a real thing and we need to make a change about that and make the cops have serious consequences when wrongfully accusing someone because of the color of their skin. Remember their names. The list goes on and on for the lives lost in the hands of police officers that are of color and unarmed.
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