Describe The Connection Between Racism And Policing (Essay Sample)

RACISM & POLICING
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Racism and Policing
One of the issues of concern in the recent times has been racism in the police. The various police departments have been in the spotlight for purportedly targeting the black population as compared to their white counterparts. Different groups have become vocal about this issue, each of the supporting this stand or opposing it. Conflicting narratives have emerged after reports were made on cases of unarmed citizens being mishandled, brutalized, or even shot by the police. This year, the US has experienced two waves of groups: those concerned about how the police have been treating the minorities especially the African Americans, and those justifying the actions of the police. From the various cases that have been seen throughout the years, there has been some bias on how the police have been dealing with the minority groups. Only this year after the shooting of two unarmed African Americans, people took up to the street in a countrywide protest dubbed ‘Black Lives Matter.'
The main reason why this issue has become so prominent has been the fact that the different researchers have presented evidence that counters what the rest of the public have observed in the media. One such Research is one by a Harvard economist, Roland Fryer who concluded that although African American people were more likely to be harassed by the police, they were not more likely to be shot (Fryer, 2016). The evaluation of this report is based on self-reported data from police departments selected within the US. Another controversial report was made by Ted Miller who stated that minorities were no more likely than the white people to be harassed, mishandled or shot during a stop or arrest by the police (Almendrala & Schumaker, 2016). These two examples are little theories and their reporting to the public is reckless and out of context to previous cases or other experts in the field. As such, this research has caused the uproar si...