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Victor Zellner

Ms. Kenly

British Literature 1B

22 March 2019

Why are minorities targeted more than any other group when it comes to police brutality?

The legal definition of police brutality is a civil rights violation that occurs when a police

officer acts with excessive force by using an amount of force with regards to a civilian that is

more than necessary. Excessive force by a law enforcement officer is a violation of a person’s

rights. An example of excessive force can include physical force against a suspect that has

already been apprehended or is in custody and not resisting. Throughout years of police

brutality, it has gotten worse. Just in 2018, approximately 1000 people were shot and killed by

policemen. In this day and age, it seems as if people being brutalized or murdered by the police

is the new “norm”. From being pulled over in a routine traffic stop and ending up dead, to being

labeled as a “thug” or criminal based on looks or accidentally being killed because a officer

mistakes a cell phone for a weapon. This is tragic. Something has to be done about this issue. It

is a nationwide problem and as protests come about, the issue seems to get worse. Officers are

getting away with taking innocent lives and hurting people just because they feel “threatened”.

Many people are frightened when it comes to an encounter with the police. These actions are

unfair and unjust. Citizens should not feel intimidated by those who are supposed to be in place

to serve and protect the nation and people living in it.

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Do you ever sit and think why so many lives are taken or brutalized by police on a daily

basis? Not only are lives taken but there is a certain group that is mainly targeted when it comes

to this worldwide issue. From the United States to Sweden, police brutality gets worse and worse

each year. Before this topic is discussed, a numerous amount of police brutality nationwide will

be talked about. Throughout communities and nations across the world, police brutality is one of

those topics that has many different viewpoints. Some may feel that police brutality is not all that

bad but you would never know until you have witnessed or experienced it for yourself or

someone you love.

Many lives have been lost due to careless thinking and quick reactions. Policemen should be tr

ained to act off of violence not intimidation. The policemen who take lives give their instinct

entirely too much trust. In the cases where victims weren’t resisting and had no weapon or intent

to hurt an officer, that should not have resulted in a lost soul. People depend on their family

members to take care of them but police take that away with no remorse. The only action most

policemen experience in an act of unjust gun violence is “paid leave”. They get to continue to

take care of their families’ although they aren’t working but what about the father that you just

took away from his family?

On Tuesday, January 22, 2019, in the Allen Temple Apartments on Martin Luther King

Drive in Atlanta, GA, Atlanta PD went to serve a warrant to son and father Jimmy Atchison, a 21

year old black male. He is a father of a 3 year old baby girl and he also has an 11 month old baby

boy. He jumped out of the window with nothing but boxers and an undershirt. The police then

chased him and that is when he ran into another unit where he hid. He was frightened for his life.

Why do we have to be afraid of those who take an oath to serve and protect? He was not armed,

no weapon whatsoever. He was still murdered by the police. His family stood out in the cold for
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three hours while being humiliated as police avoided them and ran around making efforts to

cover their dirty foot tracks. This family was left with nothing other than questions and cold

hearts. There should be justice sought for the way that this young man was treated.

Jimmy Atchison was not only shot in the face and unarmed. There is a lot more to the story.

When you can view what happened to this young soul you will be just as terrified as the family

is. All the family wants is justice for Jimmy and the Jimmys of the future and the past. If

everyone does not come together and stand unitedly or as one then the police will continue to

take the lives of the youth and anybody who comes into contact with police. In the Atchison

family’s case no effort has occurred to send condolences or go to their home and attempt to

answer their unanswered question. This family has been ignored completely. The story that was

on the news of Jimmy Atchison’s death made no sense to anyone. It was just a ploy to hide the

police’s ill intent, malice, and foul play. The family even reached out to Atlanta Mayor Keisha

Lance Bottoms and the many representatives in the Atlanta area and they received no reply.

Injustice occurred with Ms. Atchison’s son. No family should have to endure sleepless nights,

headaches, and heartaches. If our nation does not stand up and stand together against these

criminal acts of violence then it will be on your doorstep soon. The world can not continue to

accept and fold in the face of discrimination. The responsibility must be accepted by the people

who have a voice and the right to use it and stand up for what is right.

Where justice is denied, poverty is enforced, ignorance prevails, and where one class is made

to feel that society is organized to conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither person

or property will be safe. Jimmy has two children that will never get to see their father’s face

again. His family will never get to see him again. All that is asked of the family is justice. It is

time to stop being afraid and fearing for your life, especially if you have faith in a higher power.
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The sacrifices made by ancestors and elders got human beings and African-Americans

specifically to how far they are now. Stand for justice regardless of race, ethnicity, culture,

upbringing or gender. Does a human life really matter in the eyes of a policemen? More

specifically, does the life of a young black male matter in the eyes of anyone in the world? The

police don’t even care. It is up to the people to do so. As a nation, there is a question we must

ask. The question is not whether we can afford to invest in every human’s life, the question is

can we afford not to. Too many lives have already been lost. Police brutality is one of several

forms of police misconduct which involves undue violence by members of police authority.

“Police killed 1,147 people in 2017. Black people were 25% of those killed despite being only

13% of the population. Police killed 1,165 people in 2018. There were only 23 days in 2018 that

the police did not kill someone. Statistics show that African American people are more likely to

be killed by police and no slight improvement in the recent years. African-Americans are 3 times

more likely to be killed by police than white people. In 2015, 30% of black victims were

unarmed compared to 21% of white victims. Where you live can have an impact on your

encounter with the police. A person is 7 more times likely to be killed by police in Oklahoma

than Georgia.” Thirteen of the one hundred largest U.S. city police departments kill black men at

higher rates than the entire U.S’s murder rate.

“Fewer than 1 in 3 black people killed by police in America in 2014 were suspected of a

violent crime and allegedly armed.” Levels of crime in cities in the United States don’t make it

any more or less likely for police to kill people. It is solely based off of the officer. There

should be no excuse for police violence. “0 people were shot and killed by Buffalo police in New

York from 2013-2016. Fifteen people were shot and killed by police in Orlando from 2013-2016

and they are more populated than Buffalo,NY. 50% of the population in Buffalo,NY is non-
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white. 42% of people in Orlando, Florida are non-white. Ninety-nine percent of police brutality

cases in 2015 did not involve any officer being convicted of a crime.”

There are many proven solutions that should be implemented all across not only the nation

but the world. Some of these solutions require officers to use all other means necessary before

proceeding to shoot. All use of force should be reported when involving a policemen and a

civilian. Choke holds and strangleholds should be banned and this has already occurred in some

states. Police guidelines should require de-escalation, the duty to intervene if another officer uses

excessive force, restrict shooting at moving vehicles, and even require warnings before shooting.

The disparities appear to be even starker for unarmed suspects, according to an analysis of 2015

police killings by the Guardian. Racial minorities made up about 37.4 percent of the general

population in the US and 46.6 percent of armed and unarmed victims, but they made up 62.7

percent of unarmed people killed by police.

Growing up a young black male, you automatically have a target on your back. In this society,

you are labeled and stereotyped by the way you look, the way you dress and even the hairstyle or

body art that you have. Black people are much more likely to be shot by police than white

people. An analysis of the available FBI data by Dara Lind for Vox found that US police kill

black people at disproportionate rates: Black people accounted for 31 percent of police killing

victims in 2012, even though they made up just 13 percent of the US population. Although the

data is incomplete because it’s based on voluntary reports from police agencies around the

country, it highlights the vast disparities in how police use force.

Nearly 94 percent of those killed by police are men. Forty-six percent are white. 22. percent

had a history of drug abuse or mental illness. The ages of unarmed people killed by police are

from 5 to more than 100 years old, including people who were 101, 103 and 107. More than 57
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percent of African American women were killed while unarmed and white males were the least

likely to have been unarmed when killed at just under 20 percent.

How do we dismantle racism and prevent police brutality? Why is using tear gas on illegal

immigrants not considered a war crime? Why is more training not provided for officers not to

panic in certain situations? In most cases, policemen are not charged after using excessive force

or “accidentally” killing someone that didn’t even have a weapon, why is that? American police

shoot and kill far more people than their peers in other countries. Cities across the country have

been riddled with accusations of police abuse.

Police can use deadly force if they merely perceive a threat. Cops are almost never

prosecuted and convicted for use of force. Police Officers will always get away with these

brutalities because they are the in the system of law enforcement. Typically officers who are

accused of these cases are either charged with minor offenses or charged with nothing.

Killings of police officers on duty are near record lows The federal government has helped the

militarization of police. Police have to repair community trust to effectively do their jobs.

People encounter daily interactions with police. A policemen will tell you to stop resisting even

if you aren’t resisting. The things that are portrayed in movies are real life situations that have

occurred all over the world. A young man’s brutal death at the hands of the police is found
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“justified” in a court of law due to their suspicious appearance. It is tragic that anyone has to

endure false accusations, police brutality or be treated as a criminal just by the way they look or

dress. This is because the attachments of racial stereotypes tend to eliminate the suspects who are

not typically suspected of the certain crimes. Racial stereotyping leads police officers to rule out

the wrong people who did not commit such crimes. One theory on why such brutality exists

against African Americans is because of America’s resentful history of slavery, segregation and

racism. Because of the racial tensions that existed until the later half of the 21st century, Many

officers embraced the approach of discriminating against African Americans. Unequal treatment

of citizens by police is unacceptable in a so called developed and democratic country we live in

that strives to set an example.

The mass media has had a drastic effect on the way police brutality is viewed in today’s

society. There are many different standpoints from people and why they feel like police brutality

is occurring. Some people stand by policemen. In the case of the “Black Lives Matter”

movement, there is a counter-argument in which those who stand by the policemen state that

“All Lives Matter”. This is basically going against everything that BLM stands for. Black Lives

Matter is an organization that consists of African-Americans protesting and standing up against

the unjust actions taken upon black people in police brutality incidents. For hundreds of years,

blacks have been treated poorly and unfairly. African-Americans have been discriminated

against on the basis of their skin color. This goes to show why they have a target on their back.
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In the "How to Dismantle Racism and Prevent Police Brutality" article on USA Today online,

by Sirry Alang, he states that in order to prosper and rid the issue of police brutality, it takes

more than one person to stand up and speak out. “To address police brutality and limit its impact,

we must focus upstream.”

According to New York Times, a pregnant black woman was dragged from a train in Sweden.

This goes to show that the racial profiling is comparable to that of America. Global racism is a

thing. "Behind the Police Shootings." (Los Angeles Times) This article is an editorial that

argues "the legal standards for professional negligence in policing, and the training that goes

with them, should be toughened up."

Who will Police the Police?"Finding evidence of police brutality in Kenya should not be too

tricky. Amateur footage of officers shooting suspected crooks in the back of the head is shared

on social media. Vigilante police groups post photographs of suspects they have killed, or intend

to kill, on Facebook....Yet since starting work six years ago [2012], Kenya's police watchdog has

managed to secure convictions against just three officers, despite receiving nearly 10,000

complaints of abuse." (Economist) This article explains why little has changed since Kenya

created its Independent Policing Oversight Authority to investigate police corruption and

brutality.”
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It seems as if people being brutalized or murdered by the police is the new doesn’t even matter

anymore because it happens so often. There are ways to prevent these tragic occurrences from

continuously happening. This global issue should cease at once. Frightened officers who act off

instinct or only see color will not be on the run for long. Citizens will not be intimidated by those

who are supposed to be in place to serve and protect the nation and people living in it.

The first question asked how many males and females were participating in this survey. There

were 54.76% females and 45.24% of males. The second question asked in what age group did

everyone fall in. 48.78% were under the age of 18. Another 48.78% were between the ages of 18

and 24. 2.44% of the respondents were between the ages of 25 and 34. The third question was

open ended and asked “What is your definition of police brutality?”. One of the respondent’s

answers stated that Police brutality is the wanton use of excessive force, usually physical, but

potentially in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer.

Another student stated that Being wrongfully accused or attacked by the police physically or

emotionally based off of reasons beyond crime( ie: the color of your skin, race, gender, the way

you look). Everyone mostly agreed on the same definition and all responses were correct. The

fourth question was “Do you think minorities are often targeted more in cases of police

brutality?” 80.95% answered yes. 7.14% said no. 11.9% of the respondents said maybe. The next

question which was question number 5 asked “Do you feel comfortable complying with police

officers?”. 61.90% answered that they sometimes do. 28.57% said they never do and answered

“no”. 9.52% answered that they did feel comfortable complying with police.
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Question number 6 asked “Do cops make you feel safe in your neighborhood?”. 14.29%

answered “not at all”. 66.67% stated in some cases the cops make them feel safe in their

neighborhood. 2.38% stated that cops make them feel safe all the time in their neighborhood.

16.67% answered “no I am frightened by the police.” The next question #7 asked “Have you

ever had a personal experience with police? (how did it go)” 28.57% said yes. 69.05% said no.

7.14% responded. The answers included “It went good for the most part, I was still uncertain of

his intentions.”, “My brother was killed by a police officer - IAMJIMMYATCHISON”, and bad

because no one tells me what to do. Question number 8 asked “On a scale of 1-10, how often do

you witness or hear about police violence or police brutality?”. Out of 41 responses, 68%

answered 6 or 7 on a scale. The next question which is number 9 asked “What race do you think

is racially profiled and discriminated against the most?” 100 percent answered African-American

out of 4 options to choose from which were African-American, caucasian, latina and other. The

final question asked where people lived. Most of the respondents live in Atlanta ad there was one

who lives in Arkansas. These are all of the results of the survey that was conducted on Police

Brutality.
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In conclusion, police brutality against African Americans all over is an unfortunate but real

social problem. It results in the unlawful and unethical discrimination, persecution and abuse of

thousands of African Americans, many of whom live in everyday fear thanks to the knowledge

of this prejudice among the police forces. Many police officers are inclined to consider black

people as bigger threats than they really are.

Works Cited

Alang, Sirry. "How to Dismantle Racism and Prevent Police Brutality." USA Today (Online), 12

May. 2017. SIRS Issues Researcher,https://sks.sirs.com.

Anderson, Christina. "Outcry in Sweden After Pregnant Black Woman is Dragged from Train."

New York Times, 04 Feb. 2019, pp. A.10. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

"Behind the Police Shootings." Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov. 2018, pp. A.12. SIRS Issues

Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Cahill, Teddy,Wesley Lowery, and Niraj Chokshi. "No Charges for Cleveland Police Officers in

Shooting Death of 12.." Washington Post, 29 Dec. 2015, pp. A.4. SIRS Issues

Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Chabria, Anita. "Federal Civil Rights Review Planned in Police Shooting." Los Angeles

Times, 06 Mar. 2019, pp. B.1. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Crepeau, Megan,et al. "Police Case Rulings Leave Questions about Reforms." Chicago

Tribune, 20 Jan. 2019, pp. 1. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

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LaTasha Givens, LaPorsche Thomas, Family, friends identify Atlanta man killed in

officer-involved shooting (https://www.11alive.com/article/news/crime/family-friends-identify-

atlanta-man-killed-in-officer-involved-shooting/85-f365688b-3fde-49c2-b838-708fbb3fae7d)

Published: 9:39 AM EST January 22, 2019

https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/

Meisner, Jason. "Appeals Court Upholds Conviction of Chicago Cop for Firing 16 Shots.."

Chicago Tribune, 08 Jan. 2019, pp. 5. SIRS Issues Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

Patrick, Robert. "Undercover St. Louis Cop Says Colleagues Beat Him 'Like Rodney King'."

St.Louis Post-Dispatch, 22 Jan. 2019, pp. A.1. SIRS Issues Researcher,

https://sks.sirs.com

Staff, ProQuest. Police Brutality Timeline. Leading Issues Timelines, 2019. SIRS Issues

Researcher, https://sks.sirs.com.

"Who Will Police the Police?" Economist, Aug. 2018, pp. 36-37. SIRS Issues Researcher,

https://sks.sirs.com.

"Why can't we Sue Cops?" Los Angeles Times, 06 Apr. 2018, pp. A.8. SIRS Issues Researcher,

https://sks.sirs.com.
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