"Police brutality remains one of the biggest issues in today's society."
-kamaria williams, 9th grade
Police brutality remains one of the biggest in today's society. People of color are being shot, beaten, and killed all because of the color of their skin. Contemporary technology today allows victims to gather solid evidence of these events but officers are still not being held accountable. Instead, we get garbage excuses like "I thought they had a gun" and, "I wasn't sure" and they're free. All the while, it seems like the government refuses to lift a finger in condoning this continued violence.
Does the US government plan to help? Are they really trying?
Congress is currently coming up with a bill to stop police brutality. The issue here however is that both House Republicans and Democrats can't agree on what should be done. Meanwhile, nothing is being done and people of color are still in danger.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the House Democrats bill would make it so use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants would be banned, establish national standards for police departments, require training for racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling, limit which types types of military equipment is sent to officers, requires officers to wear body cameras, have cameras on the dashboard of police vehicles, and have local departments to do the same with federal funding. Along with all this, the bill also makes lynching a federal crime, requires reports on use of force to a federal database, and make it easier to prosecute officers who do wrong. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Karen Bass, Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
According to the same source, the House Republicans bill would require more disclosure on police use of force along with no-knock warrants, mandate the collection of data on how and when force is being used, prohibit federal grant money to police departments unless there is a no-chokehold policy in place, except when "deadly force is authorized". Along with this, the policy includes emergency grant programs to increase the use of body cameras on officers, make lynching a federal hate crime, and create a commission to study the social conditions and discrimination that black males face. This bill was introduced by Sen. Tim Scott.
It's not exactly known when an agreement will be reached. This is the only known action the federal government is currently taking. Now, let's see what communities are doing.
In the Bay Area, people have come together to protest the injustice. This has been done in various ways such as protests, marches, sharing art and social media information promoting Black Lives Matter and related causes.
One main action that has caught media attention was schools breaking ties with police stations. One example of this is that after the death of George Floyd, OUSD broke ties with the police. This has been done in a variety of Bay Area cities and until officers can get their act together it will probably continue to be this way.
According to NBC Bay Area, Tiffany Loftin, director of the NAACP,stated in an an interview how white Americans teenage girls have shared videos online trying to combat their parents racist beliefs. While it might not seem like much, this is a lot because this could be a big step towards change.
According to The New Yorker, Minnesota, home to George Floyd, has also taken action towards retaliating police brutality. Over the years, Minnesota has been known to have one the harshest histories of police brutality. To complicate things, Minnesota is known for having the least diverse community. So much so statistics report that 80% of the population is White-American. So how has Minneapolis dealt with police brutality?
According to The New Yorker, Mark Dayton was known to be one of the first governors in the state to actually acknowledge police brutality was an issue. After that fateful statement much more has been done. For instance, more diversity has been placed in government and communities, including more African American positions. Along with this,the officers who killed George Floyd have actually been charged for murder. Derek Chuvin, the officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, had his charge raised to second-degree murder. The other participating officers Thao, Kueng, and Lane were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. These charges were issued by Keith Ellison, an African-American attorney.
There are many other places and people fighting for change. We must realize that these things take time and maturity. Until people can shake their dumb ideals that the color of one's skin makes them better than someone else than we can't grow. If we stand united and combat oppression then officers will be charged for things like this. White supremacy will become a thing of the past. So work for change.
Sources:
1. NBC News Bay Area
2. The Los Angeles Times
3. The New Yorker
Does the US government plan to help? Are they really trying?
Congress is currently coming up with a bill to stop police brutality. The issue here however is that both House Republicans and Democrats can't agree on what should be done. Meanwhile, nothing is being done and people of color are still in danger.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the House Democrats bill would make it so use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants would be banned, establish national standards for police departments, require training for racial, religious, and discriminatory profiling, limit which types types of military equipment is sent to officers, requires officers to wear body cameras, have cameras on the dashboard of police vehicles, and have local departments to do the same with federal funding. Along with all this, the bill also makes lynching a federal crime, requires reports on use of force to a federal database, and make it easier to prosecute officers who do wrong. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Karen Bass, Chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.
According to the same source, the House Republicans bill would require more disclosure on police use of force along with no-knock warrants, mandate the collection of data on how and when force is being used, prohibit federal grant money to police departments unless there is a no-chokehold policy in place, except when "deadly force is authorized". Along with this, the policy includes emergency grant programs to increase the use of body cameras on officers, make lynching a federal hate crime, and create a commission to study the social conditions and discrimination that black males face. This bill was introduced by Sen. Tim Scott.
It's not exactly known when an agreement will be reached. This is the only known action the federal government is currently taking. Now, let's see what communities are doing.
In the Bay Area, people have come together to protest the injustice. This has been done in various ways such as protests, marches, sharing art and social media information promoting Black Lives Matter and related causes.
One main action that has caught media attention was schools breaking ties with police stations. One example of this is that after the death of George Floyd, OUSD broke ties with the police. This has been done in a variety of Bay Area cities and until officers can get their act together it will probably continue to be this way.
According to NBC Bay Area, Tiffany Loftin, director of the NAACP,stated in an an interview how white Americans teenage girls have shared videos online trying to combat their parents racist beliefs. While it might not seem like much, this is a lot because this could be a big step towards change.
According to The New Yorker, Minnesota, home to George Floyd, has also taken action towards retaliating police brutality. Over the years, Minnesota has been known to have one the harshest histories of police brutality. To complicate things, Minnesota is known for having the least diverse community. So much so statistics report that 80% of the population is White-American. So how has Minneapolis dealt with police brutality?
According to The New Yorker, Mark Dayton was known to be one of the first governors in the state to actually acknowledge police brutality was an issue. After that fateful statement much more has been done. For instance, more diversity has been placed in government and communities, including more African American positions. Along with this,the officers who killed George Floyd have actually been charged for murder. Derek Chuvin, the officer who knelt on George Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, had his charge raised to second-degree murder. The other participating officers Thao, Kueng, and Lane were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder. These charges were issued by Keith Ellison, an African-American attorney.
There are many other places and people fighting for change. We must realize that these things take time and maturity. Until people can shake their dumb ideals that the color of one's skin makes them better than someone else than we can't grow. If we stand united and combat oppression then officers will be charged for things like this. White supremacy will become a thing of the past. So work for change.
Sources:
1. NBC News Bay Area
2. The Los Angeles Times
3. The New Yorker
