Police Brutality In America

Police brutality, inequality, and injustice were everlasting problems for African Americans during the post-civil war era in the late 1900’s. Many African American hip hop artists would vocalize their frustration and anger of this civil injustice through a particularly unpopular and unrecognized form of art: hip hop. This expression of anger and devastation in the production of these police brutality related hip hop songs, were derived from a type of genre called “the blues”. This form of music incorporated the sorrow and resentment that African Americans had endured through the years of inequality and brutality. Ralph Ellison, a notable music scholar, explained the process of “the blues” genre by first, “fingering the jagged grain of your …show more content…
"At the bottom of our news tonight, there's been a new animal aimed at falling off the face of our Earth. Yes, young black teenagers are reported to be the oldest, and the newest, creatures added to the endangered species list.” (Cube) These lyrics fit into the first step of the process of “the blues”. Ice Cube is “fingering the jagged grain of a brutal experience” by satirically expressing how America looks at African Americans as purely animals and how they are slowly but surely becoming extinct due to the senseless killing perpetrated by police. During this era, if it were solely in the hands of police officers in America, the African American population would become extinct. The racism and bigotry that these police officers had against African Americans wss shown through the senseless beatings, criminal charges, and killing, “As of now, no efforts have been made to preserve the Blacks. When asked why, a top law official adds, "Because they make good game""(Cube) African Americans were looked at as “game” or hunting species for the police officers. These lyrics exemplify how police officers have dehumanized African Americans and how they treated them as if they are animals that were being hunted. From these lyrics expressed by Ice Cube in the controversial song, he is explaining and …show more content…
The brutality was wrongly justified and ignored by America while it was specifically targeted towards young African Americans. Ice Cube’s lyrics in the song, “Every cop killer goes ignored. They just send another n***a to the morgue”, accurately pinpoints how police officers regularly murdered African Americas while receiving no repercussion or punishment. They, as and American’s, acted as if the lives of these African American being killed by police officers were worthless and unimportant. These lyrics produced by Ice Cube included step one and step three of Ellison’s process of “the blues”. In these lyrics Ice Cube relayed this brutal experience of the indifference of police officers killing African Americans. He is reaffirming his existence in the eyes of America. Although he knows his value and that he is more than “another n***a to the morgue”, he understands that his invaluable existence is not seen by police

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