The same statistics show that nearly 90% of these murder victims were black or Hispanic (W.A.T.E.R). In 2004, Timothy Stansbury Jr. was fatally shot by Officer Richard S. Neri Jr. of the NYPD. For what cause? Neri testified that, "the bewildering and startling presence of someone on the other side of the door caused me to discharge my gun," (Nazaryan). This basically states that the Officer fired a shot at and killed an unarmed, black teenager simply because he was startled. January 1, 2009, Oscar Grant, who, offering no resistance, was unarmed, and black, was handcuffed, thrown face first on the ground, and shot in cold blood by Oakland police officer, Johannes Mehserle. The cop was let free after only one year in jail (Stephan). Amadou Diallo, was a West African immigrant, who was shot at 41 times by police officers. He was then struck 19 times and killed, unarmed and nonviolent, a victim of police brutality (Stephan).
Going through the history of Murders of innocent civilians by cops, one may think that they only target black males. However, on August 11, 2014, in Salt Lake City, 20 year old white man Dillon Taylor was shot and killed outside of a convenience store by Officer Bron Cruz. Video footage shows that Taylor was backing away from the police, with his hands in his waistband, facing the cop. He was ordered to take his hands out and put them up, and after repeatedly saying no, he finally does. As he does, the cops are said to believe he is drawing a weapon, and Officer Cruz open fires and kills Taylor. The verdict of this case? The officer was allowed to walk free of any convictions. So then, what is the reason for such harsh police brutality in America? Race? Corruption? Or is it that Police Officers are comfortable and secure enough in their jobs that they think that they are above the law?.
Post-9/11, under the administration of Bush and Obama, federal, state and local law enforcement has engaged in racial/ethnic profiling, which the ACLU calls "a widespread and pervasive problem throughout the United States, impacting the lives of millions of people in African American, Asian, Latino, South Asian, and Arab communities.