Police brutality: legal discrimination?

A fair-skinned Indian man named Moosa Vali Mahomed was injured  in a car accident and rushed to the hospital in Apartheid-era South Africa. Upon hearing his name, the hospital realized he was Indian and refused to treat him. He died mid-transport. Vali Mahomed was my great-grandfather, and this system of institutionalized racism in which white South Africans were legally installed as the superior race in the country cost him his life.The United States integrated in the sixties, long before Apartheid ended, but still citizens are being mistreated by the institutions created to help. And for that reason, the system today is more sinister than Apartheid. Here, the law is masked, supposedly helping everyone regardless of race — the recent controversies prove otherwise, though. I would love to live in a United States where there is de facto equality, not just de jure equality.Tamir Rice, Michael Brown and Eric Garner have little in common: Rice was 12, Brown was 18 and Garner was 43. The three lived in different parts of the nation, but the stories of their deaths and the rulings in their cases have unified the nation through a wave of protests against police brutality and racial discrimination. People are opening their eyes to the imbalance of justice for black Americans in comparison to white Americans.In many police interactions, the black person is arrested while the white person is politely let go. Many who got the better end of the deal but were outraged at the injustice have resorted to Twitter, using the hashtag #CrimingWhileWhite.Cecily Kellogg is one user who posted: “At 13 I stole a car with my friends & drove it 2wks before we got busted. Only one charged was black. #CrimingWhileWhite.”Jessica Milner wrote on Twitter: “Pulled over once at night. Cop checked my license, let me go. Said ‘sorry thought you were black; #CrimingWhileWhite.”And Gaby Dunn raised a good question: “#CrimingWhileWhite shoplifting, trespassing and other teenage mischief. How come I don’t deserve to be shot?”It is the job of law enforcers to protect and serve their community, and most of the time and in most places they do. However, if there is a stigma against certain members of the community, the police cannot help all members of the community fairly as #CrimingWhileWhite has shown. Black Americans have endured a long history of mistreatment in our country.  The prejudices born in the time of slavery still exist in the minds of our citizens despite all the laws underscoring that black Americans have the same rights as all other Americans.  And it is those stereotypes that have made  a truly color-blind legal system impossible. Rice, Brown and Garner are only three human beings that have lost their lives because of the inexcusable racism that persists, but there are more out there. These lives matter.This problem is pressing and must be solved before another human being joins the count of people who have lost their lives to racial profiling and police brutality. To solve the problem of police brutality, President Obama proposed that law enforcers wear body cameras and has requested funding to put his plan into action. According to CNN, when police officers in Rialto, CA wore police cameras for a year, use of force incidents decreased by 59 percent, a staggering number. These cameras may ignite positive change, but they are not perfect solutions. Body cameras can be manually turned off, resulting in misconduct.Garner’s father also provided his light on this solution. Ben Carr, Garner’s father, told CNN, that this solution was “throwing away money. Video didn’t matter here.” Carr has a point; the video clearly shows his son being choked to death and being denied the right to breathe — it does not solve racial profiling. At least with the use of body cameras the future videos will stand as proof to the public. This can avoid the hearsay evidence in Missouri that led to controversy, an angry public and most recently, riots and protests.In schools we’ve had earthquake drills and fire drills — we’ve even had lockdown drills due to the recent upward trend in school shootings. How do we prepare for what to do when those we trust turn against us? What can we do when the officers we’re supposed to trust cannot be trusted if we fall into the stereotype of a “criminal”? If you are in a situation with a police officer or find yourself witnessing one, the best thing to do is record the interaction. We live in a time in which technology is prevalent and many smartphones have a recording feature. As I previously mentioned, body cameras can be disabled, so perhaps having our own might better the circumstances by having tangible proof.And for those of us who can’t videotape these encounters, we should join our peers at Culver City High School in student activism. On Friday, Dec. 5, students at Culver High reacted by protested by staging a “die-in” after lunch. According to the popularly reposted flyer, the student body’s purpose for the die-in and silence was “to signify those voices who have been ignored and not received justice. The lying down will represent the many lives lost to police aggression. We are tomorrow’s future. If we want change, it needs to begin with us.”For this change to occur, racism must be annihilated. There are three ways in which we can minimalize racism within law enforcement.Firstly, law enforcement absolutely must make an effort to recruit more black police officers. Ferguson, Missouri’s majority population demographic is black, leading with 67 percent, yet there are only three black police officers in a police department of 57. Representation of the population is extremely important; it is better to have someone empathize with your struggles than sympathize with them.Secondly, police officers must undergo the proper training. Timothy Loehmann, the officer who murdered Rice, was described by superiors as having an “inability to perform basic functions as instructed” and a “lack of maturity,” according to the Los Angeles Times as obtained by Loehmann’s personnel records. This solution may seem obvious and goes beyond the problem of race, but perhaps if it was enforced, the interaction between Rice and the police officers would have been different.Lastly, police officers must treat everyone equally. This is sheer and utter common sense, but the number of anecdotes revealed by the hashtag #CrimingWhileWhite shows a horrifying reality. White people have been pardoned by crimes as risky as driving a vehicle under the influence. Everyone and anyone who commits a crime needs to be held accountable, regardless of race.Dear Samo — if not us then whom? If not now, then when? Regardless of your stance on any of these cases, we should all be in mutual agreement that those in power should not abuse their positions and use unnecessary force. Law enforcers are not above the law. Certain races are not above the law. We indeed are tomorrow’s future, and we must try to bring about justice.If any students would like to post on social media about this issue or have stories on situations in which white privilege overcame the law, I recommend you use the hashtags #BlackLivesMatter or #CrimingWhileWhite.May those who have been affected by this violence find peace. May those whose lives were lost rest in peace.