AFRICAN AMERICANS AND POLICE BRUTALITY: HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDIA IN SOCIAL ACTION
By
Nicholas Yves Carré
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS PRESENTED TO THE UNDERGRADUATE COLLEG OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL PULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DESIGNATION OF HONORS.
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
2016
I thank God for the opportunity to write this. I pray there doesn’t have to be any more names added to this in the future…
Abstract of Undergraduate Thesis Presented to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of the University of Florida.
AFRICAN AMERICANS AND POLICE BRUTALITY: HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEDIA IN SOCIAL ACTION
By
Nicholas Yves Carré
May, 2016
Chair: Dr. Sharon Austin Major: Political Science
Police brutality is a hot topic issue in society today. Through the collection of data from various sources, it suggests there is a disproportionate amount of minority to police contact. Why is the reason behind this? In our quest to further understand police brutality and what leads to it, we examine various data sources and even historical precedence. What role does the media play in the publicity and social activism behind these incidents? By highlighting the history of police contact and incidents involving police “brutality” as defined by the federal government, these links are made to present day. Social media has drawn additional addition and has put the focus on minority interactions with police offers. Through these perspectives we see there is a disproportionate amount of minority dissatisfaction. We also find that media plays a significant role in the social activism and the actions following these incidents. Introduction
It was in the early morning hours of January 1, 2009, in the city of Oakland, California.
While many individuals across the world were celebrating the new year, Oscar Grant was handcuffed, after an alleged altercation at the Fruitvale BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Station.
After a few minutes passed, Grant would found himself at the receiving end of a bullet, fired from a Sig Sauer pistol that BART Police officer Johannes Mehserle. What exactly happened on that early morning has left to interpretation and debate, with witnesses and reports often pointing to differing events. The death of Grant lead to the creation of movie, Fruitvale Station, and large- scale protests in Oakland, California (Blaisdell et al.). Office Mehserle was later found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years minus time served, which amounted to an additional eleven months of time served. The unique thing about this incident is that it was the impetus for a level of social activism few could predict.
The events, stemming from the 1999 death of an unarmed African American male,
Amadou Diallo, sparked a realization that the use of excessive force, in combination with race as a motivating factor, was a prevalent problem in society. Police misconduct, police brutality, and excessive force are terms that have been used when discussing the type of deaths involving police officers in questionable circumstances. There isn’t a definition of what is considered excessive force. However, these terms have become the face of the numerous public outcries.
These words are often plastered on the front page of newspapers and are a constant source of tension in this country. Although not the same incident, the death of Oscar Grant, along with the questionable deaths of Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Lavall Hall, Walter Scott, Samuel DuBose,
Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Jonathan Ferrell, Laquan McDonald and many others have continually provoked the public and many social justice advocates. The result has been a public
1 outcry and an abrasive divide among Americans who believe racism plagues society, especially in the realm of police involved fatalities of African Americans. The theme of minority discomfort with police officers is a real issue plaguing society and the many factors have contributed to the overall
The advent of social media in the 21st century has revolutionized the way society communicates and reacts to public events. More specifically, social media has altered the spectrum of social engagement and awareness. Cameras and modern day social media sources have managed to spread information, within seconds, to millions of individual users across the world. Technology has spanned from mobilizing activist movements, such as “Black Lives
Matter,” to exposing frequent incidents of alleged police brutality in society. Even the United
States Supreme Court, in Riley v. California, 573 U.S. (2014), ruled that digital information on cell phones falls under the purview of the 4th Amendment, requiring a warrant. Technology has become another set of eyes that society believes is the key to impartiality and the truth. Of the individuals mentioned above, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Lavall Hall, Laquan McDonald, Tamir
Rice, and Samuel DuBose had their deaths videotaped and released to the public. Many of these videos served as evidence in the prosecution of officers for misconduct and even murder. With the evolution of cameras and other forms of technology, the question remains if race is still a factor and how individuals in America perceive the threat (Harvard Law Review, 1774-1816).
With the controversy surrounding the incidents of alleged police brutality, many media outlets have attempted to further research and document police brutality. Many might ask why media outlets would do this and the answer is clear. The federal government, more specifically, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, has not conducted research or studies on police misconduct and brutality. Although there is data on interactions with police and documented arrests, there is a
2 lack of representation that presents issues in determining if race is arbitrary or a determining factor in police misconduct and excessive force (Kaarianinen, 86). The question remains: is police brutality and the recent trend of police involved fatalities disproportionally affecting
African Americans? In this paper, this question will be examined from the perspective of data currently in circulation and from the perspective of data involving feedback from African
American respondents in Police-Public Contact Surveys (PPCS).
Literature Review
Background
Before the data are United States of America must be examine. The major incidents that have occurred and been examined, in regards to the Police Public Contact Survey, the social context and history behind police brutality in the highlighted by the mainstream media, over the course of the past few years, have brought up the issues of whether police brutality is a valid topic of discussion and issue in our country. However, many of the issues presented in relation to police brutality date back to the origins of our nation, in parallel to Black Codes and Jim Crow, and the culture that existed when our nation was being founded. Several authors (Marger, 2012;
Peck, 2015; Engel, 2004; Lewontin, 2005; Weitzer & Ruch, 2002; Wright, 1995; Higginbotham,
1978) explain the construct of race and how it relates to the treatment of Blacks by authoritative figures, such as slave masters. In this section, race and the history of slavery are examined to provide the necessary context as to why incidents of police brutality and institutional racism are linked to the treatment of Black slaves and why these occurrences still exist today.
Race as Construct
The first thing to tackle, in regards to understanding the context and background of police brutality is race. Race is one of the most “misunderstood, misused, and often dangerous
3 concepts” to date (Marger, 12). The social construct of race has overshadowed the biological construct of race, to the point where anthropologist Robert Redfield noted that it is a human invention. The widespread adoption of race and the creation of heterogeneous groups of individuals defined by physical characteristics has led to racism. According to Marger, “racism is the belief that humans are subdivided into distinct hereditary groups that are innately different in their social behavior and mental capacities and that can therefore be ranked as superior or inferior” (18). Furthermore, evolutionary biologist Richard Lewontin and many other scientists have determined that "human racial classification is of no social value" and is essentially
"destructive of social and human relations" (24). Due to the lack of basics in genetics or taxonomic significance, "no justification can be offered for its continuance" (Lewontin, 24).
Even with the lack of scientific basis to classify individuals based on race, "physical differences- including skin color, the texture of an individual's hair, and the broadness of his or her nose-are often the determining factors for assigning an individual to a racial group" (Jones). However, the social stratification of race and colorism continues today and fuels many divisions, including the modern day Jim Crow and prior institutional biases. This is an extremely unique concept because racism has been the background and the context between much of the actions, in regards to slavery and modern day police brutality (Higginbotham).
History: Colonial Era
In the Matter of Color by A. Leon Higginbotham addresses the inherent history of slavery and how African Americans, in particular, faced discrimination and prejudice. From the establishment of the first colonies by the English, Virginia set the model for the treatment of
African American and Black slaves in 1619. These individuals were not limited to Africa.
However, the one-drop rule in the United States has consolidated anyone with any known "Black
4 African ancestry" to the designation of Black (Jones). For this reason, individuals who may be determined to be a member of the diaspora originating in Africa but found in other areas of the world will be referred to as “Black” in this document. What does this mean? It means that individuals that might be mixed-race, born in Africa, or born with a white ancestor are all pooled into the same social designation. Black is a term that finds itself the generalization of the United
States and a social construct; however, it will simplify the explanations in this document. The historical oversimplification of this idea was used to assist white male slave traders and sharecroppers in promoting slavery and supplying their plantations with necessary slave labor
(Wright). Many of the slaves traveled the Middle Passage from Africa and many of the
Caribbean countries in the Bahamas and near South America. In Virginia, the first documented sign of Blacks “negers” began when Blacks arrived in Jamestown during the early 17th Century.
According to Professor Joel Williamson, "whites and Blacks had been mixing in Africa, Europe, and Asia eons before Columbus sailed the western ocean" (221). The profiling and gradual debasement of Blacks as slaves eroded any system or structure of equality between races, as a social construct. This debasement mirrors the modern day relations that Blacks receive in the media and when facing laws and governmental statutes.
Three overarching categories define the treatment of Blacks and how this translates to modern day incidents of race relations and police brutality. These three categories can be defined as deterrence, fear, and control (DFC). Upon arrival into colonies, such as Virginia, laws were set in place to prohibit Blacks from certain activities. These Slave codes and laws maintained a patriarchal system of control over Blacks (Jones). Act X was one such law in Virginia that stated,
"ALL persons except negroes to be provided with arms and ammunition or be fined at pleasure of the Governor and Council" (Hening). What began as indentured servitude developed into a
5 lifetime of hereditary servitude. This developed alongside the issue of miscegenation, which is defined as the "a mixture of races; especially: marriage, cohabitation, or sexual intercourse between a white person and a member of another race" (Webster's). Miscegenation was looked upon negatively at the time; however, it occurred for a few reasons at the time. When arriving to settle, white males found there was a shortage of white women and an abundance of Black women. Additionally, white males who were planters or owned property requiring labor from slaves would benefit since many of the colonies followed laws that indicated the status of a child born out of miscegenation to follow the status of the mother. In order to perpetuate deterrence, the first anti-miscegenation law was enacted in Maryland in 1661. This punished slaves and also punished whites by banishing “from the colony any White person who married a Negro or mulatto” (Jones 1500). In 1680, Virginia slave codes pushed this system of DFC forward by limiting the mobility of slaves. Blacks in all of the Upper and Lower South had to travel with a certificate. Blacks would often be attacked or imprisoned even if they did have a certificate.
Blacks also couldn’t arm themselves or protect themselves, which meant they couldn’t stand up to the codes and put forth any resistance. Lastly, Blacks faced harsh repercussions for any bad behavior. They would be whipped or given longer terms of servitude for any errors or desires to not follow rules. As Higginbotham and Jones detail, the 18th century continued these restrictive procedures. In Virginia in 1705, statues were enacted that “prohibited Blacks, Indians, and mulattoes from holding office and serving as witnesses in legal proceedings” (1504). Soon after in 1723, the social construct of the race defined by Blacks was narrowed when mulattoes were stripped of the right to vote and bear arms in most circumstances. These statues also granted amnesty to white males who killed a slave casually or during dismemberment, although this term was never defined in detail. Additionally, slaves who were killed were also paid in value, by the
6 government to the master. The Upper South, which was pioneered by Virginia, was much harsher on Blacks than the Lower South, where racial mixing was tolerated to a greater extent.
The divide might have been due to factors, such as the free mulattoes of the Lower South being the children of wealthy white men, in contrast to the Upper South. Additionally, some of the most powerful white families were immigrants from the British Islands, which recognized the superiority of mulattoes.
In Policing the Poor, Neil Websdale documents the historical context of slave codes and slave patrols, which were individuals who “conducted routine checks of slave quarters, searching for stolen property and contraband” (20). Interestingly enough, Websdale goes on to state “the frequency of these visits varied tremendously…their focus sharpened in the aftermath of threatened, actual, or perceived slave insurrections” (20). This last statement will be tied into modern day analysis of incidents involving Blacks and law enforcement officials, who often use similar tactics. Websdale further documents the history of slave patrols by providing examples, such as the Tennessee Patrol Act of 1753, which required local courts to set patrollers to survey the slave quarters a minimum of four times a year, which subsequently increased to monthly increments. Similarly, to modern day police officers and security guards, Websdale highlights that slave patrollers came “largely from working- or lower-middle-class families” and shared the same sentiments as many slaves by being exploited (21). These same slave patrollers and enforcers would often interact in ways that were against their duty, whether it be violently attacking the slaves or aiding slaves in escaping in the South. Many of the poor whites and
Blacks developed relationships that countered the goals of the planters that employed them.
These division tactics were thwarted by the degradation each group faced.
7 Slave codes and anti-miscegenation laws weren’t the only policies that subjected Blacks to debasement under the rule of the white male. Debasement and oppression also occurred in the form of education, religion, punishment, and manumission. In regards to education, slaves were deprived of an education and forced to endure intense labor. This lack of education was seen as a tool of preventing Blacks from empowering themselves and organization against the whites. This control ensured that Blacks wouldn’t know more than to work in the fields or listen to their mater, who was portrayed to them as their patriarchal father figure. In regards to religion, Blacks valued spiritual relationships. According to Higginbotham, whites would constantly relay to
Blacks that to be a “good Christian,” one must be a good slave (37). Slaves falsely believed that they must serve their master properly, in order to be seen positively by their spiritual being.
Religion was utilized as tool to also control and instill fear in Blacks. Prior to 1667, conversion to Christianity, through baptism, entitled slaves to freedom. However, the Virginia colonial assembly closed this loophole and prevented the change in status of Blacks in bondage.
Outside of fear and control, through religion, punishments and manumissions were additional forms of control over Blacks in colonial times. Higginbotham outlines how many of the colonies issues lashes to a “Negro” if he were to “lift up his hand against ay Christian” and that if a Negro were to “resist lawful apprehension” he could be killed (39). Manumission was also another possibility for slaves to be able to travel and escape servitude. According to
Webster, manumission is defined as “the act or process of manumitting; especially: formal emancipation from slavery.” Higginbotham documented how manumission was a regular occurrence in the early 17th century, across the existing English settlements. However, this began to change when Black indentured servants began to be distinguished and punished more severely from Blacks. Slaves who completed their term of servitude often would pay to be freed and
8 would leave the state they were in, under the condition that they were not able to return to that state.
Post Civil War
Jones elaborates upon Higginbotham’s documentation by drawing attention to the effects of slavery and racism, following the Civil War and up to the 21st century. Following 1883, Jim
Crow racism had begun and laws were put in place to ensure that Blacks, regardless of colorism, would be separated from whites in nearly every facility possible. Jones highlights how Virginia pioneered the model for racial division by creating “four racial classifications: White, Indian,
Negro, and mulatto (1512). Luther Wright Jr. examines this topic further by outlining the historical precedence of laws that defined race and set the doctrine of discrimination forward to this day. In Hudgins v. Wright, slave women sued for their own freedom by arguing their status as descendants of a free female ancestor. Virginia Supreme Court Judge Roane explained the burden of proof by stating that “Negroes had the burden of proving that they were free; whites and Indians were presumed free unless their accusers could provide their slave status” (526).
Following Hudgins, the case of Dredd Scott v. Sandford determined that any Americans of
African descent were not classified as American citizens and had no standing in court.
Additionally, slaves were viewed as property and slave owners were protected by the Fifth
Amendment (1857). In Plessy v. Ferguson, which occurred a few years later in 1896, the Court held that the “separate but equal” provision of private services mandated by the Louisiana state government is constitutional under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
This ruling set in motion the “separate but equal” doctrine that existed up until the late 20th century. It began to be overturned beginning with the decision in Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka, in which the Court held that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal (495)..
9 Websdale continues to analyze the historical context of policing by looking at laws following the Civil War. During the period of Reconstruction, the Thirteenth Amendment
(outlawing slavery), Fourteenth Amendment (citizenship rights to all born in United States),
Fifteenth Amendment (granting Black men right to vote), and Civil Rights Act of 1875 were established. The Fourteenth Amendment was significant in its interpretation of providing equal protection under the law to Blacks. However, these laws were insignificant, since many Blacks were being lynched by white men and were also being regularly attacked at home. Websdale highlights that Congress attempted to fight this violence by enacting legislation to protect the
Negro right to vote. The Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 fell flat after 1877, when the
Confederacy leaders assumed control of the South again. President Hayes made sure to avoid the problem of the Negro in the South, due to the “unwritten” agreement to secure his victory. In
1881, Tennessee took advantage of this culture and passed the initial Jim Crow law, which would segregate railroad cars and the United States Supreme Court then nullified the Civil
Rights of 1875, in 1883. This fell in line with the previously mentioned rulings in Plessy.
Websdale draws attention to the exact issue we are looking at. Policies that are put in place, which disproportionately affect Blacks and slaves, at the time. We see parallels in modern day policing with racial profiling and incidences of violence. Discrimination didn’t need a headline in order for it to be happening. Furthermore, he documents how police policies have continued to bring advantages to “slavers over slaves, employers over workers, and men over women” (31). There are numerous incidents where Websdale draws examples of how polices have been lenient towards large U.S. corporations. Many of these corporations have policies that have led to fatalities and injuries; however, most of these companies receive only warnings and fines for minimal amounts of money. These crimes are often more widespread and damaging
10 than the bulk of Black arrests, which are minor street crimes. This reflects back to how police would arrest unemployed Black men after the Civil War, in order to fill labor shortages.
In Deliver Us from Evil: The Slavery Question in the Old South, Lacy K. Ford draws further acknowledges the system of paternalism that guided much of the culture prior to and following the Civil War. In order to manipulate and also keep slaves from revolting, slave masters would portray themselves as father figures. They would demonstrate that by giving the slaves work and opportunities, they are the individuals they need to obey and look up to. In some cases, slaves believed that the master was the individual who had their best interest since their no one else to punish or reward them.
Civil Rights and Modern Connections
Following the Civil War and Reconstruction period, laws, such as the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, were passed by Congress. However, not much changed or advanced for Blacks, at the time. Jim Crow policies existed across the country and it was until the Civil Rights era, reaching its climax in the 1960s, did substantial legislation resulting in change occur.
Following the decision of the Court in Brown in 1954 and the success of the Montgomery
Bus Boycott in 1956, the United States began to move forward in the Civil Rights movement.
However, one of the most significant instances of blatant racism and modern day police brutality occurred in Birmingham, Alabama. Websdale continues to highlight how Blacks faced law enforcement brutality and strict laws, at the hand of racist white male oppressors. During the
1960s, the Civil Rights movement reached a climax, when Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fred L.
Shuttlesworth became instrumental in the push the Civil Rights legislation. In attempts to protest the lack of equality, King and Shuttlesworth gathered demonstrators in the Spring of 1963 and organized demonstrations against the existing white supremacy culture. This demonstration
11 became known as Project C Then City Commissioner T. Eugene “Bull” Connor reacted to the demonstrators through the use of police dogs, mass arrests, and fire hoses. Police exemplified police brutality through the tactics used to subdue Blacks, even those who were innocent bystanders. The images that were captured and eventually disseminated to the public, following the demonstrations drew scrutiny to racism so immense that President John F. Kennedy was left with no choice but to act.
Fig. 1: A 17-year-old Civil Rights demonstrator is attacked by a police dog in Birmingham, Ala., on May 3, 1963 (Hudson, 1963)
Marger, Higginbotham, and Jones all provide detailed insight into the history of Blacks in
America. The historical and factual nature of these sources allow for a general perspective of how society treated Blacks, especially in regards to law enforcement and the carrying out of policies. With the creation of race as a social construct, there seems to be many issues that are drawn as parallels to modern day society. The media has played a pivotal role in portraying the history of Civil Rights to the world audience, often evoking sympathy and the necessary attention to often serve as the impetus for change.
Following the examination of these sources, the parallel can begin to be drawn, in relation to the treatment of Blacks as slaves and modern day views of Blacks in society by police
12 and law enforcement. This connection will be further drawn in the analysis portion. In order to examine some of the historical precedence between race relations, in regards to Blacks and law enforcement officials, prior literature will also be examined. The issue at hand is extremely subjective and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. In order to examine and draw connections, different perspectives of Blacks, by law enforcement officers and vise versa are used to provide a better context to the racial tension that exists at every point in any contact.
What is even more unique is the situation and environment in which this incident took place. This is a micro-aggression of the incidents we see occurring across the country. Each incident involving police contact and alleged “police brutality” shares many similar circumstances and environmental factors. This is where hints can be taken for why events involving individuals, such as Oscar Grant occur in the first place. In Oakland, California, there has been an existing racial dynamic that has only contributed to the tension that has been occurring.
Past Data
Before directly attempting to answer the question, the existing literature on police satisfaction and police brutality among African Americans must be examined. Ove the course of the past decade, there has been much data collected on police satisfaction. Minorities have continued to provide insight into treatment by these police officers. From the survey data collected by Weitzer and Tuch (2002) to the self-reporting stereotype threat theory by
Najdowski, Cynthia, and Bette (2015). Each of the sources utilized examines a different facet of police and minority interaction. The difficulty, as will be seen, is that much of the data still leaves the question inconclusively answered. With no one centralized dataset, the past literature evolution has led to a continual development in determining that African Americans indeed are
13 less satisfied with police interactions and are disproportionately targeted by police.
Weitzer and Tuch (2002) addressed the issue of racial profiling by police officers through nationwide surveys. They analyzed prior studies and used that information to develop long term plans for analyzing racial profiling and interactions with the police. Weitzer and Tuch (2002) were some of the first to focus on specific details of racial profiling, as it pertains to African
American satisfaction with the police. They examined data and determined that whites and blacks both endorse the idea that it is the responsibility of the federal government to “ensure that minorities and whites receive equal treatment from the police and the courts” (Weitzer and Tuch,
2002). The disparities began to show when both groups were asked if they felt that the system actually is unequal. Whites were found to be less inclined than blacks to believe that the police treat minorities different than whites and see blacks as “prone to crime and violence.” Weitzer and Tuch then looked at data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the form of the police-public contact survey. This data showed that blacks were more likely to be stopped by the police and were less likely to consider physical and vehicle searches legitimate than whites and
Hispanics. Weitzer and Tuch (2002) also looked at social class when analyzing attitudes towards the police and also personal experience as leading to a positive influence on negative behavior.
Weitzer and Tuch collected data through a nationwide random dialing telephone survey, consisting of 2,006 respondents. It was managed by the Gallup organization and there were three separate indicators of respondents’ views on racial profiling. These three indicators are below:
1. “It has been reported that some police officers stop motorists of certain racial or
ethnic groups because the officers believe that these groups are more likely than others to commit certain types of crimes. Do you believe that this practice, known as ‘racial profiling,’ is
widespread or not?”
14 2. “Do you approve or disapprove of the use of ‘racial profiling’ by police?”
3. “Have you ever felt that you were stopped by the police just because of your race
or ethnic background?”
Other indicators accounted for in this study were social class, based on education and household income. Also, socio-demographic factors were used, such as gender, employment status, and martial status. The final results of the survey show that there are different views by whites and blacks on racial profiling. In the survey 81.6% of blacks versus 60.2% of whites believe that racial profiling is widespread. In regards to approval and disapproval of racial profiling by police, 94.3% of blacks and 84.4% of white’s express disapproval with the practice.
Lastly, the question of being stopped because your race or ethnic background was raised. Whites were at 95% claiming to never have been racially profiled versus around 40% of blacks reporting to never being stopped because of racial profiling. The disparities further continue into demographic questions; however, the data is inconclusive. Weitzer and Tuch (2002) propose more data collection in the future and a need to address the intersection between race and class.
Following the work of Weitzer and Tuch (2002), Lundman and Kaufman (2003) approached the topic of racial profiling from a different perspective. They decided to utilize data from the National Crime Victimization Survey as part of an examination of race, in regards to being stopped by police for traffic law violations. Similar to Weitzer and Tuch (2002), Lundman and Kaufman utilized citizen self-reports gathered from a larger data set. Additionally, they examined one specific aspect, in this case traffic stops, as a means for further understanding the extent to which racial bias exists. The concept of self-sporting data was utilized throughout this study and they also discussed the validity of this measure. Lundman and Kaufman desired to answer one broad question: “Do police make traffic stops for Driving While Black?”
15 How did Lundman and Kaufman go about gathering data on this question? They utilized the Police-Public Contact Survey from 1999 and first narrowed the age to be 16 years or older.
These individuals then answered a series of questions about crime victimization and then about police contact. 80,543 were randomly selected for this sample group. Of these, 7,034 reported at least one traffic stop. The data was then evaluated for the three dependent measurers involving traffic stops, in addition to explanatory measures. In the end Lundman and Kaufman confirmed the notion that “police are significantly more likely to stop African American male drivers.”
Additionally, they concluded that there is a similar pattern across race and ethnicity for gender.
African Americans and Hispanics were also found to be less likely to report a legitimate reason by police to be stopped and significantly less likely “to report that police acted properly”
(Lundman and Kaufman). The article ends with five conclusions supported by the research:
1. First, citizens report that police nationally make traffic stops more frequently of
African-American male drivers. More broadly, for both women and men, there is an identical
pattern of stops by race/ethnicity.
2. Second, African-American drivers (both men and women) as well as Hispanic
male drivers are significantly less likely than white men to report that police had a legitimate
reason for making the traffic stop, thereby suggesting either police recourse to pretext when stopping drivers of color or varying situational definitions between whites and citizens of color,
or both.
3. Third, African-American men and Hispanic men are significantly less likely than white men to report that police acted properly during the traffic stop encounter (as are African-
American women compared with white women), thus reinforcing the existence of special
problems associated with encounters between police and citizens of color.
16 4. Fourth, although the reactions of Hispanics and others vary somewhat by gender,
beliefs in the legitimacy and propriety of police actions are framed by a stark polarity between
African Americans and whites. Most importantly, there is a pressing need and ample scholarly room for additional research on Driving While Black using triangulated police-reported, citizen-
reported, and observer reported data.
Although the article does advance the notion of perceived racial profiling and racial bias towards African Americans by police officers, there is much more research to be done. The use of this research is limited and with so few analyses, there is a difficulty in determining consistent patterns. More data needs to be collected on the factors affecting traffic stops by police. One possible solution offered by Lundman and Kaufman is to utilize triangulated data by combining police-reported data, citizen-reported data, and observer-reported data to draw more significant conclusions on the topic of “Driving While Black.”
Following the results of Lundman and Kaufman, Gabbidon and Higgins (2008) tackled the question of whether race and race relations influenced citizens’ views on the treatment of
Blacks in comparison to Whites. Similar to Weitzer and Tuch in 2002, they utilized recent
Gallup poll data to draw conclusions. They tested two hypotheses, the first of which was that
“Blacks and Hispanics will be more likely than Whites to believe that Blacks are treated less fairly by the police.” The second hypothesis was that respondents who viewed “race relations as bad will be more likely than those who view race relations as good, to believe that Blacks are treated less fairly by the police” (Wietzer and Tuch, 5). The overall research question of this study shares many similarities with the studies that came before. However, this data continues to provide a clearer and more detailed picture of the perception police have, in regards to treating minorities. Gabbidon and Higgins utilize data from the 2004 Minority Rights & Relations Social
17 Audit poll conducted by the Gallup Organization. It includes 2,250 randomly selected Americans who were asked questions on an interval scale. Questions ranging from fairness of treatment to level of education were asked. According to the data the first hypothesis was supported (b =
1.26, Exp[b] = 3.52) with Blacks being more likely than Whites to “believe that Blacks are not being treated fairly by the police” (Gabbidon and Higgins, 2008). Hispanics also followed that trend in belief and the second hypothesis was also supported. The study attributes the results to a variety of reasons, including the negative perception of police in Black communities that has fostered for many years. With the high profile cases of Rodney King, Sean Bell, etc., there is a difficulty that lies in bridging Black communities with police officers. Although this study may point out what some may call out the obvious, it serves to also examine the success of efforts by law enforcement officials to improve relationships between “racial and ethnic minorities”
(Gabbidon and Higgins). The data was limited in a few areas by the relationships between Blacks and Whites. In addition, the research was cross-sectional and can’t necessarily determine what the views might be today or in the future. In the end, there was much to gain from this research, as it pertains to understanding the depth of racial profiling and bias that police officers may have towards minorities.
After examining the data by Gabbidon and Higgins in 2008, Chaney and Robertson
(2013) took the analysis of interactions between police and minorities a step further. They utilized quantitative data provided by the National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting
Project (NPMSRP). Not only did they utilize the statistics, they also reviewed narratives from thirty-six contributors to the NPMSRP website. The two questions raised in this study were as follows:
18 1. “What do findings from the NPMSRP suggest about the rate of police brutality in
America?
2. How do individuals perceive the police department, and what implications do
these perceptions hold for Black men in America?”
Much of the data prior to this study, such as by Chaney and Robertson in 2013, confirm the concept of a public belief that police are bias and take part in racial profiling African
Americans. They review past literature and shore up support for the claim with much of the existing information in circulation. With their methodology, there was two steps involved. The first step was to examine the police brutality findings in the NPMSRP. The following step was to read the narratives provided by the thirty-six contributors on the NPMSRP website. They scanned through the narratives and identified common themes across the narratives. Utilizing ground theory and an open-coding process, they used words and phrases as the theme distinctions. The statistics demonstrated that there were “5,986 reports of misconduct, 382 fatalities linked to misconduct… and 64% of misconduct cases that received prison sentences”
(Chaney and Robertson, 2013). In regards to the second question, the majority of contributors to the NPMSRP website have a “negative view of law enforcement” (Chaney and Robertson,
2013). The advantages presented by this method of data gathering has given attention to statistics as well as “what anonymous men and women say about those number.” This study allows researches to understand the “true sentiments” of respondents that would be difficult to gather from surveys (Chaney and Robertson, 2013). Although the data has provided a unique perspective on the issue, there are ways to address improving future research. The data was collected between 2009 and 2010, while the study was published in 2013, which leads to outdated numbers. Chaney and Robertson also call for more regularly updated NPMSRP
19 findings that are made available to the public and the inclusion of law enforcement perspectives of themselves and how how they believe the public perceives them. Similar to data before, this study confirms many of the previous notions of public opinion toward police officers and racial profiling; however, it provides qualitative data that examines what are some of the thoughts of those who do fall in line with the majority of respondents who share the same sentiments.
The most recent article by Najdowski, Bottoms, and Goff (2015), explores “how cultural stereotypes that depict Blacks as criminals might affect Blacks’ experiences of police encounters.” This overall study was unique in that it examined the effects of stereotype threat on
Blacks. The study makes reference to historical incidents and how aggressiveness and violence are attributes to Blacks, by all other races. In Study 1, Black and White participants were asked to report how they feel when interacting with police officers in general. The results of Study 1 demonstrated that Blacks were more likely to report concerns that police officers stereotyped them as criminals due to their race. In this study, White women and White men agreed that they did not share concerns about being stereotyped unfairly. In Study 2, Black and White men were asked to “imagine a specific police encounter and assessed potential downstream consequences of stereotype threat” (Najdowski, Bottoms, and Goff). Study 2 was consistent with Study 1 in that Black and not White men felt that there was stereotype threat involved in the hypothetical police encounter. In addition, they hypothesized successfully in Study 2 that “expecting to be judged and treated unfairly because of the negative stereotype of Black criminality might cause
Black men to behave more suspiciously than White men in encounters with police officers.”
Although the data provided demonstrates the inherent bias and beliefs that associate the stereotype threat with Blacks, there are data limitations that could be addressed moving forward.
Najdowski, Bottoms, and Goff all make reference to putting in place more realistic
20 circumstances, in which to test the hypotheses. Another future point to incorporate in this study would be the exploration of downstream psychological and behavioral consequences of a threat.
Understanding and measuring responses would provide a clearer picture of consequences the stereotype threat might have.
All five of the articles addressed the issues of bias and race, as it relates to police officers and their duties. Weitzer and Tuch (2002) analyzed racial profiling through the use of nationwide surveys, administered by the Gallup organization. These surveys, along with available data contributed to the idea that officers searched and took more action against Blacks at disproportionate rates. Lundman and Kaufman (2003) took a different route and utilized information from the National Crime Victimization Survey to conclude that police are significantly more likely to stop African American male drivers than White male drivers, especially for non-legitimate reasons. This has become known as “Driving While Black”
(Lundman and Kaufman, 2003). Gabbidon and Higgins (2008) utilized Gallup poll data to determine if race and race relations influenced citizens’ views on the treatment of Blacks in comparison to Whites. The article concluded with Blacks finding themselves feeling that they were not being treated as fairly by the police as Whites. In the fourth article, Chaney and
Robertson (2013) utilized data from the NPMSRP to conclude that police brutality reports are outdated and often have sentencing disparities, when compared to the general public. They also utilized qualitative narratives to provide more input into the sentiments of those who had a negative view of law enforcement. The last article, by Najdowski, Bottoms, and Goff (2015) analyzes the potential effects of stereotype threat on Blacks when presented with various situations. It was found that Blacks often expected themselves to be treated unfairly due to being stereotyped unfairly. In the end, these articles all show a web of public belief that police officers
21 possess a racial bias in their actions and that there is a real issue in our society that disproportionately affects. With that being said, the literature collected provides a framework for beginning to understand why Blacks are targeted disproportionately, in regards to police contact.
Research Design, Data, and Measures
In an attempt to answer the research question, while looking towards answering larger research questions, the research design and data set referenced are secondary. The data analyzed in this study is a combination of the Police-Public Contact Survey, along with the analysis of modern day incidents of police brutality. Media references are highlighted, in order to demonstrate the importance of media in analyzing the similarity of these incidents.
The research design selected for this study is based on the United States Department of
Justice 2011 Police-Public Contact Survey (PPCS), conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The research question stemmed from understanding if African Americans were being targeted and treated satisfactorily when in contact with police. The most appropriate research design would follow as mentioned above. The dataset utilized stems from the National Crime
Victimization Survey in the last six months of 2011. In this survey-based dataset, individuals and households are questioned about their contact with police over the past 12 months. The questions ask about various aspects of the interactions, if any, between the police officer and individual.
Utilizing this dataset, we aim to understand what factors may lead to a less satisfactory experience among African Americans when interacting with Whites.
Before outlining the secondary research design, details will be provided about the dataset.
The methodology for carrying out the research design followed strict guidelines, as outlined by the Office of Justice Statistics. The data was collected from July 1, 2011 to December 31, 2011.
It has been conducted six times and collected every three years. With the use of surveys, the
22 individual is the unit of analysis for this research design and data set. In 2011, the PPCS contacted and interviews 49, 246 of the 62,280 eligible individuals in the NCVS sample. Outside of those eligible, there were 13,034 nonrespondents excluded and 10,907 non-interviews.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the adjustments for nonresponse produced a national population estimate of 241,404,142 persons 16 or older. In the end, the survey accounted for five-hundred and twenty-seven variables. For the purpose of addressing the research question at hand, the variables that were examined were isolated. The respondents were randomly selected in clusters and given access to the surveys. With a nationally representative sample, the variables can now be examined. IBM SPS Statistics 22 was utilized in downloading and arranging the dataset.
The qualitative data, gathered from a variety of secondary sources, analyzes the incidents of police brutality that have garnered national media attention. The incidents involving Rodney
King, Amadou Diallo, Gary King, Jr., Oscar Grant, Tanisha Anderson Michael Brown, Eric
Garner, among others.
Analysis
In-Depth Analysis of Incidents and the Media
In Racism and Police Brutality in America, Chaney and Robertson draw the conclusion that the “beating of Rodney King, and the deaths of Amadou Diallo in the 1990s and Trayvon
Martin, more recently are just a few public examples of the historical and contemporaneous ways in which Blacks in America have been assaulted by members of the police system” (481). The most recent and media-centric incidents demonstrating the racist and discriminatory practices
African Americans and the often “contemporaneous” ways in which Blacks are treated by police
(Chaney and Robertson).
23 Rodney King
When the name Rodney King is heard, the first association that rings in the minds of many individuals is police brutality. King one of the staple individuals who became a symbol of racial violence when he was brutally beaten in 1991 by the white officers of the Los Angeles
Police Department. King had led police officers on a high-speed chase, which reached speeds of
115 mph. When it finally ended in the early morning if March 3. 1991, King was forced to the ground and struck by a taser twice. He was then struck more than 50 times by batons and police officers. The incident was captured on the camera of citizen journalist, George Holliday from his balcony. The four LAPD officers, Stacey Koon, Theodore Briseno, Laurence Powell, and
Timothy Wind were arrested and charged; however, only Koon and Powell were eventually found guilty in 1993 and served prison sentences. However, the initial acquittal of the four officers in 1992 led to the now infamous Los Angeles Riots in 1992. Following the incident, the
United States government initiated a commission, known as the Christopher Commission, that investigated the operating structure of the Los Angeles Police Department. The commission actually found that many LAPD officers ignored written guidelines “by frequently using excessive force against the public” (Lee et al. 2006).
The Christopher Commission went on to further reveal that police officers are very reluctant to report incidents of police misconduct, although they state they would when confronted with an incident. Additionally, the LAPD, in addition to most police departments, reward and incentive officers for acts leading to the arrest of multiple individuals or some
“extraordinary feat.” Similar to the slave codes of Virginia and the intimidation tactics of “Bull”
Connor in Birmingham, there is an incentive to control and punish Blacks, especially when the laws easily subject Blacks to disproportionate amounts of arrests (Worsnop). The work and
24 attention given to this commission by the media resulted in landmark legislation and efforts to address police brutality. The United States Senate approved a crime bill that included a provision used to set up a Police Corps that would aim at training and providing educated patrol officers.
Amadou Diallo
Amadou Diallo was another individual who faced a similar fate, at the hands of police officers. Four officers were driving through New York City, searching for an armed serial rapist who was accused of raping 29 people. It was the night of February 4, 1999 and Diallo was in front of his New York City apartment building at 1157 Wheeler Avenue. While driving by, the officers mistook Diallo for the rapist they were looking for. Although he was unarmed and innocent of any crimes, the four officers, Sean Caroll, Richard Murphy, Edward McMellom, and
Kenneth Boss approached him. These officers were driving unmarked vehicles and were also dressed in plainclothes. After approaching him and establishing contact, Diallo backed away and to the door of his apartment. He was also reaching into his coat for his wallet, which led the police to believe he was reaching for a gun. This mistake led to 41 rounds being fired and 19 of them being lodged into Diallo’s body.
Following this incident, the media and social activists took the streets by storm. There were large demonstrations that occurred, often organized by Rev. Al Sharpton. Many of these demonstrations garnered more participation and traction, as the media continued to spread knowledge of the incident. With headlines drawing attention to the excessive force used and fact that Diallo was unarmed, the demonstrations grew and spread to city hall, Federal Plaza, and many other locations. Protests continued to occur during the trial and high profile individuals, such as notable politicians U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel and former New York City Mayor,
David Dinkins, were arrested (Pascarella and DeCarlo). The media attention even led to
25 musician Bruce Springsteen creating a song, called “American Skin (41 Shots)” (Springsteen,
2011). Eventually the violence got out of hand and the family of Diallo settled for 3 million dollars. This was yet another example of the media’s power in manipulating public perception and drawing social action towards the issue at hand. Police polices were altered and social justice succeeded in taking steps towards addressing the issue.
Abner Louima
In August of 1997, prior to the incident of Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima faced a somewhat similar experience, in regards to police brutality and excessive force. On August, 9,
1997, Louima was at a local club in New York City to see the Haitian Band Phantom perform.
When the club closed around 4:00AM, a fight broke out and police were called to the scene. At the time, Louima was working as a security guard and had recently immigrated from Haiti. He was arrested for allegedly assaulting an officer in the midst of the fighting. He was then transported to the 70th Precinct in Brooklyn. Throughout this time, Louima questioned his arrest and the purpose behind it. Along the ride, he was beaten and eventually arrived at the Precinct.
He was taken to the men’s restroom and then was sodomized by officer Justin Volpe, who jammed a broomstick up into Louima’s rectum, which resulted in an intestinal puncture and internal bleeding. The officer then jammed the broomstick into his mouth and broke his teeth.
The media had a field day with this incident, due to the twisted and even torture like nature of it. Louima and the incident became a national symbol of police brutality, before Diallo was murdered. During the trial of the four officers, many issues were at hand, including the depravation of Louima’s civil rights, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to deprive Louima of his civil rights, among others. Louima was unable to identify the individual that held him down in the bathroom; however, officer Volpe admitted to attacking Louima. Volpe would receive a 40-
26 year prison sentence and faced $277,495 n restitution. In a later interview, Volpe shared that officer Thomas Weise was the other person who held down Louima in the restroom. Phone records indicate that the officers made nearly 50 calls, in attempts to allegedly cover up the role of Schwarz in the attack. The media attention drew a group of nearly 7,000 demonstrators and marches against police brutality. Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr. joined Louima and helped Louima reached a settlement for $8.75 million, which was the largest settlement in the city’s history.
Yet again, the importance of media as a vigilante for social justice is seen with Louima’s case. If it weren’t for the nurse who witnessed Louima’s injuries contacting the media, the investigation wouldn’t have taken place as swiftly. The officers were working with the police benevolent association, in order to cover up the crime; however, the media headlines were too much and Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani was forced to demand a prompt investigation. The usual tactics of sweeping incidents under the rug are avoided when the media utilizes its resources to bring public outrage to a group or entity.
Gary King, Jr.
Providing further context into the epidemic of police brutality, the city of Oakland,
California serves to demonstrate many of the ongoing issues. Following the death of Gary King,
Jr., 20 years old, much scrutiny and attention was drawn towards the city of Oakland. Following a similar theme of incidents occurring across the United States, individuals suspected of doing something become target practice for law enforcement. Gary King was on a street corner when he was approached by Sgt. Patrick Gonzales, who already had two incidents on record involving shootings. In one of these incidents, a settlement was reached on behalf of the city and a victim, due to the actions of Gonzales. With the incident involving Gary King, Gonzales approached
27 King and began to detain him, without any reason. A struggle ensued and King attempted to runaway; however, Gonzales believed King was reaching for a gun. King was shot in the back and was killed. This incident resulted in a settlement of $1.5 million for the King family.
Similar to the incident and context of Rodney King, Thomas Peele documented many of the questionable circumstances that existed in Oakland, at the time. It was found that Oakland has a high frequency of shootings, with more people being shot at by Oakland police than in other cities with a similar size and crime rate. Interestingly enough, Oakland police were involved in more shootings than cities more than twice it’s size, such as San Francisco and San
Jose. Many of the officers who killed unarmed individuals reacted for fear of their life by mistaking items like dark gloves, belt buckles, cellphones, and etc. for weapons. Additionally, it was found that Oakland has paid out more than $9.6 million in settlements for police shootings, although these incidents indicate lethal force being justified. To wrap it up, Oakland police fail to even keep an accurate track of police-involved shooting data. Senior police officials stated there were no shootings in the year 2005, according to the computer systems used. However, public records show that there were at least right shootings that year. It is clear that there needs to be increased accountability. When policies allow for lax oversight of policies or safeguards, society shifts back to a time where force is the ultimate judge and jury. This is especially the case when police feel comfortable in evoking the use of self defense or justified force, during trials.
What we begin to see, with incidents like Rodney King, is the importance of media.
Similar to the photograph of the dog attacks in Birmingham, during the Spring 1963 demonstrations, the video of King being beaten for eighty-one seconds flooded the mainstream media. It was on public television and spread around the world. This publicity and hard evidence brought a seriousness to the situation, in ways that “words could not” (Rose). The physical and
28 tangible nature of media, such as videos and photographs, bring about credibility and also much needed context for many incidents that do occur. However, similarly to how Dr. King and others faced difficulties conveying discrimination, even with physical evidence, the same thing happens in these incidents. The policies and underlying social construct of racism already convicts Blacks of being guilty and deserving, even before setting foot in court.
Eric Garner
On July 17, 2014, two New York police officers approached forty-three-year-old Eric
Garner, as he stood on a Staten Island sidewalk, accused of selling untaxed cigarettes. In a widely circulated video, Eric Garner was seen being arrested by police. Garner was unarmed at the time and provided little resistance to officers attempting to handcuff him. In a sudden burst of violence, he was put into a chokehold, taken to the ground forcibly, and was restrained by police until he lost consciousness. Garner suffered from asphyxiation and went into cardiac arrest.
Throughout the ordeal, Garner could be heard saying, “I can’t breathe” (Wheeler). He states this phrase eleven times, while officers subdue and surround him. A Staten Island grand jury decided not to charge the officers involved and the city reacted with numerous protests and demonstrations. The video evidence documents the struggling voice of Garner as he lays on the ground, in a chokehold and being stood on. The family and the city eventually reached a $5.9 million settlement. Yet again, another incident of police brutality is resolved with a paycheck to the family and no real institutional change or justice
With a YouTube video that has garnered over 3 million views, the Eric Garner incident has gone viral. The use of video cameras by bystanders and the subsequent publishing of these tapes by the media highlighted the circumstances, in which Eric Garner was forcibly arrested and murdered in public. This serves as another case where the police are able to utilize force and
29 claim fear and also police tactics were necessary. Additionally, the chokehold, which was used on Eric Garner was a prohibited action by the New York Police Department (Goodman). The medical examiner ruled that the chokehold and compression to the chest was the cause of
Garner’s death and ruled it a homicide (Wheeler). However, justice was only served through the the media’s blasting of the NYPD’s hushed investigation and flawed policies.
In research gathered by Kelly Weill in The New Republic, it was found that individuals using IP addresses from the New York Police Department were making edits to Wikipedia pages. This might seem like a regular occurrence, especially if the department is updating their own page or information. However, the findings were that the changes coming from the NYPD were on Wikipedia entries on “acts of brutality by the YPD” (Weill). For example, the Wikipedia page for Eric Garner was altered to change the word “chokehold” to “respiratory distress,” downplaying the brutality of the incident. Additionally, the NYPD editor pointed out that chokeholds were actually legal in New York, which is indeed correct. However, this individual did not point out that “the Use of Force rules outlined in the NYPD Patrol Guide have banned the asphyxiating restraint technique since 1993” (Smith). Additionally, the page was edited from describing Garner as raising “both his arms in the air,” to a hostile phrase stating, “Garner flailed his arms about as he spoke” (Weill).
This rewriting of history wasn’t limited to just Garner, it also happened to Amadou
Diallo. On the Wikipedia page documenting the murder of Diallo, an NYPD IP address altered
“Officer Kenneth Boss had been previously involved in an incident where an unarmed man was shot,” to read, “Officer Kenneth Boss had been previously involved in an incident where an armed man was shot (Emphasis added)” (Weill). In the end, the NYPD has confirmed that there were at least two officers who were involved in the editing of these pages; however, they
30 declined to identify them. The NYPD has continued to struggle with its image, even with a recent incident, involving tennis professional James Blake. In a false identification of an identification thief, an officer rushed and body-slammed Blake outside of Manhattan’s Grand
Hyatt Hotel. The incident was caught on camera and has served as an embarrassing lesson for the officer, James Frascatore, and the police department plagued by questionable identifications in the past and decisions overall.
Oscar Grant
Traveling back to Oakland, where Gary King, Jr. was murdered, another infamous incident in the media, was the killing of Oscar Grant on January 1, 2009. As mentioned in the introduction, the death of Grant and the manner in which it was documented set a precedent like no other in the following years. The cellphone images and videos show an unarmed Black male, face down on the ground, with his hands behind his back. What happens next is a gunshot that ends Grant’s life (Jack). As with every other case outlined above, the officer, Johannes Mehserle, faced a two-year sentence, nearly half of the time served, in addition to Grant’s daughter receiving the settlement of $1.5 million. This is the common procedure with these public incidents: the incident occurs and a settlement, in attempts to prevent a long trial process, is reached (Blaisdell et al.).
The aftermath of the Grant murder was immediate outrage. In yet another instance, the media’s ability to spread the videos and images of the whole incident further incited reactions.
Protestors took to the streets of Oakland and nearly rioted for hours. The individuals most involved in this protest were particularly young Black men, “who feel they are unfair targets of the police” (Blaisdell et al.). In Oakland, history demonstrates that police brutality has been a recurring issue. The Black Panther Party was actually founded in Oakland, in response to the
31 desire to immediately end police harassment and brutality in the community. Whether it was the four corrupt officers, known as the “Rough Riders” or the forced oversight of the police department by a district judge, there have been numerous instances of issues in Oakland.
However, the narrative that we see in Oakland is not new or unique. It is a narrative that has occurred since the arrival of Blacks as slaves in America is a narrative that has become the culture behind many of the laws and policies set in place.
Trayvon Martin
Moving forward a few years and closer South, the incident of Trayvon Martin truly brought the question of police brutality to the forefront of the media. In a nearly identical situation as the aforementioned incidents, Trayvon Martin faced a similar fate. On February 26,
2012, at around 7:00PM, Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman. This incident occurred in Sanford, Florida, just a few hours away from Gainesville and the University of
Florida. This encounter occurred when Martin was returning to his father’s home after going to a convenience store. Martin was wearing a hoodie and was armed with only a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea. George Zimmerman was neighborhood watch volunteer and had called 911 to report Martin as “suspicious” (Jones-Brown et al.). While following Martin, they allegedly make eye contact and Martin begins to run away. When Zimmerman begins to follow him, the dispatcher tells him there is no need for him to follow. The details after that have been unclear; however, the results were than Martin ended up being shot in the chest at close range.
Zimmerman claimed self-defense and that he was being beaten. Following the incident, it took weeks before Zimmerman was arrested, due to the Florida Stand-Your-Ground law, which allowed individuals to use deadly force when there are perceived threats. Six weeks after the killing and due to massive media attention across the country, Zimmerman was charged with
32 second degree murder. In the end, George Zimmerman was acquitted; however, he kept in touch with the law through “multiple speeding violations and domestic violence involving a gun”
(Jones-Brown et al.). Through all of this, Zimmerman has not gone to jail and remains free.
Michael Brown
In the last thoroughly documented example, Michael Brown’s body lay still. For over four hours, the body of the unarmed eighteen-year-old lay on the hot Ferguson, Missouri, pavement. It was on the afternoon of August 9, 2014, when Michael Brown and another man were approached by officer Darren Wilson in a patrol car, after walking home from a convenience store. After the officer established contact with Brown, the story began to take multiple turns. It was said that as the officer exited his vehicle, there was a struggle with Brown and a shot was fired near the vehicle, indicated by the piercing in the door (Wheeler). After that,
Brown allegedly ran, while the officer followed, and then Brown allegedly stopped to face the officer, where he was then shot. Officer Wilson shot Brown a total of twelve times, which killed
Brown. A grand jury met and, as expected, Darren Wilson was not indicted for the death of
Brown.
As seen in all of the aforementioned cases, there is a similar scenario with a similar result. A Black man or woman is seen and said to be suspicious. Individuals of alleged authority investigate, only to feel threatened by their own prejudices and use deadly force as a justification for their prejudice. As Martinot describes, police officers are able to set the situation and narrate it however they please, while the lives of others hang in the balance. If the narrative isn’t clear from the law enforcement officials, the media does a great job of polarizing consumers into feeling sympathy for the officer who made a mistake and not the Black teen who had a violent past. To further perpetuate these notions, the media shows drastically different pictures for the
33 individuals, based on the circumstances.
There are numerous other deaths that would fit into the “police brutality” mold, as established by this analysis. The issue with these deaths is that most of them haven’t garnered the luck of drawing media attention. Similar to the failed attempts at Civil Rights demonstrations by
Dr. King in Albany, Georgia, these cases weren’t able to get the response or bring about the change that many of the families would and should have deserved. For that same reason, this analysis will also recognize many of the individuals that have been overlooked, due to the lack of media attention. The following individuals didn’t get their chance to be the landmark names:
1. January 1st 2015: Matthew Ajibade, 22, Savannah, GA, Death in custody. 2. January 5th 2015: Frank Smart, 39, Pittsburgh, PA, Death in custody. 3. January 6th 2015: Brian Pickett, 26, Los Angeles, CA, Taser. 4. January 7th 2015: Andre Murphy Sr, 42, Norfolk, NE, Death in custody. 5. January 8th 2015: Artago Howard, 36, Strong, AR, Gunshot. 6. January 26th 2015: Alvin Haynes, 57, San Francisco, CA, Death in custody. 7. February 3rd 2015: Natasha McKenna, 37, Fairfax, VA, Taser. 8. February 5th 2015: Jeremy Lett, 28, Tallahassee, FL, Gunshot. 9. February 21st 2015: Terry Price, 41, Tulsa, OK, Taser. 10. February 22nd 2015: Calvon Reid, 39, Coconut Creek, FL, Taser.. 11. March 1st 2015: Thomas Allen Jr, 34, St Louis, MO, Gunshot. 12. March 1st 2015: Charly ‘Africa’ Keunang, 43, Los Angeles, CA, Gunshot. 13. March 1st 2015: Darrell ‘Hubbard’ Gatewood, 47, Oklahoma City, OK, Taser. 14. March 6th 2015: Tony Robinson, 19, Madison, WI, Gunshot. 15. March 6th 2015: Naeschylus Vinzant, 37, Aurora, CO, Gunshot. 16. March 6th 2015: Bernard Moore, 62, Atlanta, GA, Struck by vehicle. 17. March 9th 2015: Anthony Hill, 27, Chamblee, GA, Gunshot. 18. March 10th 2015: Terrance Moxley, 29, Mansfield, OH, Taser. 19. March 12th 2015: Jonathan Paul, 42, Arlington, TX, Death in custody. 20. March 17th 2015: Askari Roberts, 35, Rome, GA, Taser. 21. March 19th 2015: Brandon Jones, 18, Cleveland, OH, Gunshot. 22. March 22nd 2015: Denzel Brown, 21, Bay Shore, NY, Gunshot. 23. March 30th 2015: Dominick Wise, 30, Culpeper, VA, Taser. 24. March 31st 2015: Phillip White, 32, Vineland, NJ, Death in custody. 25. April 2nd 2015: Donald ‘Dontay’ Ivy, 39, Albany, NY, Taser. 26. April 2nd 2015: Eric Harris, 44, Tulsa, OK, Gunshot. 27. April 4th 2015: Walter Scott, 50, North Charleston, SC, Gunshot. 28. April 12th 2015: Freddie Gray, 25, Baltimore, MD, Death in custody.
34 29. April 15th 2015: Frank ‘Trey’ Shephard III, 41, Houston, TX, Gunshot. 30. April 16th 2015: Darrell Brown, 31, Hagerstown, MD, Taser. 31. April 19th 2015: Norman Cooper, 33, San Antonio, TX, Taser. 32. April 21st 2015: Samuel Harrell, 30, Beacon, NY, Death in custody. 33. April 22nd 2015: William Chapman II, 18, Portsmouth, VA, Gunshot. 34. April 25th 2015: David Felix, 24, New York, NY, Gunshot. 35. April 28th 2015: Bryan Overstreet, 30, Sylvester, GA, Struck by vehicle. 36. May 6th 2015: Brendon Glenn, 29, Los Angeles, CA, Gunshot. 37. May 6th 2015: Nuwnah Laroche, 34, Ridgefield Park, NJ, Struck by vehicle. 38. May 6th 2015: Jason Champion, 41, Ridgefield Park, NJ, Struck by vehicle. 39. May 8th 2015: Sam Holmes, 31, Fridley, MN, Gunshot. 40. May 13th 2015: Lorenzo Hayes, 37, Spokane, WA, Death in custody. 41. May 31st 2015: Curtis Jordan, 45, Huntsville, AL, Death in custody. 42. May 31st 2015: Richard Davis, 50, Rochester, NY, Taser. 43. June 8th 2015: Ross Anthony, 25, Dallas, TX, Taser. 44. June 13th 2015: Alan Williams, 47, Greenville, SC, Struck by vehicle. 45. June 15th 2015: Kris Jackson, 22, South Lake Tahoe, CA, Gunshot. 46. June 16th 2015: Jermaine Benjamin, 42, Vero Beach, FL, Death in custody. 47. June 20th 2015: Kevin Bajoie, 32, Baton Rouge, LA, Taser. 48. June 25th 2015: Spencer McCain, 41, Owings Mills, MD, Gunshot. 49. July 1st 2015: Kevin Judson, 24, McMinnville, OR, Gunshot. 50. July 8th 2015: Jonathan Sanders, 39, Stonewall, MS, Death in custody. 51. July 11th 2015: George Mann, 53, Stone Mountain, GA, Taser. 52. July 12th 2015: Salvado Ellswood, 36, Plantation, FL, Gunshot. 53. July 17th 2015: Albert Davis, 23, Orlando, FL, Gunshot. 54. July 17th 2015: Darrius Stewart, 19, Memphis, TN, Gunshot. 55. July 19th 2015: Samuel Dubose, 43, Cincinnati, OH, Gunshot. 56. August 6th 2015: Troy Robinson, 33, Decatur, GA, Taser. 57. August 7th 2015: Christian Taylor, 19, Arlington, TX, Gunshot. 58. August 14th 2015: Asshams Manley, 30, District Heights, MD, Gunshot. 59. August 28th 2015: Felix Kumi, 61, Mount Vernon, NY, Gunshot. 60. August 31st 2015: James Carney III, 48, Cincinnati, OH, Taser. 61. September 5th 2015: India Kager, 28, Virginia Beach, VA, Gunshot. 62. September 7th 2015: Wayne Wheeler, 41, Detroit, MI, Other. 63. September 23rd 2015: Keith McLeod, 19, Reisterstown, MD, Gunshot. 64. September 28th 2015: Junior Prosper, 31, North Miami, FL, Gunshot. 65. October 17th 2015: Paterson Brown Jr, 18, Midlothian, VA, Gunshot. 66. October 17th 2015: Rayshaun Cole, 30, Chula Vista, CA, Gunshot. 67. October 27th 2015: Anthony Ashford, 29, San Diego, CA, Gunshot. 68. November 11th 2015: Michael Marshall, 50, Denver, CO, Death in custody. 69. November 15th 2015: Jamar Clark, 24, Minneapolis, MN, Gunshot. 70. November 19th 2015: Nathaniel Pickett, 29, Barstow, CA, Gunshot. 71. December 8th 2015: Miguel Espinal, 36, Yonkers, NY, Gunshot.
35 72. December 20th 2015: Leroy Browning, 30, Palmdale, CA, Gunshot. 73. December 23rd 2015: Kevin Matthews, 35, Detroit, MI, Gunshot. 74. December 26th 2015: Bettie Jones, 55, Chicago, IL, Gunshot. 75. December 31st 2015: Keith Childress Jr, 23, Las Vegas, NV, Gunshot.
The above list is a “list of unarmed Black people killed by police” in the United States in
2015. The names were collected through a project, entitled “The Counted,” which was spearheaded by The Guardian (Swaine et al.). According to the Guardian, the project keeps track of these deaths “with traditional reporting on police reports and witness statements, by monitoring regional news outlets, research groups and open-source reporting projects such as the websites Fatal Encounters and Killed by Police” (Swaine et al.).
In Martinot’s work, he lists other individuals who faced similar fates over the past years.
Some of these individuals include Alan Blueford, Chavis Carter (August 1, 2012), Mario
Romero (September 2, 2012), Sean Bell (November 25, 2006), Marshall Tobin (July 5, 2012),
Ascension Herrera (July 9, 2012), Jared Huey (July 3, 2012), Derrick Gaiens (June 5, 2012),
Darius Kennedy (August 11, 2012), Tyisha Miller, Ramarley Gragam, Kenneth Chamberlain,
Karen Jackson, Kenneth Harding, DeJuan Colbert, Edgar Alvarez, Troy Davis, Jonathan Ferrell,
Jason Harrison, John Crawford III, Tamir Rice, Levar Jones, among many others.
With the information provided before, it is clear that Blacks have experienced the short end of the stick, when it comes justice. The gavel hits hard for the white; however, it taps softly for the colored. From the manipulation of Black history in the times of slavery to the manipulation of modern media on Wikipedia pages, the connection of racism and racial tension to the past is still as strong as it was hundreds of years ago. With the documentation and analysis of the various cases that have happened recently, it is now appropriate to evaluate tangible data that examines some of the contact that African Americans have had with law enforcement officials, without being killed.
36 Police Contact Data
Figure 1 represents a pie chart dissemination of the variable “race recode” in the PPCS.
In examining the dataset, race recode was broken down into numerous races and ethnicities, especially when mixed. However, many of the mixed race categories were too small of a sample to become significant and were excluded in certain areas of the analysis. Race is significant in this study because it is the primary independent variable, unless cross tabulated with others, in attempted to examine how minorities feel after interacting with police officers. With race we find that there were 51,454 White respondents and 6,574 Black respondents.
Figure 1: Race Recode
In addition to examining the breakdown of race, within the total population, the data is further broken down in Figure 2. This figure outlines the percentage of females and males, who are also a member of the White or Black race recode category. The data presented below will also examine how gender and race play roles in the satisfaction received from police officers.
37
Figure 2: Race Recode/Crosstabulation Sex
With those specific statistics presented, the next avenue of analysis is looking deeper into how race plays into satisfaction, along with gender. The PPCS provides over 500 variables to select for; however, Figure 3 demonstrates a crosstabulation between the variable “Police
Behave Properly, Sex, and Race Recode.” With this crosstabulation, race recode is placed in the columns, while behave properly is placed in the row category. With alternative explanations and other variables possibly interfering with the final percentage, the variable sex is set as the control. In the bottom line percentage, it is noted that 90.4% of Whites felt that the police officer behaved properly. In contrast, 86.5% of Blacks felt that the police officer behaved properly in their interaction. Although this data isn’t necessarily too significant, it begins to show the trend that exists many instances that are added up.
In addition, Figure 3 and 4 demonstrate the ultimate results of this study. Figure 4 examines a crosstabulation between “Treated Respectfully by Police, Sex and Race Recode.”
This crosstabulation is formatted similarly to that of Figure 3. Sex is used as a control variable when analyzing African Americans and treatment by police. In this crosstabulation, the overall sample response results in 92% of Whites feeling that police treated them with respect and only
5.8% feeling they were treated disrespectfully. Again, African Americans are on the lower end with 83.2% feeling the police treated them with respect and 15.8% feeling disrespected.
Analyzing the data further, 78.6% of African American males felt they were treated with respect
38 in contrast to the significantly higher 90.5% for White males. With regards to African American females, the disparity is not as large, with 86.8% feeling they were treated respectfully. For
White females, 93.5% were treated respectfully. In this crosstabulation, the conclusion can further be drawn that African Americans feel that police behavior is worse towards them, in addition to the level of respect. However, this isn’t conclusive.
Figure 3: Police Behavior/Sex/Race Recode
39
Figure 4: Respect/Sex/Race Recode
The final figure of analysis is Figure 5, which analyzes respondents’ satisfaction with the police response. The crosstabulation for this figure was done utilizing the variables “Satisfied
With Police Response, Sex, and Race Recode.” This crosstabulation shows that African
Americans again are on the lower end of the positive relationship statistics. In regards to satisfaction with police response, 81.6% of African Americans were satisfied and 17.9% were not. In contrast, 85.8% of whites were satisfied with the police response and 13.5% were not.
With gender as a fact we can see that the largest disparity is, again, found between African
American males, at 79.4% satisfaction, in comparison to the 86.1% satisfaction of White males.
40 Figure 5: Satisfaction Police/Sex/Race Recode
Conclusion and Future Research
In the end, the results demonstrate that police contact is often less satisfactory for African
Americans than for Whites. The data collected revealed interesting aspects of this conclusion.
The disparities between males and females Is large enough to conclude that there may be an
external reason for that. African American respondents experience police who behave less
properly, treat them with less respect, and satisfy them at percentages lower than police do for
White males and females.
41 In regards to the analysis of individual deaths, due to police brutality, the nature of social media is the true impetus for social action and change. Among the many incidents that have occurred, the most notable in the media, including Rodney King, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo,
Gary King, Jr., Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin have, to an extent, led to tangible change. This change has come in the form of revised officer training, new regulations, revision of laws and statutes, improved communication, financial settlements, among others. The historical context of police brutality in the early English settlements and the
Civil Rights era took shake in the form of slave codes and Jim Crow laws. One significant thing that weakened slavery and Jim Crow, on the surface level at least, was through the publicity of the horrific incidents through media. This shock to Americans and the world, such as through the use of dogs and fire hoses on fellow Americans was the impetus for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The historical context parallels modern day media importance, and the impact of media continues to grow, with the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement and varying social activist groups.
The literature on this topic has become somewhat extensive. However, the main focus moving forward, for this research should be on centralizing reporting procedures. With the
PPCS, it is a fairly accurate dataset; however, it doesn’t directly serve as a dataset to understand the details with race and police contact, beyond the surface details. Large databases by the FBI and federal government often collect data; however, this data can’t directly connect race and race relations to police misconduct (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In addition, many of the current sources of information suffer from a lack of reporting. For example, many federal statistic databases analyzing murders only receive reported murders from states that choose to participate. Not every state chooses to participate in these studies, which leads to inconclusive
42 data. In fact, media outlets, such as the Guardian, have created databases of individuals that have been killed by police in the America. May of the police departments also don’t have to report their data. A possible solution could be to work with these entities and also Our lack of definitive research on police brutality, especially in the aftermath of recent high profile incidents, should be the impetus for action (Harvard Law Review).
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