Why Isn’t Anyone Talking About Police Brutality in the Latino Community?
*From the article, third paragraph: “Part of the reason cases involving Latinos don’t receive the same attention … is because Latinos are never truly seen as Americans but always as foreigners.” This is a worthy read. VL
By Michelle Garcia, Cosmopolitan
What most people don’t know is that excessive force and police shootings have been reported in the Latino community for decades, going back to the 19th century when Mexicans were lynched by law enforcement in the West and Southwest. Unlike Ferguson or Baltimore, cases involving Latinos today receive little attention. Where is the spotlight then? Who is standing up to protest those lost lives?
[pullquote][tweet_dis]Part of the reason cases involving Latinos don’t receive the same attention … is because Latinos are never truly seen as Americans but always as foreigners.[/tweet_dis][/pullquote]Part of the reason cases involving Latinos don’t receive the same attention, says Frances Negrón-Muntaner, director of Columbia University’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, is because Latinos are never truly seen as Americans but
always as foreigners. As a result, [tweet_dis]”If police kill a Latino, it’s only a Latino that was killed. Latinos are not generally perceived to embody larger social problems like racism or institutional abuse of power[/tweet_dis],” she said.
It’s unclear whether blacks and Latinos are more affected by police shootings and use of force than whites. No national database or reliable information exists about police homicides, non fatal shootings, or injuries. This doesn’t mean Latinos don’t feel strongly about police abuse or haven’t experienced it. A 2014 survey released by W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Univision, and The Denver Post found that [tweet_dis]68 percent of Latinos worry about excessive use of force. About 18 percent of Latinos said that friends or family have experienced police brutality.[/tweet_dis] When a police issue strikes, it can rip through the entire family with Latinas playing the role of witness, protector, advocate, and sometimes victim.
Click HERE to read the full story.
[Photo by Elvert Barnes/Flickr]
