By Joseph Montejano
“To protect and serve.” Where is it that this slogan comes from? We hear/read this from social media, we tend to hear people shout these words. This term relates to the police, who are said to be the protectors—and servers—of the people. But tell me-- is what they do is always considered “protecting and serving”?
The police nowadays use their power to hurt the people. Rodney King, an African American man who experienced police brutality in 1991, was beaten by police after a high speed chase in Los Angeles. This was a significant moment because the authorities took it into their own hands and beat an innocent African American
Why do the police prefer to reach for their gun? According to Jeff Hood’s article from Huffington Post “The Root of Police Brutality is Fear”, the reason they hurt or kill is because they live in fear. In the eyes of the police, the people (mainly people of color) are a ‘potential threat’.
Everyday police may go through the same things over and over, such as assaults and firefights, that’ll then cause them to stress things over and puts them on edge. Pullovers are examples of police being on edge. Like the incident of Philando Castile on July 6, 2016.
According to a Vox article by Michelle Garcia and German Lopez, officer Jeronimo Yanez pulled over Philando Castile [who was accompanied by his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds] for a broken taillight. Yanez reported in his car that he thinks Castiles “wide-sided nose” resembled a robbery suspect. When Castile disclosed that he had a firearm with him, Yanez began to reach for his hollister, shouting “Don’t pull it out!” Castile responded that he wasn’t with Reynolds echoing Castile behind. Yanez shouted again but seconds later, he shot seven bullets into Castile, killing him. It was said that Castile was reaching for his driver's license after telling the officer he was armed and that Yanez was only reacting to the actions of the driver.
That stress they gain creates tension for the said ‘officer’, then that [officer] will take in that tension and use it against the citizen(s). If we cannot trust ourselves, then we can’t trust those around us. We all live in so much fear, that we respond to that fear by arming ourselves. If we keep living like this, we will only cause more police brutality.
The police nowadays use their power to hurt the people. Rodney King, an African American man who experienced police brutality in 1991, was beaten by police after a high speed chase in Los Angeles. This was a significant moment because the authorities took it into their own hands and beat an innocent African American
Why do the police prefer to reach for their gun? According to Jeff Hood’s article from Huffington Post “The Root of Police Brutality is Fear”, the reason they hurt or kill is because they live in fear. In the eyes of the police, the people (mainly people of color) are a ‘potential threat’.
Everyday police may go through the same things over and over, such as assaults and firefights, that’ll then cause them to stress things over and puts them on edge. Pullovers are examples of police being on edge. Like the incident of Philando Castile on July 6, 2016.
According to a Vox article by Michelle Garcia and German Lopez, officer Jeronimo Yanez pulled over Philando Castile [who was accompanied by his girlfriend Diamond Reynolds] for a broken taillight. Yanez reported in his car that he thinks Castiles “wide-sided nose” resembled a robbery suspect. When Castile disclosed that he had a firearm with him, Yanez began to reach for his hollister, shouting “Don’t pull it out!” Castile responded that he wasn’t with Reynolds echoing Castile behind. Yanez shouted again but seconds later, he shot seven bullets into Castile, killing him. It was said that Castile was reaching for his driver's license after telling the officer he was armed and that Yanez was only reacting to the actions of the driver.
That stress they gain creates tension for the said ‘officer’, then that [officer] will take in that tension and use it against the citizen(s). If we cannot trust ourselves, then we can’t trust those around us. We all live in so much fear, that we respond to that fear by arming ourselves. If we keep living like this, we will only cause more police brutality.
Fortunately, police brutality rarely occurs, but it’s still tragic to lose lives every year. Over those years, the majority of police brutality claims came from riots, protests, or strikes where police weighed in with clubs and beat defenseless citizens.
Unfortunately, there are many incidents where an individual was brutalized at the hands of police officers.
One such example is the incident in Ferguson in 2014. An police officer named Darren WIlson shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. Brown was 18-year-old college student; who was allegedly accused of robbing a convenience store. It was said Wilson found and approached the suspect in his vehicle.
Brown took notice and tried to gain control of Wilson’s gun, but in between that encounter, Wilson fired his gun twice, one bullet hitting the right hand of Brown, causing him to flee. But it was too late as Wilson pursued Brown seconds after and shot 6 bullets into him, killing him. This death caused the people of Ferguson to protest for a week, some came and protested peacefully, but the other decided to go with violence. They vandalized and looted their streets until the end.
Unfortunately, there are many incidents where an individual was brutalized at the hands of police officers.
One such example is the incident in Ferguson in 2014. An police officer named Darren WIlson shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown. Brown was 18-year-old college student; who was allegedly accused of robbing a convenience store. It was said Wilson found and approached the suspect in his vehicle.
Brown took notice and tried to gain control of Wilson’s gun, but in between that encounter, Wilson fired his gun twice, one bullet hitting the right hand of Brown, causing him to flee. But it was too late as Wilson pursued Brown seconds after and shot 6 bullets into him, killing him. This death caused the people of Ferguson to protest for a week, some came and protested peacefully, but the other decided to go with violence. They vandalized and looted their streets until the end.
But the big question still remains, why do the police do it?
According to Eddy Montejano, a graduate from Yerba Buena High School ‘14, says, “I think [police brutality] will always happen because there’s two sides.There’s always good cops and then there’s bad cops, no matter what. So, it’s bound to happen.”
He says, it’s really about how two people confront each other, the police and the suspect. “It’s super diverse, I know there’s racists, but there’s also people that look at the police as if they’re already bad people. So that’s what starts the problem.”
Eddy has never been in a situation where he was misjudged and beaten by the police, but he understands that they do it for a reason.
“The reason it starts is because the people are always drawing out hate towards the police with an attitude, like ‘f**k the police.’ They’re all being anti-authoritarian, which are the causes of riots.”
Eddy has been studying this topic for a while now, but he doesn’t plan to use his information as a guide to stop it nationally because he believes that it wouldn’t stop police brutality. Most people don’t understand the difference of right and wrong. They never accept what happens, so they try to oppose it using wrong logic.
“I’ve run into good cops and i’ve ran into a couple bad ones, but I’ve never had that moment where I’d open my mouth and shout. If you just show respect towards the police; because you don’t understand what they deal with everyday; then you should be alright,” he says.
“If you’re not doing anything wrong, then you shouldn’t have anything to fear, you should try to not provoke the situation if you are dealing with any cop.”
But the people are so ‘brainwashed’ that provoking is one of their first moves because according to “The Tension Between Citizens and Police” by Sdevilly from Storify.com, the media portrays police investigations oppose to what the reality is in them. That the news media is very desperately looking for a story to grasp at instead of focusing and verifying facts.
Like Michael Brown’s story for example. This story was done to automatically make this into an issue of race and get try to get people's attention, or what some call “race-baiting.” The news talks only about a ‘black boy’ killed by a ‘white man’, which then adds that tension to the police, making the police look bad. But it still doesn’t give reason to why the police still hurt people.
-What do you think about police hurting unarmed people.
-Do you ever think police brutality would stop? How?
-How can problems in the community be solved in a nonviolent way
According to Eddy Montejano, a graduate from Yerba Buena High School ‘14, says, “I think [police brutality] will always happen because there’s two sides.There’s always good cops and then there’s bad cops, no matter what. So, it’s bound to happen.”
He says, it’s really about how two people confront each other, the police and the suspect. “It’s super diverse, I know there’s racists, but there’s also people that look at the police as if they’re already bad people. So that’s what starts the problem.”
Eddy has never been in a situation where he was misjudged and beaten by the police, but he understands that they do it for a reason.
“The reason it starts is because the people are always drawing out hate towards the police with an attitude, like ‘f**k the police.’ They’re all being anti-authoritarian, which are the causes of riots.”
Eddy has been studying this topic for a while now, but he doesn’t plan to use his information as a guide to stop it nationally because he believes that it wouldn’t stop police brutality. Most people don’t understand the difference of right and wrong. They never accept what happens, so they try to oppose it using wrong logic.
“I’ve run into good cops and i’ve ran into a couple bad ones, but I’ve never had that moment where I’d open my mouth and shout. If you just show respect towards the police; because you don’t understand what they deal with everyday; then you should be alright,” he says.
“If you’re not doing anything wrong, then you shouldn’t have anything to fear, you should try to not provoke the situation if you are dealing with any cop.”
But the people are so ‘brainwashed’ that provoking is one of their first moves because according to “The Tension Between Citizens and Police” by Sdevilly from Storify.com, the media portrays police investigations oppose to what the reality is in them. That the news media is very desperately looking for a story to grasp at instead of focusing and verifying facts.
Like Michael Brown’s story for example. This story was done to automatically make this into an issue of race and get try to get people's attention, or what some call “race-baiting.” The news talks only about a ‘black boy’ killed by a ‘white man’, which then adds that tension to the police, making the police look bad. But it still doesn’t give reason to why the police still hurt people.
-What do you think about police hurting unarmed people.
-Do you ever think police brutality would stop? How?
-How can problems in the community be solved in a nonviolent way