Police brutality has been a major social issue in the United States, and the media has been a significant driver to exposing or attempting to curb the vice. Journalists have been at the forefront of exposing societal violence, especially against minority groups. Over the years, African Americans have complained of discrimination and harassment, which has spanned centuries. As a result, the history of slavery complicates any case of brutality against people of color. The death of George Floyd virally caught journalist attention never experienced before. The media coverage of the end of George Floyd exposed the prevalence of police brutality against a colored population that led to nationwide protests.
The death of Floyd shocked the world because the police killed him. The victim was a 46-year-old African American man who passed on while being forcefully arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Officer Derek Chauvin placed his knee on his neck for close to ten minutes, hindering his breathing leading to his death. The medical examiner report said the victim’s heart ceased functioning because of neck constriction (Watson et al., 2020). The incident was an explicit use of excessive force on a subdued suspect. The media covered this story widely and played the video, caught by bystanders and surveillance cameras, to the public.
Over two million media outlets worldwide, such as journals, news stations, radio stations, and podcasts, covered Floyd’s killing. The news spread over the world, soliciting anger, sorrow, and pain. Protests surged all over the country due to the emotional, cognitive, physiological, and attitudinal effects of the graphical images portrayed in the media (Emmerich, 2020). The video from Floyd’s forceful arrest broadened American’s view of police brutality and racism. The event forced the conversation of historical racial injustices against the African American community in America. The protests escalated, and the population formed movements to show support to Floyd’s family and the people of color.
The public’s solidarity with Floyd’s family and the consequent conversations revealed to the oblivious population the high number of police brutality cases against the colored community. Floyd was not the first African American to be murdered by police under unclear circumstances. In 2019, at least 1127 people died in police officers’ hands (Fagan & Campbell, 2020). Protests across the country escalated to movements such as the ‘Black Lives Matter,’ which condemned such acts. People of different races, occupations, and sexual orientations volunteered to protest in a surprising but effective way (McCoy, 2020). Though lawful, the peaceful protests escalated to boisterous demonstrations. The protests and movements were not only in the United States but in other countries as well. Most local administrations began rethinking the role of the police and the interaction they have with the citizens.
Floyd’s death did influence not only the American people but also the world on police’s ability to harm. The victim’s death got international media attention and solicited emotions. Many nations view America as the beacon of democracy and freedom. The news of the killing went against the county’s famous phrase, “The Land of The Free and The Brave.” The media depicted the nation as an oppressor of the minority years after declaring zero tolerance for racism (Dyer, 2020). Rallies and protests united against bigotry became rampant in the US due to how the media handled the incident. Consequently, several state administrations acknowledged the weakness and initiated policy reforms. The death of Floyd started a conversation of change that would make the country better.
Other nations were also afflicted by segregation against minority groups and desired for adjustment. In Australia, the protests were against the mistreatment of the indigenous people by the police. In France, activists invited a call for justice for young 24-year-old Adama Traore, a black man who died in police custody in 2016. In the United Kingdom, people gathered in front of the United States embassy, taking a knee with a fist in the air chanting, “Color is not a crime.” In Berlin, Germany, citizens held a silent night vigil for Floyd in Alexanderplatz Square (Dyer, 2020). The movements and protests around the world led to the realization that bigotry is an international vice affecting many societies.
The world should limit the cases of segregation based on the color of the skin and culture. Technology and information sharing is an effective way of exposing societal inequalities. The process of gathering, processing, storing, and sharing information should be made public and efficient. Advancements such as police body cams videos should be accessible to the public to deter unprofessionalism in the police force. Innovations such as social media have had their disadvantages, but in this case, it helped in exposing a dangerous trend in America. Some organizations reacted to the situation by developing websites to report or share police brutality incidents (Ray, 2020). Modern advancements have led to the fast sharing of information but more needs to be done to continue exposing the vice.
Media Violence has played an essential role in exposing police brutality in the case of George Floyd. The video sparked an extreme reaction against the police force. Airing the content gave a voice to the rest of the world to stop the brutality. Although critics have mentioned the harm of media violence on the consumers, Floyd’s case provoked change to the disciplined forces. The incident forced a difficult conversation of equal treatment for all despite culture or race.
References
Emmerich, L. (2020). The Media and “Riot Frames”: Shaping the 2020 Protest Narrative. Carnegie council, 2-5. Web.
Fagan, J., & Campbell, A. D. (2020). Race and reasonableness in police killings. BUL Rev., 100, 951. Web.
Leroy-Dyer, S. (2020). Across the world: Black lives matter. Advocate: Journal of the National Tertiary Education Union, 27(2), 10. Web.
McCoy, H. (2020). Black lives matter, and yes, you are racist: the parallelism of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.Child and adolescent social work journal, 37(5), 463-475. Web.
Ray, R. (2020). Setting the record straight on the Movement for Black Lives. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43(8), 1393-1401. Web.
Watson, M. F., Turner, W. L., & Hines, P. M. (2020). Black Lives Matter: We are in the Same Storm but we are not in the Same Boat.Family process, 59(4), 1362-1373. Web.