Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “No, No, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” People who were and are denied justice ARE NOT SATISFIED with the unjust justice system in America. The police in our nation are neglecting to protect and serve certain communities by bringing violence and turmoil to people based on the color of their skin. Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, Freddie Gray, Daunte Wright, and Breonna Taylor are just a few names who have been wrongfully killed without justice being served to their killers. Many officers have claimed fear to be the reason why they make the decision to shoot a black man or woman, but when placed in the same or worse scenarios with white people, their response is not the same. It’s bigger than white and black, this is systemic oppression at its finest, and it has been going on too long. A significant portion of American citizens are not satisfied and, based on the facts and examples; you also will have the initiative to stand and join the fight against the injustice in the American justice system.

The Department of Justice’s mission statement is “To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans”(www.justice.gov). A mission statement is an official document that sets out the goals, purpose, and work of an organization. Based on the statistics of justice system cases, the mission statement is not being followed. The justice system is supposed to ensure a fair and impartial administration of justice to all, but that’s the question you must ponder, “Is justice truly fair and impartial to all or to a select group?”

“Americans are now evenly divided when asked if the U.S. justice system is fair. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 42% of Likely U.S. Voters think the justice system is fair to most Americans, down just a point from last July but the lowest level of confidence in nearly four years of regular surveying. Just as many (43%) say the justice system is not fair to most Americans, up two points from the previous survey and a new high. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure. Only 33% think the justice system is fair to poor Americans, while 49% disagree. Eighteen percent (18%) are not sure. That’s also similar to views last year but a more pessimistic assessment than was found from 2010 to 2012. A plurality (46%) still thinks the U.S. justice system is fair to black and Hispanic Americans, but 36% disagree. Another 18% are undecided. This is unchanged from last year and down slightly from earlier surveys. A wide racial difference of opinion on this question remains. Eighty percent (80%) of blacks consider the justice system unfair to black and Hispanic Americans, while 51% of whites and 48% of other minority voters view the system as fair to these minorities”(www.rasmussenreports.com).

Racism and discrimination in law have been going on since the start of the justice system. Examples of this racism in law are the lack of civil rights minorities had in the decades that followed the end of slavery in America, the removal of Native Americans from their land, the Japanese Americans being forced into internment camps, and many more. As you see the systematic racism in the justice system has been going for a long time, however, many people are not aware of the horrifying statistics of the justice system. Hopefully, as you read, you will gain knowledge and begin to spread awareness to those who do not know about the racism in the American justice system. There are endless examples of how decisions are made based simply because of the victims color.

            Through research you notice that most police departments’ mission mirror each other across the nation. In Nashville, “The Mission of the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department is to provide community-based police products to the public so they can experience a safe and peaceful Nashville” (nashville.gov). The mission of most police departments is to basically protect and serve the community. Many people feel like the police do not do this and in fact do the opposite. Some people feel that the police contribute to the fear and danger in the community by being insensitive, racist, and reckless to members of the black community. We see this in many situations such as George Floyd, Ahmad Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, where negligence and pure carelessness lead to the deaths of people who did not deserve to be killed. “A recent report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics estimated approximately 1200 people were killed by police between June, 2015 and May, 2016 (mappingpoliceviolence.org). This shows that in less than a year police racked up over a thousand killings of the people they strive to protect and serve. This is an issue because it is nor a mistake or a rare occurrence when there are this many killings happening. The issue alongside the actual killings is the lack of justice served to the families after the death of their loved one. The lack of consequences given to police after they are involved in misconduct is outrageous and is the thing that most police protesters are most upset about due to the repercussions that come with no consequences being served. The fear is that if there are no consequences served to police who engage in this brutality then this will encourage or foster an attitude that may make a police officer feel they can handle people of color with less care because they are not afraid of getting in trouble. There is also a blind eye turned toward police abuse when it hurts minorities. Although we hope police use their power judiciously, misconduct can occur. Police misconduct can be as subtle as an implied threat for failing to cooperate or as overt as the beating of Rodney King. Often, the police are under great pressure to act quickly, especially when the murder victim is white, prominent, a child or a police officer. Often, the police develop a theory of the crime and then search out evidence–and suspects–that support that theory. Then, when they arrest someone, they proceed as if the suspect is already guilty. 

“The mentality and the pressure are to not let the guilty guy go free,” Chief of Police Friel, of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, explains. “You block out anything that doesn’t fit… You feel you have no obligation to bring up evidence pointing to others. Why cloud the issue?” The issue that opens up the door to the possibility of misconduct is discretion. A huge chuck of the process is left up to the discretion of the officer, the officer can search your car, ask you to step out the car, or search your body if they cause to believe something is wrong. This is an issue if the cop is racist or prejudice in any way because they would already think something is “wrong” if they have a preconceived notion of a certain group of people. Not only do we see police brutality out in the streets, we also see the misconduct even after the civilian is already in custody. “Two men who claimed to have been the only witnesses to the 1978 San Bernardino murder of a police officer’s son now say they actually saw nothing but were pressured by police into giving false testimony that has kept an innocent man in prison for 13 years,” begins a recent article in the Los Angeles Times. The fact that the victim was the son of a police officer greatly increased the likelihood of misconduct. According to the article, one of the witnesses gave the police what they wanted only after being handcuffed to a motel room bed during 24 hours of questioning. Before trial he recanted, but the district attorney allegedly covered it up so the defense never learned of the recantation”(mtabolitionco.org). Through this story, we see that the police brutality is happening even behind closed doors and resulted in people being in prison for the rest of their lives just for the desire to solve a case.

Training is one of the biggest issues that Americans feel the police should take the initiative to make better. Diversity training is one of the biggest additions that is being pushed on police departments. The biggest issues between most minority communities and the police is relatability, understanding, communication, and overall relationship between the two. The lack of non-negative police interaction is an issue in minority communities because there is no effort from the police departments to build a positive relationship with the minority community. Since this is the case, people within the community associate police with negativity and are usually scared to be around police. On the police side, there is no diversity training or community involvement requirement in place that would incentivize officers to get involved within the community, therefore when you go out in the community the only time you are around members of the community is if they called you there to control a situation. As a result, there is no relationship, so there is no understanding which causes the confused state that we are currently in when speaking on the relationship between minority communities and the police. Even mental health training is not typically administered within police departments and if it is, it is only focused on for a short time. According to the Institute for Criminal Justice Training Reform, “Approximately 25% of people killed by police exhibited signs of some form of mental illness” (reflector.uindy.edu). Now imagine if these police officers were trained to handle mental health issues or notice the signs of mental health, as a result they would be able to handle those situations better and become aware of other ways to handle citizens. 

These concerns have made it to important entities that influenced the public to get involved in the fight against police brutality and for justice. We saw the NBA last summer join in the fight by sitting out playoff games to bring attention to the plight of African-Americans and the pain and divisiveness that is caused by politics and police brutality. We saw participants  in all sports on all levels from high school soccer players to NFL players kneeling during the pledge of allegiance. We’ve seen all types of marches since the 1960s to now that speak out against the police brutality and double standard within law enforcement. The world stood together especially this past summer to speak out and call for change. 

Now although we have covered a popular opinion of the justice system it is not the only opinion. The counter-argument is that the justice system is fair. Some believe that the people who are imprisoned “unfairly” are truly deserving of their punishment. Some believe that race, ethnicity, gender, or religion have nothing to do with the decisions made in the justice system. We will discover evidence that supports this opinion so we can truly see both sides of the spectrum. According to “Public on the Justice System” some people even believe that the justice system is not tough enough, “Americans were asked if the U.S. criminal justice system is “too tough, not tough enough, or about right” in handling crime. A firm majority (65%) said that the criminal justice system is “not tough enough” on crime. Twenty-six percent said the system is “about right,” and just 6% said it is “too tough.” Although a majority of Americans feel that the criminal justice system isn’t tough enough, the percentage feeling this way have dropped significantly over the past decade. In March 1992, more than 8 in 10 Americans (83%) said the system isn’t tough enough. By August 2000, the percentage had dropped to 70%. According to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in 1992 there were approximately 48 violent crimes for every 1,000 people aged 12 and over. In 2002, this number had dropped to approximately 23 crimes per 1,000 people. In the recent poll, women (70%) were more likely than men (59%) to say that the criminal justice system isn’t tough enough. Interestingly, this was not the case in 2000. In 2000, men’s and women’s opinions on the criminal justice system were almost identical”(news.gallup.com). Although everyone’s viewpoint is valid there is also a portion of the American public is getting sick of the flagrant racism and misunderstanding that law enforcement continues to show. The other portion supports the justice system and thinks that the imbalance in law enforcement is just a coincidence. No matter what side you fall on, law enforcement is necessary for our society. Just like our world, law enforcement should constantly be making improvements to heal the hurt it has caused to the many innocent families. The good thing is that the important conversations are being had and are applying the necessary pressure by point out problems that will help us to improve our country.

To conclude the argument, the statistics speak for themselves, if the police continue to kill citizens in the streets the relationship between the community and the police will not be able to be fixed. Although difficult, I believe we can improve the relationship and bring the trust back between the police and the community but in order for it to happen, the police will have to be dedicated and want to change and become better. Overall, holding police accountable for their wrongdoings will go a long way in discouraging this behavior and make police think twice before just carelessly ending someone’s life. The recent conviction of officer David Chauvin is a great start to holding police accountable but as a nation we definitely have a long way to go to achieve equal justice for everyone.