Essay Example on Americans Facing More Social Issues Than Ever Before

Introduction

In recent days, Americans have continued to face more social issues than ever before. People have gotten a platform, social media, which they have used to express their opinion and feeling towards various current events. Although the majority of Americans pay more attention to economic issues, many still concentrate on a social issue. Through observation, the activities of many people on social media and issues addressed through the platform clearly indicate that today Americans pay more attention to current issues. The advancement in technology through social networks has given thousands of people a platform to raise their concerns. One of the current issues addressed through various platforms is police brutality, which is most-likely accelerated by racism (Smith 3). Efforts have been made severally to address the issue, including activism. This paper will address the issue of racism with respect to race, as the main theme in the book All American Boys. The paper also explores the other three sources, and how they correlate to police brutality fuelled by racial discrimination.

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Race-Based Police Brutality

The book All American Boys revolves around two teens, one white and the other one black, who faces the consequences of racism resulting from violent acts. The story revolves around racial profiling and excessive use of force by the police, which leaves a young black American suffering from police brutality. The authors Jason are inspired by the recent acts of police brutality and systemic racism. The acts leave the society divided by racial hatred. The authors' lives are also changed after the acts of brutality as they begin to find their roles in society in making it a better place. The incidence sparks out demonstrations staged by people from different races, which lowers the tension created after what many believed was an act of racism.

A sixteen-year-old Rashad goes to a local store to buy a bag of chips when a white cop mistakes him for a shoplifter. Despite having stolen nothing, Rashad faces hard times with the cop as he even receives punches. He is beaten senseless into the pavement and is left with broken ribs and a serious problem of internal bleeding. He is later hospitalized, where he awaits charges, and hence will appear before the court. This set of actions clearly indicates violence by the police against a young black American. Rashad is forced to stay longer in hospital as Dr. Barnes insists that the patient requires close monitoring. The incidence represents one of the many cases of police violence, which leads to physical sufferings and sometimes death. Quinn, who was a varsity basketball player and Rashad's classmate, witnessed the action although from a distance. Despite being white, he later joins the demonstrations against oppression.

After a while, Paul Galluzo faces the accusation of police and racial brutality. This is after the Smartphone footage indicated that the police officer applied excess force. Having been raised by Paul, Quinn fails to believe that Paul is guilty as accused. He fails to understand how a man who has taken care of him since the death of his father can be guilty of brutality. The absence of Rashad in school raises a major division between the school's basketball team members, half of whom are Rashad's friends. The division spreads to the school level as people continue taking sides in favor of people close to them. The consequences of the single act finally get to the whole town, bringing in racial tension.

Impact of Race-Based Police Brutality

Almost all US police departments' codes of conduct provide that agents should only use lethal means when their lives or those of others are threatened. And, indeed, most police officers do not use their weapon, or they do so only in response to armed confrontations. However, every year there are dozens of cases which cause irreparable losses to the families and exorbitant costs to the town halls in the payment of civil compensation claims. Many police departments have guidelines that specifically restrict the use of lethal means in habitual situations, such as the pursuit of a disarmed suspect in a moving vehicle (Reitzel et al. 615). But to the agents who use them, too often they are exonerated from all responsibility if they declare that they feared for their lives, even if they have not used the basic protection procedures (for example, to deviate from the trajectory of a moving vehicle). Others have been given only a slight disciplinary sanction after discovering that they had violated the guidelines.

The elaboration of profiles based on generic classifications of race or ethnicity can present several disadvantages. The greatest challenge public safety consists of the tensions that can arouse in relations with minority communities, with the consequent prejudice to the efficiency of police methods based on the cooperation of the population and the corresponding resentment among affected communities. There are also doubts about the actual effectiveness of the use of generic profiles in the detection of criminal acts, that is, in the actual increase in the success rate of the operations of identification and registration (Reitzel et al. 615). When the preparation of profiles is carried out in a discriminatory and illegal manner, the police authorities are exposed to legal actions, either in the form of internal services inspections by their own services, of ordinary processes before the civil or criminal courts or procedures followed by the specialized agencies as a result of complaints of discrimination. All of it can be a drain on resources, harm the morality of the police and hinder their performance.

On the other hand, police authorities often argue that the development of profiles criminal offenses based on generic categories of racial or ethnic type equals simply to "good policing" or, in other words, that it is an effective police action. The socioeconomic characteristics and demographics, such as race or ethnicity, are commonly used in acting police as indicators of criminal patterns, considering that certain types of crimes are more common among members of certain minorities (Rogers 70). This reasoning allows sustaining that police strategy must be sufficiently flexible to be able to concentrate on a few concrete communities when it comes to certain crimes. It is conceivable that in some societies there are ethnic groups with distinctive criminal profiles, influenced by factors such as the social and economic situation. However, some indications point to the fact that the proportion of identification and registration operations do not necessarily correspond to the fees of delinquency that characterize different ethnic or racial groups.

Issues That Underlie Police Brutality

Cases of racism and discrimination are increasing at a high rate, despite the effort to fight them. This is evident as Berry reads out a list of black lives that have been lost through discriminative police killings. Security agencies including the police have been directly involved in the killings especially the African Americans believed to be racially motivated (Reitzel et al. 615). Although there are more and more police departments in the United States subject to some form of external civil control, there are still many who work without effective supervision. Internal police investigations on cases of shooting or other forms of use of force are secret for the most part and too often the police officers involved in controversial shooting cases or excessive use of force are free of all guilt after criminal or administrative investigations or receive only one symbolic sanction.

Recently, there has been a series of racial profiling that has led to the loss of dozens of lives. In 2071, a 32-year old Philado Castile was shot dead by a former acquitted police officer. This action led to massive demonstrations in the streets of Minnesota. The protesters were calling out for justice against extrajudicial killings committed by the police. According to an article The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S. (2017), African-Americans constitute just 13% of the total U.S population but make up to 24% of the people shot by the police (Smith 10). This is more than 2.5 times higher than white Americans.

International standards stipulate that force must be proportionate to the existing threat and that firearms should only be used in self-defense or to defend others in the face of an imminent threat of death or serious injury. In the book The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas narrates how a close black friend is short in front of her after a usual police stop (Rogers 70). In the United States, dozens of cases like those described above are produced every year. They cause a devastating loss to the families of the victims to generate lawsuits in which the municipalities have to pay large indemnities.

Recommendations

To solve the problem of racism and brutality, the relevant authorities should ensure effective access to justice for African Americans and other communities of color, taking into account the material, economic and legal obstacles and the systematic exclusion they face. At federal, state and local levels, there is need to train justice operators (including judges, prosecutors, public defenders, and other judicial personnel, as well as law enforcement officials) on the principles and norms of protection of the human rights, in particular in the areas of non-discrimination and access to justice.

States should promote the observance of clearly defined codes of conduct and ethical standards, in accordance with international standards, by all public officials, in particular, law enforcement officials and other justice operators, including prosecutors and judges. There is a need to review or revoke the laws of "Stand Your Ground" and take other effective measures to eliminate racial prejudice in legal proceedings. Governments should guarantee adequate and prompt reparation to all victims of police conduct and their families, in accordance with the principles established in the previous sections. Appropriate human and financial resources need to be dedicated to improving access to quality health care, housing, education and other rights for African Americans and other communities of color.

Conclusion

Finally, there is a need to eliminate all de facto and de jure mechanisms and obstacles in internal investigations, criminal procedures, civil procedures and federal investigations that maintain impunity for murders committed by the police.

Works Cited

Reitzel, John D., Stephen K. Rice, and Alex R. Piquero. "Lines and shadows: Perceptions of racial profiling and the Hispanic experience." Journal of Criminal Justice 32.6 (2004): 607-616.

Reynolds, Jason, and Brendan Kiely. All American Boys. Simon and Schuster, 2015.

Rogers, Shannon. "THE HATE U GIVE." Montessori Life 29.4 (2018): 70-70.

Smith, Phillip A. "Does Racism exist in the Hiring and Promotion of K-12 School Administrators?." Urban Education Research & Policy Annuals 4.1 (2016).