Police brutality has become a major problem over the past few years, not necessarily because there has been an increase, but because more people are hearing about the events that are taking place through social media. There are numerous stories where people have been mistreated by police. Most of the stories that are on the news and get major publicity are the ones in which African Americans are being mistreated by the police. Most of the African Americans being harmed are either young adults or adolescents. This is not right and something needs to be done to stop it. These people who are being harassed and mistreated are being left to deal with a trauma that is not only short term but is long term as well. Help needs to be pursued for these people who are victims of this police mistreatment. This affects me because I am an African American and I never know when something bad could happen to me or someone close to me. Police brutality target on African Americans should be stopped because they are causing long term problems for these individuals.

The first step in beginning to stop police brutality is understanding that it is an actual problem. If you don't keep up with the news or current events, then you may not know what has taken place over the past few years. Innocent lives are being taken just because of the color of someone's skin. Less killing needs to be done and more helping needs to take place. These people who are being mistreated are having problems now because of the damage done by the police. Children and adults are being beaten and bruised which can lead to a person having possible mental problems later on throughout their life.

Police brutality is defined as the use of excessive force that's not needed in a certain situation, by a police officer. The article, "Police Brutality: What is Police Brutality?" by Deborah England, talks about how there is no true definition of police brutality. The way most people describe it is by using examples where it has been seen. Describing what has happened in certain situations that fit into the category of police brutality is how we tell people what police brutality is. There really could be different definitions of it, one person could think it is just the use of force when arresting a citizen while another person could think that it is when a person has actually suffered damages from a police, which both are correct. In whatever way a person thinks about it, it causes a traumatizing effect to a person for the rest of their lives. 

Police brutality is greatly associated with race. In the article "3 out of 5 African-Americans Experience Unfair Police Treatment" the Associated Press talked about how African Americans feel they have been treated. Statistics are included throughout the story to represent what people feel. Three out of every five African Americans say that they have been mistreated by the police because of their race (The Associated Press). This is the majority of the African Americans in the United States. In the article, a man by the name of Larry Washington tells his story from when he was a teenager. Larry was arrested for theft and when his arresting officer got him to the police station he told him "he looked like he wanted to do something about it" and kept calling him words other than his name (The Associated Press, 1). This is not okay, but there was nothing that Mr. Washington could do about it at the time. From the data in this article, it also shows that Caucasians do not feel the same way about police brutality the same way that African Americans do. This is mainly because they do not, and can not, first hand experience the life of an African American. Being that Washington was also a teenager at the time, police officers feel that he does not know his rights and they can just get away with anything. Which in most cases is true, teenagers do not know their rights and what they can and can not do while getting arrested and being in police custody. 

 Mistreatment of African Americans is happening to all ages of the community. The article "The Number of times African-Americans Were Brutalized by Police This Year? Unknown", written by Peniel Joseph, states that no one knows how many times African Americans were brutalized by the police this past year. However, this article tells us that, as of June 2015, almost 30 percent of the African American population was killed in that year (Joseph). The article also tells a story of police brutality towards teenagers. Some African Americans were seen at a neighborhood pool and someone called the police on them. The police came and one of the men started pointing his gun at the unarmed teenagers, tackling one of the girls. No one was shot or killed, but the police did not handle the situation how it should have been handled. He automatically assumed that the children were at the pool being disorderly, when they were only there for a pool party. Just like the man in the article, "3 out of 5 African-Americans Experience Unfair Police Treatment", these children were young and just trying to have some fun. The police knew that they were young and of color so this was a great opportunity for them to harass the young children. The young girl who was tackled now has to live with the memory for the rest of her life. Even the other children, they have to live with seeing their childhood friend being tackled by a police officer and the memory of a gun being pointed at them for no apparent reason. Guns are not toys and are very scary when being pointed at you especially by someone who does not have to have a real reason to use it. That is very traumatizing and not something you want to remember.

Police have to understand that just because we share the same skin color, does not mean we are all one person. In the article, "Black and Blue", written by Ta-Nehisi Coates, it talks about the racial actions of the police department in Prince George's County.  This article tells the story of how an African American, very educated man was killed by a police officer in this county.  A man, by the name of Prince Jones, was found a few blocks from his home bent over his Jeep's steering wheel with four bullets in his back. This specific killing was reported as a surveillance operation gone bad. The police officers were trailing him, because they were looking to bust another suspect.  There was no way that the police could have thought that Mr. Jones was the other guy because the guy the police were looking for had very different qualities than Mr. Jones.  Mr. Jones was 6-foot-4, slender, with a short hair cut while the actual man the police were looking for was stocky, 5-foot-6, and had dreadlocks. Here it is evident that the police only targeted and killed Mr. Jones because of his race, because there is no other explanation to why this would even be acceptable. This particular story had everything to do with race which is terrible. Mr. Jones had a family of his own who never got the chance to see him again. The way his life ended is very tragic and most likely left his wife and kids traumatized. His kids will now have to grow up without their father while their mom, his wife, has to worry about taking care of their kids alone. 

Police brutality is higher among African Americans than any other race (Chaney). The article "Racism and Police Brutality in America" written by Cassandra Chaney, provides factual information that concludes police brutality is higher among African Americans than any other race. It also informs that police brutality is also related to one's biological sex. Meaning, an African American male is more likely to be mistreated by the police than an African American female. This article allows its readers to see that racism and police brutality are very apparent and related. 

Police are now being seen as threats to some and there's only a matter of time before everyone in the African American community becomes afraid. The article, "For Some, Running from Police Is the Norm" written by John Eligon, talks about the case involving the death of a 25-year old man who was chased and suffered injuries from the police in Baltimore, Maryland. This man was chased for no other reason but his skin color. The other unarmed men who fled the scene were also killed because they were running away from the police, just because they seen that the police were chasing their friend for no reason. It is very sad that it has come down to people fleeing the scene when police arrive. Police are supposed to be the people to protect us and make us feel safe, not the ones who we are afraid of. This was never supposed to be the case and unfortunately it has come down to it in some of the African American communities. Police think that these people are running to hide something but in actuality they are running because they are terrified of what the police can do to them and get away with.  

The killing of an inmate in police custody should automatically become prison time. In the article, "The Killing of Carnell Russ" written by John kirk, it talks about the killing of a 24-year old African American male who was killed by a police officer. This man was arrested and in police custody when he was shot in the head by the officer. The officer that shot him was accounted "not guilty" once the case made it to trial. This is absolutely unjust because there is no clear justification of this man being killed by the police officer. There should have never been a trial because its clearly evident that there was no one else around to kill Mr. Russ. This officer not only took a young mans life but he took him away from a family, which I am sure loved him. This should have been brought up in court and should have been enough evidence to at least get the officer to be found guilty. I can only imagine how this mans family felt when they found out he was being imprisoned then found out that he has been killed while inside. Especially the mother of Russ had to have went through some kind of mental breakdown. Burying your own son is not something that any mother wants to do and I am sure she did not want to do it either. The pain she and her family went through was more than likely unbearable and it probably hurt worse to know that her son's killer still had his freedom. 

When injuries and damages are physically caused to an individual, there should be a big penalty for it. In the article "New York Man Receives Three Million in Damages Seven Years After Police Brutality Incident" written by County Lawyers, it talks about a guy who was beaten by police officers in a bathroom and suffered two neck injuries. The man who was beaten was eventually given $3 million after awaiting trial and loss of his job (Lawyers). This man deserved all of the money that he received for all of the pain and suffering that these police officers put him through. He not only endured physical pain from the beatings but he also went through humiliation and mental trauma (Lawyers). This man no longer could work because of what these officers did to him. I am sure this caused a lot of humiliation for him being that he no longer could provide for himself and had to rely on someone else's income. Men are the biggest pride holders and one thing that they do not like is having to depend on someone else to make sure they are okay to survive in this world. Also mental trauma plays a big part in this mans life. He will now have to live with the fact that he was beaten and injured by two police. 

The article "Police Brutality is Not a Racial Issue-The Last Resistance" by Michael Minkoff, tries to argue that police brutality is not related to race. The author thinks that police are just out of control and they are not held accountable for their actions. This article is to oppose my argument and I agree and disagree with what he says. I truly believe that police brutality is related to race and that these cops are not being held accountable for what they are doing. They are getting away with killing and harming these innocent people and are getting little to no jail time. This is absolutely wrong because anybody killing a human being should get plenty of prison time. No one should be allowed to take someone else's life and it be okay.  Also, if it were the other way around then things would be a lot more hectic. For example, if African Americans were going around killing Caucasian police officers then the judges in these courts will not hesitate to give them many years, if not life, in prison.

In a ted talk titled "I Love Being a Police Officer, but We Need Reform" by Melvin Russell is a great explanation of how people are beginning to perceive police officers. This police officer decides to set up different activities in a Baltimore neighborhood, in order to gain back the trust of the citizens. This is a great idea to show that the police actually care and that all of them are not out to just hurt everyone. He shows that there are still some good law enforcement officers out there who do not want to see every African American put behind bars. It makes me happy to see this man talking about this and trying to gain the trust back of some people. He knows that it will take time but with time things change, so he should not give up. 

Mental trauma is found in each one of these stories. All of these people will have to live with what has happened to them by the police. Not only are these people affected by it but their family and close ones around are too. Since police are supposed to be the ones to protect the citizens of this country, then so many police brutality stories should not be able to be found. People no longer are thinking of the police as people to call when they are in need, they are actually terrified to call them. Is calling them going to put their life at risk and the police end up beating or killing them? At this point, nobody really knows and people really do not want to find out. It is very sad and sickening to even think of it like this but this is what it has come down to. 

Even though African Americans face brutality the most, the research question is arguable because there are always going to be people who says that it has nothing to do with race. In all the stories mentioned here, all of the people being mistreated are African American. I agree with every single one of these stories, that police brutality is horrible and needs to be stopped. The different perspectives of the sources just caused me to see even more that we, African Americans, are being killed or wounded just because of our skin color. This is traumatizing our people and their families because they will forever fear that something could just as easily happen to them as it did their family member or friend. I believe that African Americans are also targeted too because of our lack of knowledge with the criminal justice system. I think that the police know that we barely know our rights and what the police can and cannot do, especially younger children. Which I can agree with because I do not know what I can do to a police officer so that I can make sure that nothing bad happens to me. 

