Black Lives Matter Members' Perceptions of Police
Attitudes Towards African Americans
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study
Introduction
Alicia Garza and Patrice Cullors created the Black Lives Matter (BLM) social
movement as a response to the police brutality against minorities, especially towards
African Americans (Roger K, 2016). The issue of police brutality has garnered extensive
media coverage for several years (Roger K., 2016). For minorities, specifically African
Americans, police brutality has become a predicament that permeates and maintains the
racial divisions in the United States (Roger K., 2016).
Like previous African American civil rights leaders, the BLM social movement
activists use tools of mass communication as their main strategy to express their message
as to gain a mass following to expand their purpose (Bijan, 2015). In the last ten years,
social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have become the most frequently
used means of gathering and spreading information as it pertains to the BLM movement
(Bijan, 2015). The BLM movement was created to allow the African American
community members a way to fight against the actions of police brutality, racial
inequality, and social injustice (Guynn, 2015).
Background
The founders of the BLM movement Alicia Garza and Patrice Cullors, are
community organizers from Los Angeles, California, who introduced the hashtag
#BlackLivesMatter to social media platforms (Guynn, 2015). The social movement
began when the founders learned that George Zimmerman was acquitted of the death of
Trayvon Martin on July 13, 2013, in the U.S. State of Florida (Guynn, 2015). Garza
(2015) stated that, “she felt not only enraged but a deep sense of grief that she could not
protect Trayvon Martin against this cancer”. Therefore, she composed the love note to
black people on her Facebook page, urging them to come together to ensure “that black
lives matter” (Guynn, 2015).
Despite the fact that Zimmerman was not a police officer, he had a close
relationship with and was familiar with some of the police officers in the Sanford, Florida
police department which was the place where Trayvon Martin was shot and killed.
During a community forum on January 8, 2011, more than a year before Martin was
killed, Zimmerman, then a criminal justice student, told officials he had “ridden along”
with Sanford police officers on patrol (Gutman, Tienabeso, & Smith, 2012). Furthermore,
the State Attorney’s Office released a video as evidence 3 days after the shooting of
Zimmerman’s relationship with the Sanford police department; showing that the video
Zimmerman was walking unescorted through the police station (Trymaine, 2012).
Benjamin Crump, the Martin family attorney, said that the video suggested that a cozy
and comfortable relationship existed with Zimmerman and the Sanford police department
(Trymaine, 2012). It is unknown, however, if Zimmerman’s relationship with the
Sanford police department played a role in the outcome of the verdict. However, what is
known is that the Zimmerman’s case gave rise to the BLM movement, which soon
became a national force (Grigsby, B, 2018).
Upon hearing of Zimmerman’s acquittal 2013, the organizers felt hopeless. Alicia
Garza responded to the acquittal on her Facebook page urging people to come together to
ensure that Black Lives Matter (Guynn, 2015). The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter spread
quickly in social media in the summer of 2013. It distilled the complexities of police
brutality, racial inequality, and social justice into a simple, easy to remember slogan, said
Travis Gosa, a social science professor of African studies at Cornell University (as cited
in Guynn, 2015; Lilly, 2016). Perceptions of the Zimmerman acquittal as unfair and
illustrating the unjust treatment of African Americans, therefore, led to the rise of the
BLM movement.
The #BlackLivesMatter hashtag trended in the United States and across the world
after the Zimmerman verdict was announced (Sual, 2017). However, it was the death of
Freddie Gray that came to symbolize the African American community’s mistrust of
police and which triggered days of protests and riots in Baltimore (Rentz, Luke, &
Fenton, 2017). On April 12, 2012, Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American man
was arrested by the Baltimore Police Department for possessing what alleged was an
illegal knife under the Baltimore law. While being transported in a police van, Freddie
Gray fell into a coma and was taken to a trauma center, where he died on April 19, 2015.
A week later, the cause of his death was based on Spinal cord injuries (Ruiz., R, 2017).
Six officers were indicted, but then released due to insufficient evidence (Ruiz., R, 2017).
Upon Freddie Gray’s death, the city became a focal point of ongoing series of protest by
the BLM movement, and the nationwide debate on excessive police force (Ruiz., R,
2017). Since then, the movement has become the banner under which dozens of disparate
organizations, new and old, and millions of individuals have pressed for change (Bijan,
2015). Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a professor of politics at the University of San
Francisco and the author of Black Nationalism in the United States, said “Black Lives
Matter” might be the most potent slogan since “Black Power”, which Stokely Carmichael
introduced to a crowd of civil rights demonstrators nearly fifty years ago (Guynn, 2015).
According to Garza (2015), BLM movement activists used Twitter, Facebook,
and Tumblr to connect people fighting for social justice so they could meet offline and do
something in their communities (Guynn, 2015). The BLM movement is an ideological
and political intervention in a world where African American lives are systematically and
intentionally targeted for demise (Garza, Tometi, & Cullors, 2014). As people took the
#BlackLivesMatter demands to the streets, the mainstream and corporations also took up
the call (Garza et al., 2014).
The BLM is a unique social movement with concerns that extend beyond
extrajudicial killings of African Americans by the police and vigilantes (Garza et al.,
2014). Garza et al. (2014) suggested that when activists say “black lives matter,” they are
talking about the ways African Americans are deprived of their basic human rights and
dignity (Garza, Tometi, & Cullors, 2014). Furthermore, the #BlackLivesMatter
movement does not mean that the lives of other races are not important; it means that
Black lives are seen as without value within White supremacy, and are important to your
liberation (Garza et al., 2014).
The wide spread of mobile phone cameras and social media platforms has moved
social movements into the spotlight, especially BLM (Freelon, Mcllwain, & Clark, 2016).
In 2014, videos, images, and text narratives of violent encounters between the police and
unarmed African Americans circulated widely in the news and on social media platforms
galvanizing public outrage (Freelon et al., 2016). The biased coverage of these
encounters was the fuel that gave rise to the BLM movement, a loosely coordinated,
nationwide movement dedicated to ending police brutality (Freelon et al., 2016).
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a professor in African American studies at Princeton
University, stated that social media has been critical in the knitting together of a national
narrative of police violence and abuse (Safdar, 2016). The BLM movement members
continued their advocacy work in the mass media, in the streets, through dialogue with
elected officials, and online (Freelon, Mcllwain, & Clark, 2016). The BLM movement
has demonstrated the loss of confidence and respect for the police that often occurs when
a controversial incident takes place and garners media attention (Weitzer, 2015). In a
study conducted by Dirikx, Gelders, and den Bulk (2013), the authors concluded that
exposure to the news negatively predicts the respondents’ perceptions of the distributive
fairness of the police.
Police-citizen relationships have been influenced by controversial issues that have
been publicized by the media (Weitzer, 2015), by racial profiling (McAlister, 2011), and
by stop and frisk policies (Filimon, 2015) that have grown significantly since 2007-2017
(McAlister, 2015). Social media platforms have shown how these phenomena are part of
a generalized and pervasive pattern of police abuse as seen by the public (Safdar, 2016).
Furthermore, social media platforms help organizers overcome the distance created by
geography by putting people in immediate touch with one another (Azarian, 2016).
African Americans living in majority African American communities are more
likely to say their local police treated members more roughly when dealing with crime
88% compared to 74% (Swanson, 2016). More than (82%) of African Americans say that
police in their communities are more likely to use deadly force against an African
American person compared to 66% of those living is non-African American majority
areas (Swanson, 2016). Numerous studies document stark racial disparities in police
maltreatment, finding that African American boys and men are disproportionately subject
to excessive and sometimes deadly police force, even after accounting for situational
factors of the encounter (e.g., resisting arrest) and officer characteristics (e.g., age,
training (Desmond, Papachristos, & Kirk, 2016; Terrill & Reisig, 2003).
Lee, Steinberg, Piquero, and Knight (2011) stated that for many African
Americans, especially those who live in low-income neighborhoods and in urban
environments, police contact occurs in the form of neighborhood close observation, racial
profiling, harassment, and/or arrest (Lee et al., 2011). Waddington, Williams, Wright,
and Newburn (2015) argued that young, ethnic minority men are more likely to be in an
environment in which negative encounters with the police are common place and in
which accounts of those encounters may be exchanged so that the attitudes to the police
are formed and shared in the neighborhoods by a mixture of African Americans’ personal
experiences and collective understanding. Between August 2014 and August 2015, BLM
social movement chapters around the world organized more than 950 protest
demonstrations (Herbert., G, 2015). Their call for social justice has ranged from targeting
well-known police-involved deaths, such as Eric Garner’s strangulation in Staten Island,
New York, on July 17, 2014, to lesser-known cases involving the killing of 12-year-old
Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, on November 22, 2014 (Herbert., G, 2015).
The relationship between the police and African American communities has been
compromised due to the tensions that exist between the police and the BLM social
movement members due to the disproportionate police killings of African Americans
(Lopez, 2017). That tension is based on a long history of flat-out racist policing in
America (Lopez, 2017).
Recent violence against the police and African Americans has resulted in
bloodshed and severe injuries sustained from assaults, some of which have resulted in
death (Barrik, Hickman, & Strom, 2014). The violent confrontations that have occurred
between African Americans and the police in the United States have become a global
concern where the lack of trust, confidence, and the perception of the police has yielded
debates on reforms among politicians and the BLM social movement (Weitzer, 2015).
Recent violent confrontations between the police and African Americans have provoked
an exceptional amount of public debates regarding the frustration and concerns that
African Americans have about the treatment that they receive from the police (Weitzer,
2015).
In an effort to tackle the violence and restore order in African American
communities throughout the United States, police departments have moved to aggressive
enforcement of minor violations (Vitale, 2014). However, Thompson (2015) felt that
fatal incidents that have recently occurred in the streets, and that have received national
attention, stem from broken windows policing. Broken windows refer to an observation
made by George Kelling, a criminologist, and James Wilson in the 1980s, that when a
window of a home is broken and left unrepaired, the rest of the windows will soon be
broken too (E.B, 2015). Keeling and Wilson, suggested that an unrepaired window is a
sign of not caring (E.B, 2015). Therefore, breaking more windows cost nothing. Broken
windows policing was implemented as an approach to law enforcement based on the
theory of cracking down on minor crimes and offenses to prevent major crimes (E.B,
2015). However, it is argued that effect of the broken windows is discriminatory, as the
police only targets non-whites (E.B, 2015). In a police reform organization project
conducted in 2014, researchers found that young African American men are usually
charged with criminal trespassing and locked up for standing in front of their building
(Gangi, 2014).
The difficult relationship between the police and African Americans in the United
States is evident in the deep-rooted racial divisions in the public’s view of law
enforcement and the criminal justice system (Swanson, 2016). These divisions have
added to the tension that exists between the police and African Americans and, thus, have
damaged the reputation of the police nationwide (Weitzer, 2015). Police officers have
become more reluctant to conduct police work due to the isolated relationship they have
with members of African American communities (Vitale, 2014).
The problems that are affecting all police departments across the United States
stem from the absence of African American community cooperation, communication,
and relationships with the police (Barrick, 2014). Previous studies have shown that
African Americans often have unfavorable attitudes towards the police (Barrick, 2014). A
review of annual Gallup data for 2014, 2015, and 2016 shows a 29%-point gap in the
percentage of Whites and African Americans who have confidence in the police; 58% of
Whites have confidence in the police compared with 29% of African Americans (Swift,
2016).
Barrick (2014) suggested that it is essential for the police to have a good working
relationship with African American community members because it plays an important
role in the safety of the communities. Without community support, police officers risk
putting their lives at stake when entering communities with large populations of
minorities (Wasserman, 2010). Therefore, both parties need to be able to establish a
working relationship, which is free of negative perceptions, as both need to be able to
depend on each other.
Researchers studying perceptions of the police have examined the role of police
contacts, finding that African Americans translate their perceptions as police harassment
rather than as actions related to protecting them or their neighborhoods (Romaine &
Hassell, 2014). Observing at the determination factors of the tensions between African
Americans communities and the police (Barrick, 2014), it is needless to say that the torn
relationship that exists between African Americans and the police creates negative
perceptions and distrust for the police (Barrick, 2014). Improvement is recommended in
the areas of communication, and enforcement to gain African trust and develop a
trustworthy relationship.
Problem Statement
The way police officers interact with African Americans greatly dictate how
African Americans view the police (Jannetta & Beiler, 2015). The current problem
consist in that the relationship between the police and African Americans has been
compromised as a result of the conflicts and incidents upon encounters that have been
publicized in social media.
Creating a culture of integrity within a department is crucial to building and
sustaining community trust, effective policing, and safe communities (Jannetta & Beiler,
2015). The public perception of the police has been that the police’s only concern is in
African Americans communities is the reduction of crime (e.g., drugs, murder, rape,
robbery, grand larceny, etc.) and pay little attention to how police attitudes affect African
Americans perceptions of the police.
Since 1935, nearly every riot in the United States and there have been more than
100 ha been sparked by a police incident (Hanna-J, 2015). This can be an act of brutality,
or a senseless killing (Hanna-J, 2015). Research also shows that African Americans
harbor more negative feelings toward the criminal justice system (Jones, 2011).
Regardless, of the trust that is placed on the police, previous studies claim that much
more remains to be known about African Americans trust in the police, their views and
experiences (Flexion, Lurigo, & Greenleaf, 2009). For African Americans, policing is
“the most enduring aspect of the struggle for civil rights and it has always been the
mechanism for racial surveillance and control” says Muhammad, a historian and director
of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York (Hanna-J, 2015).
There has been great attention to police interaction with African Americans
because studies have attested that African Americans have had negative experiences with
the police where they have been verbally and physically absurd and overly aggressive to
hold them back where the use of force was used (Weitzer & Brunson, 2009). Life
experiences of African Americans have made them more critical to opinions of the
effectiveness, legitimacy, and lack of respect for the police (Weitzer & Brunson, 2009).
Although, the problem is relevant, it is known if it has become part of repeated stories
and embedded accounts of biased perceptions by the media that should encourage
African American to detach themselves from the police (Hardin, 2015; Rojeck, Alpert, &
Smith, 2012). However, African American communities want a good relationship with
law enforcement because they want their families and property to be safe. After all, it is
true that African American communities often face higher rates of crime (Hanna-J,
2015).
Hardin (2015) suggested that lasting negative experiences upon police and
African American relationships create a hostile environment, mistrust, and fear from the
police, and from police to African Americans that can lead to confrontations between
both groups. This in part, explains why African Americans are more susceptible and
critical of the effectiveness and legitimacy of the police, which only adds to the lack of
trust and disrespect for law enforcement (Wietzer & Brunson, 2009). The relationship
between the police and African Americans has been compromise in the United States
based on the lack of trust, confidence, and actions that have impacted the relationship.
The perceptions that African Americans and the police have is based on the shared
experience with each other and the actions that have that have impacted that relationship.
The relationship problem between the police and African Americans has come to light
due to the publicity that social media has given to the Black Lives Matter social
movement.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the qualitative study is to explain and describe the impact that the
BLM movement has on the relationship between African Americans and the police. The
poor relationship that remains between the police and African Americans through the
United States is the disconnect that has occurred between African American communities
and the police including the loss of trust, anger, frustration, faith, and respect for the
police that encouraged the need for this qualitative case study. The BLM social
movement’s fight for social justice, and the effort it has put in to end more African
American deaths directly or indirectly because of police violence (Herbert., G, 2015).
Despite the early formulation of attitudes towards the police and the centrality of
trust in effective police programming, many questions are unanswered about African
Americans trust in the police and the association between trust and experiences of
adolescence (Flexon, Lurigio & Greenleaf, 2009). Police involved incidents that have led
to death of African Americans in the U.S. have awaken the BLM social movement
(Meyerson, C, 2016). The #blacklivesmatter social movement website says that a police
involved shooting death occurs every 48 hours (Meyerson, C, 2016). The BLM social
movement struggle to preserve African American lives has expanded into a new human
and civil rights movement and it is continuing to grow stating that the aggressiveness of
police officers and their behavior can leave people feeling humiliated, violated, or even
victimized (Brunson & Gau, 2016). Building a partnership between the police and
African Americans might reduce tension between the police and the BLM social
movement supporters. Therefore, the study will be providing conflict resolutions between
the police and the BLM social movement to resolve conflicts, torn relationship, and
hatred that’s displayed on social media platforms and allow the public and law
enforcement to see how the problematic relationship that exist between the police and
African Americans are destroying communities.
Research Questions
In this study, I examined the relationship between the police and African
American communities. I focused, in particular, on BLM social movement activists’
perceptions of police actions and behaviors. I analyzed incidents that have occurred
between both groups to better understand how African Americans perceive law
enforcement organizations. I posed the following research questions to help establish
what the present relationship is between African Americans and the police and how the
BLM social movement perceives police actions towards African Americans.
Research Question 1: What is the current relationship between the police and the
BLM social movement?
Research Question 2: How does the BLM social movement perceive the actions
of police towards African Americans?
Theoretical Framework
In this study, I examined important aspects of the police-African American
relationship by using procedural justice theory (PJT) and critical race theory. In
formulating the theory of procedural justice, Tyler argued that if officers act fairly and
respectfully when interacting with the public, they can win legitimacy (as cited in
Waddington, Williams, Wright, & Newburn, 2015). Activists and scholars developed
critical race theory (Delgado and Stefancic, 2017). Critical race theorists are interested in
studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power (Delgado and
Stefancic, 2017).
Critical race theory combines progressive political struggles for racial justice with
critiques of the conventional legal and scholarly norms that are themselves viewed as part
of the illegitimate hierarchies that need to be changed. Scholars, most of whom are they
persons of color, challenge the ways that law and culture construct race and racial power
(Barlow, 2016). Adopting critical race theory emphasizes the importance of examining
and attempting to understand the socio-cultural forces that shape how others perceive,
experience, and respond to racism (Allen., B, Tompkins, Chernouski, & Boyle, 2017).
Scholars trace racism as a dually theoretical and historical experience that affects all
members of a community regardless of their racial affiliations or identifications (Allen.,
B, Tompkins, Chernouski, & Boyle, 2017).
Critical race theory does not only draw attention to and address the concerns of
individual affected by racism, but also those when penetrated and are seemingly
unaffected by racial prejudice (Allen., B, Tompkins, Chernouski, & Boyle, 2017).
According to critical race theory, race is one of the most consistent predictors of attitudes
toward and reported experiences of the police and other criminal justice institutions
(Weitzer, R., Tuch, S. A. 2004). People form opinions of the police based on their
interactions with them or the experiences they hear from trusted friends and family
(Schuck, Amie, and Dennis P. Rosenbaum, 2005). In addition, media reports also affect
the public’s view of policing agencies and how fairly laws are enforced (Weitzer,
Ronald, and Steven A. Tuch, 2005). Research also shows that an officer’s demeanor and
actions are crucial to perceptions of police legitimacy (Horowitz, 2007). If officers
communicate well, listen, and treat citizens with respect, citizens will respond in the
same kind
(Horowitz, 2007).
People who perceive that they received procedural justice are likely to perceive the
police as legitimate and trustworthy and are likely to comply in the future (Weitzer &
Tuch, 2004). Different views of procedural justice have dominated recent discussions of
police interactions with the public (Zamir, Mastrofski, & Moyal, 2013) to evaluate if
using procedural justice while having police/minority encounters bring respect and fair
treatment in their actions, can change the views of the public towards the police, and can
encourage the public to become more complaint and cooperative with the police
(Mazerolle, Antrobus, Bennett, & Tyler, 2012).
The combination of procedural justice theory and critical race theory are the
foundation for answering the research questions regarding the study. Procedural justice
theory suggests that judgments about fairness of the police will be the most important
factor in such process (Bradford, 2012). Therefore, the BLM social movement impact on
the relationship between police and African Americans will be based on the procedural
justice theory and the current relationship is answered by the critical race and response
theories.
Nature of the Study
I conducted this study to explore the current state of the relationship between
African Americans and the police and how does the BLM social movement influence that
relationship. The study was conducted within predominantly minority communities in
New York City and focused specifically on African Americans and police relationship,
and the BLM social movement perceptions of police actions towards African Americans.
As a case study, this study used a cross-case data analysis and coding method. The
collection method approach was based on instructive examples that highlight the problem
(Creswell, 2013, p.13) through various cases, instances, and individuals (Stewart, 2011,
p.69) that compromises the data analysis of the study (Hardin, 2015). The data analysis
was drawn out of various components of specific encounters, BLM social movement
rallies, social media, and social media postings, which works as “an integral part of the
broader picture” (Thomas, 2013, p.598). Existing case studies, existing interviews, social
media postings, rallies and meetings of the BLM social movement compromised the
purposeful sample techniques used in this study. A case study approach provided an
indepth essence of the research topic (Harland, 2014, p.6; Stewart, 2011, p. 70; Thomas,
2013, pp.592) through observations, purposeful sampling, and a “tenacious pursuit of the
essence of each case” (Stewart, 2011, p. 80; Hardin, 2015). A case study approach offers
the researcher the opportunity, knowledge, and experience to reinforce aspects of quality
in the data collection and analysis stages (Stewart, 2011, pp.78-79; Hardin, 2013).
Operational Definitions
The following terms will be used throughout the study:
Attitude: A relatively enduring organization of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral
tendencies towards socially significant objects, groups, events or symbols (Hogg &
Vaughn, 2005, p. 150).
Community: Community is a group of people residing in the same neighborhood
or area and who have some form of interest in common. Furthermore, a community can
also be defined as a feeling of partnership with members of the community who share the
same interest, attitudes, and goals, or a group of citizens united working together to
accomplish and achieve a goal in the neighborhood (Pfortmuller, 2017).
Critical race theory: A collection of activists and scholars interested in studying
and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power (Delgado & Stefanic,
2012). It considers many of the same issues that conventional civil rights and ethnic
studies discourses take up, but places them in a broader perspective that includes
economic, history, context, group and self-interest, and even feelings and
unconsciousness (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012).
Influence: Influence is the power and ability to personally affect others' actions,
decisions, opinions or thinking (Scharlatt, 2011).
Minority: A culturally, ethnically, or racially distinct group that coincides with,
but is lesser to, a more dominant group (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018).
Procedural Justice also known, as procedural fairness is an evidence – based
practice reliably associated with higher levels of compliance with and greater amounts of
satisfaction with decisions by authority figures. Furthermore, procedure justice is an
important predictor of victims’ satisfaction with the criminal justice system (Murphy &
Barkworth, 2014).
Assumptions
The basic assumption in this study was that African Americans based their
perception of the police based on their interactions, whether positive or negative. The
BLM social movement in part is a response to influence those perceptions of African
Americans toward the attitudes of the police or law enforcement organization
(Rosenbaum., Schuck, Costello, Hawkins, 2005).
Scope of the Study
The scope of the study was to extend an assessment of the current relationship
between African Americans and the police and the effects of the Black Lives Matter
social movement and its potential to influence the relationship between the police and the
African American community. The study involves the views of academic scholars,
community organizers, policy makers, and law enforcement personnel that had the
knowledge about the purpose of the social movement, its influences, and its objectives.
Limitations and Delimitations
Taking into consideration my law enforcement experience and background in
criminal justice, I may exhibit some level of pro-officer bias (Hardin, 2015). To ease the
limitation, I will convey the coding of the data collection under analysis procedures on
the Black Lives Matter Twitter and Facebook pages on the experiences of African
Americans with the police, while providing transparency to provide trustworthiness.
Some of the limitations and exceptions that are foreseen of this qualitative study is that I
will not have access to the individual person posting the comments on Twitter and
Facebook.
In addition, the Black Lives Matter Twitter and Facebook comments will be
analyzed by written statements and based on personal experiences. It will be limited only
to the experience of African Americans. Furthermore, the study limits to the sample of
other minorities. This study has considered a further limitation: the data will be strictly
analyzed from the Black Lives Matter Twitter, Facebook pages, and document reviews of
existing interviews with members of the Black Lives Matter social movement. The
community under this study are those in posting on the Black Lives Matter to social
media is predominantly African American, which means that the research is limited to
other ethnicities. While other ethnicities posting using #BlackLivesMatter will not be
eliminated from the data analysis process, there is a user bias in the hashtag being
assessed. The data will be limited to facts and will be based on the opinion of the BLM
social movement members opinions as well as the opinion given on the existing
interviews and social media.
Significance of the Study
The absolute social value adopted from encounters with the police can change
African Americans perceptions of police officers and at the same time, clarify any
grievances that exist over the tactics that are used by the police when encountering
African Americans. The experience acquired from those encounters can be used to make
recommendations to address issues over police attitudes towards African Americans, and
African Americans behavior towards the police during encounter/contact. The findings of
this study will provide enough data analysis for improving police and African Americans
relationship and community engagement with the police. These improvements can raise
public awareness of police actions that can facilitate African Americans working for and
with the police (Hardin, 2015).
Summary
The objective of this study was to collect data on the current relationship between
the police and African Americans and how does the Black Lives Matter social movement
influence that relationship. The Black Lives Matter social movement uses social media
platforms for community organizing and to collect information on shared experiences
that African Americans have had during their interactions with the police. It is important
to analyze the reason why, and to what extent, police attitudes have influenced African
American perceptions towards the police. The relationship between African Americans
and the police will be analyze based on the theoretical foundation of procedural justice
and the influence of the Black Lives Matter social movement through the critical race
theory to see if police attitudes play a role on African Americans perception of the police.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
The recent deaths of unarmed African Americans in the hands of the police have
sparked the BLM social movement in the United States (Norberg, Crawford, &
Praetorius, 2016). The BLM social movement It is fueled by grief and fury, by righteous
rage against injustice and institutionalized racism and by frustration at the endemic
brutality of the state against those it deems unworthy (Day, 2015). Alicia Garza created
the #BlackLivesMatter with Patrice Cullors, Opal Tometi, and two of her sisters, as a call
to action for Black people after 17-year old Trayvon Martin was posthumously placed on
trial for his own murder and the killer, George Zimmerman, was not held accountable for
the crime he committed (Garza, 2012). Trayvon martin was killed by George
Zimmerman a neighborhood watch member on February 26, 2012 in Sandford, Florida
(Garza, 2012).
As Zimmerman was patrolling the streets of the gated community he worked for, he saw
Trayvon martin walking who had just left the house and heading to the store. At the time
Zimmerman called the police and reported Trayvon as a suspicious guy and was advice
by the police to follow Trayvon (Robles, 2012). Upon Trayvon noticing he was being
followed, he began to run. Zimmerman caught to Trayvon, and According to Zimmerman
they got into a confrontation which resulted in Zimmerman killing Trayvon Martin
(Robles, 2012). However, Zimmerman was acquitted of all charges.
After the verdict, Garza began the BLM social movement with a posting on
Facebook urging African Americans to come together to ensure that Black lives matter
(Guynn, 2015). Her friend, Patrice Cullors, a community organizer from Los Angeles,
California, spotted the Facebook post and put a hashtag in front of those three words, and
the #BlackLivesMatter was born (Guynn, 2015). The hashtag #blacklivesmatter gained
prominence once again and become the rallying call for protesters after the killing of
Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014 (Carney, 2016). BLM
supporters are fueled by grief and fury, by rage against injustice and institutionalized
racism (Day, 2015) and by the violence against people of color and the racial injustice of
the criminal justice system (Emerson, 2018), 2015). Therefore, it is important to
understand the experiences of African Americans who have had confrontations with the
police and develop a negative opinion of the police (Norberg,
Crawford, & Praetorius, 2016). Due to the violence from the police towards African
Americans, the BLM social movement continues to move forward their movement.
Furthermore, the BLM social movement is a broad umbrella for social justice
campaigns to eradicate poverty and unemployment, overhaul the public education and
health care systems, reduce the prison population, and end racial profiling (Guynn,
2015). It has been disputed that police contact does not inherently undermine
minority trust in the police (Tyler, Jackson, & Mentovich, 2015). However, minority
trust and behavior are undermined by how the police communicate with minorities
when they encounter them; furthermore, the threat or use of coercion has not increased
minority trust in the police (Tyler et al., 2015). “The black lives matter social movement
is an ideological and political intervention in a world where black lives are
systematically and intentionally target for demise,” Garza wrote in the group’s official
history of its founding (Lowery, 2017). According to the BLM website, the Black Lives
Matter Network advocates for dignity, justice, and respect. Black activists have raised
the call for an end to violence, not an escalation of it (as cited in Simpson, 2016).
I will begin literature review by describing my literature search strategy. I will
then discuss why procedural justice and critical race theory were suitable for the study’s
theoretical framework. After doing so, I will examine research on the relationship
between the police and African Americans and the perceptions of both based on
interactions shared. In the chapter’s concluding section, I will summarize key points and
offer a transition to Chapter 3.
Literature Search Strategy
The literature review for this study was conducted using the following research
databases and journals: Google Scholar, Sage, ProQuest, Taylor and Francis Online, and
the Journal of Criminal Justice.
Theoretical Foundation
Procedural Justice Theory
The theoretical framework consisted of procedural justice theory and critical race
theory. Procedural justice theory suggests that judgments about the fairness of the police
will be the most important factor in such processes (Bradford, 2014). Critical race theory
(CRT) scholars and activists are engaged in studying the relationship among race, racism,
and power (Delgado & Stefancic, 2015). Fairness promotes a sense of inclusion and
value, while unfairness communicates denigration and exclusion (Bradford, 2014).
In 1974, and then again in a book published in 1975, Thibaut and Walker first used
the term procedural justice to refer to social psychological consequence of procedural
variation, with emphasis on procedural effects on fairness judgments (Lind, Tyler, &
Walker 1975). The study of justice as a topic in psychology has been concerned largely
with distributive justice -- that is, with fairness oriented responses to the outcome rather
than procedures (Lind & Tyler, 1998).
As Thibaut and Walker (1975) began to work on the theory of procedural theory,
other theorists suggested that distributive justice was an important factor in social
behavior (Lind & Tyler, 1988). Adams’ theory was the most influential of the theories in
the early work on procedural justice (Lind & Taylor, 1988). Adams argued that social
behavior is affected by the belief that the allocation of benefits and costs within a group
should be equitable -- that is, the outcomes should be proportional to the contributions of
the group members (as cited in Lind & Taylor, 1998).
Procedural justice theory suggests that a fair procedure has the best outcome
(Lynch, 2016). Furthermore, procedural justice suggested that based on the treatment the
public receive at the hand of the police and justice officials it will define the public
compliance (Paraschiv, 2012; Lynch, 2016). Within the last few years, there has been an
increase in judicial and procedural injustice when it comes down to race, according to
Lynch (2016). Many people are questioning whether the criminal justice system has done
enough to protect its citizens from the misuse of authority by law enforcement (Lynch,
2016). Procedural justice is based on the premise that the criminal justice system must
consistently demonstrate its legitimacy—that its existence is valid and justified—to the
public it serves (Gold, E., 2013). However, many believe that procedural justice is not
enough (Maiese, 2013).
Procedural justice have been applied to studies towards the criminal justice
system as to the degree to which the public perceived what is fair and legitimate in police
conduct (Hardin, 2015). Furthermore, procedural justice considered the motivations that
citizens attribute to officers’ action and decisions (Hardin, 2015). Procedural justice
theory suggested that what matters most are the public views on how fair the process are
through which the police make their decisions and exercise their authority (Dirikx,
Gleders, & Parmentier, 2012). Moreover, fair practices tend to inspire feelings of loyalty
to one’s group, legitimize the authority of leaders, and help to ensure voluntary
compliance with the rules (Burgess & Cast, 2013). Procedural justice is based on four
central principles: (a) treating people with dignity and respect, (b) giving citizens a voice
during encounters, (c) being neutral in decision-making, and (d) conveying reliable
motives (Olmeda & Marzolli, 2016).
Philosopher John Rawls distinguishes three key components of procedural justice:
1.) Perfect procedural justice has two characteristics:
a. An independent criterion for what constitutes a fair or just outcome of the
procedure, and
b. A procedure that guarantees that the fair outcome will be achieved
(Lawrence, 2004).
2.) Imperfect procedural justice shares the first characteristic of procedural justice –
there is an independent criterion for a fair outcome – but no method that
guarantees that the fair outcome will be achieved (Lawrence, 2004).
3.) Pure procedural justice describes situations in which there is no criterion for what
constitutes a just outcome other than the procedures itself (Lawrence, 2004).
Procedural justice theory will not ensure that the conduct of police officers will be
viewed favorable, for evaluation that African Americans reach rely as much upon
previous influences trust or mistrust –whether acquired from candid experiences or on
behalf of how officers actually behave (Waddington, Williams, Wright, & Newburn,
2015). Procedural justice research has frequently found that adults are more likely to put
off the police and are more likely to aid the police when they feel they will be treated in a
fair, respectful, and unprejudiced manner (Murphy, 2015; Sunshine & Taylor, 2003;
Murphy et al., 2008). Furthermore, procedural justice is important to the evolution of
good will amid police and the people and is closely associated to improving community
understanding of police legitimacy, the belief that authorities have the right to dictate
proper behavior (trustandjustice.org, 2016). Procedural justice is thought to be productive
in creating voluntary assistance because it increases the anticipated legitimacy of
authority (Murphy, 2015; Tyler, 1990). Yet, procedural justice and critical race theory
have not been integrated into policing to improve the relationship between the police and
African Americans to assure fairness, and equality from the police.
Carney (2016) conducted a study where she focus particularly on the deployment
of the phrases “#blacklivesmatter” and “#alllivesmatter”, it examines the discourse of
Twitter at a particular moment in time to investigate a contested site of knowledge
production and power through discourse (pg. 182). In the findings of the study, Carney
(2016) demonstrated that the #blacklivesmatter slogan met a great deal of resistance in
the wake of the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. On social media, one of the
primary ways in which people resisted the Black Lives Matter social movement came in
the form of using #alllivesmatter as a counter slogan to undermine the purpose and
message of the #blacklivesmatter call to action (Carney, 2016). In a study conducted by
Olteanu, Weber, and Gatica-Perez (2015), they conducted a study where they put to test
the Black Lives Matter social movement and hashtag on Twitter in order to get insights
into the level of users involvement based on demographic. Their findings were that more
African Americans engage with the hashtag, and are more active than any other race.
If the African American communities begin to perceive the changes in police
attitudes, police fairness, and respect towards African American communities, the police
and African Americans encounter will have a positive experience and outcome.
Therefore, rebuilding trust in the police. Integrating procedural justice and critical race
theory into policing African American communities, and switching process into how to
approach, talk, and treat African Americans can result in positive outcome and reduce the
violence between African Americans and the police.
Procedural justice can be tested by implementing it on patrol, while addressing
patrol officers on how to use procedural justice when approaching, questioning, or
arresting African Americans. Whereas, critical race theory recognizes that racism is
engrained in the fabric and system of the American society (Deruvo, 2013). African
Americans perceptions of police fairness can have a vital influence on their perceptions
toward the police (Mazerolle, Antrobus, Bennet, & Tyler, 2012). Studies show that when
citizens perceive the police acting in a procedurally just manner by treating people with
dignity and respect, and by being fair and neutral in their actions they view the police as
legitimate and are more likely to comply with directives and cooperate with police
(Mazerolle et al., 2012).
Critical Race Theory
Critical race theory came around in the 1970s and 80s as Derrick Bell and other
law professors and activists became disillusioned with the results of the civil rights
movement (Oremu, 2012). Bell is considered the father of Critical Race Theory because
of his prolific writing on the topic; his instrumental role in educating many cohorts of law
scholars who fostered the movement, and the principles by which he lived his life and his
career (Landson-Billings, 2013). However, the critical race theory movement began
organizing in the 1980s, holding its first session thereafter (Delgado & Stenfacic, 2015).
During the past twenty years, critical race theory has served as a tool for exposing and
analyzing race and racism in higher education. Since it was introduced to education by
Ladson-Billings and Tate (1995), scholars, have used the theory to examine educational
policy and practice.
Critical race theory sprang up when the civil rights movement stalled; new theories
were needed to cope with emerging forms of institutional or “color blinded” racism and a
public that seemed tired of hearing about race (Delgado & Stenfacic, 2015). Bell’s
thoughts were that blacks has supposedly gained equality before the law, they pointed out
that whites continued to wield disproportionate power and enjoy superior standards of
living (Oremu, 2012).
Furthermore, Bell and other legal scholars began using the phrase “critical race
theory” in the 1970s as a takeoff on “critical legal theory,” a branch of legal scholarship
that challenges the validity of concepts such as rationality, objective truth, and judicial
neutrality (Oremu, 2012). Critical race theorists showed how racism is routine, not
exceptional, and that liberal accounts were inadequate to understand its persistence and
power (Delgado & Stefancic, 2007). Delgado and Stefancic (2013) review the history of
critical race theory, including the small number of efforts to come to terms with crime
and delinquency by critical race theory scholars, and list several issues that seem ripe for
critical analysis.
The individual racist need not exist to note that institutional racism is pervasive in the
dominant culture (Deruvo, 2013). Critical race theory assumes that racism is “engrained”
in American society at its core and that every white is part of the problem (Deruvo,
2013). Yet, it doesn’t attempt to prove it, it just simply assumes it (Deruvo, 2013).
According to Derrick Bell, the father of the Critical Race Theory, Critical race theory
gives permission to blacks to believe in something that provides plausible-sounding
reason for what they see in society (Deruvo, 2013). Because it is believed that racism is
truly “engrained in the fabric and system of the American society,” it stands to reason
that it must be fought against (Deruvo, 2013). Although the term “theory” appears in its
name, Critical Race Theory is not like behavior change or epidemiological theories (Ford
& Airhihenbuwa, 2010).
Critical race theory integrates transdisciplinary methodologies that draw on theory,
experiential knowledge, and critical consciousness to illuminate and combat root causes
of structural racism (Ford & Airhihenbuwa, 2010). Critical Race Theory challenges
widely held out erroneous beliefs that “race consciousness” is synonymous with “racism”
and that “colorblindness” is synonymous with the absence of racism (Ford &
Airhihenbuwa, 2010). According to Delgado and Stefancic (2001), Critical Race Theory
scholars believe that racism “is the usual way society does business, the common,
everyday experience of most people of color in this country” (p.7).
Literature Review of Key Variables and/or Constructs
The Police and African Americans
The history of the relationship between the police and African Americans
converge on the idea that police behavior carries important identity-relevant information
(Bradford, 2014). Cooperation between minorities and the police is critical to the success
of the minority communities (Flexon, Lurigio, & Greenleaf, 2009). If African Americans
(minorities) are fearful and distrust the police, they will be more reluctant to cooperate
with the police, to the point of not reporting crimes. Based on the lack of police and
African American relations, and police violence against minorities, the Black Lives
Matter social movement began surrounding states.
The former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton came under
pressure due to police violence and minority deaths on the hands of the police, which
lead him to resigning to his position. His abrupt resignation gave a win to the Black Lives
Matter protesters (Pyke, 2016). The abrupt change in the relationship between the police
and African Americans has turned into violence, leading to deaths of civilians and police
officers (Weitzer & Tuch, 2004). Due to the change in relationship between the police
and African Americans, Sholnick (1973) states that minorities have historically
mistrusted the police, mostly for their offensive verbal, abusive responses, brutal actions,
and the lack of effective service provided in minority communities. Former President
Barack Obama in a speech given in 2014 stated, “In too many communities around the
country, a gulf of mistrust exists between residents and law enforcement” (Olson, 2014).
There has been a mass of cases of minority incidents with the police since the
drastic event of Rodney King in 1992 in Los Angeles, California, and Amadou Diallo in
1999 in New York City, New York (Olmeda & Marzulli, 2015). Amadou Diallo, Manuel
Loggins Jr., Ronald Madison, Kendra James, Sean Bell, Eric Garner, Michael Brown,
Alton Sterling, and Ramarley Graham; were black men or women who died at the hands
of police (Funke & Susman, 2016). Their names represent only a handful of cases of
minorities whom have been gun down by the police since 1999 (Funke & Susman, 2016).
Other minorities who died in the hands of the police are:
•Manuel Loggins Jr. was 31 years old, a Marine who was shot and killed on
February 7, 2012 by an Orange County Sheriff (Goffard, 2013).
•Ronald Madison 40, mentally disabled, a Katrina survivor, was shot in the back
and killed in an ambushed by New Orleans police officers on September 4, 2005
(Granderson, 2006),
•James Brissette 17, was also shot in the back and killed along with Ronald
Madison, 40, by the New Orleans police officers (justice.gov, 2011).
•Sean Bell, 23, was shot and killed on November 25, 2006 as he was coming out of
a strip club celebrating his bachelorette party (Williams, 2016). Officers open fire
shooting Bell in the neck and torso (Olmeda & Marzulli, 2012).
•Ramarley Graham, 18; Graham was shot by a New York City Police Officer in
his Bronx apartment on February 2, 2012 (Williams, 2012).
•Eric Garner, 43; Garner got into a confrontation with an NYPD officer and was
placed in an illegal arrest that resulted in his death (Williams, 2015).
The BLM social movement rises every time to protest police violence whenever
an African American suffers injuries or deaths in the hands of the police. A database by
kill by police have tracked that, approximately 4,377 people of race have been killed by
the police in the United States, from 2013 to early 2017 (killedbypolice.net, 2017).
According to the data collected for the counted (2016), Black males aged 15-34 were
nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by law enforcement officers
(Day, 2017). They were also killed at four times the rate of young white men (Day,
2017).
Racial disparities persisted in 2016 even as the total number of deaths caused by
police fell slightly. Police brutality with African Americans throughout history has
enforced racist ideas, creating a barrier between minorities and police. Their unjustified
actions leave us with the question of whether it is based on the actual crime or the color
of their skin (Roethler, Kapur & Filippini, 2017).
In all, 1,091 deaths were recorded for 2016, compared with 1,146 logged in 2015
(Day, 2017). African American men were again killed by police at a clearly increasingly
rate than other Americans in 2016, raising concerns over the expected forsaking of
criminal justice reform by Donald Trump’s incoming administration (Day, 2017). These
events have soared out of control where the community is labeling police brutality,
discrimination, racial profiling and racism. The underlying racism exists because the
dayto-day encounters with the people of color have been negative, and it has been
dominated by the stereotype of police officers (Solis, 2004; see Bouza, 1990). Time and
time again, this culture has proven to have fatal consequences for racially profiling
African
Americans (Fillimon, 2015). Police stereotype has been related to the negative interaction
and attitude between the police and African Americans.
Incidents that have occurred between the police and supporters of the BLM social
movement have been proof that racial profiling continues to grow (Higgins, Jennings,
Jordan, & Gabbidon, 2011). Existing research on racial profiling indicates that racial and
ethnic minorities are disproportionately stopped and searched (Higgins, Jennings, Jordan,
& Gabbidon, 2011; Alpert, 2007; Engel & Calnon, 2004). The police have been accused
of racially biased decision-making that contributes to the racial profiling, disrespectful
encounters, excessive force, and, ultimately, disproportionate minority [African
Americans] confinement (Vera Sanchez & Rosenbaum, 2011).
The Police–African American Encounter
Ever since the explosion of the BLM social movement, Americans have been
bombarded with assertions that Black men face a unique and dangerous threat — not
from members of their own community but from the very law enforcement officers who
are sworn to “serve and protect” them (French, 2015). Hashtags such as
#DrivingWhileBlack and #WalkingWhileBlack have perpetuated a narrative that black
Americans risk being gunned down by police simply because of the color of their skin
(French, 2015).
In studies conducted evaluating the police and African Americans,
Cheurprakobkit (2000) included analysis of citizen-initiated contact and police-initiated
contact. Cheurprokobkit (2000) found that citizens who initiated police contact viewed
the police performance favorable than those whose contacts were initiated by police.
Furthermore, police contact was likely to result from a service aspect of policing more
than a crime-fighting function, and positive police experience not only yielded positive
attitudes towards the police but also neutralized or improved the negative attitudes of
citizens (Cheurprokobit, 2000). Police and citizen’s exchanges give the citizens a sense
of importance, provide them with the basis for gossip, and allow them to explain to the
police what is worrying them; giving them a sense that something is being done (Polite,
2010).
Public perceptions towards the police are one of the most important issues in a
democratic society (Lai & Zhao, 2010). Furthermore, it is important to understand that
the police need as much support from the citizen and needs for the community to view
them as fair. Tyler (2005) suggested that the failure to acquire police legitimacy has
serious consequences because the public will not be willing to respect the police and will
be more willing to challenge their authority. Since the 1980’s many researchers have
concentrated on the issue of public perception of the police. Lai and Zhao (2010)
suggested that there has been little research on the public perceptions of the specific
controversial actions of the police.
Police misperception, legitimacy, and lack of trust by African Americans
contribute to police misconduct, abuse of power, and treatment towards African
Americans. According to Weitzer, Tuch, and Skogan (2008), there are several
MajorityBlack neighborhoods in America, but they have not been research to draw any
conclusion on their views of the police (Skogan.org, 2008). The public beliefs and prior
experiences when they encounter the police, can affect the public being compliant with
police demands, and their willingness to assist the police by reporting crimes (Weitzer,
Tuch, and Skogan, 2008). However, for African Americans to assist the police and share
information, the police must gain African Americans trust.
The deep racial tensions seen in many areas of American life underlie how blacks
and whites view police in their communities, as well as their reactions to the deadly
encounters in recent years between blacks and law enforcement officers, according to a
new survey by Pew Research Center (Morin & Stepler, 2016). Six-in-ten Americans say
the deaths of African Americans during encounters with police in recent years are signs
of a broader problem between blacks and the police, while 39% say they have been
isolated incidents (Morin & Stepler, 2016). Furthermore, blacks and whites differ
dramatically in how they interpret these fatal incidents (Morin & Stepler, 2016). For
about eight-in-ten blacks (79%), these deaths signal a larger problem between police and
the black community (Morin & Stepler, 2016).
Weitzer, Tuch, and Skogan (2008) suggested that African Americans encounter
with police officers influence their larger attitudes towards the police. Not to mention,
some early studies have reported that citizens’ prior contact with the police influenced
their general views of the police (Weitzer, Tuch, & Skogan 2008). Recent research has
indicated that the quality of treatment that people received during encounters makes a
difference (Weitzer, Tuch, and Skogan 2008). If the interaction between the police and
the minorities communities is poor, there will be a problem when attempting to build any
relationship (Solis, 2004).
There are many aspects that can form the public perceptions of the police. Ward
(2013) suggested that, assessing public opinions of the police is complex because it
entails many aspects such as perceptions of police practices, performance of police
results, and overall representation (Chapman et al., 2009). According, to Somerville
(2009), minorities’ encounters with the police affect their overall opinion of police
services (Ward, 2013). Recent research indicates that people who feel that they have been
treated respectfully by the police and informs them of their rights and reasons behind
their action are more likely to be satisfied – even if the encountered had negative results
(Weitzer, 2008). The kind of treatment that people receive from the police is important
regardless of the racial background (Weitzer, 2008). Nevertheless, race continues to be a
great factor in the form of treatment that African Americans receive from the police.
Studies have found that citizen’s satisfaction is higher when the encounter is citizen
initiated (Cheurprakobkit, 2000). There is sufficient evidence that considered that
policeinitiated contacts negatively affect citizens’ opinions of the police (Skogan.org,
2008).
Police and African Americans relations have historically been strained (Black &
Kari, 2010). The relationship between the police and members of the community they
serve play a major role on how the community perceives the police. Research has shown
that citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice influence their beliefs about police
legitimacy, yet at the same time, some order maintenance policing efforts stress frequent
stops of vehicles and persons for suspected disorderly behavior (bja.gov, 2013; Gau &
Brunson, 2010). These sorts of frequent stops can threaten citizens’ perceptions of police
legitimacy because the targeted offenses are minor and are often not well defined
(bja.gov, 2013; Gau & Brunson, 2010). Researchers have raised concerns regarding the
impact of aggressive police strategies on community residents, particularly the younger
residents of minority communities, and the effects that these interactions have on the
relationship between the community and the police (Chuck, 2013).
The racial tensions of the 1950s and the 1960s led to the development of many
alternatives police models that would reduce the tension between the police and African
Americans communities (Black & Kari, 2010). Scholars have expressed their fears that
the harsh treatment of younger African Americans by the police may produce a “lawless
youth subculture” and create communities in which residents are alienated from the
police and are therefore unwilling to cooperate with the police to address crime (Schuck,
2013). Hence, since today’s youth become tomorrow’s adult, these controversial
strategies may generate a cycle of destructive police-community-relations (Schuck,
2013). The interaction that occurs is very crucial to the perception of African Americans
communities towards the police. Prior research has shown that citizens’ demeanor is
often influenced by police officers’ behavior toward them (Gau & Brunson, 2010); thus,
aggressive or demoralizing police actions have the potential to inflame a situation and
expose minority citizens [African Americans] to more serious kinds of malfeasance (Gau
& Brunson, 2010). Negative perceptions are often the results of a weak relationship that
reflects great social distance between African Americans and the police (Jones, p.30,
2011).
A longstanding research tradition indicates that race plays a primary factor in
attitudes towards the police, with African Americans more likely than whites to express
levels of dissatisfaction (Rice & Piquero, 2005). A study by the Center for Policing
Equity found that African-Americans are far more likely than whites and other groups to
be the victims of use of force by the police, even when racial disparities in crime are
considered (Makarechi, 2016). There is the testimony of black Americans, including
some in uniform or in political office, about experiencing a disproportionately large share
of encounters with police (Bialik, 2016).
Skogan (2006) argued that without trust between minority communities and the
police, such partnerships could never be fully formed or sustained (umt.edu, 2006). In
addition, African Americans who do not trust the police that are patrolling their
neighborhoods, develop a fear or reluctance to report crimes or any other incidents that
occurs in their community. By the same token, the fear will deter members of the
community to assist the police in criminal investigation, to become a volunteer for the
police, and to sponsored neighborhood programs or to call the police if in need of
assistance (Flexon, Lurigio, & Greenleaf, 2009). Harris (2005) argued that, in African
Americans communities where there is a lack of trust for the police, it will be harder for
the police to successfully prevent and resolve crime, and the police might be at a greater
risk for verbal abuse or physical assaults (Flexon, Lurigio, & Greenleaf, 2009).
African Americans have been concerned with analyzing and challenging
structures of inequality, which were expressed mostly geographically in the construction
of race (Mullins, 2014). The African American experience is a history that is shaped by
the presence of racial bias (Gottschild, 2016). Police can unwittingly contribute to
impressions that they harbor personal animosity toward certain groups (Gau & Brunson,
2009; Brunson 2007). In this manner, public exchange between the police and African
Americans are ripe for overt conflict because the police perceived minorities as low
status residents (Flexon, Lurigio, & Greenleaf, 2009). Minorities who reside in urban
areas are exposed to aggressive policing (Vera Sanchez & Adams, 2011). Past research
reveals that African Americans who reside in minority neighborhoods fall prey to
harassment, excessive force and early criminalization by the police (Vera Sanchez &
Adams, 2011).
Attitudes and perception towards the police begin developing at a young age,
when adolescences have a greater opportunity for direct and indirect contact with the
police (Flexon, Lurigio, & Greenleaf, 2009). It is very important to analyze and
understand how important it is the interaction that takes place when African Americans
come in contact with the police. The association of aggressive policing of African
American from detriment neighborhoods is extensive, but particularly evident is the
obstruction of crime control efforts. Research has shown that ethnic and racial
background affects attitudes of minorities towards the police.
In a study conducted by McGlynn-Wright (2014) suggested that police encounters
have no identifiable long-term impact on white’s behavior or subsequent criminal justice
involvement. On the other hand, the impact of early encounters with African American
youth was astonishing (McGlynn-Wright, 2014). Early encounters increased the odds of
illegal behaviors nearly 6 years later for African American (McGlynn-Wright, 2014).
According to McGlynn-Wright (2014), African American who experience contact
by the 8th grade have a nearly 13 times greater odds of experiencing arrest when they are
20 years old than their non-contacted African American peers, even while holding
constant self-reported criminal behavior. Gabbidon and Higgins (2008) research revealed
that, in most instances, blacks have been less likely than other racial and ethnic groups to
believe they are treated fairly. Furthermore, public polls have consistently reported
African Americans as having lower confidence in the police than any other groups
(Gabbidon & Taylor Green, 2009). The lack of confidence towards police might be due
to the experience of policing acts towards African Americans, which led them to reveal
their trust for the police. Minority citizen treatment by the police had an impact on their
perception of the police that was independent of “whether the police: (a) solve the issue
about which the citizen calls; or (b) cite the citizen they have stopped for a violation of
the law” (Taylor, 2011).
In the early 1980s, research found that not only experiencing (Gabbidon &
Higgins, 2008) but also witnessing the police engaged in misconduct might also
negatively influence African Americans views of the police (Gabbidon & Higgins, 2008).
Under the period of the 1980s, critical research showed that African Americans felt the
entire criminal justice system was unjust (Hagan & Albonetti, 1982). Based on Lee,
Steingberg, Piquero, and Knight (2010) research analysis, many African Americans
particularly those in low-income, urban settings, the contextual circumstances associated
with being Black often include police contact in the form of neighborhood surveillance,
racial profiling, harassment, and arrest processing (Brunson and miller, 2006).
Importantly, biased police behavior also has been cited as a factor that plays a role in
disproportionate minority contact with the police (Lee, 2010). Evidence suggests that
African American recognize the “criminal” stigma associated with their group and have
come to expect negative police behavior (Lee, Steingberg, Piquero, & Knight 2010).
Research has shown that personal experiences with the police are significantly
related to believing about the legal system, with fair treatment (Lee, Steingberg, Piquero,
& Knight 2010). Furthermore, have also identified racial groups’ differences in
perceptions of the police, with African Americans typically holding more negative views
compared to other groups (Lee, Steingberg, Piquero, & Knight 2010). In a related point,
another study found that “judgments of the fairness of experiences have an impact upon
evaluations of the police that are independent of the outcome of those experiences”
(Cheurprakobkit, 2000). Lasley et al. (1995) found that when the police treated minority
residents as equals or took the time to understand their problems, significant
improvement in citizens’ opinions occurred (Cheurprakobkit, 2000). Previous studies
have confirmed the significant impact of contact and experiences with the police on
African American attitudes in general (Cheurprakobkit, 2000). Distrust of the police is
correlated with both concentrated neighborhood disadvantage (Sampson and Bartusch
1998) and personal experiences with negative and involuntary police contacts (Weitzer
and Tuch 2002), which may influence African Americans. When public believes an
authority figure lacks legitimacy, they are less likely to feel obligated to follow the rules
and regulations of that authority figure (Lee, Steingberg, Piquero, & Knight, 2010).
In a study conducted by Rusinko et al. (1978) found that in situations in which
police contacts were typically viewed as problematic, officers’ communication skills, and
supportive behavior could neutralize police encounters that have negative connotations
(Cheurprakobkit, 2000). Negative contacts with the police led African Americans
dissatisfaction and disaffection with the police (Cheurprakobkit, 2000). Cheurprakobkit
(2010) argued that police contact is a critical determinant of African Americans attitudes
and perceptions towards the police. Furthermore, the type of police experience produced
a clearer and more distinct attitudinal pattern on how minority citizens assess police
performance (Cheurprakobkit, 2000). It has been well documented that African American
experience police encounter differently -from the content to outcomes of encounter
(McGlynn-Wright, 2014). Interactions between police and men of color from
disadvantage neighborhoods are frequently negative (Jones-Brown, 2000). African
American often reports harassment, both physical and verbal, by the police
(McGlynnWright, 2014). Jones-Brown, (2000) argued that the negative interactions have
an impact not only on the individual but also on others who hear stories into overall
attitudes about the police (McGlynn-Wright, 2014).
Drawing on Black’s (1976) theory of law and social control, Engel (2003)
suggested that the greater the stratification gap between a police officer and a citizen, the
higher the likelihood of displays of disrespect towards the other party (Weitzer &
Brunson, 2009). Engel (2003), further states that, it is possible that types of citizens {e.g.,
African Americans} may act in disrespectful, or otherwise resistant ways to symbolize
their perceptions of injustice (Weitzer & Brunson, 2009). Even when such theories result
in temporary crime reductions, they undermine relations between police and minority
communities and expose large numbers of law-abiding citizens to unwelcome police
contacts (Brunson & Miller, 2006).
A recent study of the impact of perceived racial discrimination on young African
Americans males showed that racial discrimination both increased delinquency directly
or indirectly, through depression, disengagement from conventional norms, and by
creating a hostile view of relationships (McGlynn-Wright, 2014). This may be certain if
encounters with the police are considered racially motivated (McGlynn-Wright, 2014).
Relationships between police and minority communities had always been stressful (Solis,
2004; Goldstein (1990, p.159). In other words, police behavior has often induced conflict
(Solis, 2004). Such experiences are part of the reason why African American
communities hold more critical opinions of the police than other groups (Weitzer &
Brunson, 2009).
African American Perceptions of the Police
Two decades of research on perceptions of crime and policing reveal that race is a
key predictor of people’s attitudes towards crime and policing (Cobbina, 2016). African
Americans are more likely than Whites to report police abuse, harsh treatment, and a
culture of impunity (Cobbina, 2016). The common perception among many Black
respondents was that the police targeted and treated poor minorities with disdain and
hostility (Cobbina, 2016). African American perceptions vary depending upon
expectations, roles, and experiences (Peed, 2008). Studies conducted attempting to link
the types of contact with police and satisfaction, have indicated that African Americans
generally expressed a lesser degree of satisfaction as compared with whites (Gau &
Brunson, 2009).
The police are supposed to protect citizens, but in today's society some people are
afraid to encounter police officers (Lynch, 2016). These fears are attributed by
oppression and racial tension between minorities, and dominate white America (Lynch,
2016). Public perception is skewed in fear of what may happen to them (Lynch, 2016).
The perception of police officers and treatment of citizens varies, but general perceptions
from minorities’ [African Americans] shows an increased amount of fear and perception
of unfair treatment when dealing with law enforcement (Lynch, 2016).
The role of police in the lives of African Americans has been well documented
(Gabbidon, Higgins, and Potter, 2011). Scholars have noted that, from the very beginning
of American society, the police, first in the form of ‘‘Slave Patrollers,’’ and later in the
form of organized police forces, have often engaged in unfair practices such as racial
profiling (Gabbidon, Higgins, and Potter, 2011; Del Carmen, 2008). According to
Weitzer (2002) blacks not only draw perceptions and attitude from their own experiences
but also from patterns of events they are exposed to in their communities, and knowledge
imparted by members of their racial group (Brunson, 2007).
Few of the research conducted examining the relationship between perceptions
and the context of minority communities; interaction with police suggests that
unfavorable views of the police arise from negative, involuntary and voluntary, police
contacts (Brunson, 2007). Therefore, the built experiences of police mistreatments
develop tensions among African Americans, which impact the perception of the police.
Unfortunately, African Americans are immensely burdened by these negative
experiences. African American victim frequently shares the account with family and
friends, often to lighten the burden, and this sharing creates a domino effect of anguish
and anger rippling across an extended group (Brunson, 2007). Perhaps these issues have
been particularly noticeable for African Americans, who have a unique, longstanding,
and tenuous relationship with the police (Brunson, 2007).
Brunson and Miller (2006) suggested that, the actions taken by the police when
dealing with an issue in a poor urban community, differs from their actions taken when
resolving an issue in a middle and upper-middle class neighborhood. Areas characterized
by concentrated level of poverty and minority racial segregation are subject to aggressive
policing strategies (Brunson and Miller, 2006). Aggressive policing disproportionately
targets African Americans (Bass, 2010). Therefore, undermines the relationship between
police and African American communities (Brunson and Miller, 2006). The public has
very little trust and confidence in the police, especially African Americans. This might be
since, individuals may have direct contact with the police through their own personal
encounters, or may observe or hear about the physical contact of others with the police,
and thereby form an opinion (Jones-Brown, 2000). The relationship between the police
and the community consist of physical and emotional components (Jones-Brown, 2000);
Physical and emotional components that will not humiliate, intimidate, harass, and/or add
fear and uncertainty on minorities African Americans.
In a study conducted by K. P. Chan and M. S. Chan (2012), it suggested that mass
media “constantly surround, frequently inform, and just as frequently misinform
individuals” (as cited in Heath and Gilbert 1996). Hence, the influence of mass media is
significant since media could be identified as a primary force (along with direct and
indirect experience) in shaping people's views of crime (K. P. Chan & M. S. Chan, 2012;
Dominick 1978). Scheufele and Tewksbury (2007) stated that media had potentials to
produce strong attitudinal effects on readers but these effects also depended heavily on
predispositions, schema, and other characteristics of the readers that affected how they
processed the messages projected in the mass media (K.P. Chan & M.S. Chan, 2012).
Role of Social Media on Police Brutality
A string of highly publicized police murders of black citizens in Louisiana,
Minnesota, and around the country has prompted news reports of an “epidemic” of police
violence against African Americans (Dreier, 2016). Social media has added pressure to
law enforcement agencies, and it is changing the game for governments under pressure
(Ulgen, 2017). Social media as the modern-day news board by way of the Internet has
made it harder and is making the suppression of police brutality by their respective
departments more difficult all the time. People are starting to record police officers in
action while they are on duty with their smartphones so that they have proof against
arrests of minorities and how police conduct themselves in arrest situations (Roger K.,
2016). Social media fulfilled the role of real-time reporting that people had come to
expect from the traditional media (Ulgen, 2017). Media has become the center stage
where people are informed about events going on throughout the country and police
brutality has become such a predicament through the eyes of minority groups especially
Black people or people of color that it permeates in news reporting today (Roger K,
2016). The harshness of the police intervention was widely documented by the
fastflowing postings on Twitter (Ulgen, 2017).
Social media has suddenly turned into a powerful instrument of public scrutiny.
Thus, devising efficient means to subdue traditional media will not be sufficient anymore
for government’s intent on concealing the harshness of their law enforcement (Ulgen,
2017). The days of evidence-suppression by police departments is over thanks to the
proliferation of social media (Roger K, 2016). Today is the day of the citizen journalist
where everything is caught on social media and it is this way that social media plays its
role so that we can understand police brutality which otherwise would have gone
unnoticed by the public at large (Roger K, 2016).
Research has definitively established that “racial profiling” by law enforcement
exists — that persons of color are more likely to be stopped by police (Wihbey & Walter
Killie, 2016). Crimes against African Americans in minority communities have given rise
to public recordings of the police, and it has increased prevalence of cellphone recordings
and sharing it on social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Police officers
are being recorded with small handheld cameras so that their departments can be held
accountable for unwanted use of force that results in brutality (Roger K, 2016) And the
Black public in particular has become a giant media machine with their smartphones and
the use of these Web based services (Roger K, 2016). Black people are fed up with
discrimination by police in terms of being killed or getting beat up in an arrest situation
because of their skin color (Roger K, 2016).
Heated confrontations between police and African Americans across the country
are regularly being captured via cell phone video and plastered on the news (Johnson,
2016). Black lives matter and we can no longer conduct ourselves in such a way where
police brutality against minorities in their own communities is ignored (Roger K, 2016).
We must eliminate police brutality in all its effects by using social media (Roger K,
2016). Through social media the public must not tolerate any injustices inflicted on
minorities by the police and they must protest to seek justice or this is going to happen
again and again and it’s never going to end (Roger K, 2016).
Social Media and Black Lives Matter Social Movement
Social movements have long used media and technology to disseminate, escalate,
and enlarge the scope of their struggles (Bonilla & Rosa, 2015). Black lives matter. These
words have come to define this generation’s ongoing struggle against persistent
statesponsored violence with black bodies as its target (Bailey & Leonard, 2015). The
simple slogan gestures towards a complex set of issues, each of which contributes to a
state of unbroken and unmitigated racial terror (Bailey & Leonard, 2015). Visible across
the nation, from mass demonstrations to social media timelines, Black Lives Matter, as a
rallying cry, exists alongside daily evidence that proves (at least to those who would see
with eyes unclouded by prejudice) just how necessary the cry is (Bailey & Leonard,
2015).
Racial inequality in the criminal justice system has been a consistent issue of
socio-political significance in the United States. Empirical and official data, although
scarce, indicates that over half of those killed by police in recent years have been black
(Parker, Onyekwuluje; Murty 1995; Klinger 2011; Choudhury, Jhaver, Sugar, and
Weber, 2016). Black Lives Matter was created in 2012 by Alicia Garza, Patrice Cullors
and Opal Tometi after the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch
coordinator who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in February of
that year (Dupere, 2016). The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter mobilized the online
community into action around racial justice issues, morphing that three-word tag into a
massive movement (Dupere, 2016). The Black Lives Matter social movement grew into a
social juggernaut following the 2014 deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Eric
Garner in New York City (Bonilla and Rosa 2015; Choudhury, Jhaver, Sugar, and
Weber, 2016).
Over time, Black Lives Matter has expanded its fight beyond racial police
violence to situate itself as “an ideological and political intervention” (Garza 2014;
Bonilla and Rosa 2015; Choudhury, Jhaver, Sugar, and Weber, 2016) that strives to end
systemic presence of racial inequality against blacks. Some companies have such as Ben
& Jerry’s, Ford Motors, and Kellogg’s Foundation tried to take a stand for racial justice,
but it has been minimal (Williams, 2016). In doing so, the Black Lives Matter social
movement stirred up much controversy during this election year in effort to bring more
attention to the challenges faced by African Ame4icans (Marks, 2016). Now, the Black
Lives Matter is supporting Black owned businesses (Williams, 2016).
Right after the shootings of Sterling and Castile, music-streaming service Pandora
posted a tweet in support of the Black Lives Matter social movement, and the backlash
was immediate (Williams, 2016). It was accused by many of its followers of supporting a
"terrorist group"(Williams, 2016). As retaliation, outraged subscribers canceled their
subscriptions, and posted screenshots of their cancellations on social media (Williams,
2016). That same day, Facebook put up a #BlackLivesMatter sign in front of its
headquarters in Menlo Park, California, listing the names of victims while CEO Mark
Zuckerberg asked for peace on his personal page (Williams, 2016). Google employees
held vigils, and the official Google account sent out a supportive tweet (Williams, 2016).
"Black lives matter,” the rallying cry of the new social movement against racist
police violence, is brilliant in its simplicity. But more striking than the slogan’s ability to
express so much in so few words is how painful it is that its message needs to be asserted
(Petersen-Smith, 2016). Social media, especially Twitter, due to its pervasiveness and
adoption, has provided the fundamental infrastructure to this activist movement
(Choudhury, Jhaver, Sugar, and Weber, 2016). Twitter represent a larger struggle for
power over the discourse on race and racism across the nation, drawing from critical
theory and race theory to analyze a collection of posts on Twitter (http://twitter.com), and
applying these theories to a pressing contemporary context (Choudhury, Jhaver, Sugar,
and Weber, 2016). Video has been changing Americans' views toward police for more
than 25 years (Lopez, 2016). With the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement over the
past two years, this issue is once again in the national spotlight (Lopez, 2016). And as
Gallup found, public confidence in police has generally declined to levels not seen since
the Rodney King riots (Lopez, 2016).
Black Lives Matter is an act of collective imagination, one that both envisions and
tries to bring about conditions that will guarantee that the voices, humanity, and lives of
African Americans are protected, valued, and embraced (Bailey & Leonard, 2015).
Many things have changed since the start of the Black Lives Matter social movement.
Black Lives Matter, the civil-rights protest movement that rose to prominence after
Michael Brown was shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, expanded
its reach onto the campaign trail and college campuses (Foran, 2015). The movement
forced presidential candidates to reckon with a legacy of racism and police brutality, and
it has inspired student protests and demands (Foran, 2015). The Black Lives Matter social
movement has provoked backlash, and it has been experiencing difficulties in making
their voices heard (Foran, 2015). Nevertheless, critics and police organizations have
portrayed Black Lives Matter as radical, anti-police, and anti-white (Balko, 2015).
The challenge, for the movement, is to stem the tide of violence against black
men and women while working to fix what activists believe is a fragmented and broken
society. The confrontations signaled the start of increasingly high-profile political
engagement for the decentralized movement. They also laid bare the complicated and
tense relationship between the movement and the progressive left. As Black Lives Matter
becomes increasingly intertwined with mainstream politics, activists have found people
in high places ready and willing to listen to their demands (Foran, 2015). However, that
creates new challenges (Foran, 2015).
Policing African Americans
Community policing has been the buzzword in Anglo-American policing for the
last two decades (Brogden, & Nijhar, 2013). Some police departments began
emphasizing community policing during the 1970s, in response to the political unrest and
widespread protests of the 1960s (Abbey-Lambertz & Erbentraut, 2016). Over the past
few decades, community policing has been the driver of police-citizen relations (Hardin,
2015). Community policing emerged in the 1980s as a new strategy to enhance police
partnerships with the public (Fielding, 2005). Community policing uses diverse
theoretical and realistic approaches to developing safer neighborhoods by improving the
quality of life (Ward, 2013; Somerville, 2009). Further, community policing offers the
police and the public an opportunity to share ideas and concerns in ways that can lead to
improving the quality of life through reductions in crimes (Ward, 2013; Fielding, 2005).
During the early and mid-20th century, police in American cities strived to keep
their distance from the neighborhoods the policed (Muniz, 2011; Garland, 2011).
Distance was not only intended as a countermeasure to rampant corruption but as a way
to safeguard the departments from public scrutiny (Muniz, 2011). Polite, (2010)
suggested that, to measure the success within community policing, the police must gather
sufficient information about the communities.
The origin of community policing can be traced back to the “broken windows”
theory, first proposed by Wilson and Kelling in 1982 (Polite, 2010). Community policing
has no universal definition (Bryant, 2007). Yet, there are different definitions of
community policing that department, researchers, and practitioners use to respond to
changing environment (Ward, 2013; Lee, 2010). Although there remains little debate
that policing in the United States has entered the era of community policing (Oliver,
2000), there is a continuing energetic disagreement over its appropriate definition and
some discussion as to its precise origins (Oliver, 2000). Community policing means
many things to different people (Reisig and Kane, 2014). However, some scholars have
suggested that community policing involves reforming decision-making process and
creating new cultures within the police departments (Bryant, 2007). Community policing
is a philosophy that places an emphasis on police community relations to tackle problems
of crime, disorder and fear within a specific community (communitypolicing.com, 2017).
The U.S. Department of Justice’s COPS defines community policing as “a
philosophy that promotes organizational strategies, which support the systematic use of
partnerships and problem-solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate
conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder and fear of
crime ” (Abbey-Lambertz & Erbentraut, 2016). Moreover, community policing assumes
a commitment to broadly focused, problem-oriented policing and requires that police be
responsive to citizen’s demands when they (Bryant, 2007); in fact, for most police
administrators, community policing is a philosophy that can take on various shapes and
strategies in practice (Bryant, 2007). Community policing emerged from a philosophy
that quality community and police partnership can prevent, address, or solve crime and
social disorder (Ward, 2013; Somerville, 2009). Community policing is a relationship
between the police and minority members of the minority communities.
Weisberg and Mazerolle (2000) asserted that community policing activities are
centered on components such as community police officer(s), citizens survey
information, geographic-based assignments, routine foot patrol, routine bike patrol,
community group meetings, training citizens in community policing, and patrol problem
solving (Bryant, 2007). Furthermore, a general agreement exists in the literature that
community policing involves some type of law enforcement philosophy, and strategies
that emerge tend to be based on efforts to forge partnerships with the community and to
solve crime related problems (Bryant, 2007). Bryant (2007) suggested that a major
function of community policing is to improve police performance through increased
cooperation and improved relationships between the public and the police. The
community must feel that the police department understands the efforts that the
community puts in as an effort to improve communication and relationship.
Eck and Maguire (2001) defined community policing as providing an affirmative
response to using citizen survey information in support of at least one of the following
functions: (a) Allocating resources to target neighborhoods, (b) prioritizing
crime/disorder problems, (c) formulating agency policy and procedures, (d) redistricting
beat/reporting areas, or (e) providing information to patrol officers (Bryant, 2007). In
support of community policing as a principal, Jesilow and Parsons (2000) linked
community policing to peace making and, in support of community policing on a
philosophical basis only, suggested that the evolving style of community policing may be
a means to a new criminological model, one they called peacemaking criminology
(Bryant, 2007). On the other hand, Ponsaers (2001) stated that most evaluations of
community policing have focused on how it is implemented and not the impact it has on
the community.
Many departments stressed the need for community policing because the police
alone cannot prevent and solve crimes (Ward, 2013; Galster & Lim, 2009). It’s
imperative that community police officers have an effective way of communicating and
approaching community members. Lewis (2008) suggested that ineffective
communication is a key concern for many police departments and community members
(Ward, 2013). Reducing community problems requires feedback from the public and
police in order to solve those problems (Ward, 2013). In order to develop a favorable
communication, police officers must build positive relationships with the community by
involving the community in crime control and prevention (Galster & Lim, 2009).
However, effective communication between police officers and the residents depends on
regular, positive contact (Ward, 2013).
In a study conducted by Roberg and Kuykendall (1997, p.416) suggested that a
substantial amount of research already exist on community policing (NIJ, 1995;Sadd
Grinc, 1994,1996), in which it indicates that successful implementation of Community
policing required “ the need for pre-implementation training of personnel, the importance
of taking a long view at the change process, the need for support from elected officials
and other city agencies, and the importance of listening and the community involve as
well as becoming involve in the communities (Solis, 2004; p.416).
In a moment transformed by the Black Lives Matter social movement, community
policing has become one of the go-to solutions to the crisis of police legitimacy
(McQuade, 2015). Police departments have taken many initiatives to become more
professionals, to change, and to meet public demands for a greater police presence (Solis,
2004). However, policing initiatives have encountered many controversies related to
methods of implementation, the challenge of change in police practice, and the role of the
community in policing initiatives (Solis, 2004). In some cases, community policing
creates localized law-and-order lobbies that advocate for more aggressive law
enforcement (McQuade, 2015). Community policing, and “broken windows” policing
has been created to aid American police departments in crime prevention within minority
communities (Gadek, 2010); disregarding the affect it has on minority communities.
Broken Windows Theory
The phrase broken windows is a metaphor that neatly illustrates the policy, as first
put forth by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling in a 1982 essay of that name in The
Atlantic (Greenburg, 2014). James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling are the original
founders of the phrase “Broken Windows” theory. It has been 30 years since Wilson and
Kelling’s published what is considered today a part of history in law enforcement,
“Broken Windows Theory”.
Broken windows theory (also known as order maintenance) suggested that
targeting minor problems and disorder [loitering, prostitution, and graffiti] could help
reduce more serious (Harcourt & Ludwig, 2006). However, it is time to retire the
philosophy of policing that leads to mass arrests for low-level offenses such as loitering,
drinking in public or transience, and focus on what is important re-establishing police and
minority relationship (Balko, 2015). There’s plenty of academic literature suggesting
that it doesn’t work as well as its supporters claim (Balko, 2015). Yet, In the meantime, it
leaves thousands of people with arrest records and can lead to unnecessary escalation
(Balko, 2015).
When protesters developed a platform to end police violence in the wake of the
2014 police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, the first of
their 10 demands were to end “broken windows” policing, the law enforcement paradigm
marked by aggressive policing of minor offenses and heavy police presence in
lowincome Black communities (Ritchie, 2016). Moreover, Broken windows policing is
not only all too often lethal, it also contributes to the use of excessive and illegal force in
the context of the most mundane police encounters (Ritchie, 2016). Criminological
theories such as “broken windows” have been argued to be behind the disproportionate
rate of fatal police encounters, and broader perceptions of injustice in black communities
(Goldkamp 1976; McKinley; Baker 2014; Choudhury, Jhaver, Sugar, and Weber, 2016).
Broken windows policing is what led Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson to
approach Michael Brown simply for walking in the middle of the street. It is what
motivated police to repeatedly harass Eric Garner, a 43-year-old Staten Island resident
who was killed earlier that summer by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, using a banned
police chokehold during an encounter initiated over Garner’s alleged sale of loose
cigarettes (Ritchie, 2016). The role of broken windows policing in each death quickly
became the focus of protesters from the Black Lives Matter movement and other civil
rights advocates (Ritchie, 2016).
The broken window theory primary focus was to adopt a more aggressive form of
enforcement of minor misdemeanor laws, known as “order maintenance” (Harcourt &
Ludwig, 2006). Wilson’s theory of broken windows held that neighborhoods could
prevent the growth of crime if they quickly took steps such as replacing broken windows,
removing graffiti, keeping streets and buildings in good repair, and making arrests for
petty crimes and misdemeanors such as littering and evading fares for public
transportation (Harcourt & Ludwig, 2006). Nevertheless, despite the aggressive form of
enforcement, “there is little evidence to support the claim that broken windows policing
contributed to the sharp decrease in crime during the 1990s” (Harcourt & Ludwig, 2006).
Mathews (1992) and King and Lab (2000) rejected Wilson and Kelling (1982)
broken windows theory by casting serious doubt on the connection between disorder and
crime and by questioning the rationale of police suppressing disorder (Bryant, 2007).
Moreover, Mathews denied any causal relationship between crime and disorder or those
they are inextricably linked because there is only a minimal degree of support for it
(Bryant, 2007). King and Lab similarly suggested that little empirical evidence exists to
suggest that the broken windows theory does anything more than divert police attention
from more serious criminal suppression to more trivial concerns (Bryant, 2007). The
debate about the broken windows method of policing unavoidably turns around the
question of racial injustice (Greenburg, 2014).
In 2004, James Q. Wilson told an interviewer that broken windows “was a
speculation.” “I still to this day do not know if improving order will or will not reduce
crime.” But there is plenty of circumstantial evidence that points to the policy as an
important factor in reducing crime (Greenburg, 2014).
Wilson and Kelling (1982), “Broken Windows” emphasized the prioritization of
order maintenance in relation to community policing. They held that the widespread
physical and social disorders in a community break down the existing system of informal
social controls and the mechanisms regulating social interaction (Bryant, 2007). Some
theorist have argued that the proper role for police is controlling crime and that it is on
their ability to reduce crime rates that they should be judged (Bryant, 2007). Furthermore,
it is contended that incidents such as disturbances not involving illegal behaviors should
not be areas where the police should intervene [noisy neighbors, loud music playing, etc.]
Yet, following Wilson and Kelling’s notion on broken windows, these are exactly the
types of areas that police should be monitoring to prevent escalation into more serious
crimes (Bryant, 2007).
Muniz (2011) suggested that broken windows policing and community policing,
entails distinct roles for law enforcement and community members. Further states that,
community policing involves cooperation between police and residents in the
development of crime prevention strategies. Broken windows policing places emphasis
on order maintenance by officers with community members in a supporting role (Muniz,
2011). Wilson and Kelling theory are that “if social and physical disorder in a community
is not addressed, more serious crimes may follow”. Therefore, citizen perceptions of
conditions in their community directly affect their reactions to crime and their
perceptions of the police (Polite, 2010). Unlike community policing, broken windows
imply a more passive role for residents who are viewed as being unable to battle disorder
in their neighborhoods (Muniz, 2012; Herbert, 2001).
Advocates of the broken window theory argue that the accumulation of small acts
of ‘disorder’ creates an environment conducive to serious crimes like robbery or assault
(Muniz, 2012). Despite official race neutrality in the language of the broken theory,
definitions of ‘disorder’ are laced with implications about race, class, and public space
(Muniz, 2012). Researchers have broadly debated the theoretical and empirical merit of
the disorder-crime continuum (Muniz, 2012) and the effects of order maintenance
policing on public life. Informal economies, arrests patterns, and fear of crime (Muniz,
2012).
The practice of broken window policing (order maintenance) relies upon a racial
ideology that connects the dark-foreign other unpredictable chaos and criminality
(Muniz, 2012). The ‘disorderly’ people targeted by police are overwhelmingly lower
class, blacks using public space (Muniz, 2012). Order maintenance means, “broad
criminal laws allow the police to take people off the streets because they look suspicious”
(Muniz, 2012). Furthermore, the police have broad discretion to remove people deemed
undesirable (Muniz, 2012). Despite the effort of the implementation of broken windows,
and its significant change in crime reduction, it has been noted that, the implementation
of broken windows has not helped build a relationship between the police, and the public.
Welsh (2015) argued that serious crime developed because the police and citizens did not
work together to prevent urban decay and social disorders. Illustrating this point,
Greenburg (2014) told the story of Kenneth Thompson story, the newly elected Brooklyn
district attorney.
On July 2013, he paid a visit to the Tombs on 100 Centre Street Courthouse in
Manhattan. In the crowded cells, he saw a neatly dressed seventeen-year-old
sitting down with his head between his knees in what appeared to be a state of
silent despair, in tears. The boy had made a mistake of asking a rider to swipe him
through with her Metro Card. The boy told the district attorney that he was
thirtythree cents short for a single fare. The boy neither jumped the turnstile nor
harassed the woman, who decided to swipe him through. A police officer
witnessed the exchange and arrested the boy. The officer then proceeded to let the
woman go with a warning. Now the police began to search the boy and found the
remnants of a joint in his pocket-crumbs of a pot. Though the boy had no prior
arrests, he was now facing two charges: marijuana possession and theft of
services, a class a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail. The boys fear
was that; due to the arrest, he would not be able to get financial aid in a college he
was already granted for his freshman year (Greenburgh, 2014).
According to Thompson (2015), the fatal incidents that have generally sparked a
national protest stem from this revolutionary “broken windows policing” have been:
Michael Brown, and Eric Garner incident. According to Wilson and Kelling, broken
windows theory was never meant to be the arrest machine that it became in practice
(Greenburg, 2014). In other words, “I’ve never been long on arrests as an outcome,”
Kelling recently told The New York Times. This may not be an especially humane style
of policing, but it’s very different from incarceration as a first resort (Greenburg, 2014).
After the incident in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City, Jackson (2014)
writer from the Boston globe, called for the complete dismantling of the broken windows
style of policing due to it “resulting in racial profiling and unleashing other
indiscriminate policies on black people, “whereby “black people themselves became the
broken windows” (Welsh, 2015). Furthermore, the Editorial Board of The New York
Times (2014) called for a reappraisal of the policing strategy in the city, noting that it and
its variations (e.g., zero tolerance, quality of life, stop-and-frisk) have pointlessly
burdened thousands of young people, most of them black and Hispanic, with criminal
records” (Welsh, 2015).
Broken windows can be quite effective when it instead focuses on problem
solving, working in partnership with community residents and businesses, and targeting
social and physical disorder conditions at particular places, which includes the use of
situational crime prevention measures (e.g., graffiti removal, improved street lighting,
and place managers; (Welsh, 2015; Smith and Clarke, 2012). If any police department,
in any major city needs to use the broken windows approach, it must carry out a new
version of policing strategy; a version that build, established a relationship with the
community. Furthermore, an approach that enforces minor offenses with summonses and
violations in lieu of arrests and offers minority youths resources available to them.
Summary
“Black lives matter” has become a rallying cry in light of evidence that the
criminal justice system is failing to uphold this basic truth (Ghandnoosh, 2014). The
outbreak of the mass protests in the vigil of the police murders of African Americans
have challenged the freedom with which the police carry out violence against Black
people and raptured the illusion of a post racial America (Keeanga-Yamahtta, 2016). The
Black Lives Matter movement has awakened a new generation of activists
(KeeangaYamahtta, 20 16).
The criminal justice system’s high volume of contact with African Americans’ is
a major cause to the excessive rate of fatal police encounters, as well as African
American perceptions towards the police (Ghandnoosh, 2014). Police policies such as
“broken windows” have disproportionately impacted African Americans (Ghandnoosh,
2014). The Black Lives Matter social movement gain more attention Following, the wake
of the fatal police shooting of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri,
and that officer’s non-indictment (Ghandnoosh, 2014). Social media has given the
#BlackLivesMatter exposure and has helped the movement come together at any given
day (Siscoe, 2016). The overall goal of the Black Lives Matter Social Movement is to
fight the colorblind racism and change the structures and systems, in American society,
that treat black lives like they don’t matter (Siscoe, 2016). Chapter 3 will describe the
methodology that will be used to conduct the study to find the answer for the above
research question.
Chapter 3: Research Method
Introduction
The BLM social movement began as a response to police brutality and the relationship
between U.S. racial and ethnic communities and law enforcement organizations (
De Choudhury, M., Jhaver, S., Sugar, B., & Weber, I. (2016). The literature review in
Chapter 2 provided background information on the current relationship between the
police and African Americans, how social media platforms was used to push and drive
the BLM social movement’s organization and communication efforts, and how police
attitudes and actions affect the current relationship. The concept of procedural justice is
essential to criminal justice studies as it is the degree to which the public perceives
fairness and legitimacy in police conduct, and that a fair procedure has the best outcome
in analyzing procedural effects on fairness judgments on African Americans (Lynch,
2016).
The purpose of the qualitative study was to explain and described the impact that
the BLM movement had on the relationship between African Americans and the police.
In this chapter, I provided information on the research design, the data collection process,
and the analysis procedures I used for my investigation. In addition, I explained the
protection of participants’ rights, the role of the researcher, and how I answered the
research questions.
Research Design and Rationale
Due to the growing confrontation between African Americans and the police (see
Nodjimbadem, 2017), it is essential that BLM social movement actions be studied to
provide more understanding of how social movements affect the relationship between the
police and African Americans. A case study was the most appropriate research design
because it requires an investigation of a problem, an examination of alternative solutions,
and the proposal of an effective solution using supporting evidence (Soy,. K., 2006). The
current problem was that the relationship between the police and African Americans had
been compromised as a result of the lack of trust, confidence, and actions that have
impacted the relationship (Lopez, 2017). Therefore, I focused the study’s research
questions on explaining the problem and addressing how other factors such as social
movements influenced the state of that relationship.
In addition, the use of a case-study research design allowed the study to examined
common themes, specific situations, and attitudes that have been previously studied (see
Creswell, 2007). The purpose of case studies was to generalize the implications of
cultural events to similar events that have occurred previously, are present, or may occur
in the future (Johnson & Cotton, 2016). A case study design was used to identify and
categorize specific themes expressed by the BLM social movement of police actions
towards African Americans. My two research questions follow. I also discuss how I
examined each question.
Research Question 1: What is the current relationship between the police and the
Black Lives Matter social movement -African Americans?
This research question was answered through a content analysis approach based on
previous studies conducted in the past 5 years by scholars, race and cultural
organizations, and activists. The content was analyzed to form a current baseline of
police officers’ and African Americans’ points of view on each other’s perception of that
relationship. Interviews from scholars, law enforcement officials, and leaders of race and
ethnic organizations helped define the current status of the relationship.
Research Question 2: How does the Black Lives Matter social movement perceive
the actions of the police towards African Americans?
This question was answered through a content analysis approach involving a document
review of the comments and posts made by BLM members on social media platforms
such as Facebook and Twitter. Additionally, I attended public meetings to conduct
observations of the BLM social movement in New York City as the city is an urban area
and a major city where the social movement is active (Alcom, 2017)). The content was
within a 5-year time period and was will also capture how African Americans are
influenced to take on the relationship with the police regarding race relations. My
objective was to gather information on how African Americans view the police,
especially after incidents involving deaths of African Americans. Information on how
African Americans view of the police was important to obtain because not all African
Americans may share the same negative response or perception of the police (Scott,
2018).
Role of the Researcher
I am a retired police officer for the New York City Police Department (NYPD). I
have acquired extensive training and experience in working with the police in minority
communities. I also have a criminal justice academic background that helped in
analyzing the concepts that influence the relationship between the police and African
Americans.
During my time in the NYPD, I did not experience police abuse firsthand. I have not
participated in expressing my views in comments or posts on Facebook or Twitter.
Despite the fact that it will be impossible to be bias free, I refrained from my personal
encounters with African Americans when analyzing the postings on social media
platforms. This process providedd the opportunity to view the information as it was
posted, thereby reinforcing the credibility and reliability of the data that was being
collected and presented.
Methodology
Sampling Procedure
The data collection was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved
purposive sampling. Purposive sampling is a nonprobability sampling method in which a
sample was chosen based on the judgment of the researcher (research-methodology,
2018). To be able to answer the research questions, purposive sampling was the
costeffective and time effective sampling methods available and was the appropriate
method available based on a limited number of sources regarding the BLM social
movement. The second phase was through observations made by attending public
meetings to collect rich data from the BLM social movement and gained that perceptive
from the leadership of the social movement in an urban city such as New York City.
The data was collected by searching databases such as ProQuest, JSTOR, Taylor
and Francis Online, Sage, Journal in Criminal Justice, and Google Scholar to obtain
recently conducted studies on race relations in the U.S. criminal justice system. The
document review of the articles provided data on a range of perspectives that allowed me
to identify the current state of race relations between the police and African Americans.
This outcome on the current status of the mentioned relationship was defined by
academic standards and not those by corporate media or public opinion. The articles and
the studies conducted was from the past 5 years, as this time frame narrowed it down
based on the conception of the BLM social movement.
The second phase of the data collection focused on collecting comments and posts
from social media platforms specifically from Facebook and Twitter. The collection of
data on social media was based on the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. The collection of
comments on social media was from a 3-year period from January 2013 through January
2016. This time period is important because it encompasses the activities of the BLM
social movement from the time the movement began.
In order to enhance reliability, additional data was collected by conducting
observations of public meetings organized by the BLM social movement. The meetings
were public, and anyone could attend to express their views (Kandil , 2018) Because the
meetings are public, informed consent forms was not necessary. During the observations
process, I was taking notes to later transcribe the notes to obtain more accurate data.
Afterwards, the notes of the observations was transcribed into word processing software
to be analyzed to answer the research questions. The data was stored and organized as to
have protection of the data to ensure privacy concerns. However, the data was already
published and was public materials as social media platforms collected the data, and the
public meetings do not have an expectation of privacy.
Data Analysis Plan
After the data was collected it went through the process of analysis. A content
analysis was conducted on all the documents that provided information about the current
state on the relationship between the police and African Americans. I used the program
Nvivo 11 data management software to analyze the documents, as the program provided
the language that is repetitive, common, and continuous.
The data was collected from social media sites especially from Facebook and
Twitter will be imputed into Nvivo 11 data management software and it was analyzed
based on the common themes, patterns, and descriptions. The notes from the observations
was also be inputted into the program and it focused on the frequency of responses that
was provided in social media and at the public meetings. The data was coded by
ethnicity, neighborhood, positive postings/comments, and negative postings/comments.
Nvivo 11 data management software helped the data to be stored and easily
accessible in the retrieving of specific materials for data triangulation. Nvivo 11 data
management software has been described as a valuable tool in case studies because it
provides a chance for numerous passes through the data while maintaining objectivity
during a deeper contextual analysis of the concepts, categories, and themes (Patton, 2002,
p. 442). The contextual analysis was done under the theories of procedural justice and
critical race.
Protection of Participant’s Rights
There was no subjects or participants used in this study. Before I collect the data,
I requested permission from the committee on ethical standards in research for the
Institutional Review Board (IRB) at Walden University. The data that was collected was
considered secondary data, as the sources are public domain such as social media sites
and public meetings.
Summary
In Chapter 3, I included a description of the research method that was used in the
study. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explain and described the impact that
the Black Lives Matter social movement has on the relationship between the police and
African Americans. The research questions was answered through the data collected and
the contextual and content analysis of the documents reviewed. The data that was
collected is all public domain and therefore, participants was not needed for the study. In
Chapter 4, I will discuss the results of the study based on the analysis.
Chapter 4: Results
Introduction
The primary purpose of this study was to explain and described the impact that
the BLM social movement had on the relationship between the police and African
Americans. The study analyzed the problematic relationship between African Americans
and the police and how racism, police brutality, and White privilege have contributed to
BLM activists’ perceptions of the police. In addition, the study has analyzed the
emotional effects that police actions have on African Americans and how the emotional
effects has encouraged the actions of the BLM social movement.
In Chapter 3, I described the methods, the alignment and appropriateness of the
research design, and the process I used to ensure ethical standards in the study. In
Chapter 4, I will present information on the procedures used in conducting the study,
including those for data collection and analysis. I will also describe the results of the
analysis; I will offer my interpretation of the main themes that arose from a thematic and
content analysis meant to assess the current state of the relationship between the BLM
movement and the police.
Research Questions
The research questions were specifically selected to examine the effects of police
actions towards African Americans and to examine the perceptions of the BLM
movement towards the police. The two research questions were designed to gain a better
understanding of the current state of the relationship between African Americans and the
police and how the BLM social movement used the current relationship to further their
message and agenda.
RQ1: What is the current relationship between the police and the Black Lives Matter
social movement?
As discussed in Chapter 2’s literature review, it was inferred that the current
relationship between African Americans and the police is not good based on various
police interactions with African Americans leading to the deaths of individuals
(Richardson, S. 2018). Currently, the relationship between the BLM social movement
and the police is tense, no relationship or communication exist (Pavlich, 2015). The
relationship is nonexistent as the BLM social movement was more interested in
promoting a specific agenda that was incited as the result of police brutality, racism, and
White privilege (Pavlich, 2015).
Despite that African Americans founded the BLM social movement, not all
African Americans support or are involved with the social movement. Hence, African
Americans and the police have a relationship, while the BLM movement does not have a
relationship with the police. The BLM social movement conducts itself in a more
aggressive manner when it comes in contact with the police, while the average African
American does not (Sidner, S & Simon, M, 2015). This is partially a result of the lack of
accountability of the actions taken by the police (Ferreira, 2012). I went more in-depth
about the relationship between the BLM social movement and African Americans in the
data analysis section of this chapter.
RQ2: How does the Black Lives Matter social movement perceive the actions of the
police towards African Americans?
A partial conclusion could be made based on the literature review that the BLM
social movement perceives police actions against African Americans as racially
motivated and unjust (De Choudhury, M., Jhaver, S., Sugar, B., & Weber, I. (2016). The
BLM social movement held protests as a result of what they perceive to be police
brutality and mistreatment of African Americans from the police (De Choudhury, M.,
Jhaver, S., Sugar, B., & Weber, I. (2016). The BLM social movement advocated that the
arrests and shootings of African Americans for no apparent reason was the result of
police abusing their power and the underlying issue of White privilege (Boot, 2017). I
went more in-depth about how the BLM perceives the actions of the police towards
African Americans and how those perceptions further their causes to expand the message
of the social movement.
Data Collection
The data for this study was collected from comments and postings made on social
media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. The data collection process began by
navigating the official page of the BLM social movement on Facebook. The page
provided an overview of the BLM social movement actions and what their concrete
message and agenda was. On the official page, I was able to analyze some of the postings
that expressed the perceptions of the BLM social movement that made up the nonexistent
relationship with the police. Those perceptions were based on specific behavioral
sentiments expressed on the postings and were inputted into a Microsoft OneNote file.
Afterwards, I inputted the hashtag #blacklivesmatter into Facebook and Twitter
through their search features for all of the posts and comments published from January
2013 to January 2016. I limited the search to a 3-year period that included the hashtag as
it encompassed the years of the movement’s founding (Anderson & Hitlin, 2016) and
also the time where police brutality was most covered in media outlets (Simpson, 2016).
The comments and posts are considered to be secondary data and public; therefore,
consent for that data was not necessary. The data collected on social media platforms was
rich on qualitative data as it illustrated emotions and behavioral reactions from African
Americans, regardless of participation into the BLM social movement.
The data collected on both social media platforms was captured through the
NVivo 11 feature of NCapture (Hai-Jew, S, 2017). Ncapture enabled me to be able to
screenshot the information from Facebook and Twitter and store it into NVivo 11 data
management tool to be able to analyze it for content at a later time. Additionally, data
was also collected by conducting observations of the members of the BLM social
movements events specifically to the New York City group meetings and existing
interviews found on the Internet through Google Search, YouTube, and News Media
Sources such as ABC News, FOX News, and USA Today.
The purpose of the data that was collected was to understand if the perceptions of
the Black Lives Matter social movement of police attitudes towards African Americans
have an effect on the relationship between the police and African Americans.
Additionally, data was collected from existing public records on police interactions,
patrol performance, and community policing records as supplemental to further
understand if community policing had an impact on the views of African Americans or
was it just information that the BLM social movement used to further its propaganda.
During the data collection of the supplemental sources, I conducted a document
review of public records and existing documents in social media journals focusing on
comments that reflected emotions, frustrations, and actions. A document review is when
a researcher gives voice and meaning around an assessment topic (Bowen, 2009).
Analyzing these documents enables to incorporate a coding content into themes similar to
how a focus group or interview transcripts are analyzed (Bowen, 2009). I would further
get into that in the data analysis section of this chapter.
Once all of the data was collected it was placed into a file using Nvivo 11 data
management tool by QSR International Inc. The data was separated into folders that
resemble what type of data it was such as interview transcripts, meeting observations,
public events observations, Twitter posts, Facebook comments, police interactions,
community policing reports, and patrol interactions.
I decided to use the above sources to gather the data and organized it as such
because it provided a critical point of view in the perspective of the views of African
Americans and those of the BLM social movements perceptions of police actions towards
African Americans. Moreover, methods of the data collection process were consistent
with other recent studies conducted on the citizen-police relationship based upon
procedural justice theory (Jonathan-Zamir, Mastrofski, & Moyal, 2013, p. 68; Hardin,
2013).
Data Analysis
The data analysis process for this study consisted in several methods used in
qualitative studies in the social sciences. According to Patton (2015), the objective of a
qualitative analysis is to have the ability to understand the qualitative data that has been
collected by uncovering patterns, determining themes, and answering the main questions
surrounding the research study; and offering noteworthy results (Patton, 2015; Jones,
2017). The first part of the data analysis process was the document analysis process. The
document analysis process is a form of qualitative research where documents are
interpreted by the person conducting the research to give voice and meaning around an
assessment of the topic (Bowen, 2009). Analyzing documents incorporates coding
content into themes similar to transcripts in an interview or in focus groups to be
analyzed (Bowen, 2009). A rubric can be used to grade or score a document. I used the
following documents to conduct a document analysis:
•Public Records: The official, ongoing records of an organization’s activities for
the purpose of this research study is the public records of the New York City
police department. These records include community policing reports, patrolling
interactions in New York City, and incident reports on police interactions.
•Personal Documents: First-person accounts of an individual’s experiences,
actions, and personal beliefs. For the purpose of this study, are Facebook and
Twitter posts, existing interviews of BLM members, news channel videos, and
observation notes taken during public group meetings of the social movement.
The rationale for the document analysis in a social research method is that it is an
invaluable part of most schemes of triangulation, as it allows for a combination of
methodologies in the study of the same phenomenon (Bowen, 2009). This method is used
in order to seek convergence and corroboration and uses at least two resources using
different data sources and methods. I used the process of triangulating to provide a
confluence of evidence that breeds credibility (Bowen, 2009). The more data collected
from different sources allows the reduction of impact for potential bias by examining
information collected through the different methods of analysis.
I began the document analysis process through the method of content analysis.
The content analysis process is the on-going, open, line-by-line coding process of the
documents of transcripts, media interviews, and observational notes studying the word
phrase clusters for the purpose of conducting a qualitative statistical analysis. I was able
to obtained conceptual categories for the purpose of counting those words and phrases
using Nvivo 11 data management tool. NVivo has been described as a valuable tool for
“extracting common factors from cross-case analyses” in case studies and provide a
chance for numerous passes through the data while maintaining objectivity during deeper
contextual analysis of the concepts, categories, and themes (Creswell, 2013, p.196;
Patton, 2002, p. 442; Stewart, 2011, p.79; Hardin, 2013).
Prior to analyzing the data, I created Nodes into common themes, patterns, and
formed a description for each of the themes. The nodes that I created were based on the
document analysis in which when conducting it the major themes were Emotional
Strained, Hate Group, and Police Actions. These themes were reflective in the data
throughout social media platforms, public observations, public records, and patrol
interactions. The nodes which are considered to be like Post It’s into the Nvivo 11 data
management program, allowed me to see the trends and patterns to answered the first
question more clearly. In order to be able to answered the second research question more
clearly, throughout the document review the themes that kept appearing were police
brutality, racism, and white privilege.
The nodes surrounded the two research questions, which I wanted to understand
what was the current state of the relationship between African Americans, that were not
part of BLM movement and then those (African Americans) that did belong to the BLM
social movement perceive the actions of the police when dealing with African
Americans. Furthermore, Nodes created in NVivo are equivalent to sticky notes that I
place on the document to indicate that a particular passage belongs to a certain theme or
topic. That means the two types of nodes; contain the all known information about a
particular concept or category which are Emotional Strained, Hate Group, and Police
Actions for the first research question and police brutality, racism, and white privilege for
the second research question (Hilal Hamed, & Alabri Said, 2013). As the data started to
come together into analytical themes, the similar ideas, interpretations and hypothetical
foundation for the nodes representing procedural justice and critical race theory (Hardin,
2015), all began to demonstrate the repetition and consistency of the terms used for the
coding process. The terms that kept coming up was police brutality, racism, police
actions, white privilege, hate group, abuse of authority, emotional strain.
The themes created were emotional strained, hate group, police actions, police
brutality, racism, and white privilege. The themes outlined in this study were based on
the comments, actions and reactions observed of the BLM social movement towards the
police. This included, the social media postings, comments on the existing interviews,
and their reactions and actions while conducting their rallies against police brutality. The
style of coding that I used was deductive coding as most conceptual categories were
preset themes such as racial discrimination/disparity, police brutality, unjustified police
actions, racial tensions and strain relation that were suggested and inferred in the
literature review. Coding of the pre-set categories were: 1) Police Brutality 2) Racism 3)
White Privilege especially in addressing both research questions.
Results
RQ1: What is the current relationship between the police and the Black Lives
Matter social movement (African Americans)?
As I reviewed the literature, a literature gap was found that previous social studies
have not paid much attention to. For instance, a major gap was that social movements
especially those after 2006 with the beginnings of social media platforms were not
studied with regards to the social treatment of minorities. The racial group of African
Americans has been studied throughout the time of the Civil Rights movement during the
1960’s and 1970’s, but the current literature has not addressed the rise of social
movements in the digital era of social media platforms and electronic devices such
smartphones and tablets. These forms of media allow for the expression of ideas to move
more rapidly than ever before.
As mentioned in the literature review, the current relationship between African
Americans and the police is not in good standards based on the various events of police
interactions with African Americans and the results of those events. At the present time,
there is no relationship between the BLM movement and the police. There is no
relationship as the BLM social movement is more interested in promoting a specific
agenda (message) that is fueled by police brutality, racism, and white privilege (Pavlich,
2015). The Black Lives Matter Social movement and the police relationship have turned
into hostile encounters where Africans Americans have end up arrested, hurt, shot or
killed by the police.
In response to the research questions, the study revealed that there is no
relationship between the police and the BLM social movement. The non-existing
relationship between the BLM social movement and the police is shown in the data
analysis by the percentage in the emotional strained caused by police actions towards
African Americans, it constituted that 45% of the leading cause of the non-relationship
between the BLM social movement and the police, is due to police actions. These actions
include police aggressiveness against African Americans during interactions, abuse of
authority to include verbal and physical abuse, disrespect, unlawful arrest, and agitation.
Therefore, the police actions based on previous interactions with African Americans is
what has caused the emotional strain that dictates the relationship between the BLM
social movement and its perception of the police. If there ever was a relationship between
the BLM social movement and the police, the recent police interactions have clearly
changed the perspective turning such relationship into a hostile one. The BLM social
movement claimed to be fighting for the injustice and inequalities that African
Americans are facing in the hands of the police. Furthermore, fighting for racial injustice,
and police brutality against African Americans. However, based on the data analysis, it
shows the contrary.
After analyzing the data as a whole, it demonstrated that the BLM social
movement message (agenda) is to push for hate and promoting violent actions against the
police and whites. The definition of a hate group is a social group that practices hatred
and promotes hostility and violence towards members of a nation, religion, gender, race,
identity, sexual orientation or any other sector of society (insert citation). Upon the
triangulation of the data, 35% of all of the messages from observations, public meetings,
and social media postings indicated the promotion of violence against the police.
The BLM social movement have pushed and promoted violence against the
police. Not only has the BLM social movement turned its supporters to become violent
against the police, but it has also promoted violence against whites. The BLM social
movement has brought violence and negativity against the police, making the streets
unsafe for the police, whites, and African Americans. Analysis of the data showed that
due to the BLM social movement promotion of violence against the police and white
people it has place a strain on communities places them at risk. The data analyzed shows
that there is a problem between the BLM social movement and the police. Racism
constitutes 47% percent of the main cause of police brutality towards African Americans,
which is the main reason to why the BLM social movement has no relationship with the
police.
The evidence that is shown on the analyzed data suggests that the BLM social
movement is a people problem, and a not a justice problem. The data analyzed from
social media postings, existing documents, existing interviews and observations showed
that the BLM social movement are inherently racist and is anti-American, and humanely
racist. The BLM social movement repeatedly reminded African Americans of the fact
that black men were being gun down by the police due to their racial indifference.
The study revealed that the Black Lives Matter Social Movement has shown their
discontent of police practices through rallies and protest. Furthermore, it has shown their
disapproval for police procedures and practices by showing disrespect for police
authority leading to confrontational and violent encounters with the police. The
relationship that exist between the BLM social movement and the police, is a relationship
based on disrespect, hatred, anger, and vengeance. There is a battle for whose life really
matters [Black Lives Matters] vs. [Blue Lives Matters], instead of “All Lives Matters”.
Analysis of the data from the existing social media postings, existing documents,
existing interviews and observations revealed that racism and police brutality play a
major role on the current relationship between the BLM social movement and the police.
Based on the tweets and postings of the BLM movement, “African Americans are treated
differently than whites”. The social movement claims that African Americans have been
oppressed, discriminated, faced racial inequality, and racial violence from the police for
many years just because of their race and color. They claim that whites had a privilege
because the police treated them differently, and that the police were not out killing
whites. The belief of racism on the part of the BLM social movement disrupts any
opportunity between the police and African Americans to establish a relationship because
it promotes hatred against the police, and it promotes a violent movement where it
persuades its supporters not to obey the police, nor to respect the police, and urges its
supporters to have open season on killing whites and police officers.
The BLM social movement calls for an end to police brutality against African
Americans and claims that the police mistreat them, abuse them, beat them, and are
killing African Americans because of their race. The movement believes that the police
are corrupt, and are systematically killing African Americans for no reason, and are racist
against African Americans. The BLM social movement wants the demilitarization of
local police forces (Cooper, 2015) and wants the police force to be dismantle and have
the community take over. The BLM social movement rejects the use of military- grade
weapons as appropriate policing mechanisms for any American community (Cooper,
2015).
RQ2: How does the Black Lives Matter social movement perceive the actions of the
police towards African Americans?
For the purpose of this study, police brutality is defined as the use of excessive
and/or unnecessary force by the police when it comes to dealing with civilians. The term
“excessive use of force” is described as a force well beyond what would be necessary in
order to handle a situation (Danilina, 2018). The most obvious form of police brutality is
a physical form, in which police officers use batons, pepper spray, nerve gas, and guns in
order to physically intimidate or intentionally hurt civilians. Another form of police
brutality is false arrests, psychological intimidation, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, racial
profiling, political repression, police corruption, and the improper use of tasers (Danilina,
2018).
The BLM social movement repeatedly shows discomfort and aggression towards
the police as a result of what they perceived to be police brutality. The BLM social
movement claims that the police use excessive force and acts violently against African
Americans. Police brutality toward Blacks in the United States is not something
uncommon, however, in the absence of a standard definition or good data, the extent of
police brutality remains difficult to quantify. Historical evidence of public harming of
Black bodies by police dates back to at least the era of slavery, when police disciplined
Blacks and recaptured those who escaped enslavement (Alang, McAlpine, McCreedy &
Haderman, 2017). In most recent times, a process by the name of mapping police
violence is used to describe police brutality. Mapping Police Violence is defined as
police killing where a person dies as a result of being chased, beaten, arrested, restrained,
shot, pepper sprayed, tasered, or otherwise harmed by police officers, whether on-duty or
offduty, and it is intentional or accidental (Saul, 2017).
The BLM social movement claimed in some of the tweets and postings that the
police, “killed unarmed black people for no reason” and that, “law and order rules
discriminate only against blacks”. Mapping Police Violence data was collected on over
1,100 killings by police in 2017. This information was compiled from media reports,
obituaries, public records, and databases like those of the Fatal Encounters and the
Washington Post. These reports represent the most comprehensive accounting of deadly
police violence in 2017 (Saul, 2017). In addition to being 25 percent of the victims, black
people are also three times more likely to be killed by police than white people,
according to the report, “Mapping Police Violence” (Saul, 2017).
For the purpose of this study, racism is defined as a set of policies that is exhibited
by a person or persons toward a group of people of a different race. This is often
antagonistic and confrontational, and it assumes the lower intelligence and importance
given to a person because of their racial characteristics (Perazzo, 2015). Racism became
a theme in this study as it kept reappearing through the content analysis as the BLM
social movement continued to express concerns about the way the police acted and
treated them because they were African Americans. The permanence of America's
depredations, BLM maintains that: (a) our nation's “corrupt democracy” was originally
“built on Indigenous genocide and chattel slavery” and that it “continues to thrive on the
brutal exploitation of people of color”; (b) “the ugly American traditions of patriarchy,
classism, racism, and militarism” pervade every aspect of our society; and (c) “structural
oppression” still “prevents so many from realizing their dreams” (Perazzo, 2015).
The BLM social movement claims that police brutality is the main cause for the
deaths of many African Americans, and that the police use brutality on African
Americans because they are racist. The BLM social movement claims that the police
called them “Niggers”, and that African Americans are “victimized by racist cops
because they are not white”. The movement claims that the police are “racist”, and that
the police will pull the trigger on a black person than on a white person. A tweet posted
by one of the supporters of the #blacklivesmatter page, commented that “racism is in fact
reality because we live in a society where white people are idolize”. The BLM social
movement claims that blacks in the U.S. are routinely “de-humanized” and targeted for
“extrajudicial killings by police and vigilantes” in our “white supremacist system”
(Perazzo, 2015).
Based on the Guardian data, (2015), black males between the ages of 15 and 34
are nine times more likely to be killed by police than any other demographic (Craven,
2016). This group also accounted for 15 percent of all 2015 deaths from law enforcement
encounters, even though black males in this age range make up just 2 percent of the U.S.
population (Craven, 2016).
For the purpose of this study, White Privilege is defined as the particular and
peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, beyond the common advantages of
other. In the definition for this study, White Privilege is the right, power, or immunity
held by whites, against or beyond the course of the law. White Privilege is the exemption
from some burden or attendance, with which certain persons are indulged in. In this case,
it is being white that allows for a disparate treatment from blacks (Holes, 2018).
This leads to the theme of “White Privileged”. The BLM social movement claims
that the police have a privilege on treating whites differently. In America, only 47% of
Black students graduate from college, compared to 65% for White students.
Consequently, Black Americans average a yearly income of 35,000 a year, compared to
57,000 a year for White Americans (Sey, 2016). In fact, 27% of Black Americans live
below the poverty line, compared to just 10% of White Americans (Sey, 2016). And
though Black Americans represent only 13% of the American population, they make up
37% percent of America’s prison inmates (Sey, 2016).
The BLM social movement [African Americans] tweeted/posted that, “people
tend to treat blacks different than whites”. “White males created the system and
manipulate it so that they will always benefit.” Blacks are significantly more likely to
experience police brutality than Whites, and whiteness affords protection against police
use of force. Racially disparate use of force indicates that White supremacy—the
systematic positive assessments of whiteness that go hand-in-hand with the devaluation
of blackness permeates the US law enforcement system (Alang, McAlpine, McCreedy &
Haderman, 2017).
White privilege is unseen and see-through preference that is often difficult to
address. Given the long history of White supremacist eras in America, it is impossible to
argue against the truth that White Americans have benefited from chattel slavery and Jim
Crow at the expense of Black Americans (Alang, McAlpine, McCreedy & Haderman,
2017). Only upon closer inspection do we see how it creates a sense of entitlement,
generates perks, and advantages for white people and elevates our status in the world"
(Holladay, 2000). It is about acknowledging that the system already treats whites as if
they have more value, as if they are worthier of protection, safety, education, and a good
quality of life than blacks are. White people generally have an advantage over Black
people (Sey, 2016).
Table 1 provides a summary of themes emerging from the data analysis. Under
each theme are comments that were posted on social media. These comments illustrate
the preceptions that the BLM social movement has towards the actions of the police and
its treatment of African Americans.
Table 1
Supporting Items for Perceived Police Actions and Development of the Themes
Police brutality Racism White privilege
1. Cops are killing 1.
unarmed black man for no
reason 2.
2. Police are systematically killing
3. black people
3. Police are vigilanteskilling
blacks for no 4. reason
4. Cops shoot us first 5.
then ask questions
5. Cops are not hesitant 6.
to pull the trigger on blacks
7.
6. Police arrest and beat
blacks for no reason 8.
7. Police abuse their authority
against black people
Police treat blacks as
animals
The Police and Whites
want to lynch blacks
Police want to be the
executioner of innocent
blacks
The police are racist
against blacks Police
treat blacks different
than whites There is
racial inequality against
blacks The police use
racial violence against
blacks The police use
anti-black racist practice
1. White Privilege is
responsible for significant
numbers of black or
African Americans deaths.
2. White Privilege
characterize African
Americans as “Savages”
3. White silence equals
White consent
4. White privilege
denies black community from
being successful
5. White privilege
manipulates the system 6.
White privilege keep a
generation of wealth while
preventing blacks form wealth
7.White privilege is used to
always benefit Whites
Figure 1 includes the percentages of percieved police actions towards African
Americans by the BLM social movement. The chart illustrates the findings of the data
analysis of the perceived police actions by the BLM social movement that has led the
movement to become agrressive and non compliant with the police.
Figure 1. Perceptions of police actions towards African Americans by the BLM
movement.
Based on the findings of the analysis of the data from social media postings,
existing public documents, existing interviews and observations shows that racism
constitutes 47% of the main cause of police brutality towards African Americans.
Whereas, police brutality constitutes 45% of the main reason why the BLM social
movement perceived police actions as unfair and racist. White privilege constitutes 8% of
the reason why the BLM social movement perceives that the police abuse their authority
when come in contact with African Americans. Due to the level of racism and police
actions towards African Americans, the BLM social movement claimed that the police
treat African Americans differently than whites because white people have a privilege
that protects them against police abuse use of force.
Under the second research question, the themes were formed as 1) emotional
strained 2) Hate group 3) police actions. These themes developed the first-hand
explanations of the experiences and perceptions of the Black Lives Matter movement.
To answer the research questions, I used NVivo 11 Pro to code the data and
develop themes. The themes that were identified with the help of NVivo answered the
first research question: What is the current relationship between the police and the Black
Lives Matter social movement (African Americans)?
The results of the themes were racism, police Brutality and white privilege were
discussed as follows:
I. Racism was described as a practice, actions or beliefs a person has on another
person of a different race due to the color of their skin, origin, or ethnicity that
force that person to abuse or mistreat that said person.
II. Police Brutality was described as excessively use of force against an individual
by the police where the use of force was unnecessary and unreasonable which
can result in a person being physically and psychological harm, or death.
III. White privilege Refers to “white people” considers by non-white race to have
advantages, immunity and benefits that other race does not have [African
Americans].
To answer the second research question as mentioned previously, I began the
document analysis process through the method of content analysis. I was able to obtained
conceptual categories for the purpose of counting those words and phrases using Nvivo
11 data management tool. Prior to analyzing the data, I created Nodes into common
themes, patterns, and formed a description for each of the themes. The themes that
emerge from the data I collected were police brutality, racism, white privilege, emotional
strained, hate group, and police actions. The themes were created based on the outcome
of the data collected from social media postings, existing public documents, existing
interviews and observations. The themes were developed from words that kept appearing
over and over on all the data collected. The style of coding that I used was deductive
coding as most conceptual categories were pre-set themes that were suggested and
inferred in the literature review.
Those pre-set categories were: 1) Emotional Strained, 2) Hate Group, and 3)
Police Actions to address the research question #2.
RQ 2: How does the Black Lives Matter social movement perceive the actions of the
police towards African Americans?
As mentioned in the literature review, the BLM social movement perceives police
actions towards African Americans as abusive, unfair, and racially motivated. The BLM
matter social movement has a very bad perception of the actions of the police when
encountering an African American. Moreover, the BLM social movement believes that
they are being target by the police because of its high-profile media presence and its
ability to motivate its supporters (Craven & Wing, 2015).
Resentment towards the police who abused their authority existed prior the BLM
social movement (Craven & Wing, 2015). However, the BLM social movement voiced
out their concern publicly in response to police actions toward African Americans. The
police actions that the BLM social movement perceives as unfair, unjust and racially
motivated is when it involves police misconduct, abuse of authority, illegal stops and
searches, unlawful arrest and killings of African Americans. The BLM social movement
has taken a stand on police actions towards African Americans by protesting and showing
the affect by encouraging its supporters to turn on the police.
According to the FBI’s Supplementary Homicide Report, 31.8 percent of people
shot by the police were African-American, a proportion more than two and a half times
the 13.2 percent of African-Americans in the general population (Mullainathan, 2015).
These events of police actions towards African Americans has led the BLM social
movement to experience emotional strained (mental, psychological, emotional, physical)
that are unable to control them, (pushing its supporters to hate the police, become violent
towards the police, and promote killing the police), labeling the BLM social movement as
a hate group by non-supporters.
Based on a thorough content analysis of the data, the above themes kept
appearing as the BLM social movement continued to express concerns about police
actions towards
African Americans. 1) Emotional Strained 2) Hate Group 3) Police Actions
The BLM social movement repeatedly tweeted / posted about the “Emotional
strained” that police actions of brutality against African Americans influence their
perception towards the police. The emotional strained can be defined as the (mental,
feelings, psychological and physical) affect that the perceived actions of the police have
on African Americans. The BLM social movement repeatedly tweeted / posted about
“killing the police”. The emotional strained that the BLM social movement displayed
while protesting was a sign of pain, and emotional weakness, which lead African
Americans, to show no respect for the law.
Members of the BLM social movement shouted on the police face, “you are
nobody”; “hands up don’t shoot”; “F—the police”. The emotional strained (psychological
effect) that police brutality has caused on African Americans have developed mental
health crisis on African Americans. In a public health study conducted by (Alang,
McAlpine, McCreedy & Haderman, 2017), it investigated a relationship between police
brutality and poor health outcomes among Blacks and identified five intersecting
pathways: (1) fatal injuries that increase population-specific mortality rates; (2) adverse
physiological responses that increase morbidity; (3) racist public reactions that cause
stress; (4) arrests, incarcerations, and legal, medical, and funeral bills that cause financial
strain; and (5) integrated oppressive structures that cause systematic disempowerment
(Alang, McAlpine, McCreedy & Haderman, 2017). Based on their analysis of the
relationship, they discovered that a direct pathway between police brutality and health is
through injury and death (Alang, McAlpine, McCreedy & Haderman, 2017).
The most comprehensive information about the connection between race and death
during police encounters comes from data collected by a UK newspaper, The Guardian
(Krieger, Chen, Waterman, Kiang, Feldman, 2015). Analysis of the data collected from
the existing public documents, interviews, postings and observations, concluded that in
2015, “young Black men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed
by police officers” (Swaine, McCarthy, 2015).
The following theme “Hate Group”; tweets and postings about how the public
views the actions of the BLM social Movement [African Americans] towards the police
repeatedly, resulted in the public considering the BLM social movement a “Hate Group”.
Richard Cohen, who heads the SPLC, defines hate groups as “those that vilify entire
groups of people based on immutable characteristics such as race or ethnicity”.
Hundreds of Black Lives Matter activists marched against police brutality, in New
York City, where protesters were being disorderly, and others were pushing up on the
police. The crowed was rowdy and disrespectful towards the police. The following were
some of the tweets that were posted on the hashtag #blacklivesmatter, “Black Lives
Matter is a fraud and based on lies”; “They also promote cop killers”. On August 15,
2017, Donald Trump repeated his belief that “both sides” referring to the
(whitesupremacist and the Black Lives Matter) was to blame for the violence on August
12th at a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia that left one-woman dead
(J.F, 2017). David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, thanked him for
“condemning the leftist terrorists in BLM,” referring to the Black Lives Matter
movement (J.F, 2017). David Clarke, the sheriff of Milwaukee County and a supporter of
Mr. Trump, has also called Black Lives Matter “purveyors of hate”, and urged the
Southern Poverty Law Centre (SPLC), to include it among the hate groups it monitors
(J.F, 2017). “Black lives matter is a biased movement which stands for nothing, but
ignorance and hypocrisies' based on disinformation and societal lies”.
The BLM social movement perceives police actions as unjust and unfair.
However, based on the data collected, the downfall of the BLM social movement is that
they are considered a hate group among other African Americans, the public and the
police based on their actions and statements against white people and the police. The
following are some of their postings: “Its open season on them crackers”; “police should
not exist”; “white people need to die”. The BLM social movement is considered a
movement that is anti-American and humanely racist.
The third theme “Police Action” continued to repeat itself as the BLM social
movement continued to use it as a defense to their behavior towards the police and white
people. It has been noted that black individuals stopped by police are more likely to
experience force which includes an officer drawing and/or pointing a gun (Kramer,
Remster, Charles Z., 2017). The BLM social movement claimed that if police actions
were different towards African Americans, and if the police would treat them as they treat
white people the relationship would be different. Police actions can be referred as to
police behavior when coming into contact with African Americans based on police tone,
words used, manner of approach, body language and attitude. The BLM social movement
refers to police actions, as the behaviors that the police used when interacting with
African Americans that have resulted in serious injuries and death. Blacks are more likely
to be stopped, but our results show that this disparity extends to police violence (Kramer,
Remster, Charles Z., 2017). The BLM social movement rejects the faulty idea that
disrespect is a crime, that black people should be nice or civil when they are being
hassled or arrested on trumped-up charges (Cooper, 2015).
I. Emotional Strained was described as the level of stress, anxiety, apprehensive
and psychological affect that may result from a person’s behavior or actions that
has a direct effect in your beliefs. Furthermore, emotional strained is a state of
mental or emotional strain or suspense that causes tension, depression, and stress
in which a person can break down and is unable to control their state of mind
(Turner, 2016).
II. Hate group was described as an organization, sect, cult, of people whom act
based on a shared belief that another person/race are inferior to them.
Furthermore, perceive the actions of authority [the police] as unjust and unfair.
These groups have no respect for authority, and no fear of the consequences their
actions may bring. (Advocate hatred, hostility, and violence).
III. Police Action was described as the form of activity or conduct that the police
respond to their duties against a person that is in violation of the norms or laws.
(Police engagement, actions taken against African Americans when coming in
contact (behavior, when coming into contact with African Americans such as
police tone, words used, manner of approach, body language and attitude).
Table 2 provides a visual of repeated postings on the themes developed upon the
data analyzes. The following, labels each theme that was quoted, and under each theme
are comments that were posted on social media. The figure illustrates the reasons of why
a bad relationship exist between the BLM social movement and the police. It addition, it
shows comments of the BLM social movement and what prevents the movement from
having a better relationship with the police as it relates to the treatment of African
Americans.
Table 2
Supporting Items for the Development of the Themes
Figure 2. describes what is preventing the BLM social movement from having a
positive relationship with the police. The following chart breaks down in percentage wise
what is that mostly affects and prevents the BLM social movement on having a
relationship with the police.
Figure 2. Factors that affect the relationship between the police and the BLM social
movement.
Based on the findings, the emotional strained caused by police actions towards
African Americans constitute 45% of the leading cause to why the BLM social
movement has no relationship with the police. The BLM social movement action towards
the police caused the movement to be labeled as a hate group, ranking it by 47% as the
main reasons why there is a hostile relationship between movement and the police. Police
actions towards African Americans constitute 8% of the main reasons of the actions the
BLM social movement have towards the police. The BLM social movement actions
towards the police are caused by the emotional strained African Americans have gone
through due to police actions leading to police brutality.
Combining all the themes analyzed, leads to the findings that due to racism, and
African Americans being underprivileged, the police use actions that leads to police
brutality resulting in the killings of African Americans have caused the emotional
strained forcing Africans Americans to react in a violent behavior towards the police and
white people. This study can start by making some determinations about the explanatory
data analyzed. The findings of this study were coded and analyzed in connection to the
themes and data that rose from coding and the composed categories as mentioned in the
previous section. It is from the analysis of the data that the research themes were
established to address the research questions and facilitated in answering the research
questions.
The responses to RQ1 and RQ2 come from the process of analyses described on
previous section of this chapter. The answers were inductively generated from coding of
related notions into classifications and themes that coordinated with the evolution of each
question. The following section will address how the results support in answering the
research questions. The results of the data analysis enable the findings to be more
conclusive that in previous studies related to social movements and hate groups. The
preset categories shape the data to be able to answered the research questions in which in
some part was answered through the literature review. The literature did describe why do
social movements happen in regards to race and law enforcement interactions especially
in minority communities, but it did not address how technology especially in the area of
social media platforms. This study fills the gap in the literature as it uses new technology
such as social media platforms to gather information from all parts of the United States.
Usually other research studies have conducted studies on race relations based on a
specific geographic location, while this study makes a broad assumption of a social
movement that affects an entire country as it does in the United States as projected
through national media. This study makes the conclusion that the perception of the BLM
social movement towards the police and their actions is one of hostility, anger, hate, and
distrust. The social movement has created a level of emotional strained that has affected
the relationship between the police and African Americans as a whole. The social
movement has exploited violence and social media platforms to promote a message of
hate and anarchy.
Furthermore, the BLM social movement challenges the authority of the police and
shows no respect in regards to public safety when it comes to community policing. The
results within the study can make the conclusion that the BLM social movement
motivates the actions of African Americans regardless of membership status to become
aggressive when coming in contact with the police or other law enforcement agencies. In
addition, based on previous interactions with the police, the BLM social movement has
led others to believe that the police are out abusing their authority and powers towards
African Americans and it uses violence towards the police and whites to convey this
message. It is the perception of the BLM social movement based on the media coverage
that empowers their message as the public continues to see many violent incidents
between African Americans and the police; even though both parties have claimed lives
for their causes.
Hence, not all African Americans perceive the actions of the police as unjust and
racially motivated. Many African Americans claimed that the BLM social movement is
responsible for the shootings on African Americans and the police. Some African
Americans claimed that the BLM social movement leaders are responsible for inciting
the violence against the police in retaliation for the death(s) of African American shot by
the police and did nothing to dissuade the ongoing violence and injury to the police
(Andone,
2017).
Summary
There has been rooted tension between the BLM social movement [African
Americans] and the police. Brunson and Gau (2015, p. 214) and (Ferrandino, 2014)
argued that these relationships are rooted in a history of animosity and distrust (Griggs,
2017). The actions of the police can influence the perceptions of African Americans and
interfere in establishing a relationship between African Americans and the police. The
study suggested that the BLM social movement perception of the police has an influence
on the relationship on African Americans. The results of the study conclude that there is a
negative outcome of that perception and that has increased the racial tensions among
African Americans towards the police. The tensions between the BLM social movement
and the police are displayed by the lack of trust for the police, the acts of violence
towards the police and whites, and the non-compliance to authority. However, the study
does make a distinction that there is a difference between those in the social movement
and African Americans not participating in the movement; the BLM social movement is
calling a message of hate by promoting racism and intimidating African Americans that
refused to believe in the BLM social movement and its causes.
The relationship between the BLM social movements and the police is a problem
to our society. It is destroying minority communities by promoting inequality, violence,
hate, and killings. The findings demonstrate that a problem does exist between the BLM
social movement and the police. The BLM social movement believed that the police
targets them because of their race and color. These negative views of the BLM social
movement hold them back from trusting the police and are reluctant to building a
relationship with the police.
The BLM social movement perceived police actions towards African Americans
as abusive and racially motivated. Based on the perceptions of the BLM social movement
challenges the police by promoting racism, hate, violence, killings and the abolishment of
the police. Overall, this study extends the knowledge base in criminal justice research
studies concerning the BLM social movement perceptions of police behavior towards
African Americans by examining procedural justice and critical race theory.
In this chapter, I disclosed the collection of the data method I utilized, the data
analysis methods, the result of my analysis, and the summary. In chapter 5, I will restate
my interpretation of the findings, limitations of the study, offer a discussion and issue
recommendations and provide final conclusions about the racial relations in policing.
Chapter 5: Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations
Introduction
I began this research as part of an effort to find the causes of police brutality
against African Americans and assess the influences that the BLM social movement has
on African Americans’ perceptions towards the police. The purpose of the study was to
find a connection between the existing literature and the present perceptive of the
relationship between African Americans and the law enforcement community. However,
further research can continue to enhance the significance of social movements especially
those similar to the BLM social movement in the future. Regardless of personal bias and
judgments, the desire for this study was to contribute to the analytical and
methodological approach and to act as guidance for future studies in regards to race
relations and community policing (Hardin, 2015) Furthermore, to share information with
the public of the current relationship between African Americans and the police. The
ultimate objective of this study was to bring social change and awareness to issues that
minority communities, especially African Americans, face in regard to community
policing.
Interpretation of the Findings
The findings from the study revealed that a problem does exist between the BLM
social movement and the police. The study findings make it clear that there is a
difference between the perceptions of the BLM social movement and those of African
Americans who do not agree with the views of the social movement. The underlying
perceptions of African Americans towards the police are based on the actions of the
police when come in contact with African Americans. Enforcement actions by the police
against African Americans typically correspond to the behavior of those who are
breaking the law or committing unlawful actions based on local or state laws (Smiley, C.,
& Fakunle, D.
(2016).
However, the findings based on public observations in the New York City area
exposed the BLM social movement agenda in promoting a message of racism among its
supporters and motivating supporters to challenge police actions and authority. In its
social media platforms, public interviews, and public gatherings, the BLM social
movement promotes and urges its supporters and non-supporters to have no respect for
the police, and terrorize the police. For instance, the BLM social movements called for
the lynching and hanging of white people and cops (Shadwick, 2015). They encouraged
others kill white people and cops to send a message about the killing of black people in
America (Shadwick, 2015).
The findings revealed that the BLM social movement perceived the actions of
the police as abuse of force because of the way the police treats African Americans
when they come in contact. African Americans’ contacts with the police affect the
overall perception of the police (Maguire, Mastrofski, & Reisig, 2001). Therefore, the
better the experience with the police, the better the overall perception of the police
(Maguire et al., 2001). However, previous encounters between the BLM social
movement and the police have changed African Americans perceptions and affected
the relationship. The findings show that police actions towards African Americans tend
to influence howAfrican Americans interpret their own experiences with the police and
create their own perceptions of police behavior (Maguire et al., 2001).
These experiences and developed perceptions led BLM social movement
activists to gather and protest to take over city streets, blocking vehicle and pedestrian
traffic (Hoffman., D,2017). The BLM social movement supporters challenge the police
by yelling profanity in their faces such as (you aren’t S-” and “F- the police).
Furthermore, the BLM social movement supporters are frustrated, stressed and full of
anger as a result of police actions towards African Americans when come in contact.
Findings show that the BLM social movement is outraged by the mistreatment
they receive from the police and view society as needing to acknowledge and remedy the
grave mistreatment of Black Americans by the police (see, also, Hannon, 2015). Most
police officers do not want anything to happen or go wrong while they are on patrol
(Pinckney, 2016). Police officers are placed in a position of authority and responsibility.
Therefore, the public holds them at a higher standard than civilians (debate.org, 2018).
The worst nightmare of a police officer is to hurt or kill someone while on patrol
(Pinckney, 2016). According to a New York City detective, a most officers spend an
entire career without ever using their weapon in the line of duty (Pinckney, 2016). It is a
matter of the individual officer’s character and what he or she does in a time of an
emergency (Pinckney, 2016).
Yet, the findings of this study revealed that the BLM social movement believed
that the police kill African Americans because they are racially biased and prejudiced.
According to Mullainathan (2015), data suggest that eliminating the biases of all police
officers would do little to materially reduce the total number of African-American
killings. These data are unequivocal (Mullainathan, 2015). “Police killings are a race
problem as African-Americans are being killed disproportionately and by a wide margin”
(Mullainathan, 2015). In addition, the findings of this study showed that the relationship
between the BLM social movement and the police has led to fear in minority
communities in New York City. The outbreak of violence between African Americans
and the police has increased in terms of crimes such as homicides and aggravated assaults
on innocent individuals (Brunson & Braga, 2015). The findings also revealed that the
outbreak in violence is not due to police killings of African Americans, but the call for
violence against the police and White people from the BLM social movement and media
representations of the crimes that stimulates viewers to react (see, also, Brunson & Braga,
2015).
The findings of the study revealed that the relationship between the BLM social
movement and the police has escalated to a point of violence. Due to the nonexisting
relationship, the BLM social movement has pushed for violence against the police and
Whites, according to my findings. The hostile environment between the BLM social
movement and the police has placed fear in African Americans communities. The BLM
social movement demands an end to the disproportionate killing of African Americans by
the police due to racial injustice (Alang, S, 2017)). Furthermore, it seeks to obliterate
White privilege (Collins, 2018). The findings of study show that racism was the main
cause of police brutality towards African Americans.
Based on the level of racism and police abuse towards African Americans, the
BLM social movement claimed that the police treat African Americans differently than
Whites because White people have privilege that protects them against police use of
force. Furthermore, the findings also show that the emotional strained caused by police
actions towards African Americans was the leading cause why the BLM social
movement was considered a hate group by people who do not support the BLM social
movement. The actions of the BLM social movement towards the police have been
caused by the emotional strain that African Americans have gone through as a result of
police actions leading to police brutality.
The study findings suggested that the BLM social movement has reacted in a
violent manner towards the police and White people due to police racial inequality with
African Americans. Due to police racism, and African Americans being underprivileged,
police actions towards African Americans have led to police brutality resulting in the
killings of African Americans. Findings also suggested that, The killings of African
Americans have caused emotional strain on African American communities, urging
Africans Americans to react and promote violence towards the police and White people.
Discussion of Findings
On July 7, 2016, a Black man angered by what he saw as deadly racial bias in
U.S. policing launched a downtown Dallas sniper attack, killing five officers who were
deployed at a protest of police shootings of Black men (Herskovitz, 2017). A police
officer, who was wounded in a shooting rampage, also in 2016, in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, which left three officers dead, sued BLM movement leaders, accusing them of
inciting violence that spurred the attack (Batchman, 2017; Stole, 2017).
Social media platforms have created a climate where anyone can voice their
opinions and message without being held accountable. This is the cause of the BLM
social movement in regards to the consequences of their ideology. The BLM social
movement maintains its position of the police being racist, unjust, and abusive as it
gathers it justification every time there is a police shooting of an African American being
covered in the media. Social media platforms enable the BLM social movement to spread
their agenda and message of frustrations towards the police and their views of disparate
treatment among the races.
The BLM social movement advocates for the violence and hate against the police
by promoting that African Americans are not equal according to the law and that the
criminal justice system favors whites. This could be argued to an extent based on the
research and studies conducted regarding the 13th Amendment of the Constitution of the
United States and the Prison-Industrial Complex leading to the New Jim Crow policies
based on the research conducted by Michelle Alexander (Alexander, 2010). According to
Alexander, the New Jim Crow is the account of the rebirth of a caste like system in the
United States, that has resulted in million of African Americans locked behind bars and
then relegated to a permanent second-class status denied the very rights supposedly won
in the civil rights movement (Alexander, 2010). In her research, Alexander shows that by
targeting black men through the War on Drugs and decimating communities of color, the
U.S. criminal justice system functions as a contemporary system of racial control, even
as it formally adheres to the principle of colorblindness (Alexander, 2010).
In support of African American scholars such as Alexander, many African
Americans believe that the police and the criminal justice system in itself systematically
oppress African Americans. This is also the same perception that moves the BLM social
movement as it treats police officers as their enemies based on corruption, racism, and
murdering of blacks. Social media platforms enable for the public to share evidence and
their personal accounts of police use of force and brutality. It also plays a significant role
into the membership recruitment, spread propaganda favoring its message, and forging a
collective meaning out of heartrending news (McClain, 2016).
The simple use of a hashtag on Twitter or Facebook can link the disparate fates of
unarmed black men shot down by white police in a way that transcends geographical
boundaries and time zones (Day, 2015). A shared post on Facebook can organize a
protest in a matter of minutes (Day, 2015). Documentary photos and videos can be
distributed on Tumblr pages and Periscope feeds, through Instagram and Vines (Day,
2015). Power lies in a single image (Day, 2015). This is the power that social media
platforms have in the creation of new social movements and in organizations that are
looking for calls of actions from their local communities. While conducting this study, I
came across on a very interesting point of the non-BLM social movement supporters and
their opinions on social media of the BLM social movement. It was interesting to find out
that not all African Americans support the BLM social movement.
Swain, a law professor at Vanderbilt University, stated on interview that she does
not support or believe in the BLM social movement because she believed that “it's been a
very destructive force in America, and she urges all of the viewers to go to that website
and look at what they're really about” (Diaz, 2016). Stain, states “that the BLM is a
Marxist organization all about black liberation and does not address the real problems
affecting African Americans, it is misleading black people and it needs to go” (Diaz,
2016)
The opinion of the non-supporters of the BLM social movement sees the
movement as racist. [Giuliani, the former New York mayor who is a famous proponent of
“stop and frisk” policing and a longtime master of backlash politics (Smith, 2017).
Giuliani told CNN, Black Lives Matter is “inherently racist” because “it divides us - All
lives matter: White lives, Black lives, all lives” (Smith, 2017). Others see the BLM
social movement as a movement who promotes violence and careless of black on black
crime. Seventy percent said a black people-committing crime against other black people
is a bigger problem in African-American communities than police violence toward blacks
(Easley, 2017). According to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the Black
Lives Matter never protests when every 14 hours someone is killed in Chicago, probably
70-80% of the time by a Black person. Where are they then? Where are they when a
young Black child is killed? (Smith, 2017). African-Americans are split here, with 49
percent saying black crime is a bigger problem and 51 percent saying police violence
toward blacks is the bigger problem (Easley, 2017).
The BLM social movement is still present today; it has been known across the
globe and has formed many chapters along the United States. However, much confusion
still exists around the structure, the goals, and the influence of the BLM social
movement, and people still wonder if the BLM social movement will eventually resemble
either the Tea Party or Occupy movements (Homes Pitner, 2016). Evidently, there has
been a cultural shift, and many Americans are becoming more open to discussing racial
inequalities between African Americans and the police; Homer (2016) believes that the
change can be attributed to the BLM social movement. The impact of this movement is
both on a political and social level (Kehyeyan, 2016).
Black Lives Matter's social movement goal is to encourage empathy for black
communities, illustrate lingering institutional oppression, and work towards policy
changes that make everyone safer (Muscato, 2016). However, the findings of this study
contradict the goals established by the BLM social movement. The findings show
evidence supporting that the actions and behavior of the BLM social movement have
caused oppression on the police, the community, and African Americans themselves. The
findings further show that the BLM social movement has created uncertainty on the
safety of African Americans communities. Furthermore, it has created unsafe encounters
between African Americans and the police by encouraging violence against the police
and attacking the African Americans who do not support the movement.
The movement has been criticized for appearing to tolerate violent
demonstrations in its name (Russell, 2016), for stoking racial tensions (Sidner, 2017), and
for creating an unsafe environment for police (Richardson, 2017). Other critics say BLM
pushes a leftwing extremist agenda under the false appearance of a moderate reformist
movement (French, 2016). BLM social movement associated persons committing acts of
violence and lawlessness, particularly violence against police (French, 2016). Critics
blame BLM for worsening race relations in America (French, 2016), but somehow the
BLM social movement continues to recruit more people using social media at their
advantage.
Key Points
This study provides an outlook on what today is one of the most important and
controversial issues in the history of the United States regarding the police and African
Americans relationship. The BLM Movement has endured the phase and change of
political views, social movement, media and social media. The BLM movement hashtag
is considered a powerful tool for social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook that
enables the tracking of a topic that is trending across the population in the United States
and the world. Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook will continue to keep the
public informed and give supporters the authority to publish their beliefs and opinions
online.
Social media has been the backbone of the BLM social movement. The tweets,
postings, and the news have taken the movement to a different level. The media has
galvanized African Americans into action against the police and white people. Scientists
analyzed the emotions behind almost 29 million tweets about four events in 2014 and
2015 that led to Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests (Safdar, 2016). Furthermore, Tweets
with a higher level of "negative effect" and sadness, but lower on anger and anxiety were
associated with larger rallies (Safdar, 2016). "Social media has been critical in the knitting
together of a national narrative of police violence and abuse," (KeeangaYamahtta Taylor,
2016; Safdar, 2016). Social media platforms have shown how they are part of a
generalized and pervasive pattern of police abuse" (Safdar, 2016).
Despite the social media presence, the Black Lives Matter protests have been
fading. We see less and less protest, with less and less support on their side because they
have rejected the old style of leadership (Ransby, 2017). Ransby said Black Lives Matter
“rejected the old top-down charismatic leader model. They are more decentralized and
more democratic” (Hinton, 2018). Moreover, “they respect elders but are not looking for
elders to tell them what to do. And they are focused on the most marginalized sectors of
the black community: poor and working class and formerly incarcerated people,” Ransby
said (Hinton, 2018).
The BLM social movement still exists due to the social media presence. Social
media protesting is still a new phenomenon and is the fastest way to spread information
across the world (Engler, 2016). The BLM social movement has it at their advantage. The
BLM social movement continues spreading across Twitter and other social media
platforms, persuading listeners and viewers to become part of their selected movement.
BLM social movement via social media has drawn public attention to the issue of racism
and compels ordinary people to act—or at least choose sides (Engler, 2016).
As it stands today, it seemed that BLM had not thought beyond that raw emotion,
had not questioned where it would all lead (Engler, 2016). The BLM social movement
has no effect and no present clear stand on reforms (Engler, 2016). Yet, other findings of
the study indicated that the relationship between the BLM social movement and the
police has turned violent. The perception that the BLM social movement have of the
police has turned into anger, rage, and vengeance where the BLM social movement have
called for the killing of police and whites publicly.
Recommendations
This study has considered several notable limitations that were foreseen. First,
there was no communication with the individuals that attended the BLM social
movement events; therefore, it was hard to interpret their feelings, anger, aggressiveness,
hostility towards the police and outcome of these events. Second, the data was strictly
analyzed only from BLM Facebook page and Twitter account, existing BLM interviews
and unanimously observations of the BLM social movement events. I was limited to the
experience of African Americans. Third, I did not have direct access to the individual
persons that was posting the comments on Facebook and Twitter. The data collected for
this study was limited to an all African Americans sample and predominantly from New
York City. The data collected only reflects analyzes from the BLM movement social
media postings, predominantly from African Americans, and the observations are only of
African Americans, the study limits samples from other minority communities.
Furthermore, the researcher’s experience and background in law enforcement
should be noted as a limitation in the study. Lastly, the data collected was based on the
opinions of members of the BLM social movement, on the existing interviews and on
social media. Although proper rules and procedures were taken, the quality of the
observations taken of the BLM social movement attendees and the police only provided
one side of this social movement phenomenon. Even though it is a valuable side, and a
side that has not been explored in the literature or examined related to its meaning and
substance. It would be careless not to take these limitations into consideration as other
sides could be taken into consideration upon the development of future studies. The
present study was predominantly about the perceptions of the Black Lives Matter Social
Movement in New York City, it is suggested that future studies on other minorities
perception of the police should be conducted as well as the effect of the police
perceptions towards minority communities.
In addition to the logical guidelines, this qualitative study seems recommended
for calculating qualitative experiences. Some of the findings of the study provide further
clarification that only new studies can propose. Having set a foundation for this study’s
outcome and procedures, it may be duplicated in other areas that could include the
perception of other racial groups such as Latinos, Asians, or Indigenous Americans, or
the perceptions of the police as it relates to gender, income, education level, or culture.
In addition, to the analytical guide to future goals of this study, the qualitative
methods of research seem recommended for weighing the experience of the BLM social
movement and its impact to the African American communities and its relationship with
the police. However, this study was only able to address a few variables in regards to the
BLM social movement; other results could rise as other variables are identified as
determined by further research and the personal experiences of the researcher who may
use their personal experiences to enhanced the study.
Implications
To minorities, police work is a largely an obscure experience, it is an experience
that only being in that position can tell the state of reality. This research wanted to
disclose the factual interpretation of the relationship of the BLM social movement and
the police, and what can be done to restore that relationship, if possible. This study
revealed the significance of the interactive nature of the police when coming in contact
with the African Americans. Ultimately, the police sets the tone for the interactions and
determines all possible outcomes of such interactions. Therefore, it is encouraged that the
police use their presence to improve on their decision making, to become more trust
worthy by using a more passive voice that enables cooperation, respect, and to treat
African Americans with dignity in the aspects of the procedural justice. The treatment
based on aspects of procedural justice is that the police must be more informative in the
interactions with African Americans advising them that the police are the authority and
enforce the laws in that particular area.
The police must open in communication and understanding when coming in
contact with African Americans, this must be a priority. Open communication is valuable
and necessary as it can achieve collaboration and improve and strengthen the
relationship. The open communication can lead to African Americans trusting and
collaborate with the police to exchange information and improve policing efforts.
Communication can provide a pathway to a working relationship between the police and
the BLM social movement. It can also provide a pathway to a collaborative exchange of
the emotions, feelings, and beliefs on both sides.
The methods of enforcement use by the police towards African American
determines the compliance and outcome of an event. Therefore, depending on the
methods used for compliance efforts the resolutions of conflict between the police and
African Americans can determine the outcome of encounters with the police. For
example, the process used by the police when encountering African Americans will built
on the trustworthiness and relationship; and it will build on the collaboration of
information with African Americans. It will be more manageable for the police to
interact and have a workable relationship with African Americans. Therefore, by
reshaping police openness, responsiveness, behavior, treatment, interactions, attitude and
discretionary implementation of police practices towards African Americans.
It is important that people know the truth about the relationship of the BLM
movement and the police. As it is also important that people know the devastation that
the existing relationship has on society. Therefore, it is important for the police to know
and recognized the reasons to the behavior of the BLM social movement towards the
police, and for the BLM social movement to know the reasons for the actions of the
police. This study hopes to provide an understanding of the past, and present relationship
between the police and African Americans, and implement policies and actions that
preserve minority communities in the future.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this study was to provide the missing outlook in what is the most
valuable and has a great effect on African Americans in regards to the relationship with
the police. The torn relationship between the police and the BLM social movement has
influenced cultural differences, generated violence in minority communities, and increase
tensions when it comes to community policing. Media and social media platforms have
influenced the current relationship between the police and the BLM social movement
making it difficult for the police to build a workable relationship with the BLM social
movement and African American communities. It is crucial that the police understand
the BLM social movement mission, as well as it is important for the BLM social
movement to understand the mission and responsibilities of the police. Understanding
and respecting each other’s perspectives can ultimately rebuild a workable relationship
between the BLM social movement and the police.
The relationship between the BLM social movement and the police has devastated
minority communities. It has intensified resentment and anger towards the police. The
bad relationship has brought, mistrust, insecurity, blame, lack of communication, and
emotional crisis. It is my intention that this study brings awareness to what is the current
state of the relationship between the BLM social movement and the police. I also wanted
to make the distinction that the BLM social movement does not represent the sentiment of
all African Americans. African Americans have a different perspective and perceive the
police differently than what the BLM movement promotes during its meetings, rallies,
and social media presence.
In conclusion, this study offers suggestions that the police can develop that will
help rebuild a relationship that once existed. According to Rae (2018), when you are in
the middle of any sort of relationship crisis, the very last thing you want to do is to let go
(Rae, 2018). This is not the time to let go. This is the time to rebuild the relationship
between the BLM social movement and the police and build a workable relationship that
leads to safe communities. It is of value that the nature of this study and its
recommendations for the BLM social movement and the police is taken into consideration
and are used as a blue print to rebuilding the relationship.
