Black Males and the Police

Recently on Netflix, a documentary called American Son was released. This documentary is about an estranged couple who are trying to find their black son, Jamal. The mother is black and the father is white. The father is also an FBI agent. It's late at night, and they are in a police station in Miami, trying to get information out of the one police officer in the station and the Lieutenant. This documentary explores how we as a nation deal with family relationships, loss, and identity. It also deals with stereotypes and race. 

One night, Jamal and his friends were driving out on the road, listening to music when they get pulled over by a cop. On the car, there was a bumper sticker about violence against cops. As the story unravels, the parents of Jamal, still at the police station, delve into a lengthy discussion of race and stereotypes that follow Jamal. They talk about raising their biracial son and the differences each feel, given that Jamal looks black but has an authority figure as a father. 

A while later, a video recording of the scene is leaked. It shows Jamal's friends confronting the police and running away. Three bullets are shot, aimed at one of Jamal's friends. Unfortunately, Jamal receives the worst of it, with a bullet to his head, killing him immediately. 

This story reveals the reality of what black men face, especially regarding the police. In our society today, black men and boys are stereotyped as gangsters, rapists, murderers and drug dealers. They are not as respected in they eyes of the police. Police and authority figures will almost always assume the worst, compared to if the person were white. 

We can also see evidence of this in Michael Brown's case, and in the documentary When They See Us. In each of these stories, police violence is shown, even though it is not necessary. The police tend to misinterpret the situation, believing they need to fear their life, but actually, the black males should fear their lives. 

Overall, as a society, we should focus our attention on educating the population on not immediately coming to a conclusion about a person solely on their race. Although everyone has their internal prejudices, we need to have control over what we think, rather than just react to the situation with no context.