Political
slogans and inspiring
quotes about social change and activism
Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement. It is an extreme form of police misconduct or violence and is a civil rights violation. It also refers to a situation where officers exercise undue or excessive force against a person.
Police violence includes but is not limited to physical or verbal harassment, physical or mental injury, property damage, the inaction of police officers, and in some cases, death. In the
United States, qualified immunity is a legal doctrine used to protect officers from litigation after incidents of
police violence. This law was issued by the Supreme Court in 1982. In recent years, particularly since the fatal shooting
… Read more of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014,
police brutality has become a hot-button issue in the
United States. Police officers in America are killing around 1,000 people every single year.
The
Black Lives Matter Movement, formed in 2013, has been a vocal part of the movement against
police brutality in the U.S. by organizing ?die-ins?, marches, and demonstrations in response to the killings of black men and women by police.
While
Black Lives Matter has become a controversial movement within the U.S., it has brought more attention to the number and frequency of police shootings of civilians.
Police accountability involves holding both individual police officers, as well as law enforcement agencies responsible for
police brutality, misbehavior,
racial profiling, as well as other
laws relating to equal employment, sexual harassment, etc. Research has shown that the public prefers independent review of complaints against law enforcement, rather than relying on police departments to conduct internal investigations. There is a suggestion that such oversight would improve the public's view on the way in which police officers are held accountable.
Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement protesting against incidents of
police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people. The movement began in July 2013 with the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-
American teen Trayvon Martin 17 months earlier in February 2012. The movement became nationally recognized for street demonstrations following the 2014 deaths of two African
Americans, that of Michael Brown?resulting in protests and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, a city near St. Louis?and Eric Garner in New York City. Since the Ferguson protests,
… Read more participants in the movement have demonstrated against the deaths of numerous other African
Americans by police actions or while in police custody. The overall
Black Lives Matter movement is a decentralized network of activists with no formal
hierarchy. The movement returned to national headlines and gained further international attention during the global
George Floyd protests in 2020 following the murder of
George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. An estimated 15 million to 26 million people participated in the 2020
Black Lives Matter protests in the
United States, making it one of the largest movements in the country's history.
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