Handcuffs Won't Stop Them

On November 15, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 24-year-old Jamar Clark was fatally shot by police while they were arresting him. What has enraged the public is that witnesses report that he was not only handcuffed, but also bodily restrained by the police, and that he was not resisting when they shot and killed him. The police have denied these claims, and the video footage has been kept from the public.

The civil rights group ColorOfChange has made an online petition for the video to be released, and they have nearly received 70,000 signatures. Black Lives Matter and other supporting groups have been protesting in Minneapolis, and have made their rage known.

What is slightly different about this case, is that the U.S. Department of Justice is in fact investigating the incident. Hopefully this incident will be properly dealt with and rectified as best as it can be.

When things like this happen, it's always upsetting to realize how easy it is for the police officers to go off and attack citizens, and knowing that they are in the best position to hide evidence is scary. Luckily, there are civil rights group out there that are trying to bring change to the country, unfortunately as they are fighting against those in power it is an uphill battle.



For more information, click the links below:

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2015/11/23/civil-rights-groups-says-its-gathered-70000-signatures-for-the-release-of-video/

http://colorofchange.org/

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/21/us/minneapolis-jamar-clark-police-shooting/

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/11/jamar-clark-is-the-next-great-police-brutality-controversy/416418/

By Calling Late, They Sealed His Fate

             In Houston, Texas, on July 9, 2014, an off-duty officer shot a black man. What makes this case stand out from others is the fact that after the man was shot twice, he was left bleeding out for 15 minutes on the ground, after which it took over an hour for him to reach an emergency room , where he promptly died an hour after arriving.

             Not only is that questionable, but so are the circumstances for which the man was shot. The report says that Mr. Goodridge had been trespassing in the fitness center of an apartment complex that he had been evicted from. When the officer tried to handcuff him, he pulled away, ran outside to the parking lot, where he supposedly attacked the officer, who, "fearing" he would be lose his gun to the man and be shot with it, shot Mr. Goodridge two times. The victim's brother said that his brother had never been in a fight in his life, and he has questioned the police officer's report's validity, as he rightly should.

             What adds to the terror of situations like these, are that the police officers involved can just fake their reports of the events, and the true stories can end up never being heard.



For articles and video footage on this incident, click the links below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/12/us/charles-goodridge-police-shooting-houston-texas.html?ref=topics

http://mic.com/articles/126614/this-dashcam-footage-shows-police-failing-to-attend-to-a-black-man-who-was-just-shot

Police Brutality in Schools

Police have been being placed in schools all over the country, and in many cases, the school administrators have sat back and allowed the officers to take control of the school and its discipline. The supposed purpose of this, was to reduce criminal activity, however, all it's managed to do, is terrorize students unjustly and convince them to drop out. Discrimination has been apparent as well in these cases, as primarily disabled, or non-white students have been the targets.

          In the autumn of 2014, Kenton County, Ky, in two separate incidents, two disabled student, one nine and the other eight, were handcuffed due to not listening to instructions, despite the fact that their disabilities inhibited their ability to do so. And, because they were so small, the handcuffs were placed around their biceps. A video recorded the incident and showed that as the eight year old was screaming in pain the officer said “You can do what we ask you to or you can suffer the consequences.”

          

          In October, 2015, in a school in Columbia, S.C., a teenage girl was grabbed by the arm and her neck, and flipped (along with her desk) backwards, and then dragged across the room, and later arrested, for "disturbing the peace" and refusing to leave the classroom.

          

          This kind of behavior, which leaves children with emotional trauma, is awful and inexcusable. How we've let it escalate to this is beyond me. We need to take the power from the enforcers, and give it back to the people, otherwise the next case could be about you or someone you know.

            

For the article on these stories, click this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/opinion/schoolkids-in-handcuffs.html

For an article and video about the Kenton incident involving the eight year-old, click this link:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/04/us/aclu-disabled-students-handcuffed-lawsuit/

For the video and article about the Columbia incident, click this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/us/officers-classroom-fight-with-student-is-caught-on-video.html

For another video about the Columbia incident, click this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN966KxyoIU

For the U.S. Department of Education and Justice school discipline guidance package, click this link:

http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/us-departments-education-and-justice-release-school-discipline-guidance-package-enhance-school-climate-and-improve-school-discipline-policiespractices

For the news story, click this link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/29/us/police-officers-in-schools.html?ref=topics

Where do we draw the line?

Hello everyone, and welcome to my blog.

This is my kickoff post, it will be addressing the topic and goals of this blog.

"Where do we draw the line?" is a blog about police brutality and its effects on this country and its citizens. Hopefully, this blog will shed light on this serious problem and on the trends that seem to be made by these conflicts.

I chose the title because the real question is where will we draw the line between law enforcers doing what they deem fit, and law enforcers abusing their power over us. How soon will it be before we are fully seeking protection from our supposed protectors? And when will we say enough is enough?

This blog is meant to provide you with the means to answer those questions.




For some examples click the link below:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/police_brutality_and_misconduct/index.html