Police Brutality In the United States By: Alexa Hodge

Subtopics Racial Profiling/Stereotyping Police Training/Lack Thereof Consequences/Aftermath

Racial Profiling/Stereotyping Racism and Police Brutality in America Cassandra Chaney, College of Human Sciences and Education, School of Social Work, Child and Family StudiesLouisiana State UniversityBaton RougeUSA & Ray V. Robertson, Department of Sociology, Social Work and Criminal JusticeLamar UniversityBeaumontUSA This source helps contribute to the argumentative background of how police profile and stereotype black men in America. The author does this by presenting their findings of how African Americans, especially men, in America, are more at risk, and targeted to receive the brutality that police officers commit. It does this by giving specific statistics from the National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project, how the public perceives police officers, and also how race adds to this. This source uses specific examples such as the Rodney King case to help support its case.

Racial Profiling/Stereotyping No Better Time To End Racial Profiling Benjamin F. Chavis JR., President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) This source helps be build background information on racial profiling, as well as be an argumentative source. This source builds background information about racial profiling because it talks about past events that have taken place because of racial profiling like riots in Los Angeles that rooted from racial profiling and heinous brutality of police officers. It also talks about a bill that has been introduced to help end racial profiling, and penalize police officers who profile people. This source works as an argumentative source because it talks about a specific case where an African American man, Freddie Gray, was profiled then killed.

Synthesis of Racial Profiling/Stereotyping In Racism and Police Brutality in America, this source contributes to my subtopic of racial profiling by asking the question what if any changes have occurred within police departments since the Rodney King beating 25 years ago? It goes into depth describing various cases where African Americans have been targeted and received harsh brutality from officers. It also talks about how out of blacks and Caucasians, black men are the most likely out of the two to be the victim of police brutality. It also goes on to describe how the public perceives police officers as a result of police brutality. In No Better Time To End Racial Profiling helps add on to what Chaney talks about by referring to the Freddie Gray case, and also talking about the riots that took place in Los Angeles over 50 years ago. Chaney talks about the Rodney King case, and also mentions the Trayvon Martin case. They build on one another because they both bring up cases and events that took place many years ago, but they also talk about cases that are more recent. Chaney talks about how black men are more prone to receive abuse from police officers, and Chavis talks about a bill that has been suggested that could help end the racial profiling that some police officers commit.

Police Training/Lack Thereof Police Training As An Instrument of Accountability David A. Klinger, Associate Professor, University of Missouri-St. Louis, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice. This source can be used as a background source as well as an argumentative source. This can be used as a background source because it talks about, lists, and describes the different types of training police officers have to attend throughout their career, like how to correctly investigate and identify perpetrators. This can be used as an argumentative source because it points out that training and deciding how to hold police accountable for their actions has always been a problem. The article also describes why a police officer would need to use force, and it also points out what abuse or brutality would be.

Police Training/Lack Thereof Police Brutality in the USA Robert H. Kirschner (International Forensic Program, Physicians for Human Rights, DePaul University College of Law) This source can be used as an argumentative source which will help me argue that police need more or improved training. The author presents an example of a case in which a Haitian man was brutally beaten and tortured by a police officer and wasn’t given proper medical attention in a reasonable amount of time. A nurse working at the hospital reported the incident to the NYPD internal affairs and she was even attacked by one her colleagues. The author also describes what forms police brutality can take.

Police Training/Lack Thereof Police Training Emphasizes Defusing Encounters Telegram & Gazette This source can be used as an argumentative source to help me argue that police officers need improved training. This author starts off by talking about a case in which a young man trying to break into cars in a junkyard with a blade refused to drop his knife and started walking away from police. An officer opened fire on him and he was shot 15 times, in which most of the shots fired were when he was on the ground already. Because of cases like this, a the Worcester Police Department is putting their officer through training focused on de-escalating situations.

Synthesis of Police Training/Lack Thereof Police Training As An Instrument of Accountability by David A. Klinger talks about how determining how to hold police accountable for their actions and judging what is right and wrong or extreme when it comes to the things they do has always been a grey area. Police Brutality in the USA by Robert H. Kirschner writes about a black man that was brutally beaten and mistreated by police officers, and talks about the repercussions that the police officer faced for committing this brutality. This case goes to show that officers need to be attending more in depth training, because if they are committing these senseless, violent acts, then they shouldn’t be allowed to patrol the streets. Police Training Emphasizes Defusing Encounters by Telegram & Gazette starts off by giving an example of a case in which a teenage boy was brutally shot and murdered with extremely unnecessary force by a police officer. The author goes on to talk about how one police station is doing something about police officers abusing their powers by enforcing a new training program focused on de-escalating confrontations rather than escalate them. All of these sources build onto one another. Some of these sources give solutions, some of them give examples of cases in which more training would’ve been beneficial, and some of them just explain why police officers aren’t always held accountable.

Consequences/Aftermath #FergusonDigital Protest, Hashtag Ethnography, and the Racial Politics of Social Media: in the United States Yarimar Bonilla, Rutgers University & Jonathan Rosa, University of Massachusetts Amherst This source can be used as a background source and as an argumentative source to help argue that police brutality has aftermath and consequences. The author starts off by talking about the Michael Brown case that took place in 2014 in which an unarmed, black teen was shot and killed. This source will help me argue because the result of this event resulted in riots, outrage across the country, protests, and violent interactions between police and the community. This source also gives examples of what happened as a result of the shooting which will help me talk about the aftermath of police brutality. The case and the posts that were made on social media following the shooting help build on as background information.

Consequences/Aftermath The Sandra Bland Story: How Social Media Has Exposed the Harsh Reality of Police Brutality Ashley B. Reid, Bowie State University Thesis This source helps me build background information about my subtopic, and also presents itself as an argumentative source. It helps build background about the aftermath of police brutality by talking about the specific example of the Sandra Bland case. It can also be used as an argumentative source because it talks about the outcome of the altercation. It points out that the woman who was arrested mysteriously died, and also that the officer who was abusive to her was not charged for anything. The author also talks about how social media helps spread awareness of police brutality by obtaining evidence of these occurrences and spreading them after these events take place.

Consequences/Aftermath After Baltimore, Reflecting On the Chasm Between Black and White Andrew Silow-Carroll, Editor-in-chief of the New Jersey Jewish News This source helps build background on the aftermath of police brutality. It does this by talking about the relationship between African Americans and Caucasians as a result of police brutality. Silow-Caroll compares blacks understanding to whites understanding of the events of police brutality that take place and points out their differences in understanding. The author is reflecting on how the aftermath affects their different viewpoints of police brutality.

Synthesis of Consequences/Aftermath #Ferguson: Digital Protest, Hashtag Ethnography, and the Racial Politics of Social Media in the United States by Yarimar Bonilla starts off the article by giving an example of a case in which an unarmed black teenage boy was shot and killed. According to witnesses he was pleading “don’t shoot”. This helps contribute to my subtopic because it talks about the riots and violence that took after the shooting as a result. The Sandra Bland Story: How Social Media Has Exposed the Harsh Reality of Police Brutality by Ashley B. Reid introduces the Sandra Bland case in which a black woman was pulled over for a routine traffic violation, but was then proceeded to be abused, and arrested by a police officer. This source helps contribute to my subtopic because it talks about what happened to this woman as a result of the brutality that she received and the outrage that spread across the country. After Baltimore, Reflecting On the Chasm Between Black and White by Andrew Silow-Carroll explains the different views that whites and blacks have pertaining to police brutality. This helps contribute to my subtopic of the aftermath by mentioning the aftermath of the Freddie Gray case and also why the two different races are in such disagreement. These sources all connect because they all talk about and give specific examples of what happens after police brutality.