Turning on the news daily, we see stories covered on police brutality between white officers and black or latin American’s far too often. This topic can sometimes be a rather sensitive subject if approached incorrectly or inappropriately so the audience can sometimes negatively lash out in response. The only knowledge I had on the topic before my research was the videos seen on the news and the opinions of those on Twitter and Facebook, so I clearly did not know much at all and wanted to make sure I approached the topic correctly. With the combination of the several article I discovered, there is more than enough information to fully answer the question I asked myself, “What are some of the causes behind police brutality in the United States and how do minority groups and the government respond?”. The answer to this question will open readers’ eyes to the fact that we still live in a world filled with inequality, racism, and preconceived ideas and stereotypes that are taught to us by society. This is something that both members of the community and the government are trying to stop, although it is much easier said than done.

Initially, at the beginning of my research, I read several articles to become familiarized with the subject and read multiple cases on police brutality. This lead to the realization that this happens much more than we may know. During my research I collected several articles that all do a phenomenal job providing history on the topic and explaining probable causes as to why police brutality takes place in America today. With the evidence provided in these articles, we are able to see the poor relationships and preconceived thoughts between black and white communities, both in the past and in the present. We are provided with the conclusion that police violence comes from a category-based psychological process in which people act upon predetermined ideas and stereotypes. In other words, police officers often times will act out violently because of stereotypes (whether you believe they are correct or not) that they have been taught by society as one’s true characteristics. The sources I had found about former president, Barak Obama, were both resources used to help answer the question how both the government and the affected minority groups respond to violent actions from law enforcement officials. He addressed the public about the issue several times and gave his outlook on the problem while also providing possible solutions. While many of those who are affected conduct peaceful protests, the ones that receive the most attention by the media and the cops are the ones that are violent outbreaks. Angry protestors will often act out their emotions towards police officials, which can cause even more of a scene. From there the problem of police brutality has the ability to turn into a never ending cycle, which many, if not all people, agree needs to come to an end. 

Exploring the idea of police brutality even further, the first article discovered was Danielle Funke and Tina Susman’s article for the Los Angeles Times. In this article, the two authors discuss the many police brutality cases that have occurred over the recent years. In these cases, black men and women have been killed in the United States by police officers and have later been found unarmed. Unfortunately, however, it was still too late to change the outcome. It is apparent that this is a reoccurring problem within our country because we see it happening over and over again. News had leaked that a white officer killed a black man or woman who was unarmed. Citizens, in response to the new information, began protesting both peacefully and violently. This resulted in law enforcement having to get more involved and potentially act violently. Eventually, we are informed there in fact was a trial for the officer who killed the civilian and he was convicted for his crime. Once again, we are informed of an incident that, unfortunately, has been seen many times before this specific case. The publisher, the Los Angeles Times, is known for being a rather liberal website. This characteristic is an obvious one because they are located in one of the most liberal areas in California. You can tell they side with the liberal, unprejudiced mind set because of the way they talk about the officers and the victims. They talk about the violent crimes the officers have committed and how awful their actions were, but do not talk about the victims and if they may have had a criminal background. 

Shortly after reading their article, I found myself reading an article from the Washington Post by reporters Peter Holley and Katie Zezima. Here we are informed of a more recent attack by a woman named Betty Shelby, police officer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who killed an unarmed black man in September 2016. There is footage of Shelby from her body cam, shooting the victim, Terence Crutcher, by his car. He had not done anything to provoke Shelby to shoot him, but she states that it seemed like he was going to reach into the car for a weapon. Tulsa District Attorney, Steve Kunzweiler, filed the charge against Betty Shelby and is quoted in the article stating that, “Shelby ‘reacted unreasonably’ and became ‘emotionally involved’ to the point that she overreacted,” (Holley and Zezima). The victim did not have a gun on him or in his vehicle at the time he was killed, but officer Betty Shelby believed that Crutcher was under the influence of drugs and that was what lead her to think he may have been armed. We are exposed to the fact that the victim indeed had drugs in his car, but was not under the influence at the time of the shooting. Other than that, Crutcher had a clean record. Meanwhile, officer Shelby did not. She had a record of drawing firearms before, as well as admitting to doing drugs, and had a victim protection order filed against her. After just brushing the surface on my research, I realized how big and controversial this issue truly was and how little I was informed on the topic. All of this new knowledge made me wonder what causes all of this violence and allows people to think this is okay.

The surplus amount of unanswered questions lead me to wondering what causes people to act out so violently towards those whom they are suppose to protect. I came across a book by authors Malcolm D. Holmes and Brad W. Smith which was all about police brutality and racism in America. The two authors clearly state that their goal was to, “…provide more definitive conclusions about these relationships with our analyses of the DOJ complaints data… the findings of those studies indicate that the African American and Mexican-origin populations bear the brunt of police brutality,” (Holmes, vii). In his book, Howard Rahtz’s talks about police brutality towards these same minority groups as stated in Holmes’ book.  Rahtz also takes this time to go back to where it all began. He addresses the race riots from the very start of our country and the lessons we learned from those riots. The conclusion came to the reason there is so much tension between the police and these minority groups in specific is because that there is this, “category-based psychological,” (Holmes, 111) process that individuals experience when looking at a situation. These, “category-based phenomena include emotions and stereotypes,” (Holmes, 111) which lead to discriminatory actions as well as racist and bias behavior from all races. Now many members of the white community, whether they are apart of law enforcement or not, have this preconceived idea due to stereotypes that society has taught them to be true. Therefore, these people are quick to judge or act inappropriately and on a whim simply because of what they believe to be true. For example, if a white police officer were to see a white man lingering around an ally, the officer more than likely wouldn’t think twice and continue on with his day. But if this individual was apart on a minority group, the officer, “automatically activates unconscious emotional and cognitive processes, as well as beginning the temporal sequence of events,” (Holmes, 114) therefore potentially causing him to keep a closer eye on the individual. The events that occur after the cognitive process are the deciding factor of the motive on police brutality occurring. Authors, Holmes and Smith, explain how the the perpetrator and the victim look at each other as if they are apart of two different worlds, as if they are unequal. “A cultural chasm separates police officers and minority citizens in urban America. Ironically, the one solid bridge between the two worlds is built upon norms about the appropriateness of violence,” (Holmes, 117). The point here is that the purpose of a police officer is to protect all people from violence, and it is extremely hypocritical that they are the ones causing harm this frequently within the community they are supposed to defend. 

In Rahtz’s book, he references another work that discusses the background of riots, the actual riot itself, and the outcome of them. With all of that put together, it helped introduce the concept to readers who did not personally experience or witness this time in our country. It also showed the relationships and preconceived thoughts between the black and white community in Chicago during the early 1900’s. The authors confidently state, “It is also certain that the problem will not be solved by methods of violence. Every race riot, every instance in which men of either race defy legal authority and take law into their own hands, but postpones the day when the two races shall live together amicably,” (Chicago Commission on Race Relations xiii). Most would agree that we need to see change. Although, neither race will be the first ones to start this change. This is because when one acts negatively toward the other, they feel compelled to respond and defend themselves. It is a frustrating problem because minority communities are tired of fighting for equality and being continuously treated differently for something so insignificant. Understandably, most people get impatient and are easily irritated after waiting and wanting something for so long. This can mean they usually have a short fuse and can be sensitive towards the situation. It can lead to an occasional outbreak of violence and it is an officer’s duty to respond and protect other citizens from getting hurt. However, they should never pull out their gun and shoot if they are just going by their gut feelings. 

In the most recent census data, it is evident that there are significantly more white Americans in the United States than black Americans, almost 160 million more. This would conclude that because there are more white people living in America overall in comparison to African Americans, numerically, more whites are killed by police officers. However, if we look at percentages, black Americans are just roughly 13% of American population but 24% of those who are killed by an officer. In an article from the Washington Post author, Wesley Lowery, stated that, “the Post noted in a new analysis published last week, that means black Americans are 2.5 times as likely as white Americans to be shot and killed by police officers. U.S. police officers have shot and killed the exact same number of unarmed white people as they have unarmed black people: 50 each. But because the white population is approximately five times larger than the black population, that means unarmed black Americans were five times as likely as unarmed white Americans to be shot and killed by a police officer,” (Lowery). But as we all know, and all researchers on the subject could agree with, racism is and always has been a problem in our country. Former Arkansas governor, Mike Huckabee, stated to Fox News, “If we have a shooting, we end up assuming that it had to be racial,” (Lowery). Whether or not it actually is, the community in society that is effected will jump to that conclusion. With all of this information, I was able to learn what contributes to police brutality, how our narrow-minded our perceptions of others are, and passed down stereotypical notions. I could not help but wonder what orders, if any at all, were put in place in order to end this issue.

Police brutality, whether it is the death of a white, black, Hispanic, Asian American, etc., is something that no one wants to see happening continuously in their country. In November 2014, after the death of Michael Brown, former president Barak Obama addresses the case and acknowledges that there will be violent riots among the community due to result of the grand jury’s decision to not indict the officer held responsible. He says he instructed the attorney general to work with cities to rebuild the broken relationships between communities and its police officers and also training officers to respond in an equal manner to everyone that is fair and appropriate. Barak Obama decided it was time to start holding those serving in the police force more accountable for their actions. He did this by requiring officers to wear body cams and training them differently that involves less weapons. In addition, he proposed the idea of having community gatherings where citizens could come and express their opinions and concerns. The goal Obama had in all of this was to mend the bond between racial groups so there would no longer be that gap. In Aura Bogado’s article, she addresses the events that took place back in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri and how former President Barak Obama’s plans to avoid this problem from ever happening again. We are shown that the government has made an extreme effort to help put an end to police brutality and are striving to hold law officials more accountable for their actions. 

In an article posted on DNAinfo, authors Sybile Penhirin and Janon Fisher discuss a rivalry between pro-police and anti-police protestors in New York arguing over the death of Eric Garner, a white male, who died from a police chokehold. Ironically, we see the minority groups, Mexican and African Americans, who are the ones we believe are usually the targeted victims, protesting and thanking the NYPD. This conflicts with the idea that minority groups are the only ones affected by police brutality and only protest violently; it also conflicts with the idea that white citizens are the only ones who are racist and have preconceived stereotypes. However, majority of the ones who are affected by police brutality are indeed these minority groups which has been proven statistically. In addition, it is proven and apparent that both the government and the community have responded to police brutality. With the proposed solutions, the government has provided us, like body cams, we have seen some change in the police forces and officers are held accountable. Nonetheless, this problem has still not been completely resolved and is still a rather large issue that our country continues to struggle with today. 

The topic of police brutality is clearly a huge problem in our country. It was interesting to me because it is such a relevant issue we have and an issue with race in general that our country has had from the start. It’s also appealing to me because I am working towards a degree in Broadcast Journalism in hopes of one day becoming a news reporter. I have noticed over time that the news tends to focus on stories about police brutality involving a white police and a black victim significantly more than when the incident is involving a white victim. After becoming more and more passionate on the issue of police brutality, this research paper would be the perfect opportunity to answer all the questions I had on the topic. I came to my final question of, “What are some of the causes behind police brutality in the United States and how do minority groups and the government respond?” Unfortunately, police brutality and racism seem to go hand and hand in America. Once we stop teaching the younger and future generations of our country the old, false preconceived stereotypes that have been handed down generation to generation, we will hopefully be able to move forward from the issue of racism and police brutality as a country, for good. The category-based psychological process that each person experiences includes emotions and stereotypes which then effects the outcome when looking at a situation. This can lead to discriminatory and unjust actions as well as racist behavior from any and all races. Many people, no matter what race, now have all these different preconceived ideas about other people due to stereotypes that society has taught them to be true. Therefore, these people are quick to assume or act inappropriately simply because of what they believe to be true. African Americans and Latin Americans are the minority groups that are most effected by police brutality. They respond with both violent and peaceful protests, while the media typically only focuses on the violent protests. After the Michael Brown case, in which majority of Americans are familiar with, former president Barak Obama instructed the attorney general to work with cities to help mend the broken relationships between communities and it’s police officers. He also implemented training for officers so that they respond in an equal manner to everyone that is equal and appropriate, regardless of race. While yes we have made significant progress towards equality in our country, we still have an extremely long way to go. Solving this issue, together as a nation, will allow so much more room for love in our country.
