The issue of White police vs Black motorist is the new face of racism and is increasingly becoming a topic of debate across the United States. The concerns of White police vs Black motorists can be described as a set of attitudes, convictions, and undertakings that are employed in the justification of inferiorly treating a minority group by the law enforcement officers. The ethnic community in the United States that is majorly linked to such racism in the police is African Americans (Black Americans) (Fellner, 2009). The objective of this research paper is to discuss the cultures involved, historical perspective, the contributing factors, the impact of the problem, beliefs and perspectives regarding the issue of White police vs Black motorists, and the most suitable solution.
Cultures Involved
In numerous recent occurrences, empirical proof backs allegations of the emergence of the new face of racism in the United States (Chaney & Robertson, 2013). For instance, in New Jersey, there has been the account of African American motorists making up just 13% of the drivers in the state but accounting for 73% of the drivers stopped and frisked by the police officers. Moreover, a high number of unarmed Black motorists are shot and killed by White cops each year in the US. On the same note, a research of such occurrences in Maryland asserted that although the African American drivers are just 17% on some highways, they constituted over 71% of the ones stopped and frisked by the law enforcement agents (Chaney & Robertson, 2013). It is also apparent that African-American drivers have a twofold or threefold chance of being ticketed or shot when judged against their White counterparts.
Racial profiling is greatly evident in cases of White police vs Black motorists. Racial profiling denotes the police progression of observing some attributes as pointers of criminal conduct (King, Messner, & Baller, 2009). Profiling and shooting of unarmed Black motorists are supposedly acts of White law enforcement agents all through the United States, having developed with the integration of police officers’ crime resolving and crime avoidance policies. Concerns of White police vs Black motorists generate a new face of racism; hence, it is yet to have an apparent accord on its implication. The discourse regarding White police vs Black motorists is usually very confusing and contentious. In the existing literature, there seems to be evidently noticeable descriptions. The expression of the new face of racism is connected to the conduct of the White cops and their treatment of the people of racial minority groups, particularly the Black Americans.
Though there could be less explicit forms of police racism based on the existing laws and a high intolerance of open racism, the new face of racism is anchored in color-blind ideas (Chaney & Robertson, 2013). For easy comprehension of the issues of color-blind perception, it is vital to assess assertions that the culture of white dominance has sought to elucidate and explain racism. Attributable to white privilege, the White police officers are convinced that the Black motorists have a high probability of engaging in crime while the White ones do not.
Historical Perspective
The majority of states and cities have chosen to evaluate the issue of White police vs Black motorists with respect to the way race and ethnic background might be a matter of consideration in police stops and other acts within their jurisdictions. The pronouncement regarding studies on racial profiling by the law enforcement officers and other public representatives characteristically encompasses a defiance of the existence of the problem and the recognition that it may be worthless to address racism in the police. In numerous occurrences, the charges that have been filed against such acts of police racism fail because of racial discrimination in the criminal justice system (Chaney & Robertson, 2013).
The problem of White police vs Black motorists has historically been occurring when law enforcement agents stop, inquire, incarcerate, search, or shoot a person exclusively anchored in his/her ethnic background or race. Critics characteristically employ this description while criticizing police racism similar to the manner in which the law enforcement officers do when denying the occurrence of racism. Most legal authorities argue that the issues of White police vs Black motorists resemble racial discrimination, which is illegal and broadly rejected in the United States, and affirm that it is reasonably rare amid police officers. They believe that it is impractical for a law enforcement agent to stop, frisk, arrest, or shoot a motorist based just on his/her race or ethnic group; instead, they feel that other aspects are usually entailed.
Analysis of the Contributing Factors
The issue of White police vs Black motorists arises when police officers employ ethnicity or race amid the numerous aspects that result in the decision of stopping, arresting, frisking, or shooting a motorist (Sheppard, 2016). Negative instances of White police vs Black motorist could encompass a law enforcement agent shooting a person based on the following factors: age (youthful), dressing (baggy trousers), time (late at night), location (in “wrong” environs), and race (African American). Arguing by such an occurrence, racism in police arises when law enforcement agents usually employ ethnicity as a reason that, alongside the occurrence of other aspects, results in an officer acting with suspicion (Chaney & Robertson, 2013).
The new face of racism is frequently associated with respect to traffic stops by the law enforcement agents (Sheppard, 2016). Nevertheless, a wide pool of studies makes it seem that the problem is progressively being generalized to encompass other forms of stops, searches, and shootings by the police officials. The majority of people from the minority communities throughout the United States have for a long time asserted that the law enforcement officers usually employ traffic infringements as an alleged reason behind stopping vehicles to assess other probable criminal activities, for instance, illegal possession of weapons such as guns. The issue of stopping African American drivers in an attempt to find anything incriminating has turned out to be so rampant that the practice is making it appear as if African Americans are being stopped and murdered for the crime of driving while Black. This has become the standard manner of defining the common encounter of frequent stops, as well as brutality against Black motorists.
Interpretation of the Effects
The rising publication of reliable information backs the allegation that police racism is widespread across the United States (Huq, Tyler, & Schulhofer, 2011). For instance, in one case, Charles and Etta Carter, an aged Black couple, were stopped by police in Maryland during their fortieth wedding anniversary. The White police officers frisked their vehicle and even decided to use sniffer dogs. In the course of the act, the wedding garment of their daughter was thrashed about before being gusted to the ground by passing trucks. In the course of the operation, Mrs. Carter was prohibited from using a public lavatory since the law enforcement agents feared that she was attempting to flee. Their property and personal effects were scattered on the ground where the dogs trod and urinated on them. At the end of the intensive search, the police found no drugs, which was contrary to their expectations.
In a recent incident in Cincinnati, a judge affirmed mistrial the moment a jury stated that it was in a stalemate in a case where a White cop, Ray Tensing, was charged with shooting and killing an unarmed Black motorist, Sam DuBose. The police officer shot the motorist in the head on the grounds that his vehicle did not have a front license plate; with the video being evident, it is clear that even the criminal justice system is not effectively addressing the problem of white police vs Black motorists. Moreover, in mid-September 2016, a White law enforcement agent, Betty Shelby, murdered a Black motorist, Terence Crutcher, in Oklahoma (Sheppard, 2016). It was revealed that the motorist was not armed in the course of the occurrence where he was standing close to his car in the middle of the road. The relatives of the motorist asserted that he was waiting for assistance since his vehicle had broken down.
Assessment of Beliefs and Perspectives
I believe that law enforcement officials stop and murder Black motorists since they are convinced that the people of color have a higher probability of committing some forms of crimes when judged against the Whites. Each time that the horrible, racially founded criminal acts are carried out against Black motorists in the US by the police, it is evident that the society is failing the racial minority community in numerous ways. Racial discrimination against Black motorists by the police in the US is a continuation of the racism of the past decades, which emanated from the times of slavery (Chaney & Robertson, 2013). Racism against Black motorists just differs from slavery in the past in that the ancestors (the then slaves) were aware that they were suffering as victims of harsh racial setting and made every effort to break the bond of slavery, racial discrimination, and segregation.
Currently, it is apparent that all the US residents have equal rights although the people that have the responsibility of protecting the rights of the Black motorists are shockingly discriminating against them and treating them brutally. At the core of the absolute violence and murder of the Black motorists by the law enforcement agents is a complete denial of their decorum and sense of worth (Chaney & Robertson, 2013). Much should be done to rectify this problem where being a Black motorist is taken to mean that one has a high likelihood of encountering untimely death caused by the guns of law enforcement agents than natural occurrences. The people that have the task of protecting ought not to pose threats to the existence of the very individuals they are recruited to safeguard. However, the issue does not affect all the police officers in the United States as the many decent ones merit reverence and utmost regard (Gabbidon, Higgins, & Potter, 2011). The setback is caused by the practices and racist values that influence the manner in which being Black is viewed in the US by the Whites.
Arguments
Most of the White police officers in the United States affirm that the high number of stops, shootings, and arrests against Black motorists do not represent the use of race in making decisions concerning whom to stop, frisk, shoot, or detain. They maintain that they consider other aspects and not race in their operations and decisions, for instance, driving while drunk, suspicious actions, and other forms of violation of the law (Gabbidon et al., 2011). They affirm that if the findings are racially disproportionate, it is because the other aspects occur in high levels amid the minority communities. In this regard, the police officers disagree with the concerns of racism happening in law enforcement actions. For instance, Drug Enforcement Agency representatives declare that race is not amid the factors considered by the officers in the hunt for Black motorists who engage in illegal drug trafficking. They also affirm that Drug Enforcement Agency officials do not consider the race of a person while deciding whether an individual suits the profile of a possible drug trafficker as such criminals could be from any ethnic group (Brunson & Weitzer, 2011).
Some of the arguments made by the Black Americans against police racism encompass both constitutional interests and realistic deliberations (Schlosser, Cha-Jua, Valgoi, & Neville, 2015). Amid the most powerful arguments in opposition to the rampant shooting of unarmed Black motorists is the one anchored in the equal protection section of the American law, under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Such assertions start with an insistence on the unique importance of racial characteristics in the life and regulations involving the US residents. Black motorists feel that what have been heightened by the White police are the undisclosed forms of racial discrimination against the ethnic minority groups. They are convinced that the reputation of the United States is soiled when evils in the name of police racism keep occurring, and such injustices are left to persist (Chaney & Robertson, 2013). The Black Americans assert that it is the high time that America rose above police racism through policies and effective measures that will eliminate such a reprehensible development.
Solution
It is recommended that law enforcement officers become more receptive to all the US residents, particularly the ethnic minority communities, as the first step toward the eradication of acts of racism and brutality against Black motorists (Fellner, 2009). Policing approaches and strategies have historically upheld racism in the police. The initial stride in the profession of a law enforcement agent starts in his/her training. Shaping the approaches and beliefs of police officers against racism right from their training could help eradicate racial discrimination and shootings of unarmed Black motorists in their later service by treating all the residents in an equal manner. The importance of such an intervention is that it could generate positive transformations in the training approaches through the promotion of impartial policing.
Conclusion
The issue of brutality against Black motorists by White officers is on the rise across the United States. Such racism in police portrays a set of attitudes and approaches that are applied in the explanation of shooting Black motorists by the law enforcement officers. The ethnic community that is mainly associated with the shooting of motorists by the police is African Americans. Racism in the police is often associated with traffic stops, frisking, and murder by the law enforcement agents. The concern of shooting unarmed Black motorists by White police officers has turned out to be so widespread that it is appearing as if African Americans are being murdered for the transgression of being Black. Influencing the approaches and convictions of police officers against prejudice right from their training could aid in the eradication of racism and murder of unarmed Black motorists in their later service.
References
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Chaney, C., & Robertson, R. V. (2013). Racism and police brutality in America. Journal of African American Studies, 17(4), 480-505.
Fellner, J. (2009). Race, drugs, and law enforcement in the United States. Stanford Law & Policy Review, 20, 257.
Gabbidon, S. L., Higgins, G. E., & Potter, H. (2011). Race, gender, and the perception of recently experiencing unfair treatment by the police: Exploratory results from an all-black sample. Criminal justice review, 36(1), 5-21.
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King, R. D., Messner, S. F., & Baller, R. D. (2009). Contemporary hate crimes, law enforcement, and the legacy of racial violence. American Sociological Review, 74(2), 291-315.
Schlosser, M. D., Cha-Jua, S., Valgoi, M. J., & Neville, H. A. (2015). Improving policing in a multiracial society in the United States: A new approach. International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences, 10(1), 115.
Sheppard, B. (2016). Why police can kill with impunity. Green Left Weekly, 1(1113), 16.
