Is Police Brutality a Real Issue?

 

 

The pictures above that you will find are news articles and a video from YouTube of Police Brutality. I want to show how the frequency of these news articles and YouTube videos correlate to Agenda Setting.

Agenda setting is the media telling us what to think about, and what not to think about. For example, if we see crime on television we automatic see crime to be violent crime. When in reality, crime can also be as non-violent as white collar crime or fraud. Agenda Setting focuses more on demographics like your race, age and socio-economic status (SES). 

Agenda Setting is the media expressing what we should pay attention to/ what we should be thinking about.  It is showing the frequency in how much we see in the media. This is because they want to get the most attention and reactions of people. They are aiming to have people focus on something specific and not the broader picture because people who present media feel like it is something we all find important. Police Brutality falls under this because just recently we have seen an increase in how much Police Brutality has been around the internet due to everyone having access to internet as well as having cell phones because these actions can not only be recorded by individuals unlike the past but also because of the amount of shares it gets once it gets posted. The frequency has changed because over 20 years ago we did not have access to this technology or the ability to record things that go on around the world and now we have that access. Since we are starting to see it all over the news, YouTube, Facebook and other social media websites it causes us to believe that it has some importance.

I typed in “Police” and the first thing that followed police was “Mistreatment” and “Brutality”. When I typed in Police Brutality and over 11, 700, 00 and when you type it in on YouTube over 651,000 videos popped up that involved Police Brutality. Back in the day, we did not have Google, YouTube or even the use of internet which means we did not see Police Brutality as a big problem because we simply did not see it at that time. Now that we have the technology and video, people have the ability to record and post to their own personal Social Medias and other can share and give their opinion which says “this is something that is important and I am sharing this because this is something that we should be paying attention to because it seems to be a problem within our society.

Overall, people may have a difference of opinion of the issues presented but Agenda Setting just expresses something that we all might find important. This matter because I feel like it makes us not thing about other things. They have us so focused on one issue, it distracts us from the other issues that also need attention. 

Melissa Harris-Perry

Just recently, I went to watch Melissa Harris-Perry speak on Black Lives Matter. In the speech she has said that many say that we live in a post-racial society, people believe this because of the election of Barack Obama in 2008. People said that we were not racist anymore because we had a black president to represent the United States of America. She states that this is not true, we are not in a post-racial society just because we have a black president. People referred to his votes as "The Black Votes"

She notes that it is "common" more expected to see fail black bodies. When she say failed black bodies she is talking about dead bodies. She mentions that is it not surprising at all to see that a black person is dead. I like that she notes that not all the dead bodies that we see of black people are not only from cops and white people. Trayvon Martin was not killed by a cop but still cops get looked at as one of the man people who kill black people. Most of the killings that we see are not done by cops but we do see some like Sandra Bland that did die in police custody.

Throughout the speech she mentions that social media is starting to become a part of our society. Our current president knows how to use social media in his advantage. We are starting to see a change in who has power and privilege. Being black seems to automatically put a person at the bottom of the food chain. It is not about having a problem but actually being the problem is how people view you. When you look at Universities they tend to be "too white"  which reinforces who has privilege. People want to be seen, and have a voice in society. She ends with "don't be afraid to fail, failure is certain."

South Park points out White Privilege



Sometimes we have to stop and ask ourselves, what is privilege and do I have this privilege? Let’s first give a definition on what “being privilege” means by definition. Privilege is a special advantage, immunity, permission, right or benefit granted to or enjoyed by an individual or by class. Basically privilege is having certain rights that others may not have. Let’s also clear up that having privilege has nothing to do with being prejudice or racist. Sometimes we can have certain privileges that we are not aware of but some of us have it and some of us are well aware of the privileges that we have. Having privilege is having imagery tools to help you get through life successfully. Some have more tools than others but they do not have control of how many tools was put in the toolbox.

 

This video first starts of by saying that boy scouts had shot up at a local retirement home and everyone is no longer holding a grudge with the police. The police at this point cheer with excitement. If you take a closer look, all the police officers are white and the person in custody with the police is black. One of the police officers who is white pushing the person in custody who is black in the face and says to shut up. This particular scene in the episode shows privilege in two ways. One way because police have a certain privilege and also being white can give you a certain privilege. The police was able to slap the person in custody without getting in trouble for it, and no one spoke up about it either. We tend to see this as normal because we usually see police as white males, and also black men at a disadvantage. You will also notice that all the police were men and none were women. Men are also put at an advantage in society.

 

Back in the day blacks were not allowed to sit in the front of the bus and if they did sit there they had to give their seat to a while person or they can be charged as a criminal. South Park brings to light this concept when the dad expresses that they have “White Privilege” and that they black man has to sit in the back of the car, no matter how educated or uneducated he is, or even his Socioeconomic status (SES). He had this certain privilege to tell the man that he cannot sit in the front and he has to be in the back. The other kids are at an advantage because they get to decide where to sit.

 

The second part of the video has an interesting piece to it. It shows that privilege is not just about race it can be about other things as well. All boys in the episode are white and in the video they go to a park in which since the boys scouts were accused of shooting up a retirement home they are now at a disadvantage. One of the boys help a lady throw away trash and they had seen it as him trying to harass her when in reality he was helping her, the next guy was starting a fire to keep warmth and they accused him of wanting to set the park on fire. The last guy was intentionally beating a dog but because he had “White Privilege” he did not get in trouble or get looked at wrong.

 

If you do not have this “privilege” that some people have it can often put you at a disadvantage when in certain situations. If you do not have these tools that others have it will make it harder on you as a person.

Family Guy confirms Stereotypes within Police Brutality

A stereotype is defined as a standardized mental picture that is formed overtime and held in common by members of a group. It is also seen as a bias mental picture that represents an oversimplified opinion, prejudice, attitude or uncritical judgment. People can often use these judgments to discriminate and it can also lead to violence towards a specific group.

This scene is from Family Guy titled “Southern Sheriff Traffic Stop.” To summarize the video Peter gets pulled over by a police officer and Peter who is a white man who puts on a Harvard sweatshirt and inserts a pipe into his mouth so that he could have more power over the police officer and talk down to them. When the officer comes to the window Peter talks down to him as if he is better, while Cleveland is an African American male apologizing for Peter’s actions towards the officer. Cleveland explains that he is sorry for his friends’ actions and they only want to follow the rules. After this is said the officer gets offended and asks if Cleveland threated an officer. This leads the officer to pull out a bat and break the headlight, and turn signal light while also planting weed inside the trunk of the car and arresting the four men. When he calls into dispatch to make the arrest he describes them as one African American, One Crippled, One Skinny and One Handsome. By the officer calling the men by these names he was stereotyping them.

            A schema is cognitive structures that represent knowledge about objects, people or situations. It is often normal to see police officers abusing the law, using weapons unlawfully and sometimes “planting” drugs on people. In the video there are many stereotypes that can be noticed. You first notice that when Peter gets pulled over he pulls a Harvard sweatshirt on and sticks a pipe in his mouth to look "prestige". This is a schema that if you are white, male, who is educated you can get through life on a clean slate. I am using this media text because it portrays that we do have certain schemas and have the ability to stereotype one another. It is referring to how we see each other, and also who also holds power. Although Peter being a educated man is a positive schema it can be seen as negative because although we see him positively, the officer fails to treat everyone the same. It can be seen as favoritism. We have this organized knowledge that leads us to our guide behavior.

            When you hear about a police officer you tend to picture a bigger man that is white, in his mid-20’s- late 40’s, with brown hair, blue eyes, rude and possible uneducated. This video confirms this schema because the man in the video fits the description of what we believe to see in an officer. We tend to build these schemas based off our past experiences and mainly by the things that are seen in the media. In order to change how we are prejudice behavior we have to bring intention, attention and time. If we do not have all 3 elements we cannot simply change the stereotype, or prejudice that are held against a particular group.

 

 

This video can also be found by going to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlOYlws4EBw