Racism has been a major problem in the societal milieu of the United States of America for the past times. The country has had a dark history of racial discrimination, slavery, lynching of black people, struggle for racial equality, right to vote, and so on. However, all that is written in the pages of history as the present era has ensured that there is no such racial discrimination in the society of the nation. On an apparent level, America has moved much forward from the dark chapters of racial clashes and subjugation of communities based on their racial and ethnic identity.
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The country is now governed by a black President- something that is in itself a historical thing for the nation. However, in practice, several incidents of immorality or impropriety can be recapitulated in retrospection that point to the innate social ill of racism that still haunts the American people and society. The domain of law enforcement is meant to be free from such discriminatory acts, but some incidents raise the burning question of the day that if the white police officers get influenced by their racist beliefs in the procedure of law enforcement in the American society.
According to Lulu Chang (2014) as per the accounts of “justifiable homicide” kept by FBI for the period of 2005 to 2012, “a white officer used deadly force against a black person almost two times every week.” Also, the black people who got killed by the white police officers had one out of every five people who was under the age of 21 years. In stark contrast to this fact, only 8.7 percent of the white persons being killed by the law enforcement officers were less than 21 years of age. The statistics is quite alarming and it points to the fact how some sort of bias comes into play on the part of the white police officers while handing black people during their duty hours. The frequency of African American people getting arrested is as much as three time more in comparison to the white people. This is alarming as the African American people constitute only 12 percent of the total population of the country.
The incident with Rosa Parks has gone down in the pages of history, and is marked as one of the most significant ones in the struggle for equality of the black community of the country. She was arrested by the white police officer on charges of refusing to leave her seat for a white person in the bus she was travelling. The bus incident had happened long back in 1955. The incident definitely had its roots in the societal issue of racism in Africa where the laws also sanctioned the discriminatory and segregating actions. The civil rights movement changed things legally after the incident. However, a close introspection of recent occurrences would make it clear that racism is still a factor that influences the whites, and the most direct expression is found in the biased actions of the white police officers of the country.
For instance, one can take into context the death of Kelly Thomas. According to Raziye Akkoc (2015), “Thomas was a mentally ill and homeless man killed by police officers which sparked a nationwide outcry.” The police officer beat him up on 5th July, 2011, and he died five days later. Even a video of the torture got released that showed him lying on the ground being hit by the white officers. He was seen crying out for his father for help. The white police officer named Ramos was not found to be guilty of the second-degree killing and involuntary murder, while the other officer named Jay Cicinelli was also acquitted.
Another shocking incident was the demise of Eric Garner who died on 17th July, 2014, when a New York police office held him by a banned chokehold technique although he was unarmed. The victim was wrestled down by many white officers after it came to be known that he was selling loose cigarettes illegally. Once again, a video was released that showed his plight. Daniel Pantaleo, a white officer involved, was not charged by the grand jury after the incident.
In Missouri, Michael Brown, a black teen who was unarmed, was shot down by a white officer whose name was Darren Wilson. The incident happened on 9th August, 2014. Many said that the boy had his hands up in to the air when he was shot. The officer was not punished by the grand jury- something that triggered off a nationwide outrage over the matter. Most recently, in Texas, a white cop named Eric Casebolt threw a black girl on the ground and went on to point his gun to several unarmed black girls who were enjoying in a party. The video has gone viral on the internet, raising the issue of racism and police atrocity on the black community once again.
The incidents point to the fact that the white police officers who are given authoritative powers by the state machinery misuse their position to inflict harm on the African American people of the society. Racism is illegal in America in the present times, but in reality, one can find such shocking incidents that work as telltale signs of the innate racism that still exists in the society of the nation. This is quite alarming as the law enforcers have shown time and again how they are affected by racist worldview. The incidents that have been mentioned in the course of the paper speak for the fact that the situations could have been handled in a better way by a trained police officer. However, the level of atrocity and inhumanity meted out to the black people in every such incident proved that the actions of the white officers were guided by their feeling of racism- something that haunts the society even today.
References
Akkoc, Raziye. (2015). A timeline of police attacks in the USA. In The Telegraph.
Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11446472/A-timeline-of-police-attacks-in-the-USA.html
Chang, Lulu. (2014). Do Police Shoot Black Men More Often? Statistics Say Yes,
Absolutely. In Bustle. Retrieved from http://www.bustle.com/articles/36096-do-police-shoot-black-men-more-often-statistics-say-yes-absolutely
