Police Brutality In 2017

By: Estrella Ornelas Trejo    Feb. 12, 2018

 

There clearly were many issues with crime and violence in 2017, but one act of violence that stands out to me is Police Brutality. Although police brutality has been happening for a very long time, police brutality really stood out in 2017. Police brutality stood out in 2017 because it happened all over the world. This was witnessed in many states and cities, but it mainly took place in Georgia, Oklahoma, Orlando, Long Beach, Stockton, Santa Ana, Fremont, and Reno. police brutality was also such a big deal because studies have shown that there were only 14 days out of the whole year that police didn't kill anyone is the U.S. Some of the killings made by police officers weren't related to violence or crime. People were so scared to walk outside their house because they feared being killed by a police officer. All this Police Brutality lead to many people taking many actions and one action that was made was the " Black Lives Matter " movement. The " Black Lives Matter" movement is a member-lead organization and their mission is to build local power, and to intervene in violence inflicted within black communities. This movement originally started in 2013 and was created by George Zimmerman. He created it after Tayvon Martin was shot dead. On the night of February 26, 2012, police officer George Zimmerman shot Tayvon Martin because of a physical altercation between them, and George thought it would be a good idea to shoot Tayvon, because it was a mode of " self defense". Even though this movement was started in 2013 many more people became familiar with this movement in 2017 due to all the killings and police brutality.

​

Many studies have shown that in

2017, black people were 3x more

likely to be killed by a police

officer than white people. In

2017, police killed 987 people,

and 23% of those people were

black. The U.S population only

has 13% of people who are black.

Many of the Police Brutality

killings had to do with racism.

Racism has played a huge part in

police brutality because in 2017,

35% of white policemen started

searching blacks and native Americans between the ages of 15-30. This is because they looked suspicious as they walked down the street, and if they didn't follow the police man's order, then things would escalate to unnecessary violence.

​

Police officers weren't the only ones who took racism serious in 2017. President Trump was also a person to blame for the police brutality in 2017. On July 28, 2017 Trump gave a speech in Long Island, New York. In the speech Trump spoke a lot about endorsing Police Brutality. In that speech Trump said, " When you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, and be rough.” After Trump took office in 2017, he was interviewed by Ann M. Simmons and in this interview, she asked Trump whether he believed race relations have worsened or improved ever since he took office in 2017. Trump said, " Race relations have improved or remained the same". In my opinion Trump only favors the race that he likes, therefore he doesn't care about what happens to others. This is why he's so supportive of police brutality. On the other hand, former president, Barack Obama, had a different point of view on Police Brutality and racism. Former President Obama said, " No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love.” Former president Obama only wanted peace to go around and he wanted everyone to feel equal. He didn't want discrimination to be prominent, but when President Trump entered office in 2017, everything went downhill. By everything, I mean that Trump is really the reason why so much racism and discrimination has been occurring. I know that its happened long before Trump even stepped foot in office, but I'm saying it's gotten worse ever since he became president.