The Dehumanization of Black Males by Police: Teaching Social Justice—Black Life Really Does Matter!

Abstract

Despite the contemporary public's discourse regarding the embrace of human diversity within the United States, Black males still are perennially brutalized, killed, and negatively stereotyped. Recent events regarding police killings underscore the reality that even though Black males have the same constitutional and civil rights as all other citizens, in practice their rights are often violated or denied. The negative stereotypes of Black males is problematic because it creates an environment and negative perception of them that causes some police officers to claim that they feared for their life before shooting. In this article the authors discuss the history of police oppression and killing of Black males and offer critical race theory as a theoretical perspective that helps to explain this pervasive social inequity. More important, the authors provide practical classroom narratives, assignments, and strategies that may hold promise in addressing the problem of police brutality and the killing of Black males.

The racialized patterns of police violence: The critical importance of research as praxis

“…As social workers, Adedoyin et al. (2019) outlined the importance for educators to utilize teaching assignments to address the dehumanization of Black males by the police. These authors emphasize how education regarding social inequities needs to exist in higher education but also as early as elementary schools.…”

Building trust in modern day policing: A neighbourhood community officer evaluation

“…Fielding suggests that mistrust and strained relations between the police and members of those communities make it difficult for CP's tenets to thrive in those neighbourhoods (Stein & Griffith, 2017;Fielding, 2005). High-crime and high-deprivation neighbourhoods have traditionally been made up of visible minorities in western countries, leading to outsider perceptions that the members of the community themselves are problematic (Drummond, 2018;Adedoyin et al, 2019). Community policing was not designed to create proactive partnerships between the police and one specific group, but rather to help all racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural groups that traditionally have or do not have a positive relationship with the police (Rukus et al, 2018).…”

Applying Medicine’s “Never Events” Model to Law Enforcement’s Disparate Killings of Black Male Civilians

“…Critical race theory (CRT) originated out of legal studies and was inspired by social activists and academics, including W. E. B. DuBois, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, Frantz Fanon, and the Black Panthers (Curry, 2020). The theory posits that racism is engrained within the infrastructure of social institutions (Siegel, 2020), including education, religion, healthcare, economics, housing, political arenas, and criminal justice, and attempts to maintain ideals of white supremacy by keeping melanated groups marginalized (Adedoyin et al, 2019;Curry, 2020;Moore et al, 2018). As noted by Janel George (2021), Khiarah Bridges observes the following: "CRT recognizes that racism is codified in law, embedded in structures, and woven into public policy".…”

“…Murders that would follow included Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, Philando Castille, Breonna Taylor, Patrick Warren, Sr., Joshua Feast, Maurice Gordon, Rayshard Brooks, and a host of others. They have all yielded similar outcries for change in law enforcement policies across levels and for police officers to be held accountable for taking the lives of American citizens (Adedoyin et al, 2019;NewsOne, 2021). At the mezzo level, initiatives have been implemented to improve police relations with communities (Radebe, 2021).…”