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FREEDOMWAYS   FIRST QUARTER 1968

based on inequality. The question of the unequal administration of
justice in turn brings a bigger question into focus-viz, what kind of
government exists here/

The police brutality issue, like so many other civil and human rights
issues, possesses the infuriating power to expose the true cancerous
contradictions of American life. That the society has not or will not
be moved to change its structural inequalities provides convincing
evidence that it is not the police alone who are brutal and con-sciously
or inadvertently committed to racial and class inequities.
Police brutality provides an indication of the callous insensitive 
brutality found throughout the society.

police brutality -- its nature, form, victims

Police brutality refers to inequality in law enforcement, the applica-tion
by a law officer of so much unnecessary force as to make it ap-parent
that he is trying to punish the suspect. Evidence of this kind
of police behavior can be found in four main areas: the use of unnecessary force to make arrests, to mete out quick summary punish-ment, 
to obtain a confession, to perpetuate and enforce segregation.

There are many ways that inequality in law enforcement by police
can be accomplished. Police may turn their backs on private lawless-ness, 
"let them kill each other off," or condone private violence
by joining the mobs, or the police may apply mass roundups, drag-nets,
illegal arrests, third degree methods, trumped-up charges as well as
administering brutal beatings. In addition, police may use firearms
unnecessarily on minority group members.  This latter employment
of police power has always been a source of friction. Not only the 
application of firearms to apprehend individuals suspected of law
violations, but the wanton use of guns during "race riots" on the side of
white lawlessness has been a widely known example of unjust police
action. Thus during the 1943 Detroit riot, an almost "lily-white"
police force escalated the riot by their actions. Fifteen Negroes
were shot to death by police at the time. In contrast, [[not one]] white person 
was shot by police during the course of that riot.

But inequality in law enforcement is not limited to just overt 
police action. Coarse language is frequently used by police in dealing
with people of the ghetto as a means of gaining quick compliance
with police instructions. This way of dealing with seemingly "lower
class" people is rationalized as most economical and most likely to pro-

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Transcription Notes:
[[Not one]] = is written in Italics in the original text for emphasis.