BY STUDENT
The United States has a notorious history of treating minorities as less than equal. The sad truth is that after all these years, some people still see only two divisions: white or people of color. If you fit into the latter category, you are suddenly not an individual, but merely part of a stereotype of “your people.” This kind of segregation enveloped African-Americans in the United States for generations. But it doesn’t stop there. It stretches to Latinos, Asians, Indians, etc. Why is it that the color of your skin makes you more susceptible to being seen as a criminal? Why is it that when a white person massacres a crowd, it’s not seen as nefarious as when a black person does anything at all? Why is it that a white man can plead “mental illness” but a black man is a “thug,” a “gangster,” even if he is innocent? In this blog post I argue that blacks and Latinos share the common experiences of criminalization, and this can be seen in areas of Los Angeles, California.
Police brutality, especially towards African-Americans, is one of the most prevalent topics as of recent times in the U.S., with cases such as those of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, and Eric Garner. These men have died due to severe police brutality. “Many law enforcement officials flouted the constitutional rights of black criminal suspects, posing a constant threat to innocent bystanders while simultaneously encouraging disrespect for law and order among everyone” (Muhammad 2010). Some officers abuse their power, instead of protecting and serving as they should. Racial profiling is also a very real thing— the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. African-Americans and Latinos get racially profiled often.
As of 2015, Latinos outnumber whites in California. California and Los Angeles have the largest Latino populations of any state or county in the nation (Panzar 2015). In 1995, thirty-six percent of those arrested in California were Latino. Many people mistake gang culture for the larger Latino culture due to the way the news and entertainment media portray them— as troubled youths or ones who need to be steered in the right direction. Californians feared that streets would be overrun by menacing gangbangers with shaved heads, tattoos and baggy pants. These are ridiculous stereotypes, ones that also follow African-Americans. “Past and current incidents of police brutality reinforce these misconceptions by buttressing the idea that Latinos are either wildly overrepresented in the ranks of criminals or disproportionately jailed by overzealous and racist cops, judges and juries” (Hayes-Bautista et al. 1996). This should not cloud over the fact that there are multitudes of blacks and Latinos in college, well-educated and flourishing. In 1996, there were nine times more Latinos in California’s colleges than in its prisons and jails. If you treat people like criminals and nothing else, eventually it gets harder to break out of that stereotype to the point that there is not even a slight attempt to. There is good and bad in every race, and viewing people from a myopic perspective will only do harm.
Works Cited:
Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2010.
Hayes-Bautista, David, and Gregory Rodriguez. "The Criminalization of the Latino Identity Makes Fighting Gangs That Much Harder." Los Angeles Times. Last modified September 15, 1996. http://articles.latimes.com/1996-09-15/opinion/op-44051_1_latino-identity.
Panzar, Javier. "It's Official: Latinos Now Outnumber Whites in California." Los Angeles Times. Last modified June 8, 2015. http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-census-latinos-20150708-story.html.
There seems to be such a higher amount of stories of police brutality when it comes to African Americans and also Latinos. You said "Some officers abuse their power, instead of protecting and serving as they should. Racial profiling is also a very real thing", which is completely true. Many officers do abuse their power because they know that the court will be on their side if need be. They look at citizens as below them, and then at Latino and African American citizens even below everyone else. It's really ridiculous and something has to be done about the stereotypes because like you said, these groups aren't being portrayed fairly.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved how you started this blog, the intro was very strong and had so many great points. Police brutality is very real and is in my eyes strongly based on race. I like the fact that you talked about how the media has an influence on how the African- American race and the Latino race is looked down upon. It shows that the news, tv shows, and many other media outlets feed into the stereotypes of these Non-White racial groups to scare people and make everyone fear us. I also loved the way you ended it on sort of a positive note, "This should not cloud over the fact that there are multitudes of blacks and Latinos in college, well-educated and flourishing", people forget that there are a lot of "minorities" doing the right thing and living above the stereotype.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post, especially considering all of the recent events involving police brutality. It was interesting to note the statistics on criminal activity in relation to the population demographics. I completely agree that racial profiling has been a persistent issue throughout time. I believe that the color of one's skin can be a determining factor, not only in interactions with police officers, but also considering how one is perceived on trial. Research by Blair, Judd, and Chapleau suggests that those with afrocentric more features are more likely to receive longer sensitive. Studies like this point to the weaknesses in the system a need for rectification.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you while reading this post I was able to relate it to my final paper because I wrote about the discrimination police officers have against Latinos and African Americans in the Bronx. I agree when you say that cops affiliate your way of being dressed to the type of person you are. We shouldn't be judged on our skin color or how many tattoos we have or the way our clothes look. I have seen many times mexican men being stopped because they fit the assumption of being in a gang because they have long hair and wear certain colors. Police need to stop racial profiling and use their authority for good instead of just picking on people that fit in a stereotype.
ReplyDeleteYou hit the spot with what you said about police brutality. Many police officers abuse they're power when their on the job. I think that it could be that even though they could possibly know its wrong they do it because they have a whole community of people that are behind them to defend them even if they clearly did the wrong thing. Its as if they think they have an unlimited amount of get out of jail free cards.
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