Abstract
The seriousness of the issue of policemenās violence cannot be underestimated. Police brutality is only one of the manifestations of racial discrimination in the USA. The solution to this problem requires the use of an interdisciplinary approach. Education, sociology, and history are the sciences that are investigated in the framework of the analysis of the confrontation between African Americans and white people. The historical aspects of the two nationalitiesā relationships play a crucial role in understanding the causes of the current circumstances. Creating a multicultural school with tolerant and high-qualified specialists is one of the actions that can be taken in order to ameliorate the existing situation and construct an open-minded society.
Introduction
The protests in the USA were caused by the death of an African American man who was killed by the police. For this reason, the issue of violence by policemen became highly up-to-date in modern society. However, the topic is crucial not only because of the unprofessional behavior of the officers. The current situation reveals the problem of racial discrimination and the ineffectiveness of the justice system that is supposed to protect the civil rights of all nationalities and communities living in the USA. The relevance of the study can be estimated from both practical and theoretical points of view. On the one hand, by analyzing academic works in the framework of the protests in the state, it is possible to provide a solution for the problem. On the other hand, this paper would be documentary evidence of the current events in the country.
Police brutality is a vital problem in a multinational country such as the USA. The latest events and the protests show that citizens are concerned about the current situation in the state and are not satisfied by the way the government treats the problem. The issue is crucial because of two reasons: the historical aspect of the relationships between African Americans and white people, and the level of violence against black humans. Despite the steps taken by authorities in the USA, racial discrimination still exists in the 21st century and causes severe problems to the development of a tolerant and open-minded community. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the issue from the academic perspective and provide a critical analysis of the chosen research documents.
The Importance of the Interdisciplinary Approach
The topic of police brutality in the USA should be observed in the framework of an interdisciplinary approach for several reasons. First of all, the issue is broader than the question of violence towards black people by police officers. In order to find the solution to this problem, it is necessary to investigate the causes and the consequences of racial discrimination and its development in the USA. Secondly, the reasons for brutality could be examined on diverse levels. For example, it is possible to analyze the historical aspects of the relationships between white and black people. What is more, it is important to pay special attention to the process of raising up a child as the values that are inculcated to the younger generation have a significant impact on their adult life. The particularities of the community itself should also be observed: peopleās attitudes to culture, traditions, laws, work, and family.
It is essential to assume that only in case of the complex analysis of the causes and effects of racial discrimination in general and police violence in particular, it would be possible to resolve the problem. That is why the interdisciplinary approach is the most efficient way to investigate the issue. Three sciences were chosen for examining the topic in order to provide a complex and argumentative analysis: education, sociology, and history.
Educational System
Academic papers in the field of schooling are significant as they provide an understanding of the reasons for racial discrimination in the adult world. Specialists examine the impact of multinational education on the life of people, which helps to find the link between the process of upbringing a child and his or her behavior in the future (Nieto, 2017). Moreover, researchers raise a question of how to explain the terms of social justice and equity to little children and, at the same time, show their concerns about the negative impact of teachersā racial stereotypes in the USA (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2017). The analysis of the educational system in the state helps to understand the reasons for racial discrimination and, as a consequence, the violence against African Americans, from the individual point of view. It is an illustration of how the wrong way of treating a child or adultsā stereotypes may affect the consciousness of a pupil and ruin his or her opportunity to become a tolerant and open-minded human.
Sociological Context
In the framework of sociological sciences, education also plays an essential role in constructing a society without racial stereotypes. For example, some of the researchers claim that the impact of parenting should not be underestimated as it lays the foundation for the child’s personality (Dunbar et al., 2017). African American adults are afraid of aggressive behavior towards their children in school and the community, and they try to prevent it by explaining how to act in case of discrimination (Dunbar et al., 2017). Such a way of upbringing a child is a reason for the aggression of black children towards their white classmates. It has negative consequences both for the current relationships between classmates in a multinational school and for the future attitude towards diverse nationalities (Dunbar et al., 2017). It is possible to assume that in the framework of investigating the problem of the violence of police officers towards African Americans, the analysis of schooling and the process of upbringing a child is crucial from both the sociological and educational points of view.
Historical Aspects
The history of racial discrimination is another vital issue that has to be taken into consideration in the analysis of racial discrimination. Educational aspects show modern problems that are the reasons for police brutality, but historical examination gives a general overview of the topic. First of all, the history of slavery plays a significant role in the way white people treat African Americans. It is crucial to point out that the problem of discrimination exists not only on the individual level but also in the process of making decisions in the court (Taylor, Guy-Walls, Wilkerson, & Addae, 2019). The judicial system and its functioning are one of the indicators of the level of development of a democratic community; that is why it is essential to propose new rules and laws for achieving equity.
On the one hand, slavery is the cause of black peopleās aggressive behavior toward the white population and the authority system as they had to suffer for centuries because of inequity and the absence of their civic rights in the USA. On the other hand, the past is still appreciated by governmental staff in the sphere of justice, and that is why court decisions that concern black people are not objective (Tayor et al., 2019). The same point of view is presented by another scientist in the historical sphere who maintains that cruelty or violence in the community of black people is the consequence of centuries of racial intolerance that they faced living in this country (Ogbar, 2019). African Americans want to stop discrimination after decades of humiliation of their relatives, nation, and ancestors. The only solution in this situation that can be proposed is the establishment of a new type of relationship between the two ethnicities in order to overcome the difficulties and construct a modern, tolerant society together.
Correlation Between the Disciplines
In order to provide a complex and argumentatively based analysis, it is essential to establish the links between the examined disciplines. Firstly, it is necessary to mention that sociological and educational fields are both concentrated on the question of upbringing a child. Nevertheless, the decisions provided by the scientists differ in a significant way. Nieto (2017) claims that establishing a multinational school where children can communicate with each other without paying attention to the color of skin, nationality, and cultural diversity is a unique way to create a society of open-minded humans. However, specialists in sociology maintain that such type of education is not the perfect variant because of racial stereotypes of the teachers who are not always tolerant of the pupils (Dunbar et al., 2017). The appropriate option, in this case, is the creation of a multicultural school where not only the professionalism of the educators but also their values and perception of life would be taken into consideration. This would help to establish comfortable conditions for the children and provide necessary treatment and required individual approach according to the diversity of the backgrounds.
Academic articles in the historical sphere are essential from the point of view of illustrating the problem in a general way. For example, Grills (2016) claims that the problem of racial discrimination exists because of the absence of national education among African Americans. Children live in the USA and know nothing about cultural traditions, laws, and art of their own state. It results in their aggressive behavior towards white people who are proud of their past (Grills, 2016). The complex solution is the establishment of a multinational school where pupils would learn about national history.
The Value and the Relevance of the Academic Sources
The academic articles in three chosen disciplines ā education, sociology, and history ā are written by professionals in these spheres. For instance, research papers in the field of schooling are provided by university professors. Nieto is a specialist in language and cultural sciences and is a professor at the School of Education (Sonia Nieto, n.d.). She investigates the cultural background of students and uses this database in her scientific works (Sonia Nieto, n.d.). One of the authors of another article in this field is the associate director of the Center for Education, Law, and Society, and one of the members of the Social Justice Institute (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2017). Researchers from the University of Maryland and the University of North Carolina partnered to cover the topic of parental racial education (Dunbar et al., 2017). It is possible to claim that scientists are interested in the practical and theoretical sides of the discipline at the same time.
The research papers in the field of sociology are also written by specialists on this topic. The authors have up to 100 publications concerning the issue of the relationships between black and white people and racial discrimination. What is more, Grills is a professional in the field of black psychology, a Ph.D., and also a Clinical Psychologist that shows the diversity of her interests and experience (Dr. Cheryl Grills, n.d.). In the sphere of historical academic works, it is crucial to mention the author of 5 books, the member of the Center of the Study of Popular Cultures, and the specialist in civic rights Jeffrey Ogbar (Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar, n.d.). Another research in the field of history is written by the scientist who has publications in such periodicals as the Journal of Human Rights and Social Work (Taylor et al., 2019). The authors of the articles have a significant experience that has an essential impact on scientific society.
They do not concentrate only on academic works but are interested in the practical sphere of the topic they cover and propose possible actions and solutions in order to ameliorate the existing situation in the country. The analysis of the articles from diverse spheres in complex gives an opportunity to create efficient decisions that may help to overcome the challenging time. The researchers are highly qualified and familiar with the issue that they investigate that helps to make this academic work more argumentative and structured.
Conclusion
The violence of police officers against African Americans is a crucial problem in the modern society of the USA. The protests are an illustration of the citizensā discontent with the current situation. Several disciplines have to be investigated to achieve a high level of elaborate analysis of the issue. For this paper, it was chosen to examine the educational, sociological, and historical spheres. The best solution to this issue is to create a multinational school with tolerant and open-minded professors. The changes in governmental structures should also be taken into account in order to provide objective judicial decisions. The professionalism and the level of experience of the authors of the articles are beneficial for structuring the information, gathering the evidential base, and providing a high-qualified academic paper.
References
Dr. Cheryl Grills. (n.d.). Web.
Dunbar, A. S., Leerkes, E. M., Coard, S. I., Supple, A. J., & Calkins, S. (2017). An integrative conceptual model of parental racial/ethnic and emotion socialization and links to children’s socialāemotional development among African American families. Child Development Perspectives, 11(1), 16ā22.
Grills, C., Cooke, D., Douglas, J., Subica, A., Villanueva, S., & Hudson, B. (2016). Culture, racial socialization, and positive African American youth development. Journal of Black Psychology, 42(4), 343ā373.
Jeffrey O.G. Ogbar. (n.d.). Web.
Nieto, S. (2017). Re-imagining multicultural education: New visions, new possibilities. Multicultural Education Review, 9(1), 1ā10.
Ogbar, J. O. (2019). Black power: Radical politics and African American identity. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Sensoy, O., & DiAngelo, R. (2017). Is everyone really equal?: An introduction to key concepts in social justice education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Sonia Nieto. (n.d.). Web.
Taylor, E., Guy-Walls, P., Wilkerson, P., & Addae, R. (2019). The historical perspectives of stereotypes on African-American males. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 4(3), 213ā225.