The term "Police Brutality"

On Friday October 16, 2015 America Blog posted a blog titled Why I Don’t use the term“Police Brutality.” The blog was written by Raghav Sharma, he is a writer, filmmaker, and political activist studying at the University of Pittsburgh. He writes on electoral and campaign finance issues, foreign policy, and economic affairs. Sharma talks about how police violence might be a tired topic that is important and must be discussed.

There are many examples in the readings that Sharma gives to show the effect of police brutality on citizens. There is a video included that is very graphic showing a man being tased while he is restrained in a chair slowly dying. Another example Sharma shows us is the Chicago Police department who hid detainees captive for no good reasons in a warehouse, similar to the CIA black site, illegally.

Sharma mentions many times that those wearing blue (Police officers) are here to serve and protect. But, Sharma makes a good statement once he starts talking about a pattern of violence towards a disadvantaged minority group (Black Americans).  An organization called, “Black Lives Matter” has been put together to help protect this minority group from being beaten by police officers for most the time having no good reasoning.

Sharma says, “Americans must confront the fact that what we call police brutality has a more appropriate name: state-sanctioned terror.” This is the sad truth, we should not be afraid of the people who are suppose to help us by protecting not only our country but every citizen with in it.

Sharma’s concluded his blog by stating that our legal system is controlled to protect the criminals, we should expect to see more of these “state-sanctioned terrors” on those at home; though this is sad to hear it is correct.

As of today, Friday October 2, 2015 The New York Times published an opinionated article titled, “The Political Ritual After Mass Shooting” by The Editorial Board. After the shooting massacre that occurred this past Thursday at an Oregon Community College, the republican candidates only gave condolences to the families and community who lost loved ones, nothing more. As for president Barrack Obama made clear this should be a political issue and he would not stop addressing the issue until everyone can come to an agreement of having more Gun Laws being passed. The editorial board made clear this topic is a huge concern and should be focused on which I completely agree upon.

 With presidential campaigns growing, this topic will be the main talk. But from the editorial board point of view, they noticed a changing of topics from gun massacre to “another mental health problem” coming from mostly republican politicians, including Donald Trump. Though, as well said on the article, the fact about guns being purchased in stores is so much simpler, it does not matter if those are mentally ill or not. The sad reality is how often shooting spree is occurring in the United States.

Included in the article were analysts findings over a 13-year study period were there was a 10 percent rise from 2000-2006 to 2007-2013 of shooting spree happenings. They also found that the gunmen have been observing passed shooting sprees and the fame of those who have murdered multiples at a time. Having this information in the article is clear that there is not talk about gun control, but after many more incidents occurring this has become a big controversial issue.

As for some of the democratic presidential candidates, this issue is being talked about with a more serious view such as greater gun safety from candidate Hillary Rodham. As for another candidate, Bernie Sanders, who is proud to support Obama’s outline on more gun laws. The letter comes to an end with the editorial board coming back to republican candidates sending sympathy to families but to also solve the solution to this major problem of shooting sprees and gun control.