African-American men and women, young and old, have fallen victims to police brutality. Those killings spark a mass protest movement aiming at awakening the awareness of concerned authorities on the issue.
It is reported that in the United States police have killed 1,204 people in 2015, 161 of them were unarmed. Also, police in this country kill citizens at over 70 times the rate of First-World Nations. Most cases of those killings end up in no prosecution or in the acquittal of police officers. Thus far, no legislative measure has been taken against this wave of deliberate massacre across the country.
The last few years have been deadly for African-American and for others to some degree. “The shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, as well as other cases involving the use of lethal force by police, including Kajieme Powell in St. Louis, Ezell Ford in Los Angeles and Eric Garner in New York City, highlights the need to reform state legislation to reflect international standards on police use of lethal force," Amnesty International USA.
Our public servants who patrol the streets to keep citizens safe are instead wreaking havoc. It's relatively reminiscent to the situation in the Middle East. Cops in America stigmatize and kill unarmed black school boys and others without any provocation. Their peculiar perception of black people is a silly generalization that they are all bad, thereby turning them into endangered species.
Covered under the veil of the justice system and the police task force, cops commit odious crimes knowing that they'll eventually get away with murders. This issue goes deep into the fundamental principle of the country, which is the respect of the civil rights of every citizen; of the constitution, which is the individual rights, the unalienable rights protected in the Bill of Rights; and of the police motto, which is to protect and to serve.
The statistics show that:
- Police killed at least 102 unarmed black people in 2015, more than any other race.
- Nearly one in three black people killed by police in 2015 were identified as unarmed, though the actual number is likely higher due to under-reporting.
- Thirty-seven percent of unarmed people killed by police were black in 2015 despite black people being only 13 percent of the U.S. population.
- Unarmed black people were killed at five times the rate of unarmed whites in 2015.
- Only nine of the 102 cases resulted in officer(s) being charged with a crime.
- But, just 25 police officers have died from firearms-related violence in the same period.
The United States should put into action the creation of a National Crime and Justice Task Force to rein in the slaughter. The entire European Union has less reported police crimes than say, for instance, the state of Florida or New York. For example, English cops are not armed; their rate of crimes and violence is low, and the statistics of police brutality is at such a minimal point that it's not even worth mentioning it. Are the English cops better trained, more professional and more civilized than those in the United States of America? No one can answer this question better than U.S. police officers themselves.
If Congress had passed laws that punish police officers for their crimes, they would think twice before going on a killing rampage. If black cops were killing white people as deliberately as white cops do black young men and women, nine out 10 of them would either have gotten perpetual detention or death penalty.
In contrast, there are some good cops. Homage and honor to them! Officers, keep up the good work. Being a police officer entails some sacrifice and a high level of risk. Everyone knows that, but there is no excuse for those cops to keep their fingers on the trigger and ready to deliberately kill and kill African Americans. That's crazy.
Let's put it this way. Black people have been the victims of slavery, lynching and prejudice. Every unjustified death of a black man in the hands of police officers brings back this poignant memory. After about 250 years of independence and about 150 years of emancipation, blacks are still being treated like objects or second-class citizens in America.
As such, they fall victims to the organized terror by those who swear and pledge to protect and to serve them. Former President Mandela instituted Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. When will there be one or something alike in the United States? This police's lawlessness must stop; but when? And how?
The time to end this police mayhem is now. Too much bloodshed! The lives of too many mothers have been shattered because of the untimely deaths of their loved ones. Eric Garner is still crying out: “I can't breathe! I can't breathe! The 12-year old, Tamir Rice of Ohio, whom police shot to death while he was playing with a toy gun, is asking for justice from his grave. To the dismay of family members and others, the grand jury did not prosecute the police officer who killed him. What a travesty of justice!
“When you have police officers who abuse citizens, they erode public confidence in law enforcement. That makes the job of good police officers unsafe." - Mary Frances Berry.
