“Racializing the Death of a Black Man by the Police, Part I”
Since the start of the summer, I have been following columns written by Larry Elder, a right-wing political commentator and conservative talk radio host. He often writes about serious and controversial topics involving race, current events, and politicians. Although sometimes he will write about things he doesn’t like or what he believes needs to be said due to a personal experience. Apart from his dislike of Democrats, Elder does not appear to show too much bias in his writing, with the majority of his statements being based on facts and statistics. One column that helps to show how Elder is as a writer is, “Racializing the Death of a Black Man by the Police, Part I.”
Elder starts the column by telling the story of Tyre Nichols, a young black man who was beaten by police at a traffic stop. He later died in the hospital due to the injuries. Elder was clearly annoyed about this, he doesn’t like the idea of what happened to Nichols being racialized by the media. He also appeared to be annoyed by the idea that police brutality is racially motivated. He then states facts about the reality of the problem, and they are surprising. “an average of about 1,000 people annually over the last eight years, 82% of them armed.” “Over the past five years, police have killed 39% more unarmed whites than unarmed blacks.” Elder also shows statistics on crime rates, quoting Heather Mac Donald, who mentions in a book that, “In the 75 largest counties, which is where most of the population resides, blacks constitute around 60 percent of all robbery and murders defendants, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.” Elder uses this to explain why it is common for “disproportionate” police interactions with blacks. Elder also wrote that, “Almost always the young black male’s murderer is a young black male.”
Discussion Questions: Before reading this, what where your initial beliefs on the relation between police brutality and race, and did they change or stay the same after reading this? Why do you think it is common for these situations to be racialized, and how do you think the media influences this?
I did and still believe racially motivated police brutality is a problem not properly addressed by our government. I think it it common for these situations to be racialized, especially in the U.S., because racism is a big problem we have had in the past, and still struggle with to this day, so it is easy for people to believe it is racially motivated when they hear it. The media definitely plays a major role in persuading our opinions, especially since that is where most people now get their news from. I also believe the majority of news articles or reporters (specifically on social media) are biased which further impacts the viewers opinion.
Before and after I read this, my beliefs on the relation between police brutality and race stayed the same after reading this. There is a connection. While Elder says “Over the past five years, police have killed 39% more unarmed whites than unarmed blacks.”, doesn’t mean that police brutality against races didn’t happen and there isn’t a connection. However, I can say that I understand why it is very common for these situations to be racialized. I mean, every situation these days are racialized, and the social media is no help sometimes. Again, while I am not saying police brutality doesn’t happen and I 100% think race is a factor, social media at times can blow situations out of the water, or word them in terrible ways, so I am not surprised that Elder brought this up.
My opinions on police brutality and its connections to race have stayed the same after reading this and I do see a connection. One of the articles I read by Michelle Malkin actually has something to do with this. She writes how people can sometimes over exaggerate the involvement of race in certain cases which therefore takes away the power of it in the ones that matter. This idea of adding in a “race card” to give your story more of a kick has sadly become more prominent which often takes away from cases where this truly is a big issue and leaves most brutality cases looking like a game of blame. Since people started paying attention to these added in details it only made people more skeptical when it was actually important to the story and its events. I agree with how in Malkins article she states how she believes that situations become quickly racialized in order to target our fears or opinions by creating an easier division between groups of people instead doing the harder work of trying to solve our issues as one
Before reading your blog, I believed that there was definitely a connection between police brutality and race. Even after finishing it, my beliefs stayed the same. In our country, we’ve had our history dealing with racism which is still a problem that we struggle with today so it is no surprise that these circumstances are commonly being racialized. Although you did mention a quote from Elder saying, “Over the past five years, police have killed 39% more unarmed whites than unarmed blacks.”, it doesn’t prove that there’s no connection between race and police brutality since the percentage may not have covered all the cases. Even within the past few years, there’ve been many scenarios of race and police brutality that have surfaced on resources, specifically social media. Since it’s such a big platform that many people use, a lot of coverage is made about police brutality and race. However, social media does influence these cases and I can confirm that because sometimes I get easily influenced online. People on the internet can cover a story with inaccurate information and biased opinions that could lead the audience to have false beliefs.
Before reading this, I believed that racism does play a big role in the relationship between the police and race. After reading, my opinion did not change. These situations are common to be racialized because racism has been a great problem in this country for a very long time. I also believe that the media plays a role in making these situations worse. In one of Elder’s columns, he stated that the media makes these situations look worse than they are by not including key information and facts from the investigations. Although the media makes these situations look even more of a problem, it still doesn’t change the fact that racism is a part of police brutality.
Before reading this, I felt that the main reason for police brutality was racism, and my views have ultimately stayed the same after reading. Obviously, racism has painted a terrible picture of some minorities, and It affects how people look at others, including police officers. I also think that the data present may be misleading because of the racial distribution in our country, with the majority of people being white. The media definitely plays a huge role in police brutality because it is able to present these issues to a wide audience. If used correctly, it can help educate the people of the United States about police brutality, and this was portrayed in the Black Lives Matter movement a couple of years ago.
Prior to reading this, I assumed that racism had a significant part in the relationship between the police and race. My opinion did not alter after reading. Racism is widespread in these scenarios since racism has been a major issue in this country for a long time. I also believe that the media contributes to the deterioration of these situations. Elder remarked in one of his writings that the media makes these situations appear worse than they are by omitting critical information and facts from the probes. Although the media exaggerates the severity of these events, it does not diminish the fact that racism is a component of police brutality.