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Law Enforcement: Brutality and Bias

A Psychological approach to Racism and Bias.

By Genuine KaeoPublished 4 years ago 7 min read
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Since the beginning we as human beings have assessed the world around us in an attempt to understand the possible dangers and continue the life long struggle of self-preservation. During this time our minds have created what we call defaults about certain subjects, items and experiences. For example, if you find yourself tripping over that rug by the door multiple times, eventually you will either move the rug or be more conscious about stepping over it. This is the skill set of the unconscious mind, the power tool used to help us navigate our world seamlessly. But what happens when our conscious observations are built from lessons learned unnecessarily? What happens when what we subconsciously show as biased ends up offending someone? This is inevitable in a sense that we all learn and experience life differently. Thus, issues like racism are born and what seemed like innate fears are subconscious manifestations of our learned behavior. In today's society this issue rears its ugly head in a new light with the involvement of our law enforcement. With reports pouring in practically every day about a police officer who "brutally" shot and killed someone of color and social media being the center of our news source today, it's difficult to see both sides and whether or not our own "Protect and Serve" law enforcement is truly responsible for this. This is exactly what I am trying to understand and I hope I can help others see a bigger picture as well. Let it be known that I am in no way defending either side here, I am simply assessing the evidence and making an educated theory as to how issues like racism and police brutality have come to be and remain and also how they can be resolved.

When we consider our reaction to our environment we must consider what we have been taught or experienced as dangerous. Gordon B. Moskowitz, chair of the psychology department at Lehigh University states that, "In the split second one would have to decide whether one should shoot or hold fire, these fast evaluations below the radar feed to consciousness a sense of threat." (Moskowitz, 2014) In 1991 a video was recorded of a man named Rodney King being beaten by police officers and the officers were supposedly tried and found not guilty. This caused an uproar within the African American community as they witnessed justice being dismissed and law enforcement receiving a form of special treatment by getting off the hook as they say. This occurred in south central Los Angeles and the community soon became a battleground of anger and mistrust. But how do these issues come about? Some say it's evident that the police are on what they call "power trips" and that they believe the police force will flex their muscles whenever they feel like it because they are under the impression that they run the city. Contradictory to that belief one gentleman by the name of Jack Glaser, PhD states "It's a nuanced problem but people continue to take a polarized view. It's not productive to demonize the police." (Glaser, 2016). Glaser believed that adding fuel to the fire that is the negative stereotyping of the police force is in no way helping nor is it solving the true problem. By doing so its possible that we are only making the matter worse by instilling fear and more bias in our society and youth. Many children today grow up believing that police will not help you and that you need to help yourself. This also raises the bar for possible gun and retaliation violence. But is this method helping our self-preservation and is it doing any good for future generations? One student at the University of California concluded in his research as an anthropologist that there is "Evidence of a significant bias in the killing of unarmed black Americans relative to unarmed white Americans." (Wier, 2016) This finding adds to the concern that citizens are feeling that no one is truly applying a type of checks and balances to the police force and its actions. What about the opinion of a police officer? Let alone an African American police officer? What are they seeing from their side of the problem? Let's take a look at what a seasoned police officer by the name of David J. Thomas says about his time in the force and his experience as an African American law enforcement officer.

David J. Thomas, a former police officer who served in both Michigan and Florida would later go on to become a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University where he teaches Justice Studies and currently holds a PhD in Forensic Psychology. He would later write an article disclosing his feelings about how the community is seeing our police force today and how the police are partly responsible for what is happening to our communities. He acknowledges that many wrongful acts go unnoticed and or ignored due to that very idea of self-preservation within the police force. He states that "Historically, law enforcement officers who are involved in questionable acts, such as unlawful arrests or civil-rights violations, and those who are disruptive to the culture of an organization are often allowed to resign in lieu of termination. This may mean that their files contain no information in regard to disciplinary history. This practice gives an officer who has been forced to resign an opportunity to be hired by another agency." (Thomas, 2017). This may sound like a smart move if a police officer is under scrutiny due to a case or incident. But for some it's an escape route for getting away with breaking the law as a law enforcer and finding loopholes to do it again. This is one of the biggest issues that cause people to distrust our police force and its also why many good police officers are muscled out of their jobs and precincts for rubbing elbows with another officer who follows the laws loosely. But the real question is simply this, what can be done? What is the solution to the rift that has been torn between the people and those who swore an oath to serve and protect?

The study of racism and bias has been around for centuries and many well-known scientists have worked tirelessly to discover not only its origin but how it plays a major role in our society and cultural stereotypes. One American sociologist by the name of W.E.B. Du Bios wrote that "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." (Skibba, 2019). When he wrote this he was speaking by science when eugenics was at its forefront and research was popular. This lead to the start of an idea that certain races were deemed more superior and there for lead to atrocities like the Holocaust which showed the world that this idea was not viable and it halted much of the research on eugenics itself. But could there really be a solution to our problem of and racism? Or is it simply a pipe dream thought up by peace loving individuals who dream of a world without war and hate? One author by the name of Angela Saini discussed in her new book Superior: The Return of Race Science how "Mainstream scientists, geneticists and medical researchers still invoke race and use these categories in their work, even though we have been told for 70 years that they have no biological meaning, that they have only social meaning." (Skibba, 2019). This idea opens doors for ideas that our skin color is only just that, a color that has no significant meaning. Is it possible that the solution to racism and police brutality is the re-education of every individual including those on the police force, the idea that skin color does not deem who we are as individuals but instead we are a product of our environment? Could examples like two adopted children of different ethnicities growing up in the same household and holding the same views even though their skin colors differ serve as truth that it's not what's on the outside but our minds and upbringing instead? It's possible that if this were doable it would make newer generations more understanding to differences around them and invoke a sense of curiosity instead of fear.

There is still much to be understood about the human mind and its subconscious understandings. It is a topic that many today wonder if there will ever be an answer or a solution to such senseless violence and fear. I welcome those who have thought about this as well to comment and offer their solution as well. I look to a well-known quote in times like these by a very well-known artist by the name of Walt Disney, whom I'm sure you've heard of. He is known for his quote "Around here, however, we don't look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we're curious...and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." (Walt Disney)

References

Lehigh University. (2019). A Psychological Perspective on Police Violence. [online] Available at: https://www2.lehigh.edu/news/a-psychological-perspective-on-police-violence [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].

https://www.apa.org. (2019). Policing in black & white. [online] Available at: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2016/12/cover-policing [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].

National Police Foundation. (2019). Law Enforcement Must Regain the Public's Trust | National Police Foundation. [online] Available at:https://www.policefoundation.org/law-enforcement-must-regain-the-publics-trust/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].

Smithsonian. (2019). The Disturbing Resilience of Scientific Racism. [online] Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/disturbing-resilience-scientific-racism-180972243/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].

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About the Creator

Genuine Kaeo

My name is genuine and I have always had a love for thinking about life and how we are built as human beings both physiologically and psychologically. My writings delve into the thoughts and theories of the human condition and how we live.

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