Police Brutality:

How can we stop police Brutality?

Angela Walker
ENGL 1020
Ms. Kent
April 26, 20

Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Letter to the Editor

Invitation
Picture
Interview
Diary
Structured letter
stream-of-consciousness

Preface
In this assignment I want to research police brutality and why it occurs.
I want to know why policemen treat certain people wrongly knowing that

they are held at a higher standard than regular citizens of the United States
of America. I am going as far as not only telling true stories and facts about
police brutality, but also defining the underlying issues that are the basis of
the wrong doings towards suspects. I will be defining terms such as
prejudice, racism, and stereotype. I will be showing that police brutality does
not just happen from a white police officer abusing the opposite race, but
also the crime can be on the same race. Police brutality is not just white on
black crime, but it is a crime that happens to everyone. Police are humans
just as the rest of the world which means that they have their own thoughts
and judgements upon people, this does not make it right to use this during
the time that one is at work. Prejudices and racism leads to bad situations
that can easily be avoided. I feel as though police brutality is just as wrong
as any other crimes just as God has said it in the Bible about sins. God says
that all sins are equal and none of them outweigh each other. Crimes are
sins, they are wrong things that a person is not supposed to do.

April 23, 2016

Angela Walker
220 New Providence Way
Pike Road, Al 36064
Auburn University at Montgomery
7440 East Drive #107
Montgomery, Al 36117
Letter to the Editor
Dear Editor,
I am writing you to bring up the issue of police brutality. This is an issue that has been
going on for quite a long time and I want to bring it to your attention that this is an issue that
needs to be resolved as much as it can. I believe that police brutality is not just something that
police officers do for fun but I think that it is something that starts as a personal issue with people
who are different from them.
Police brutality does not happen to just the opposite races, it also happens to people who
are the same race as the police. We can stop police brutality by decreasing racism, social
profiling, stereotyping, and prejudices, and increasing the age that one can become a police
officer, have more maturity, and better training when becoming a police officer. If these things
changed, we would have a better system protecting the world and people would feel safer.
Racism is an issue that has been in occurrence since old times and needs to be decreased
significantly. Racism causes unnecessary hate amongst people and is a taught behavior. No
person is born racist that is something that the parents teach a child and raises them on. Racism is
a belief that members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, and

this is used to distinguish it as inferior or superior to other races. This definition itself is not
something that one should believe or live by because not one characteristic or ability belongs to
one specific racial group of people. An example of this is the police saying that the characteristic
of a criminal is only found in African Americans such as stealing or selling drugs but in reality,
anyone can steal and anyone can sell drug. A recent case of racism comes from the multimedia
search I found in the AUM database called Racialized State Failure and the Violent Death of
Michael Brown; this is a true story that recently happened where a young black man named
Michael Brown was over killed by a white police officer. The police officer shot this boy many
times even after he was dead and persisted to shoot his brains out after shooting him to death.
The police officer says that he felt threatened, but the boy had no weapons and also had
surrendered to the officer. Many other stories that were in the media a few years ago when this
happened said that the police officer stopped him because he had on saggy pants and a white tshirt and looked suspicious. Decreasing racism will really help the world change because all
people will be able to get along and not automatically dislike a person because this racial culture
is said to do certain things or look a certain way.
Another issue that should be decreased and resolved is social profiling. Social profiling is
using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. In
this case, this comes from the movie Straight Outta Compton, the police officers stopped the rap
group N.W.A (Niggas with Attitude), from working in the studio because of how they were
dressed and because of the fact that they were black. The officers told them that they did not
belong there and that they were not doing any work leading to them being arrested because they
were up to no good in that area. It took their manager who was a white man to get them from
being arrested. He told the officers that they could not arrest them for doing what they were

supposed to be doing and for being young black men. Their manager almost got arrested as well
but his words to the officers made them realize that they were wrong and they left them alone.
The racism and social profiling is something that I feel is not right and America as a
whole should try to improve on decreasing issues like this. Racism is what kills people. The
word racism is a powerful word because it is more than hate for a person or a group of persons.
Racism is what killed many African Americans in the 1900s. This word showed complete torture
and violence towards black Americans. African Americans were sold into slavery, beaten, burned
on white crosses as if they were a sacrifice, hosed, shot, and treated very nasty. Even children
were treated this way; little black girls as well as many other people in the church congregation
were killed in a bombing in a church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 (history.com) Is this
right? Is this fair treatment? Just because their skin color is not the same as theirs? Those little
girls were innocent girls and church congregation did not deserve that. The three girls that died
were only 11 years old and 14 years old.

Sincerely,
Angela Walker

YOU ARE
CORDIALLY
INVITED TO THE
POLICE BRUTALITY MARCH
This march is a march that is dedicated to all the people who were

victims of police brutality. This march will be held

May 27 from 1:00-

4:00pm. There will be food served and there will be guest performances
after the march. The march is a protest to the police officers that they will
discontinue the brutality that happens to people in this world.
Kids are welcome to come as there will be food and games for them as well.
This is a community event so come out and SUPPORT!
There will be a service and prayer for the ones we have lost due to police
brutality.
It is our duty to make sure that we bring awareness to the world that these
awful things still occur in this world.

This picture shows a police officer about to beat a suspect. While this is right
for a police officer to do when threatened or in danger, it is also wrong for this to
happen when they are not in danger of being harmed in any kind of way just as in
this picture. We see that there is something happening where the suspect is about to
be beaten for whatever reason. In this picture we see that this man or woman is not
threatening. Police brutality is violence just as any other crime or violent action
that occurs.
This picture to the left shows that police
brutality happens to everyone and not only
African Americans or even Hispanic Americans.
I got this picture off of google images and the
description was that this was a police brutality
protest and the policemen started beating the people because they were protesting. Everyone

knows that this is actually a very important issue that never is discussed much amongst people
because police brutality is a sensitive subject.

INTERVIEW
I have interviewed two girls from my highschool, one who is African
American and the other is White. These girls names are Carlisha Allen and
JoEllen Whitfield. I have asked them the same questions and recorded their
answers
1. How do you feel towards police officers?
a. JoEllen: I like police officers, they help protect us from crime.
(Whitfield).
b. Carlisha: Well, my dad is a police officer so I love them. All of them are
nice, but some do have a bit of an attitude. (Allen).
2. Have you ever been stopped by the police? If so, why and what happened?
a. JoEllen: No, I have not. (Whitfield).
b. Carlisha: Yes, I was speeding and I was about to get a ticket until I told
them that my daddy was a police and called him. (Allen).
3. Have you experienced bad treatment from a police officer or anyone in your
family? If so, what happened?
a. JoEllen: I have never experienced bad treatment from a police officer.
(Whitfield).
b. Carlisha: I have, and he was very rude to me and gave me a speeding
ticket for going 10 over the speed limit. (Allen).
4. How do you feel about police brutality?
a. JoEllen: I feel like police brutality is wrong, but it depends on the
situation. (Whitfield).
b. Carlisha: Police brutality is not right. Even if an officer is in trouble,
there should be other ways that are safer to protect themselves. They
shouldnt be able to just beat on people. (Allen).
5. Between all races, which race would you say are the most victims of police
brutality and why?

a. JoEllen: I feel like everyone gets harassed by the police, I think that black
people being harassed by police is just more publicized. (Whitfield).
b. Carlisha: I think all races except white and Asians are harassed by police
officers and Asians are not harassed because they feel that they cant
understand English. (Allen).
6. What punishments do you feel police officers should get for police brutality?
a. JoEllen: I think they should be investigated and put on trial just like any
other person when they have committed a crime. Just because they are a
police officer does not make it right. (Whitfield).
b. Carlisha: I think they should get the same punishments as normal
people. (Allen).

April 28, 2016

Dear Diary,
This year is 2016 and it has changed and also not
changed as much. There are good changes and then there
are things that have not yet changed that should be
changed.

The good changes are that schools, both public and

private as well colleges, are no longer segregated places.
Little black boys and girls can learn and play with the little
white boys and girls just as Doctor Martin Luther King
Junior spoke of in his speech. Working places are not
segregated nor are any public areas of entertainment.
Another good change is that people have equal
opportunity for the most part. There are good police
officers that do not treat people badly and who actually
abide by the laws and their rules that they have.
Some of the things that need to change is the rough
treatment amongst the opposite race or against people
because of who they are or how they look or even because
of the actions that they display such as maybe
homosexuality. Some policemen have even gone as far as
to arrest a homosexual couple for being inappropriate in
public just because they may not like homosexuality.
Another thing is the fact of social profiling just because a
person looks a certain way or acts a certain way does not
make them a bad person. It does not make them a suspect

of a crime. The law says innocent until proven guilty and

in todays time era it seems as if that does not exist or
apply any more. People are having to sit in jail for days,
weeks, months, or even up to almost a year waiting on
court because of a trial to see if they are innocent. What if
that person was innocent? Now that person has wasted
days, weeks, months, or even more because they were
sitting in jail waiting to be proven to be innocent. This is
not right or fair.
Even though we have had good changes and things
that are slowly changing, at least change has happened
because this would would be bad in my opinion. The world
back in the 1900s was mot a time that I would want to
live in. I have a wide range of friends of all ethnicities and
I cannot see myself being separated from another race.
My best friend is white, I am black.I cannot see anyone
else but her being my friend. I cannot imagine her or her
family hating me because of my skin or supporting the
abuse from police because of my skin color.

Police should be better trained and should be taught

that their personal emotions towards people should not
affect their job or cross the professional line. There is not
one excuse that a police should be able to do wrong by a
person due to the pigment of their skin. The fact that
color is so important to people is disheartening.

Until next time

Angela Walker

Montgomery Police department

2190 South Blvd
April 29, 2016
Dear Police Chief:
My name is Angela Walker and I am writing about two very important
reasons I believe police brutality happens. The two reasons that I feel police
brutality happens is stereotyping and prejudice. These two things are the main
issues that get people into the worse situations.
Stereotyping is an issue that should be decreased because it does not help
society as a whole to become better at communication and connection. I say this
because no one person does not know if they actually like another person or have
something in common with someone if there is a stereotype that is in the way of
them talking to someone and getting to know them. Stereotyping is fixed image or
idea of a particular type of person. Not only does society stereotype, but police do
it as well. Almost every police officer stereotypes just because they need someone
to be suspicious of when something has happened. For example, in Matthew
Hugheys "The Five Is of Five-O: Racial Ideologies, Institutions, Interests,
Identities, and Interactions of Police Violence, speaks on the stereotypes of

African and Latin Americans and how bad treatment towards these races are
supported or overlooked by White America. It speaks on the foods that these two
cultures eat, the clothing that is worn, and the things that they do and why it is all
right for these two races to be treated wrongly. No race should be treated
differently because of their culture. Police do this in a sense of if someone is
dressed in rough clothing or oversized clothing, they are most likely to cause
trouble. This is not a true observation because there are poor families that have to
shop in the places that they can and deal with too little or oversized clothing. Other
situations are when parents have many children and cannot afford clothing for each
child. This is where clothes are passed down to each child from the oldest one or
two. Another scenario is when churches or organizations give away clothes to the
poor and therefore they wear what they are given. Just because someones clothing
is not fitted correctly does not give anyone or even the police especially a reason to
bother them.
However, prejudice is one last thing that should be stopped. This is a form
of dislike of a person because of either their race or culture. Prejudice is a
preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or even actual experiences. This
is almost the same as stereotyping, but it is not a fixed image of a person. Police
often racially profile people in criminal acts Robert Staples, "White Power, Black
Crime, and Racial Politics" speaks on the prejudice and profiling that the police

often do as well as the crime that takes place after the discrimination and the
prejudice. If the police kept their feelings and personal racial issues to themselves
and not brought it to their job, things would be better off for the world as a whole.
The personal issues, racism, stereotypes, and social profiling are what causes these
violent altercations amongst citizens and the police officers.

Stream-of-consciousness
Police brutality is something that I do not agree with. It is wrong and for a person
to thing that it is all right for a police officer to beat on an innocent person or to even shoot them
is awful and breaks my heart. Police brutality on a white person, on a black person, or on a
Latino is all equally wrong. Police should be punished just as they are ordinary people because
they are. Just because they have the title of being a police officer does not make it right and it
does not mean that they get to be treated less harshly than a normal person who is not a police
officer. All the killings and beatings of young black Americans and young people in general is
rather ill. Now days, in this time, mainly Latino males and black males are the ones who are
being targeted by the police officers.
Police officers are quick to pull a trigger or beat someone because I feel as though that
they think and feel that they are superior to the civilians. I feel that they think that there will be
no consequences to the actions that they display. I think that they feel that if they are punished,
they will not be punished accordingly because they are police officers and are needed. I feel
like police officers should have a higher age limit that they can be policemen. I feel as though
they should have better training, not just in the physical areas, but also the mental areas. The
mental areas are the most important because that is where the underlying issues are. These issues
are racism, prejudice, stereotyping, and social profiling as I have spoken on in this paper before
in my letters.

Police officers are supposed to be our protection and the people that we call when we feel
unsafe. How are we supposed to call the police if we are not even safe with them? Who are we
supposed to call to help us in a time of need or feeling uncomfortable? If the police do not
display the role of protection, then we have no protection.
Works Cited
Allen, Carlisha. Personal Interview. April 27, 2016.
Amalcar Scott, Rion. "The Etiquette of Police Brutality." Crisis (15591573) (2015):
12. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.
Bennett, Drake. "Building a Better Police Department." Business Week 4407 (2014): 2425. Business Source Premier. Web. 27 Mar. 2016.
Hodson, Hal. "Why Are Police In The US So Violent?." New Scientist 224.2999 (2014):
1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.
Hughey, Matthew W. "The Five Is of Five-O: Racial Ideologies, Institutions, Interests, Identities,
and Interactions of Police Violence." Critical Sociology Sept. 2015: 857-71. Print.
Markman, Abe. "Why Are So Many Unarmed Black Americans Killed By The
Police?." Humanist 75.4 (2015): 8. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 28 Mar. 2016.
Miller, Lisa L. miller@polisci.rutgers.edu Theory & Event. 2014 Supplement, Vol. 17, p1-1. 1p.
PINTO, NICK. "When Cops Break Bad." Rolling Stone 1228 (2015): 42. MasterFILE Premier.
Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Rutkin, Aviva. "Policing the Police." New Scientist 226.3023 (2015): 20. MAS Ultra - School
Edition. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
Staples, Robert. "White Power, Black Crime, and Racial Politics." Black Scholar 41.4 (2011):
31. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2016.

Straight Outta Compton. Dir. Gary F. Grey. Perf. O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins, Jason
Mitchell. Screenplay, August 15, 2015. VUDU.
Whitfield, JoEllen. Personal Interview. April 28, 2016.