Will the police force ever be held accountable for their actions? This is a question that society, specifically African Americans have had for some time now. In “They Can’t Kill Us All” by Wesley Lowery this same question is asked. Lowery uses his leverage as a reporter to give insight into the sad reality of police violence. In Chapter 3, “North Charleston: Caught on Camera” Lowery explores the starling statistics of unreported killings and the brutal slaying of the late Walter Scott.
As a reporter, Lowery has been involved in the recent shootings of 2014. “After Mike Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, several reporters and researchers at the Post decided to spend a year tracking every on-duty police shooting in the country” (Lowery 110). I believe the alarming frequency is what lead Lowery and his colleagues to track on-duty police shootings. How many people are killed by police officers and how many of them are unarmed black men? This very question is one that was posed to Lowery along with other reporters. The answer to that crucial question was one that made me both angry and heartbroken. No one
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Wesley Lowery covered one of the biggest stories of his career because of who he knew. Lowery received word regarding the slaying of Walter Scott from his public relations colleague, Ryan Julison. Mr. Scott was shot down while running away be a white police officer, Michael Slager. Officer attempted to use a stun gun and the gun malfunctioned. This incident lead to the individuals being involved in a physical altercation. Mr. Scott somehow freed himself and turned away and ran. Officer Slager decided it would be best to draw his weapon firing multiple shots into Mr. Scott. Although Mr. Scott shouldn’t have attempted to flee the scene, he didn’t deserve to shot down like an animal. I assume that Officer Slager knew he was wrong because he then proceeded to place the stun gun next to the slain Walter
This is where the story becomes unclear. Wilson states that while in pursuit Michael turned around and began to charge Wilson and that's when Darren shot Michael six times till he fell to the ground. Johnson claims that Brown had not charged the officer. No shots had hit his back meaning at some points while running Brown turned to face Officer Wilson. He was shot in the head, arm, and chest.
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He originally cried self-defense. This was a part of his continued effort to obstruct justice. In fact, At the time that Slager discharged his weapon, Scott was running away when he was shot. A citizen, Santana, a witness, was walking to work when he noticed the Slager chasing Scott down the street. Santana filmed portions of the incident on his cellular phone.
Therefore Mehserle intentionally grabbed his gun, instead of his taser to make sure he would live. In life a human's reaction to a life-or-death scenario, their reaction is to survive(Duante Write Shooting…). Survive, as in this case, purposely grabbing your gun since it would give you better protection than your taser would. Mehserle knew that his gun would keep him safe, and by using it the thing frightening him would no longer be a
When Felix shot them, it was at random. Both officers were taken to the hospital and died there. Next the SWAT team called in and flushed John Felix out of his house with
J.D. Tippit moved over to Oswald who was standing on the curb. Before the officer could do anything Oswald pulled out the handgun and shot Officer Tipplet several times in the chest. Lee Harvey Oswald panicked and ran down the street emptying his pistol of all its ammunition. He moved towards a gas station and west towards Jefferson Avenue. Many people saw Oswald shoot the
At least 303 lives of African Americans were lost due to police shootings in 2016. Why is this number so high and why is it growing? Many people believe the brutality of police and authorities has grown stronger in the past several years towards those of color, and that it is becoming incorrigible. Back in 2012, the life of Trayvon Martin was lost suddenly due to a watch captain of the neighborhood, George Zimmerman. Zimmerman had claimed to see a “suspicious person” and was directed to stay in his SUV, however those orders were not followed.
The Michael Slager trial was when Slager, a white male officer, shot Walter Scott, a black male, while Scott was running away during a traffic stop. As a repercussion of the trial, Slager has been fired from the North Charleston Police Department after shooting Scott. There is
After the shooting subsided, Mr. Johnson, wielding an assault rifle and a handgun, held the police off for hours in a parking garage, claiming — apparently falsely — to have planted explosives in the area, and threatening to kill more officers. In the end, the police killed him Friday morning with an explosive delivered by a remote-controlled robot, the Dallas police chief, David O. Brown,
Throughout history, the failure of the government to protect black people from ruthless enforcement officers, forced blacks to act in their own interests. During the 1930s, the National Negro Congress organized massive rallies against police brutality, the Black Panther was created to stem the tide of police abuse, and in the 1970s the Congress of African Peoples sponsored the “Stop Killer Cops” Campaigns (Fitzgerald, 2007). The list goes on and on of groups and campaigns that African Americans formed to protect themselves from white supremacy and most importantly police brutality. Although some observers claim that racial profiling doesn’t exist, there are an abundance of stories and statistics that document the
The death toll among these police brutality victims is extremely alarming. Every year police in the United States kill hundreds of people—461 in 2013, according to incomplete FBI statistics based on self-reporting from local law enforcement agencies, and more than 1,000 in 2014 according to Champion, which combs through media reports. The fatal shooting in August of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer in an interaction that began over jaywalking propelled the issue of police violence and excessive force into the national news cycle. The police response to subsequent protests similarly propelled the issue of militarized police into the national news cycle (Champion,
Racial Profiling of Youth and the Failure of Justice For those who haven’t experienced racial profiling, or know someone that has been a victim of it, the issue may seem nothing more than annoying noise in their ears. However, the reality is that racial profiling has consequences, which results in emotional, physiological, and physical damage. The ones that are the most at risk are the youth of color. Racial profiling is harmful because it creates mistrust in law enforcement, hostile environment in the educational system, and social tension in communities.
One historic example of racial bias in the police force is Dr.King 's march from Selma. In Marion, Alabama on February 18, a group of peaceful demonstrators were attacked by white segregationists. During this attack one of the younger demonstrators, Jimmie Lee Jackson, was killed by a state trooper. In response, Dr Martin Luther King led a 54 mile march early in 1965 in Montgomery, Alabama from Selma that lasted five days to the capital where many oppressed black citizens had been campaigning for voting rights including, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). On Sunday, March 7, 1965 protesters got ready to go to Montgomery but Alabama state police officers with weapons
Police brutality remains a common yet controversial topic around the world. Police brutality is “the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians” (thelawdictionary.org). It’s a topic that segregates communities and makes each other their enemy. Specifically, a white officer has been the enemy of the black community. Unfortunately, the tension between police and blacks grew over the past few decades.
Cops around the United States have been accused of racially profiling black people. This topic has been brought up by everyone around the U.S. and is very controversial. Studies have shown that the majority of deaths by police officers have been people of opposite color in America. Police brutality in America is a growing epidemic that has shown no signs of slowing down. Innocent men, women, and even children have been killed by police officers for no reason.