WHAT IS POLICE BRUTALITY?

Today’s topic is police brutality. Police brutality is when a police officer uses unneeded and excessive force. For example, at the Black Lives Matter protests police officers used tear gas against peaceful protesters. This is an example of police brutality because the officers are using excessive force that is not needed. According to CNBC news, “99% of killings by police from 2013-2019 have not resulted in officers being charged with a crime.” This is disgusting.

Another example of police brutality is what happened to George Floyd. George was at a store in Minneapolis, MN. He was at the register paying and the cashier got the idea that he was paying with a counterfeit bill so the cashier called the police. While Floyd was walking out of the store the officer Derek Chauvin pinned him down on the floor and placed his knee on his neck. Floyd proceeded to say “I can’t breathe," but the officer ignored him. George was under Derek's knee for 8 minutes and 46 seconds before he couldn’t take it anymore and died right there on the pavement. There needs to be a stop to this. There is a movement called Defund the Police that is becoming very popular. Since the police are often violent, carry a gun, and are not social workers, it would be more useful for people in need to have experts who can help in certain situations. For example, a lot of times police are called to solve issues that involve people with mental problems. Wouldn’t it be better if the person who knows how to handle people with mental issues intervened in this kind of situation? So defunding the police means giving less money to the police and using that money to fund programs that allow experts to help out if problems arise. This de-escalates the crisis instead of making it worse. If you would like to learn more about what defunding the police really means you should watch this video!: https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2020/06/09/defund-the-police-alex-vitale-thenjiwe-mcharris-america-aman.cnn Down below I will put the links of different petitions that you can sign! Thanks for reading!

• Justice for George Floyd- https://www.change.org/p/minneapolis-police-department-justice-for-george-floyd

• Justice for Breonna Taylor- https://www.change.org/p/andy-beshear-justice-for-breonna-taylor

• Justice for Ahmaud Arbery- https://www.change.org/p/district-attorney-tom-durden-justice-for-ahmaud-arbery-i-run-with-maud?source_location=petitions_browse