The Goon Squad Summary

Words: 519
Pages: 3

In Rankin County, Mississippi, six law enforcement officers have pleaded guilty to many state and federal charges for torturing and abusing two black men, in what is described as a mock execution. It all began when an anonymous white caller complained that two Black men were visiting a white woman. It was at this moment that Brett McAplin and Christian Dedmon, two of the six sentenced, informed the rest of the group, known as the “Goon Squad” about the situation. Without hesitation, they invaded the home and proceeded to handcuff the victims, Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker, and began an hourslong torture of beatings, uses of stun guns, and sexual assault. It did not end until Jenkins was shot in the mouth, puncturing his tongue and jaw. On top of that, officers planted …show more content…
Looking back on Vince Montes’s writing, it explicitly recognizes that coercive forces, like that of police officers, hold such a high esteem in our society because the United States has ingrained a sense of ignorance towards the efficacy of these forces in multiple means like education, sports, etc. Specifically in this case, it took roughly 20 years for these officers to be convicted, in which McAlpin was already known to be involved in at least 9 incidents of “brutalizing people with impunity” over this time. Given this information, it is evidently seen that coercive police is hypocritical in nature as it certainly provides millions of jobs, but at the cost of enforcing control over marginalized, poor communities for the people in power to profit. This is also presented through mass incarceration, in which those at the greatest distance from wealth are perceived as a threat to social order. This logic only benefits the rich, those in power profit from the extremely cheap labor that the prison system upholds through the incarcerated