November: Police Brutality
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| Courtesy of Tumblr |
I know, I know I should have started off with something that isn't so controversial for my first "Opinionated Post"... but I didn't. Police brutality has been occurring within the world for an incredibly long time, yet within the United States, many are just beginning to realize the proportion of these events in history. What if I told you that in my home state of Utah within the past year there thirteen homicides due to law enforcement? This statistic also shows that within the past five years, 15% of homicides in the state were caused by law enforcement. You may think to yourself, it must be justifiable! But what if it isn't? Recent incidents like the murder of Michael Brown, the brutalization and murder of Eric Garner, the murder of Antonio Martin, the murders of fourteen other teenagers , and the ongoing protests against the lack of indictments towards police officers beg to differ that everyone in this nation is safe from harm. Police officers have gotten away with murder, rape, assault, sexual harassment, and many other heinous crimes with self-defense claims and complete denial.
In My Opinion: Let me say this very clearly, I am a straight, white, middle-class female who comes from an affluent town that is primarily white as well. I recognize the privileges I receive because I am of a certain socioeconomic standing as well as my racial background. I say this only because recently the correlation of police brutality and race have grown quite close. This has left many to believe that institutionalized racism and other forms of discrimination are still entirely real within the United States.
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| Courtesy of Dream Defenders |
Honestly, at first when I heard about cases such as Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, I was shocked. Absolutely shocked by the fact that young teenagers almost the same age as me were dying across the country by the police. I put myself in their shoes whenever I heard a new case, which let me tell you is more than just a few. Could you imagine walking down the street with your friends, your significant other, or even just by yourself and feel like someone was watching you and feared you? Could you imagine playing with a nerf gun or a plastic sword as a kid and get shot by the police for it? Could you imagine telling your children not to "look suspicious" or like "thugs" even when they may be incredibly kind and intelligent kids? To me, it sounds like the plot of a dystopian novel.
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| Courtesy of Huffington Post |
What scares me the most about an issue like this is the believability of every event. I am no longer surprised when I hear about someone being beaten to a pulp by the NYPD or a protestor murdered because they seek the end of police brutality. It's unsettling to say the least that I have become desensitized by police brutality because it is constantly occurring. Say all reports of police brutality were actually submitted, including the ones that were unjustifiable, perhaps people would take a stand against this. This doesn't mean to discredit those that already have, there are loads of organizations, protests, and discussions about police brutality occurring at the moment. Yet there seems to be no punishment for these heinous crimes, and as long as there is no change in our executive branch, more lives will be taken, more people will be scarred, and more people will feel afraid in this nation.
Need more evidence? Check out the links on my new archive for Opinionated Posts: My Monthly Issues.
