There are few worse experiences when driving or in public places than being unjustly threatened by the police. Even if you do nothing wrong, some officers skirt the law and challenge minorities’ rights to do all sorts of benign activities. In the wrong circumstances, good people could end up getting hurt or even killed.
Police brutality has made its way into the media in recent years due to the proliferation of smartphone cameras. There are arguments that the criminal justice system is racially biased, and that is what causes these incidents. Others maintain that some officers get out of hand and don’t handle situations the way they should.
One interesting commentary on police brutality and shootings in America alleges that these actions have harmed the mental health of African-Americans in their communities.
African-American communities and police brutality
The primary reason that the African-American community has been so significantly affected is because the residents of these communities have been the demographic group most likely to be brutalized by law enforcement. Numerous shootings and other incidents alleged to be police brutality involved officers attacking African-Americans. When these situations occur and unarmed black individuals are killed by the police, it collectively damages the mental health of other Black Americans living in the United States. For instance, if a black person is killed due to police brutality in Washington, you can expect a negative impact on that community, as well as in others regarding their mental health.
What is most interesting is that the mental health of Caucasian people in America does not seem to be affected in the same way, showing. This indicates that a racial disparity is present in these situations. Maybe even more enlightening is that Caucasians don’t typically see negative health consequences when police killed unarmed White people.
Why would this be? One possible reason is that fewer white people feel threatened by the police than their black counterparts. Since there is a long history of racial violence toward African-Americans, many black Americans already feel they’re at a disadvantage. They see brutality as another way they’re held back by the current society.
Victims of police brutality and their families have a right to fight back against unlawful treatment by those in positions of authority. There is no reason that the color of a people’s skin should define their character or the way that they are treated by the police. Everyone deserves to feel safe when they’re in the United States of America.