Policing and the Black Community - Assignment Example

Policing and the Black Community The black community has continued to have poor relationship with the police in United States of America. Most black families advise their children to be vigilant around police officers. It is hard to believe that Police officers have continued to shoot down unarmed black men and women in various regions of the country. A belief that criminals emerge from only one community is out of order.It is always believed that most criminals and lawbreakers come from the black community(Cashmore, 20). Police should not be allowed to kill rather they should only present the victim and be charged in a court of law. Multiple problems can emerge from racial profiling. Policing is becoming more challenging due to strained relationship with the community. Despite continuous training on prevention of discrimination among the recruit police officers, officers have continued to act on people with their race, age, and gender in mind. Recent happenings involving the police and several blacks have led to mistrust. Several cases of police brutality on the black community have been witnessed on various parts of the United States of America. Such brutality has to be stopped. Finding a long time solution to such a problem will help recover the trust. Black community is part of the American people. They should have freedom in their own country (Cashmore, 34). They do not have to walk in fear during their day-to-day activities. The United States police department should focus on dealing with disharmony that exists. They should organize for peace building activities. Such activities should aim at bringing both the black community and the police together. They ought to join hands and come up with effective solutions to the problems in context. More young men from the black community should be recruited into the police force. Having one of their own in the department creates trust and does not make it look like the white police officers are against the blacks because of their race. The shooting of Michael Brown a black American from Ferguson community has brought about tension between the police and the people. It has ignited series of demonstrations with the blacks seeking justice and protection from the American government. Many other cases involving police shooting an innocent American of black origin are still fresh in the black peoples’ mind. What makes it worse is that the offenders are never charged at the end. Trayvon martin’s shooting, plus other countless deaths only proves the deep feelings of mistrust the black community posses toward the police. After Brown was killed, the death of Levar Jones, another black man was reported in South Carolina. In the recent past, Von Derrit was gunned down by a police officer. The incident happened in St Louis. The black people in America believe that such cases have not been treated with the seriousness it deserves. The police officer involved is still working and such pains them even more. The question is what happens in cases where a black police kills an unarmed white man. A forum in Austin, Texas involving the police and the public did not bear any good results. Sgt. Wayne Vincent denied existence of any form of institutional discrimination, after the issue was raised by one of the audience members. When one of the teachers present commended on how two of her students, a five-year-old black and Latino mistrusted the police, Chief Art acevedo, an Austin police linked the mistrust to something wrong at home. The words spoken by the two law enforcement officers exhibited the misunderstanding between them and the black community. The little goodwill generated disappeared. It is indeed true that the black community have continued to suffer in the hands of the white people for many years. Joseph white regarded as the father of the black psychology advised that, the black people are to have a healthy relationship toward the white people (winter, 100). He explained that, in a racist community where the blacks are devalued, a black person who continues to mistrust the white institutions and people will only be regarded as uncivilized. He demanded that black people were to adapt to the reality of racism and forge ahead. In United States community, crimes are committed by majority of the black men. Many Americans believe that most of the black men are violent and street thugs. Such a perception has continued to put fear into most of the black American men. Crime is mostly attributed to the black people. White people continued to link the criminal behavior of the African American as an inheritance. In the American history, black people have been stereotyped as criminals. Racial profiling is most often rooted to inaccurate information (Rios, 35). Understanding crime within a certain culture may indeed be of essence. It can be true that most of the crimes in the United States of America are linked to the black community. However, such information should not be used against all blacks. The presence of respected justice system in the country can be core in differentiating between a criminal and the one who is not. Blacks have been considered as criminals in various occasion because of the many blacks involved in crime as per the American statistics. However, most crimes in the country are committed by the whites although mostly perpetrated by the blacks. Studies conducted in the past have shown blacks being considered by the white people as the people who abuse drugs, engage in crime and are violent than them. The United States may not be the only country that links black to criminal activities. A research conducted in Canada revealed that most Canadians believed that blacks are prone to crime (Sharp & Atherton, 746). It is indeed true that majority of blacks have taken part in most of the crimes than whites. In fact, in some occasions more blacks have been involved in crime compared to the white people. On the contrary, in the past few years America has registered more white criminals than blacks in countrywide arrests.The black community has also faced many challenges in the justice system. Most of the black people who are charged in court, receive severe sentence than criminals from other ethnic groups. Prosecutors charge the blacks with the mentality that they are prone to crime. Tough policies targeting the black men, community and families have been developed. The presence of guns among many American people including the African American people has increased the rate of crime in the country. Policies that control use of guns should be passed to prevent further crimes. These do not mean that police have to shoot any black person with a gun. The police have to protect the life of citizens but not to continue killing them from time to time. If guns are outlawed in the United States, the fact remains that only criminals will possess the guns. These can help the police to identify them in time. Criminals can do anything to get what they want. The presence of guns among the American population may be seen as a form of protection, but it is indeed true that these weapons are the source of increasing crimes and shooting on innocent civilians. If guns are outlawed then all the people ought to be targeted. Reducing the number of guns in the community will reduce the rate of crime. Criminal will take time to access a gun and it will be easier for police officers to bring them to justice (Sharp and Atherton, 748). Black boys are dehumanized and are seen as less innocent compared to their white peers in crimes involving both. Police officers have associated black boys with apes. This depicts racial disparities that exist between in police service. A video captured a police officer in Ferguson calling the black protestors ‘animals’. It will be unfair to note that all police officers are racist. Majority of them serve the American people regardless of the race or age of the people they protect. According to a report by the FBI, a black person was killed by an American police officer almost two times in a week, the incidence occurred between the year 2005 and 2012. Amadou Diallo was struck 19 times and shot forty one times by a police officer who mistook his wallet for a gun (Rice, 53). Having more of the police being non-racist does not change the fact that, Oscar Grant was murdered by a transit officer; it does not change the fact that more than 50 bullets were fired into unarmed Sean Bell’s car hours before his wedding (Rios, 45). If police officers want to change the way the black community perceive them, then they ought to accept the mistrust between them and the community is justified. The police have to accept that racial bias is used while dealing with the black criminals. The department of police has to stop protecting the police officer who discriminate the people they serve basing on their race. It is true that trust is earned and not given. If police have to settle issues that exist between them and the community, then they should admit their mistakes and promise to work together with the people. Additionally, they have to pay attention to issues raised by the community and promise to protect them (winter, 64). Works Cited Cashmore, Ernest, and Eugene McLaughlin. Out of order? policing black people. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. Garmire, Bernard L., Jesse G. Rubin, and James Q. Wilson. The police & the community. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972. Print. Rice, Stephen K. Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New and Essential Readings. New York: New York UP, 2010. Print. Rios, Victor M.. Punished: policing the lives of Black and Latino boys. New York: New York University Press, 2011. Print. Sharp, D., and S. Atherton. "To Serve and Protect?: The Experiences of Policing in the Community of Young People from Black and Other Ethnic Minority Groups." British Journal of Criminology 47.5 (2007): 746-763. Print. Winter smith, Robert F.. Police and the Black community. Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1974. Print. Read More