It seems that, in today’s law enforcement world, police have decided to take all matters into their own hands, make their own rules, and shoot first and ask questions later. From the most recent case of police brutality in Baltimore to other events throughout the United States, law-enforcement officers are abusing their power and, as a result, the nation suffers – or, more specifically, young African-American men suffer.

Unlawful acts of police – despite criticism and attention – remains an issue. Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and now Freddie Gray, all African-American men, were killed by law enforcement officers after being arrested and/or detained. The nation cannot help but think that these men were killed because of the color of their skin. Though these three men were each in violation of the law in some way, none of them deserved to die. Garner, for instance, was not committing a serious crime and was taken down to the ground by several officers.  During the incident, Garner repeatedly said “I can’t breathe” to officers, but the officer who was choking him – with a choke hold that had been banned by the department – never stopped and Garner died.

One can only ask, if these men weren’t African-American, would they have been killed or even looked at in a negative way? The answer is no. Police brutality can be linked to false racial stereotypes. Law-enforcement officers pleaded innocent because they argued that they felt threatened by these men. In the case of Michael Brown, the officer, Darren Wilson, said he found Brown a threat and needed to make his own call to defend himself.