Racial discrimination is the act of being unfair to any individual based on their skin colour, racial or ethnic origin. Racism and police violence since the time of colonization has had intense effects on Black and Indigenous communities. Police violence and brutality affect individuals, groups, institutions, and systems. Stress and frustration are faced by too many people who have encountered racial snobbery. Therefore, racial tension and police brutality have emerged as an essential focus of research.
There has been a history of violence and intense brutality done by police officers against racial and ethnic minorities. Racial injustice is being fought and condemned worldwide and has led to a movement known as Black lives Matter. The Black Lives Matter movement protests were against police brutality and violence in the United States and other countries, especially black people (Flavia et al., 2020). Police officers are usually armed and trained to put crises to the ground. Individuals who have faced police violence and brutality to death are likely to be unarmed (Davis et al., 2017). Many of the police officers have been accused of cases of racial injustices. Still, justice is continually denied to the ethnic minorities who, in most circumstances, are unarmed and outnumbered.
The Black Lives Matter movement fueled the discussion of racial discrimination and injustice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Protests against racial discrimination were influenced by the incident which spread throughout the world in the media, where an African-American man by the name of George Floyd was killed by a white police officer who knelt on his neck, pinning him on the ground till he lost his breath (Graham et al., 2020). Three other police officers stood by and failed to intervene, as seen in the videos, which went viral. This death, representing more instances of continuing repeated horrifying acts of racial discrimination, set off protests in all the 50 states and countries across the world against racism, police brutality, and white predominance (Codding et al., 2020). These events impact the collective sense of safety, belonging, and well-being but are particularly harmful to Black communities.
Over a period, African-Americans have faced educational inequality where school systems limit and kill black lives. Black students continuously experience, fight against, and bear emotional scars from racism, which can lead to increased anxiety and poor mental health outcomes (Mustaffa, 2017). According to Mustaffa (2017), at schools across the United States, black students show they feel disconnected from their respective schools. A recent analysis of data prepared for school finance cases has found that on every tangible measure, from qualified teachers to curriculum offerings, schools serving greater numbers of black students have significantly fewer resources than schools serving mostly white students (Mustaffa, 2017). Educational experiences for minority students, especially blacks, have continued to be substantially separate and unequal. In schools with the highest minority enrollments, for example, students have less than a 50 percent chance of getting a math or science teacher with a license and a degree in the field. Mustaffa (2017) observed that institutionalized racism had created an emotional distance between the blacks and their white peers and faculty. Impacts of racial disparities are highly considered in publications to help build unity among all racial backgrounds.
Blacks mainly face police violence and brutality in the United States. Davis et al. (2017) observed that in 2015, 1,307 people in the United States get killed by police officers. The author’s research also indicates that every 7 hours, an American citizen gets assassinated by police officers. The extermination accusation rate for citizens is 90%, while the extermination rate for police officers is 1%, yet most of the citizens are generally unarmed (Davis et al., 2017). According to research, for every 1,000 people killed by police officers, at most, one is guilty of a crime (Davis et al., 2017). The analysis reveals the violence that the police impact on citizens instead of serving them with justice as they swore.
The bruise of police violence and brutality against the Black and indigenous communities have been addressed over a long time now across the world. Unfortunately, race-incident actions have not yet ended; instead, they have adopted more racial stereotypes and biases (Graham et al., 2020). The police officers are still using excessive and lethal force towards the Blacks. Graham et al. (2020) say that the Blacks in the United States fear police brutality with the given historical relationship between the police and African-Americans. The minorities experience a lot of injustice from the police, and justice is rarely offered to them even when prosecution actions get presented to the courts.
Increased closed attention is needed to explore the possible solutions to this progressing complication. Unity forums of educational equity, prioritization of informed artistic works, and involving participants from the underrepresented racial and ethnic groups might help promote equality. There is a need for more significant study of police brutality towards the minorities and the intervention models needed. Attending arguments opposed the trauma model for racist incidents with openness to how particular incidents fit the model. Violence, brutality, and racial differences executed by police officers charged with protecting the community must urgently be attended to by researchers and policymakers.
References
Amanda Graham, Murat Haner, Melissa M. Sloan, Francis T. Cullen, Teresa C. Kulig & Cheryl Lero Jonson (2020) Race and Worrying About Police Brutality: The Hidden Injuries of Minority Status in America, Victims & Offenders, 15:5, 549-573.
Flavia, B. Pilecco, Luciana Leite, Emanuelle, F. Goes, Luisa Maria Diele-Viegas, Estela M L Aquino (2020) Addressing Racial Inequalities in a pandemic: data limitations and a call for Critical Analyses.
Davis, T. Brynat, Tyonna Adams, Adriana Alejandre, Anthea A. Gray (2017) The Trauma Lens of Police Violence against Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Journal of Social Issues. V (73), Issue (4).
Jalil Bishop Mustaffa (2017) Mapping violence, naming life: a history of anti-Black oppression in the higher education system, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 30:8, 711-727.