Equal Rights Proposition Outline: Police Brutality towards African Americans 1 Equal Rights Proposition Outline: Police Brutality towards African Americans 5 Equal Rights Proposition Outline: Police Brutality towards African Americans Team C Derrick Jones Joseph Maestas July 23, 2019 Professor Rosalind Raby Week 3 Title: Equal Rights Proposition Outline: Police Brutality towards African AmericansA. Police Brutality Against African-Americans.a. Police brutality against African-Americans is not a new issue. It has been happening throughout history and needs to be stopped. Police brutality is prematurely ending and/or effecting the lives and communities of many African-Americans. b. This needless violence causes tremendous strain on the affected families mental and physical well-being, but also African-Americans as a whole. These actions bare the weight the United States history of violence against African-Americans and reflect the shortcomings of the criminal justice system. c. Whether the brutality is intentional or not, it sends out the message that police does not value the health, well-being, and lives of African-Americans. This is not a message that should be sent and police brutality against African American must be stopped at all costs. B. Issues, challenges, and opportunities experienced by this group in the labor forcea. Throughout history African-Americans have had a tough time in the labor force. There has been some progress, but unequal employment opportunities continue to be standard operating procedure for many African American men and women. b. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the African American unemployment rate is the lowest in history. However, they continue to face problems and challenges which are often imposed because of a lack of understanding or negative attitudes brought on racial biases although they possess the same or higher-level education than their counterparts. c. African-Americans must deal with being pushed into minority positions in meaningless jobs, not being given access to the same networks as their coworkers, working twice as hard for less wages, not being given the same opportunities for career advancements and promotion, and various other forms of discrimination.C. How society has constructed this group's identitya. The African American population in this country has always been a minority. African Americans started out in this country as slaves, and even with the abolishment of slavery and the civil rights movement, society still perceives this group as less than. b. African-Americans are seen to be associated with drugs since many of this minority live in impoverished areas where drugs are abundant. In recent years, there has been a significant focus on African-Americans and the criminal justice system and police brutality (Taylor, 2013). c. Society uses the “War on drugs” as an excuse for overtly racist behavior by law enforcement (Taylor, 2013). Today’s society associate ...

1. Equal Rights Proposition Outline: Police Brutality towards
African Americans
1
Equal Rights Proposition Outline: Police Brutality towards
African Americans
5
Equal Rights Proposition Outline: Police Brutality towards
African Americans
Team C
Derrick Jones
Joseph Maestas
July 23, 2019
Professor Rosalind Raby
Week 3
Title: Equal Rights Proposition Outline: Police Brutality
towards African AmericansA. Police Brutality Against African-
Americans.a. Police brutality against African-Americans is not
a new issue. It has been happening throughout history and needs
to be stopped. Police brutality is prematurely ending and/or
effecting the lives and communities of many African-
Americans. b. This needless violence causes tremendous strain
on the affected families mental and physical well-being, but
also African-Americans as a whole. These actions bare the
weight the United States history of violence against African-

2. Americans and reflect the shortcomings of the criminal justice
system. c. Whether the brutality is intentional or not, it sends
out the message that police does not value the health, well-
being, and lives of African-Americans. This is not a message
that should be sent and police brutality against African
American must be stopped at all costs. B. Issues, challenges,
and opportunities experienced by this group in the labor forcea.
Throughout history African-Americans have had a tough time in
the labor force. There has been some progress, but unequal
employment opportunities continue to be standard operating
procedure for many African American men and women. b.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the African
American unemployment rate is the lowest in history. However,
they continue to face problems and challenges which are often
imposed because of a lack of understanding or negative
attitudes brought on racial biases although they possess the
same or higher-level education than their counterparts. c.
African-Americans must deal with being pushed into minority
positions in meaningless jobs, not being given access to the
same networks as their coworkers, working twice as hard for
less wages, not being given the same opportunities for career
advancements and promotion, and various other forms of
discrimination.C. How society has constructed this group's
identitya. The African American population in this country has
always been a minority. African Americans started out in this
country as slaves, and even with the abolishment of slavery and
the civil rights movement, society still perceives this group as
less than. b. African-Americans are seen to be associated with
drugs since many of this minority live in impoverished areas
where drugs are abundant. In recent years, there has been a
significant focus on African-Americans and the criminal justice
system and police brutality (Taylor, 2013). c. Society uses the
“War on drugs” as an excuse for overtly racist behavior by law
enforcement (Taylor, 2013). Today’s society associates African-
Americans with being criminals and drug dealers, this is
unfortunate since no matter what nationality, there are good and

3. evil in each group. In society, this mentality is not exhibit by
everyone of course, but many people have never overcome the
unfortunate actions and beliefs of the past.D. Legal
Frameworka. The way the criminal justice system is set up has a
tremendous impact on police brutality. It has been stated that a
police officer’s behavior is heavily influenced by “the formal
organizational structure”. A police officer’s behavior may also
be influenced by the system of ‘incentives and disincentives’
and the ‘rules and regulations. (Maguire and Duffee p.155). Due
to this, any police officer who has certain organizational styles
and certain culture within the organization are more likely to
react to situations in a more aggressive style. This is evident in
places like Los Angeles. The LAPD's 'assertive style of law
enforcement' is a reason for 'aggressive confrontations within
the public'. This has been traced to a professional organizational
culture that has been cultivated by LAPD’s administration.
Officers in LAPD are rewarded for hard-nosed enforcement that
is likely to (occasionally) produce arrests and (often) bring
police into conflict with citizen" (Maguire and Duffee p.158).
b. This idea of police organization operating within the law and
rewarding the officers for using specific tactics has it rewards.
It has been stated that officers can use weaknesses within the
rules to behave more aggressively whenever necessary. c. Police
brutality has been extrapolated towards African Americans
because of the rise in population in the inner cities. If the
LAPD’s insight is accurate, and they feel the need to have
police brutality, then it shouldn’t only affect African Americans
in inner cities. Not saying that people in general should become
brutalized, however why does one category of people feel the
worse wraths when it comes to law enforcement? If this is the
case, then a strong police culture reform is necessary to change
the mentality of police officers.
E. Summary of existing or proposed solutions for the same
problem but focusing on differing groups. Consider the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, corporate human
resource departments, state or federal laws and regulations,

4. political strategies, government agencies, religious groups, and
grass roots organizations.
a. State or federal laws and regulations. There are rules and
regulations in which the police need to follow I order to do their
jobs based off the information they are given. When an officer
decides to let stereotyping and prejudice get in the way, he then
turns his back on what he swore to do and takes the law into his
own hands. In a study done by the U.S. Department of Justice, it
was found that officers of all races felt the same in the way they
did their job to serve and protect (U.S. Department of Justice,
2000). Law enforcement officers are not above the law, their
job is to abide by rules to enforce it. When an officer arrests
someone there are guidelines in which they need to follow
(FindLaw, 2017)
i. The officer personally observed a crime;
ii. The officer has probable cause to believe that person arrested
committed a crime
iii. The officer has an arrest warrant issued by a judge.
b. The Conciliation Approach. The U.S. Department of Justice
put out a handbook to combat the use of excessive force by the
police. It is in this handbook that many terms are used like
conciliation, bridge-building, and community cultural diversity
training. In this report, A Conciliation Handbook for the Police
and The Community, the Conciliation Approach is when
community leaders and a police hierarchy communicate to
resolve issues within the community (U.S. Department of
Justice, 2002). The handbook also talks about the police
department being more active in the communities they serve.
c. Grass roots organizations. With every case of police brutality
against an African American, the United States becomes more
hostile. There have multiple cases where an African American
has beaten badly or killed by the hand of the police whether it
was intentional or on accident, these incidents need to be
brought to light. Grass root organizations are a collective action
that helps change local, regional, or at a national level. Leaders
like Dr. MLK and Malcom X were considered grass root

5. organizers.
i. A grass roots organization called We Charge Genocide out of
Chicago went to the United Nations Committee Against Torture
to discuss the growing problem of The Chicago Police
Department and their abuse towards youth of color (Graef,
2014). In this report, Erbentraut explains the high percentages
of police issues that involve excessive force and even death
(Erbentraut, 2014).
F. Does Police Brutality against African Americans exist in
other Countries?
a. Herein the United States Police Brutality is common,
especially towards blacks. Historical evidence of public
harming of black bodies by police dates to slavery, when police
disciplined blacks and recaptured those who escaped slavery
(Alang, McAlpine, McCreedy & Hardeman, 2017).
b. Police brutality that blacks are facing goes beyond physical
force but includes emotional, sexual, verbal and psychological
intimidation (Alang et al., 2017). Police Brutality is not only
prevalent in the U.S but, France as well. The French Police has
a reputation for using excessive force against African
Americans.
c. In February of 2017, a young black man by the name of Theo
was assaulted by three police officers and raped by another
police officer. When the police officers asked Theo for his ID
and after resisting, he was forced to the ground and beaten
(“French police brutality in spotlight again after officer charged
with rape,” 2017). This is not the first incident of police
brutality in France. A year before Theo incident another black
man died after being arrested for interfering in his brother’s
arrest. Family members stated that Traore entered the police car
alive but found dead at the station (Madhuri, 2016).
d. The people in the community and most African Americans are
not taking this lightly; they are fighting for justice. The
protesters have set cars on fire and attempting to set buildings
on fire. The government is silent towards these deaths. The
police officers deny any allegations and are usually suspended

6. but eventually start back working as an officer.
G. The team's compromise or alternative to existing solutions
a. It has been stated we have come to agree that police
brutality has been an issue of the past and is still current in our
day and age. Facts have produced that African American males
are the sole priority when it comes to police brutality. We all
agree that there is an underlining issue and better results need
to take place to control the situation.
b. As children growing up, we were taught that any type of
law enforcement was there to protect and serve. As children we
looked up to police officers because they were brave enough to
fight crime and protect everyone who needed protecting. Now
we are all afraid!
c. We are afraid of being misunderstood and fearful of our
lives, which can possibly be taken by the hands of someone who
were supposed to protect and serve us. On the flip side all
policemen and women are not bad. However; when we refer to
police brutality, we are only referring to the bad apples in the
barrel.
d. We all know that all African American males aren’t good
guys but we aren’t talking about those bad apples either. When
we mention police brutality we talk about the unfair and the
unjust.
H. Conclusion
A. Even though police brutality does not only affect African
Americans, social media and the society portrays images to
make everyone believe otherwise. The daily issues and
challenges African Americans are faced with at work, in the
community and in schools are still a problem that has not fully
been dealt with.
B. Also, the legal framework that’s put into action barely
protects an individual’s rights. In other countries police
brutality exist as well towards African Americans. As a society
in order to get the change and respect that is well deserved, we
all need to play our part and take responsibility for our own
actions. It’s not right to be brutalized for no apparent reason;

7. however, we need to make sure that the laws “just Cause”
actions are a result for real crimes that need law enforcement to
act for.
References
Alang, S., McAlpine, D., McCreedy, E., & Hardeman, R.
(2017). Police Brutality and Black
Health: Setting the Agenda for Public Health Scholars.
American Journal of Public Health, 107(5), 662–665.
http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303691
Erbentraut, J. (2014, September). We Charge Genocide Report
On Chicago Police Violence. Retrieved from
https://www.scribd.com/doc/244146320/We-Charge-Genocide-
Report-On-Chicago-Police-
Violence?content=10079&campaign=Skimbit%2C+Ltd.&ad_gro
up=&keyword=ft500noi&source=impactradius&medium=affiliat
e&irgwc=1
Graef, J. (2014, Nov. 8). Chicago Grassroots Organization
Presents Report To U.N. Torture Committee About Chicago
Police Brutality. Retrieved from
http://chicagoist.com/2014/11/08/chicago_grassroots_organizati
on_pre.php
Maguire, E. R. (Ed.), Duffee, D. E. (Ed.). (2015). Criminal
Justice Theory. New York:
Routledge.
Taylor, C. (2013, April). African-Americans, Police Brutality,
and the U.S. Criminal Justice
System. Journal of African American History, 98(2),
U.S. Department of Justice. (2002). A CONCILIATION

8. HANDBOOK FOR THE. Retrieved from
https://www.justice.gov/archive/crs/pubs/pdexcess.pdf