It is very important to recognize police brutality in the United States because it is one of the many social issues that cause conflict within the population. Police brutality and racism are issues that push people to take sides. But what we fail to understand is that many of us tend to focus on one side of the issue without considering, or sometimes even listening to, the other. Often the information we gather, whether from the media or our community, contains biased information that doesn't give us the opportunity to see the bigger picture. Have you ever heard of "There are two sides to every story"? Well, this social issue has two sides; the victim and the aggressor. But if you take a step back and think about the question of who is really who? Sometimes you may hear "The treatment of blacks by the police is unacceptable there, aggressive and violent." And sometimes you may hear, “Most police officers do a dangerous and difficult job well. The media only portrays police brutality against blacks more than the inner-city crime problem.” The fact is that both statements have merit and acknowledging one does not diminish the other. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Likewise, there is no doubt that the cold-blooded murder of police officers is crucial, as reported by the AJC. Yet some point out that this was only a consequence of the fact that resentment against the police has developed in America. Demonstrated by the use of body cameras, dash cams and phone footage, there are various examples of abusive and excessively violent police behaviour. For example, the brutality listed in a Baltimore Sun article "UNDUE FORCE" has numerous victims, including a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a pregnant 26-year-old accountant who witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old a woman selling church lottery tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette, and an 87-year-old grandmother helping her injured grandson. Additionally, an article from “The Week” shows many occasions where the police were called to help someone in need and ended up killing them. And the police men are not taking any consequences, as reported in many newspaper articles, US police departments have paid hundreds of millions of dollars every year in settlements and settlements to victims of police abuse. But that money is generally paid by taxpayers, not law enforcement. And even when accused of senseless battery or murder while on duty, officers are generally protected from criminal charges and prison time through a doctrine of qualified immunity. On the other hand, police defenders imply that most officers do their jobs courageously and appropriately. But, as the Libertarian Party stated, “when one rogue cop after another gets away with impunity after using excessive force and no changes are made and no consequences are felt, it causes the horrible tension we feel today.” Another often debatable question is: Is police brutality a racial issue? Depending on who you ask, the answer might seem very different. Wall Street Journal writer Heather MacDonald doesn't believe blacks are unfairly victimized. In “The Myths of Black Lives Matter,” MacDonald argues that it is the police who should be afraid of black people. He points out that police officers are killed by blacks at 2.5 times the rate at which blacks are killed by police. MacDonald further states that iWhites should be more concerned about the police than blacks: 12% of all white and Hispanic homicide deaths occurred due to police shootings. But because blacks die from homicide at a much higher rate, only 4 percent of black homicide deaths are caused by police shootings. These statistics are all valid and deserve in-depth reflection. Police advocates argue that groups like Black Lives Matter ignore the scope of black-on-black violence that police face. An example is Franchesca Ramsey, who defends Black Lives Matter in an MTV Facebook video. “Black-on-black crime doesn't exist,” he says. Ramsey points out that people tend to kill others in their own community and that 84% of white homicides are committed by whites. This fact is accurate. However, Ramsey does not take into account the fact that, according to the US Department of Justice, blacks are almost 8 times more likely to commit murder than whites, and 6 times more likely to be victims of murder than whites. The Baltimore Sun reported that “blood was spilled in Baltimore at an unprecedented rate in 2015, with mostly young black men shot to death [by other blacks] in a near-daily riot of violence.” Heather MacDonald is right that if blacks have more run-ins with police, they are more likely to be victims of police shootings. On the other hand, others argue that the amount of violent crime perpetrated by blacks is irrelevant to the conversation. Franchesca Ramsey is also right when she says that focusing on black criminality can distract us from the separate issue of racism and police brutality. Black men represent only 6% of the U.S. population, but make up nearly 40% of those killed while unarmed. As he states, if the police are not doing their job to “protect and serve all communities, we must reevaluate and find solutions.” The truth is that violent crime and police brutality are issues that should concern everyone. But the way these issues are represented by social and mass media often divides us and makes us defensive. Some point out that police brutality against white people has been underrepresented in the media. For example, when an unarmed white teenager was recently killed by police, the news barely resonated. The other side complains that demonstrations by black organizations against violence in urban centers tend to be less publicized by the media than demonstrations by blacks against the police. These statements are both true and important because what we see in the news influences how we perceive the issue. A report from George Washington University found that personal experience had mixed effects on overall satisfaction with the police, but “repeated exposure to media reports of police abuse proved to be a strong predictor of perceived badness police conduct, racialized policing, and support for reform. " The report states that “the role of the media has not received the attention it deserves from police scholars; it could be an important dimension of any comprehensive explanatory framework of police-citizen relations. “Police brutality is a serious problem that requires consequences and accountability from offending officers. Poor urban communities, where innocent people are more vulnerable to both crime and police brutality, have a vital need for police forces they can trust finds: 10.1111/1745-9125.12214