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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- 48
Transcription Notes:
[[Not one]] = is written in Italics in the original text for emphasis.