Week 8 discussion
DQ1
Police Use of Force
No Emotion – Only Facts
I am not going to participate in this discussion. It will be a discussion only for students
because I don’t want to sway your opinions.
It is especially important that you interact with at least two of your
classmates. You will be graded primarily
on the quality of your reasoning and support from legitimate outside sources.
Listening to many in the media and on the national stage, it
would be reasonable to conclude that police shoot many unarmed black men for no
reason. They claim it is an epidemic that
needs to be addressed. There are many
articles such as
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/philando-castile-no-justice_us_59444c46e4b0f15cd5bb6415
and http://www.theroot.com/white-men-cant-murder-why-white-cops-are-immune-to-the-1796309966
that discuss the issue.
Football fans are familiar with NFL players sitting or
taking a knee during the National Anthem to “to protest police violence
against African-Americans”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/opinion/nfl-football-kaepernick-take-knee.html.
On the other side are some who argue that claims that police
targeting of minorities is not true
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/449505/police-shootings-black-men-race-not-reason-causal-effect. Some argue that the accusations of police
killings is actually distracting people from the real issue
http://nypost.com/2017/09/26/all-that-kneeling-ignores-the-real-cause-of-soaring-black-homicides/.
The Washington Post has maintained a database that contains
all citizens killed by the police https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/police-shootings-2017/. This is a very good source of factual
information.
So, what is the answer?
Are police killing black men disproportionately? You must provide a FACTUALLY BASED answer
using reputable sources. Please remember
that police are allowed to use deadly force against an unarmed person if they
have legal justification to do so.
DQ2
Wrap Up
As class comes to an end, I would like your input and
suggestions. What did you enjoy about
the class? What could be improved? I have enjoyed this class and I think that we
have had some very good discussions. I
value your input and hope to use what I learn from you to improve classes in
the future.
Your responses will not affect your final grades.
