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Cydnee Parrish
English 101
13 October 2020
Police Brutality
As of early October, in the year 2020, there have been 826 reports of police killings.
Police everywhere in the USA use deadly force almost daily, some necessary and some not. As
US citizens, recognizing this and taking it in as pleased. Police brutality in this day in age has
With the police brutality going on in the world as of now, defunding the police has been a
major thought. With the police having the power to take someone’s life and it sometimes being
unjust, that is not something people can sit and just be okay with especially in racial
communities. “Why would we rely on an institution that has consistently proven that it is rife
with systemic anti-Blackness and other forms of discrimination that result in certain communities
being deemed unworthy of support?” (Alternatives To Police Services). Throughout many times,
police have proven that they can use deadly force when they please with no consequences.
Defunding the police can create many positive and negative alternatives to society. Second, it has
been stated that defunding the police can do good for city streets making them a safer place with
the expansion of funds (Defunding the Police).This is proven to be a positive result of defunding
the police. It can make lives better and safer for the people, there are so many extracurricular
activities that can be better using the extra funds. Many innocent people have been victims of
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police brutality and most end in death. In the second week of June, three men of color were
killed or injured by police officers. Their names were trending on twitter to bring awareness to
their deaths (O'Kane). Men and Women have been killed by officers of the law for reasons that
no one can understand because there was no logical meaning behind them. Citizens should not
have to mourn their loved ones because police are murdering people for no reason.
There has been a wide controversy on the topic of protests and riots, some people don’t
understand the difference and believe it’s all bad, which it is not. Additionally , looking into the
Black Lives Matter movement, people see any type of protest as rebellion and that’s not how it
should be. There have been plenty peaceful protesters who have been treated cruelly for no
reason other than accessing their right to protest. “The vast majority of the Black Lives Matter
protests- more that 93%- have been peaceful…” (Mansoor). People see that citizens are taking
their own power to protest against what they believe is wrong and choose to see that as a
negative thing. Whether it is racial or not these people want to go out and peacefully stand up for
what they believe in, but others want to call them thugs for that. Moreover, the Black Lives
Matter movement is about the innocent lives that have been taken by officers of the law and have
had no justice brought to their names. This movement had begun in the year 2012, some people
choose to believe that this movement is encouraging crime and neglecting all lives (What does
Black Lives Matter hope to accomplish?). This movement is quite the opposite. During the years
of this protest it has never been about subjecting out one race to be more important than others. It
is about all races being equal and there has been plenty of evidence to prove that African
American lives are still not as equal as they should be. As the United States of American it
should be a citizen's job to create an equal environment for everyone. This should not have to be
an argument. Lastly, there have been many communities such as the NBA, WNBA, and MLB
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teams who stand up and act with this movement as well. A good example of this is when the
Milwaukee Bucks spoke out about beginning a strike through their basketball team (Sanchez).
These people who are highly known in many communities are taking the power that they can and
putting it to good use to bring awareness to these causes. There have been many ways that this
With everything going on with the law enforcement today it is hard to understand who
can be trusted to save citizens and who is going to put people in more danger. People of color go
through there life scared of the consequences they might have to face because one day when they
are in trouble and needy help, they don’t know whether or not calling the cops will benefit them
or make it worse. “Nearly half of black Americans have very little or no confidence that police
officers in their community treat people with different skin colors the same, according to the
heartbreaking. African Americans genuinely live in fear of the people who are supposed to
protect citizens the most. They shouldn’t have to go through that just because of the color of their
skin. Moving along, there’s also the simple case of being pulled over. “Stanford researched
found that Black and Latino drivers were stopped more than white drivers, based on less
evidence of wrongdoing” (Ortiz). Black drivers don’t even feel safe leaving work and heading
home. Every time they see those blue and red lights with the loud blaring sirens, fear takes over
and so does the question of making it home safe. Due to, living in fear of the police, this
obviously has a lot of negatives to it. When put into a position of fear in this case involving the
police, it may end up hurting personal lives more and that isn’t good for anyone. (Ortiz). If the
police can’t even give a sense of protection when that is their job who else is there to turn to?
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There are plenty of ways all of this can be resolved. It’s just a matter of will US citizens take
those steps?
Police brutality shouldn’t have to be a concern for US citizens, police are supposed to
protect and enforce the law, and lately they have not proven to be living up to those
requirements. US citizens shouldn’t have to be scrounging for funds to create better communities
and safe ones as well. If police can’t make it safer and are only making situations worse,
defunding them has a lot more benefits. People should be able to protest what they need in
society without hazing from police. No one should ever have to fear the people who are
supposed to protect lives and keep people as safe as possible. Accordingly, this topic is so
important to take an interest in because this has to deal with more than just the people affected.
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Works Cited
Mansoor, Sanya. “93% Of Black Lives Matter Protests Have Been Peaceful: Report.”
Time, Time, 5 Sept. 2020, time.com/5886348/report-peaceful-protests/.
O'Kane, Caitlin. “‘Say Their Names’: The List of People Injured or Killed in Officer-
Involved Incidents Is Still Growing.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 8 June 2020,
www.cbsnews.com/news/say-their-names-list-people-injured-killed-police-officer-
involved-incidents/.
Ortiz, Erik. “Inside 100 Million Police Traffic Stops: New Evidence of Racial Bias.”
NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 17 Mar. 2019,
www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/inside-100-million-police-traffic-stops-new-
evidence-racial-bias-n980556.
Sanchez, Chelsey. “Why NBA, WNBA, MLB Teams and Athletes Are Striking for Black
Lives.” Harper's BAZAAR, Harper's BAZAAR, 27 Aug. 2020,
www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a33821128/nba-wnba-strike-black-lives-
matter/.
Santhanam, Laura. “Two-Thirds of Black Americans Don't Trust the Police to Treat Them
Equally. Most White Americans Do.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 5 June
2020, www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/two-thirds-of-black-americans-dont-trust-the-
police-to-treat-them-equally-most-white-americans-do.
“What Does Black Lives Matter Hope to Accomplish?” ABC13 Houston, KTRK-TV, 12
July 2016, abc13.com/black-lives-matter-racism-police-shootings-civil-
rights/1423168/.