If you haven’t heard there was a tragic incident that happened in South Carolina. It may or may not surprise you because how common it has become. I like to think of myself of a person that has not bias when it comes to race and right and wrong. I like to think that i am able to see things from both perspectives and give my on biased opinion on the matter.
On this specific topic I don’t know if it was a race related murder or simply a terrible person act. Either way I have to say that it is taking a terrible but much needed turn on the internet with white cops and black murders that is being publicized more and more everyday.
I had thought I had fully crossed over to in the middle, which is we don’t know enough about being a cop to pass your judgement and how fast they need to react when they feel that they’re or someone else life is in jeopardy. In my sociology class our teacher made us watch a video of an activist of police brutality against black people was put in a simulation that showed how fast police have to react when in a situation. So, after watching that one I was really on the fence on whether to believe or not this may be the case. While, I must admit that sometimes in these situations that is not the case. Some of the police brutality shown by police is not because they feel like they have to react fast because they are in danger.
What happened in South Carolina recently is a PERFECT example of why that is not always the case. If you haven’t watched this video it is absolutely horrific to watch and sad. I literally cried and not only because he was clearly a person of color but because this was an act of pure hate and so so wrong.
In my opinion there should be some sort of law in place where you are not allowed to shoot some one in the back. Why ? Because how is someone possibly a threat if there back is turned to you. How and why is it right to shoot someone when they do not oppose a threat to you. Not to mention the Cop responsible for this shot this unarmed man 8 times in his back. This saddens me so much.
This incident was caught on tape in broad day light. Not long after the cop shoot the man 8 times he then placed some sort of object by the man that is said to have been a taser.
Now everyone is digging up information on this guys past criminal history. Speaking on things like he has backed up child support and such. At the end of the day that is so irrelevant and frankly stupid ! Even if this guy did have a felony at the time of the incident that didn’t matter. The cop murdered this unarmed guy with not so much as a second thought. This in no way should ever even be considered justified.
This sort of thing has been a problem here for minorities, members of subcultures, the poor, those who are opposed to a system that entrenches two parties and denies others the same media access, etc. It’s only come to light recently to those who don’t belong to those groups, due to the overwhelming presence of private cameras. Some of have known all along though, and many learned it the hard way. Perhaps it would be less surprising had they known the verifiable historical fact that the original police forces in this nation that weren’t private security… were cobbled together out of actual CRIMINAL gang members, that were deemed most likely to obey the social elites if they sanctioned their new gang.
I think there is another lesson from this video besides the fact it shows the importance of filming the police whenever there is a confrontation between officer and citizen in this nation. If you get a video of the police killing someone.. hang on to it a week or two before sending it to the media. This means the police will have cemented their false story to the point that they can’t adapt it to correspond more with the video. I feel strongly, as many do.. that THIS is why the case is not being swept under the rug.
If you want to watch the video and read the article you can find it here :
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/07/officer-michael-slager-shoots-man-in-back-video_n_7021134.html
Carissa says
I actually hadn’t heard the details of this story, though now it sounds familiar and I think I scrolled past posts about it on Facebook. If all you say is true, and I have no reason to believe it isn’t :), I don’t think I want to watch the video to see what everyone is talking about! Brutality of any sort is disturbing, and I get extremely troubled by watching it unfold in video. Even in movies. Anyway, I think your last comments about why it isn’t being thrown under the rug are interesting. I hadn’t thought about how the timing of a video’s release would affect the authorities’ actions to cover it up and the public’s response to it. The first time I read it I think I understood you wrong; I thought you were saying its better to release the video asap so that the police can’t create a story to explain it. But now I think I understand that you’re saying the opposite, which is an idea I didn’t expect: to hold on to the video until they have come up with their story and then release it to prove them wrong. I think this is an excellent example of the power of kairos and timing in impelling people to act and respond to anything really, but in this case it is to a social injustice. I do understand where Maggie is coming from and definitely agree that stories like this can’t be used to make generalizations about policemen, but it can be another drop in the bucket of stories that show a real problem in our country. I too hope we can all grow up to be adults who question these imbedded injustices in our culture and cause real, deep, good change.
Maggie O'brien says
As someone who does come from a family that is supportive of police, issues of police brutality are quite upsetting. My uncle served for years as New York City Police Officer and then became part of the NYFD, until he was injured on the job and forced to retire early. That being said, many of our family friends are people that we know through the fire and police departments, and while I’ve never talked about their work with them, I like to believe that they are as good of police officers as they are people. My family has always supported the police, both when they lived in the city and when we moved to suburbia, New Jersey. So while I understand that police brutality is a major problem, and needs to be stopped, I also find that I can get quite defensive of the police system. There are bad people who sometimes become cops, but that doesn’t mean that every cop is a bad one. There are some great cops, who devote and sacrifice their lives so that they can protect the people of this country and uphold the law. And when all of police are lumped together as corrupt, it makes me quite upset. I think of all the cops I do know, who go out every day fully knowing that they may not come back, and it’s people like that who motivate me to continue to have faith in the criminal justice system. As a criminology major, I want to be involved in the criminal justice system. I don’t know how exactly I want to be involved, but hopefully I’ll be able to work to prevent police brutality by finding more effective ways to enforce the laws. Police brutality needs to end, police shouldn’t get a free pass on something that a civilian would be sent to prison for. I think that with recent events, there will be more regulation around it. Hopefully we can be a part of that change, and hopefully it will benefit our country in an infinite amount of ways.