Imagery of Police Brutality
Group Members: Aniya, Jada, Nyla, Nia
Police brutality is defined as the unwarranted or excessive and often illegal use of force against civilians by U.S. police officers and in America, it has been around since slavery. America is among the top seven countries with the highest rate of fatal police brutality. According to Paul Hirschfirled, lead author of a Rutgers study on police brutality, “The institution of slavery was so massive in Brazil and the United States that the wounds that it inflicted, the benefits it conferred and the racial hierarchy and ideology that sustained it remained long after abolition and have indelibly shaped the contemporary social and institutional order.” Some of the actions that can be classified as police brutality include physical assault, torture, manhandling, or murder. Abuse of power can be included as well. Although police brutality has affected members of all races, there is now a significantly higher number of these incidents reported by African Americans. Some recent victims of police brutality are George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin.
Three of these victims are shown in Lemonade with their mothers holding up pictures of them. The three victims are Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner. These injustices have generated the Black Lives Matter Movement to call attention to these wrongdoings. Black people only account for 13 percent of the US population and they account for 27 percent that got fatally shot and killed by police in 2021. Unarmed Black people are being shot by police three times more than that of white people. Since 2015, there have been at least 135 killings of unarmed Black men and women by police officers nationwide. These killings have now generated mental health issues within the Black community.
Police brutality is an issue that has been brought to the forefront in recent years. When the news or post discussing the events that have happened because of police brutality a picture or a censored video is shown. This is because the possible effects seeing these events can have on viewers. Within the black community research has shown that watching these tragedies can be traumatic. Seeing issues such as this remind African American of the discrimination they face throughout their lives. A psychologist named Dr.Williams expressed her feelings when seeing acts of police brutality as stated “When you see someone on a video being shot and brutalized by police, you think to yourself, ‘That could be me.’ Or if not that, that it could be someone you love. So you feel it very deeply because it’s happening to a member of your community, someone who looks like you,” The impact of reminders of discrimination has the possibility of taking a toll on individuals’ health. A study done in 2009, found that the stress of racism was a major factor in black women with high blood pressure. This research is interesting in the sense that it highlights the effects that racism has on black women, which is something the album Lemonade did as well. Down below links a video that brings more insight to how the Black community is affected when viewing acts of racism on individuals in their community. The video really highlights how individuals’ mental health can take a hit.
In the film of Lemonade chapter 9, Resurrection the black mothers of Trayvon Martin (Sybrina Fulton), Micheal Brown (Lezley McSpadden), and Eric Gardner ( Gwen Carr) all hold up a picture of their dead sons who were all killed with similar stories due to police brutality. In this scene some of the mothers faces were frozen and another mother was crying all while they were grieving in their own ways. As the mothers are showing their sons pictures and making sure their names are known, Beyonce plays a song called “Forward ft James Blake”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPzCGZXULbQ . In the song it talks about moving forward and having to put your best foot forward to make sure everyone knows their son’s story and “it’s time to listen, it’s time to fight ‘’. As I listened to these lyrics it reminded me that police brutality is killing black unharmed boys for no reason only due to their skin color and because they look suspicious. In order for justice to be served for these kids we have to fight to end police brutality as a community.
The first picture we see was Trayvon Martins who was a black 17 years old boy who was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer. The two other sons named Michal and Eric died at the hands of police. By Beyonce including these mothers with their sons it shows a moment of injustices of what their families went through and still going through to this day. Beyonce wanted to include their pictures in the scenes to show that police brutality continues to get worse each day and is still a major issue in America. Immediately after this scene Beyonce plays “freedom” which is a call for action specifically black women to all come together to fight to help our loved ones.
During the past 12 years police brutality has been a constant issue for the black community, mainly black males. While reading several articles, they express the connections to police brutality and its importance. In “The Recipe To Decolonized Love Is In Beyoncés Lemonade’’, the author expresses why Beyoncé choses to display images of Black mothers as they hold pictures of their “slain Black sons.” The picture frames of these deceased black men are Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner who were killed by police brutality. These mothers “symbolize that grief doesn’t ever leave” and how no matter what they will always show what the police have done to our young black men. In addition, in the “Formation” music video, an author says “there is a spray paint graffiti saying, Stop shooting us, us referring to black people.” As Beyoncé puts this impactful visual of this graffiti, it shows how the black community is speaking up against police brutality as these innocent killings of our black people need to stop.
Next in the reading, “Where Do We Go From Here” by Isabel Wilkerson, she mentions the impact police brutality has on our society. Wilkerson stated, “ And now police assaults on black people for the most ordinary behaviors — a father tapered in Minnesota while waiting for his children; a motorist shot to death in North Carolina while seeking help after a car accident. (60)” This shows how police assaulting targets innocent black people who are just trying to live their lives which leads to negative outcomes. Lastly, Wilkerson says “ It’s been estimated that an African American is now killed by police every two to three days. (61)” This statement expresses how the rates of police brutality in today’s society has continued to become a relevant issue for the black community.
