Introduction
One of the key reinforcers of the social faultiness in the American social diversity conflicts is police violence with racial overtones. As a result of the emotional and social fallout, such incidents have continued to create racial division and socioeconomic stratification in America, laying the groundwork for injustice and retaliation. In order to establish underlying complexities and gain a better understanding of the contrasting dynamics of racially motivated police brutality in the US, the study compares two media reporting on the incidents. Additionally, the research tries to pinpoint the ways socioeconomic stratification is hinted at in media coverage.
Police Brutality: Rodney G. King Incident
On 15 March 1991, the Los Angeles Times published a shocking report of police brutality where an unarmed man was beaten mercilessly by the Los Angeles Police on 3 March the same year. The event was caught on an amateur footage and broadcast to the world, depicting helpless Rodney G. King, a black man, lying helplessly on the ground and being inhumanely attacked by a group of white officers (Berger 2017). King, the victim, had defied orders to stop and run many red lights before stopping. He then refused to follow orders to leave his car shortly before complying but refusing to be handcuffed. What followed was a heartbreaking attack that stunned the entire nation at the heavy-handed, unprofessional and savage attack that enraged the whole nation as the already subdued 25-year-old was beastly beaten even as witnesses made clear no sign of forceful resistance was observed from the victims. The officers then went ahead to casually laugh and joke at the incident even on the scene of the attack. What would follow were many protests by black people to highlight the racial dimension of the attack as other civil rights groups joined the fray into one of the largest demonstrations against police brutality.
Police Brutality: Alfred Olango Incident
Another incident where police brutality and racial divisions can be identified was reported by The Guardian on Wednesday 28 September 2016. 30-year-old Alfred Olango, a black Ugandan refugee, was shot severally and killed on the spot by white police officers in El Cajon, suburban San Diego. At the time of the shooting, black men had been killed in police shootings in Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Tulsa, leading to heavily passionate riots by black communities across the country against what they viewed as openly targeted murders based on racial hate and disregard. The police version of events was that the victim, with a history of mental health, carried what had been mistaken for a gun and primed himself in a shooting position, prompting them to shoot as a precaution (McCarthy 2017). According to witnesses, the victim had raised his hands in the air in a surrender position and posed no imminent threat. Ironically, the police had just been called to the scene by his sister who thought he was acting strangely in light of his mental health challenges. The even happened on 28 September and was also recorded on a cell phone footage, showing one police officer unsuccessfully trying to subdue the black man before another opened fire and gunned down the youth.
Inequality and Racial Profiling
In both of these police brutality racial controversies, inequality is portrayed in the sense that the black victims are stripped of their constitutional guarantees and exposed to arbitrary violence that far exceeds the principle of proportionality and reasonable use of force. The fact that these crimes were committed by white officers with massive force to meet relatively simple misunderstanding and minor defiance make racial profiling a plausible hypothesis behind them. Claims of race-based injustices meted on blacks by the predominantly white police force are backed by a wide array of data from the Mapping Police Violence non-profit organization, despite black people only being 13% of the total population, 37% of all unarmed people killed by police in 2005 were black. Additionally, one in three of all unarmed people killed by police are black (MPV 2017).
Analysis of Media Reporting
On analyzing how the two cases are reported, social conflicts in the US are getting worse with time. First, there is a little admission from police on the actual accounts of the cases with police seeming to try to cover wrongdoing and giving conflicting reports from the witness accounts and video evidence. The Traffic detective in the King case made indications that would later be disputed by witnesses that the casualty provoked a fight with the authorities even though the amateur video by a photographer clearly bunked this assertion. Moreover, three witnesses attested to never seeing the victim display violent conduct. The Olango case had similar issues with police accused of obstructing the public from recording the events and seizing phones to cover up and restrict video evidence. Secondly, even though the cases are nearly 25 years apart, there is an escalation in the later context that shows the extent to which police brutality got worse over time. The first case was a physical abuse that received considerable furor and condemnation across the nation at the time. The second case, however, is a cold-blooded murder that comes on the back of more entrenched culture of heavy police handedness in which exclusively black men shot and killed over increasingly controversial conditions and far flimsier reasons across the country. As the Guardian article points out, within the same month, equally horrific yet strangely similar events occurred in Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Tulsa. The second report also shows a deep sense of fatigue that results from increased frequency and conventionality of police killing of African-American people. The reason for worsening social tensions about policing is that there has never been comprehensive policy changes to improve ties between the police and its citizen (Williams & Murphy 1990). Besides, the demographic composition of the police concerning the residents of the areas they manage does not take into account the racial diversities of communities and corresponding ratios.
Solutions to Improve Police-Community Relations
There are many measures and interventions that can be adopted to improve the relationship between the police and communities. The first and most outstanding approach to enhancing police and community relations, especially among racial minorities is to recognize inadequacies and inconsistency and involve the community in multi-pronged and open communication with the policing authority. Then there should be concerted effort to improve on sensitivity and diversity of the personnel within the force to respond to the community demographic and regional balances. It then becomes imperative that the diverse police force is educated on the community they seek to protect to foster better judgment and synchronization between the parties as equally important stakeholders of the complex matrix of law and order. To limit conflict between the police and racial minorities, there is need to adopt a genuine, deliberate commitment to show good will to the community by investing trust in the communities. These can be done by increasing outreach and interaction mechanisms. Moreover, enacting measures that convey a show of trust like resorting to fewer arms, giving warning and time for change to potential law breakers, living within the community they serve, treating the community with decorum and utmost respect and demonstrating dedication to work can heal suspicions (Stewart et al. 2009). Another revolutionary idea to achieving mutually beneficial cooperation is the exchange of liaisons across the parties for providing avenues through which the parties can sort out any arising issues and problems within the context of their collaboration. Finally, stringent oversight to monitor and regulate the conduct and violations of the police at the basic levels of policing should be instituted within the force to review all cases instantly on sight as opposed to the current structure that requires reviews to be done upon a lengthy appeal and complaints process. Regulations can also include wearable technology like body cameras and voice recorders to improve police conduct.
Conclusion
The study highlights high profile cases of racially driven police brutality at different times. The tacit difference can be identified, particularly at the more brazen and widespread nature of police brutality against minorities. This points to an escalation in the racial relations between the police and minority communities. To mitigate the social tensions, the paper proposes a detailed list of workable ideas that can improve the relations between policing authorities and minority communities. Some of these include integrated regulations and police oversight, open communication, education among other interventions.
References
Berger, H. (2017). Tape of L.A. police beating suspect stirs public furor. latimes.com. Retrieved 3 April 2017, from http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-tape-of-la-police- beating-suspect-stirs-public-furor-19910306-story.html
Mapping Police Violence, (2017). Retrieved 3 April 2017, from https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/unarmed/
McCarthy, C. (2017). Police killing of unarmed black man near San Diego sparks protest. the Guardian. Retrieved 3 April 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2016/sep/28/police-killing-black-man-el-cajon-san-diego-protest
Stewart, E. A., Baumer, E. P., Brunson, R. K., & Simons, R. L. (2009). Neighborhood racial context and perceptions of police‐based racial discrimination among black youth. Criminology, 47(3), 847-887.
Williams, H., & Murphy, P. V. (1990). The evolving strategy of police: A minority view (Vol. 13). US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, National Institute of Justice.
