For this post I want to bring to light the reality of racial
profiling. I want to show how often people of color end up killed, injured
and/or profiled simply because of what they look like on the outside. The following
is a list of unarmed African American people that have been killed by the
police in 2014-2015 alone. Some of the people that are mentioned are ones that
have been publicized in news outlets, and social media such as, Eric Garner.
Others are some that we have never heard about yet they have been victims of
the system.
April 30, 2014: Dontre
Hamilton from Milwaukee was shot 14 times by a police officer. The police
had been called to the scene because allegedly he was disturbing the peace.
Hamilton had been previously diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The first officer
that arrived on the scene decided that he wasn’t doing anything illegal.
However, the second officer—Christopher Manney showed up, attempted to pat
Hamilton down and engaged in a struggle that ultimately ended in the shooting. –officer
was not charged
July 17, 2014: Eric
Garner from New York was put in an illegal chokehold for 15 seconds by a
white police officer, Eric repeated “I can’t breathe” 11 times as he was held
down by several police officers. ---- Officer Daniel Pantaleo was not charged
August 5, 2014 John
Crawford iii from Dayton, Ohio was shot and killed by police officer
outside of a Walmart. –officers Sean Williams and David Darkow were not charged
August 9, 2014: Michael
Brown Jr. from Ferguson, Missouri was shot and killed by a Ferguson police
officer. –Officer Wilson was not charged
August 11, 2014: Ezell
Ford from Florence California was a mentally ill. He was shot three times,
once in the back, by a white police officer. –so far no charges have been
filled against officers Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas.
August 12, 2014: Dante
Parker from Victorville, California died in police custody after being
repeatedly stunned by a Taser in San Bernardino County –so far no charges filed
November 13, 2014: Tanisha
Anderson from Cleveland died after officers allegedly slammed her had on
the pavement while taking her into custody –so far no charges filed
November 20, 2014: Akai
Gurley form Brooklyn, New York was shot and killed in a dimly lit New York
City public housing –Officer Peter Liang was charged with second-degree manslaughter,
criminally negligent homicide, second-degree assault, reckless endangerment and
two counts of official misconduct.
November 22, 2014: Tamir
Rice form Cleveland was shot and killed by Cleveland police after his toy
gun was mistaken for a real weapon—no charges filed
December 2, 2014: Rumain
Brisbon from Phoenix, Arizona was shot and killed after officer mistook a
pill bottle for a weapon –no charges filed
December 30, 2014: Jerame
Reid form Bridgeton, New Jersey was shot and killed after his friend was
pulled over. He stepped out of the car hands in the air yet police still opened
fire –officers were placed on administrative leave with pay, no charges have
been filed
March 6, 2015: Tony
Robinson from Madison Wisconsin was shot three times and killed by officer
--so far no charges have been filed
March 31, 2015: Phillip
White from Vineland, New Jersey died in police custody –charges have not been
filed
April 2, 2015: Eric Harris form Tulsa Oklahoma was shot
after the officer mistook his firearm for his Taser. – Officer Robert Bates was
charged with Manslaughter
April 4, 2015: Walter
Scott from North Charleston, South Carolina was shot by an officer after trying
to run away form a traffic stop for a broken taillight. The officer claimed
that Scott had taken his stun gun, video showed Scott running away with his
back to the officer as Officer fired his gun. – Officer Slager was fired and
charged with murder.
April 19, 2015: Freddie
Gray from Baltimore died of a spinal cord injury a week after he was
arrested by Baltimore police. His injury occurred after he was placed in a
police van. –officers involved were criminally charged in connection with Gray’s
homicide.
List collected form Buzz
Feed News (May 1, 2015)
Over the course of a year 15 people were killed by police
and that is only the individuals that were collected by Buzz Feed News. This list
only includes the individuals who have had some sort of investigation to their
death. Furthermore, this only include a list of African American people
and therefore, it excludes Latinos, Native American Indians, Asians, Muslims,
and other groups that always seem to “fit the description” when it comes to
crime in the U.S.. If a list were
compiled in which it included all these people I have no doubt that it would be
a very long list. Then you factor in periods of longer than a year and that
list would probably go on and on!
It is very upsetting
to see that out of these 15 individuals only 3 got justice. For the rest the
officers walked away with no charges. I can only assume that this would hold true
for other minority populations. He cause for these officers to shoot or attack
these 15 people was because they were of color and seemed like a danger Out of
the 15 only 4 are people that I have heard about. Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice,
Michael Brown Jr. and Eric Garner all fueled people to protest against the
injustice. It is perhaps that I have only heard about the deaths of these four
individuals because there were protests, and cases and people that were fed up
with the lack of justice for their deaths.
These four people were not the only ones that fired up the Baltimore
protest or Ferguson riots, in my opinion their deaths were the last drop that
that overfilled the glass. Had these individuals been white or living in a
society in which minority does not equal criminal, then there encounter with the
police would have ended differently.
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