Assignment 2 – Breathing through Writing

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Expectations for Assignment 2:- Emailed to the professor

Artist’s Statement

I wrote this paper for obviously my professor, but also for the people who oppose the claim of police brutality in states. I focused on connecting the police training and racism and what is their combined result. I want them to learn the basic idea of the play “Intersections” and what were the reasons behind the death of Janelle, considering Janelle an unarmed African American on the streets of United Sates. I think my audience would definitely be able to get these things from my paper, since I have provided a thorough and detailed analysis on the matter. On the topic of police brutality, most people only consider the fact of “Racism” but I also included the aspect of police training and their combined result. While writing this paper, I learned that there should not be any contradiction in your paper. I mean if you are intentionally trying to do that to send a certain message than it’s fine but it should not be about your thesis. For the things that I would like to learn, is to hear the other side of the story. I mean what is police officers’ reasons to justify their use of deadly force. I did get a lot of help from my peer reviews and professor’s comment on my rough draft. She definitely guided me in correct direction. I think doing research about something can give you a whole new perspective of it. Like the one you never thought about before. If I had another week to work on this paper than I would definitely expand my paragraph on the racism factor behind Janelle’s’ death. The last thing I want to tell my audience is that I have put a great effort in writing this paper and tried to connect these two things, but I’m not a perfect writer so it can be kinda hard to fully understand the relation between them. So just bear with me and try to understand my perspective and you can always ask me what I meant by this or that.

Basic Equation of Police Brutality

The play written by students of LaGuardia Community college, “Intersections” is a very thoughtful and fascinating production. It gives us insights of financially unstable households, their mindset, their way of dealing with problems and how they behave in certain situations. There is a plain theme behind the play that says “Every action that you take today, lays the groundwork for your future choices”. You can also conclude the idea that your actions as a professional, have huge impact on other’s lives. just like by the end of the play, Alex who was a newly became police officer, shot an unarmed girl to death because he thought that a person of color is more likely to be a threat than a white person and the best way to deal with it is to simply shoot them to death.

It was not just the typical biased behavior of a police officer, Alex was scared for his life. As the event unfolded in the play, “ALEX: Hands up now, Hands up (hands go for gun) Janelle: (hands up shakily) My hands are up They are up ALEX: I need to see your ID. (She goes for her pockets) DO NOT REACH INTO YOUR POCKETS I–“.

The above conversation clearly shows how confused and scared Alex was. He instantly considered her a threat to him. The fact that he went after Janelle not Mike who was a white person, shows that he was not so different from his colleagues who think every African American person is a criminal and use their inner biases to prove their claim. Not a single day goes by when we don’t hear a news about a cop killing an unarmed African American person just because they resisted their “most of the times” unlawful arrest. The roots of racism towards African American people in American police departments are part of the same story that started in 1619 when the first slaves were brought to the North America. It is the same mindset that believes people of color are more likely to commit crimes than white people, and this gets worse when people on public service positions follow the same ideology, like police officers. They let their minds make a decision based on their personal prejudice which results in serious damage of the society. As research also shows the same effect, “Unarmed black individuals are estimated to be more than 22 times as likely to be shot by police than unarmed white individuals. Such patterns in police violence have been immune to public scrutiny until now” (Ross np).

The second aspect of the shooting on the play was the use of deadly force which was basically a result of the training Alex was given as a police officer. The basic theme of the training was the idea that everyone on the street is a potential danger to these policemen. Which is unfortunately also happen to be the general practice of police training in the United States. This idea plays a major role in avoidable deaths of innocent people by police officers. It is a clear understanding that when you think the person next to you is a threat. Then it does not matter whatever they try to do or however they try to behave, your mind finds a way to make them look like a violent criminal and an immediate threat. These are the same misunderstandings that are the reason behind almost all of the police killings which turned out to be caused by a mistake, the suspect was reaching for his wallet to show his id or he was just angry on officer’s behavior and showed some resistance. Either way, the cost of this action was his life because apparently there is a common phrase among cops that says, “Better to be judged by 12, than carried by six” (Stoughton np). I have taken this extract from an article written by Seth Stoughton, Seth has served as a police officer in a large municipal police department and now he is a scholar who researches policing, so he has a valid credibility. Seth also mentions that, “Officers are trained to shoot before a threat is fully realized” (Stoughton np). They are taught that the risks of mistake are less than the risks of hesitation which actually means that officers’ lives are more important than normal people. In addition, police officers in United States are more likely to take out their firearm and use it instead of going for other options, such as pepper spray and baton. This is considered to be the last option in these situations. According to an article written by Catherine Taibi, “In the United States this year alone, there have been more than 400 fatalities as a result of police gunshots. In Germany, there have been four” (Taibi np). Catherine quotes Christian Science Monitor writer Sara Miller Llana to explain the reason behind it. In Germany, police officers are trained in a very detailed and rigorous way. They are taught that even in very extreme situations, they should use other options to control the situation rather than directly going for firearm.

These are the main reasons behind the avoidable deaths of innocent people by police officers in the United States. It should be common understanding that our law enforcement personals need to be trained in a manner where they realize the responsibilities and restrictions of their job, also the importance of normal citizens’ lives. Police officers should take extra cautions for their safety but they should not forget their main purpose, which is the safety of normal citizens.