Police Community towards Black Community

It is undeniable that police brutality in America has been a serious issue lately.

Unfortunately for the Black communities, they are playing the role of a victim in this situation.

Over the past decades, different types of protest were held to voice out their dissatisfaction

towards the treatments they have received. Political hip hop, being one of the most popular forms

of protest, is the use of music to send or convince its audiences about any political messages. It

was first developed by turning rap music into a form of social activism, creating opportunities for

the minorities to voice out the injustice they face in life. One of the famous protest song, F*ck

The Police, by the group N.W.A, was complied with harsh social and political commentary.

The aim of the song was to let its audience know that police brutality and racial profiling that

their community is facing; however, the song has sparked controversy as it was seen as a form of

rebel against the police. Although the song "F*ck Tha Police" appears to be a hatred song

towards the police, it is actually a crying from the blacks for help as they are being oppressed by

the majorities.

The song "Fuck Tha Police" was originated by a hip hop group from Compton,

California, by the name "N.W.A" in the year 1988. F*ck Tha Police is a protest song that

allowed the people across America to hear the voices of black youth. According to Ice Cubes

interview with Buzzfeed, he stated that It was more than just a song that was insulting the

police. It was a revenge fantasy, like Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino. (Carter) The

song was written as a revenge fantasy for the group to escape from aggression because there was

a lot of resentment to the police and N.W.A wanted to expose the truth about police brutality,

especially to those who had not experienced it before.

 The song starts off with the group "N.W.A" placing the Los Angeles Police Department

on trial in their fantasy world. With Dr. Dre playing the role as a judge, the other members,

which includes MC Ren, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube being the prosecuting attorneys. The song then

proceeds with Dr. Dre ordering Ice cube to take the stand and to speak the truth of what he and

his fellow black mates had encountered with the police. By doing so, the group is mocking the

procedure of the Judiciary System by charging the police as guilty for mistreating the blacks. The

trial begins with Ice Cube explaining the racial profiling and discrimination faced by young

black youths by rapping.

Fuckin' with me cause I'm a teenager

With a little bit of gold and a pager

Searchin' my car, lookin' for the product

Thinkin' every nigga is sellin' narcotics (F*ck Tha Police)

The discrimination they received was so severe that every day their lives were at stake, as the

police tend to beat or shoot black teenagers while arresting them. Although there were black

police officers; it was not an advantage to the minorities at all. They too were mistreating their

power by constantly showing dominance towards black youths. The song then follows with the

ways they will end the violence, such as

I'm a sniper with a hell of a scope

Taking out a cop or two, they can't cope with me(F*ck Tha Police)

The remaining of the song that takes part in a fantasy land of N.W.A ended with the police being

found as guilty.
 In the beginning of the book, Bully Nation, the author explained why white Americans

are dominant against other races: to maintain control of subordinate races and classes. In order to

gain control of one's race, domination is a must to suppress their powers, hence creating the

existence of racism. In one of the chapters, the book gave a description of the history of

discrimination against blacks.

During the late 19th century, Africans were brought to America to be sold as slaves, placing

Whites in the top of the hierarchy system. Even after the civil war, although the government has

prohibited white Southerners from restoring slavery, new segregation system, named "Jim Crow"

was formed, heavily enforced by violent private militias, especially the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Until now, racial profiling and discrimination are still being practiced by our society. For

example, by forcing black people into low wage situations and lower levels of educational.

(Fletcher)This is done to gain dominance against the minorities, and serving as a severe human

rights violation in the United States. Police brutality has also remained as a suppression factor

towards the black community.

Pull your god damn ass over right now

Aww shit, now what the fuck you pullin me over for?

Cause I feel like it!

Just sit your ass on the curb and shut the fuck up

Man, fuck this shit

Aight, smartass, I'm taking your black ass to jail! (F*ck Tha Police)

This is one of the verses presented by the song F*ck Tha Police, describing the treatment often

received by black teenage boys. According to the book Bully Nation, America views itself as
the world police force, a benign hegemon morally ordained to impose its interests and values on

the rest of the world and justified in the name of freedom, human rights and antiterrorism to do

to weaker countries what it wants. (272 pp) If we take a look on this matter in a smaller scale,

we can see that the police forces in United Nation has cultivated this behavior as well. Reports

such as Black and Hispanic teenagers being stopped and searched more frequent compared to the

whites as well as killing of unarmed individuals despite doing nothing to provoke the police.

(Natarajan) Although efforts are placed to deter this matter, the rate of police brutality is found to

be increasing every consecutive year (Johnson). This may be due to the fact that police who

commit human rights violation is not being punished for their offenses. As an example, the

exoneration of police officer, Darren Wilson, for shooting an unarmed black boy, Michael

Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri, during the year 2014 (Natarajan). Although police forces have

been established to defend its nations people, however, the blacks are being suppressed instead

of protected, just like how the group of young rappers are constantly being humiliated by the

police.

The book Black Rage in New Orleans: Police Brutality focuses on the history of police

brutality against blacks in New Orleans. Around the year 1960, New Orleans police officers

murdered dozens of blacks on the streets due to irrational suspicion against them. The blacks

were seen as a rebellious community and they are prone to commit crimes. However, instead of

taking necessary actions to subdue the deterioration of such brutality, blames are pushed towards

defendant instead, leading to the infamous Howard Johnsons sniper shootings by Mark Essex on

January 7, 1973.

It is clear that black communities have been receiving unfair treatments and

discriminations from the police due to racial biasedness. As a result, the blacks react their
dissatisfaction through different types of protest. One of the popular protest song, "Fu*k

the Police", was initially created by a group of young rappers to lash out the way they were

treated by the cops; however, the song became an overnight sensation when it caught the

attention of the media. On one of the verse, MC Ren started giving his testimony to the judge and

proving that racial stereotyping is prevalent in the streets. MC Ren started his lines with rapping

profanities at the police, claiming that he has the authority to do so, just like how the police have

the authority to arrest the blacks. This means that MC Ren refuses to be polite and respectful to

police officers who abuse their power and treat the blacks unfairly when he is not under their

watch. However, to protect himself, he must be polite and obey them in person so that his life

would not be in danger. Due to anti-gang laws, any gathering of 3 people or more will be deemed

as a gang and will be entitled to arrestment. MC Ren claims that the reason why the police did

this was that they are afraid of them because of their skin color. Often, police officers use

weapons to deal with them as they think that black youths are dangerous. We wanted to

highlight the excessive force and the humiliation that we go through in these situations, Cube

said. So the audience can know why we wrote Fuck tha Police, and they can feel the same

way. (Carter)

As we can see, the reason why the blacks are reacting to the cops violently is

not that they are born with a rebellious nature, but because they are pushed to their limits and

fighting back is the only way to defend themselves. Some may argue that Black Americans

should behave better and dress in a particular manner so that we might earn the respect and

empathy of white Americans.; however, the truth is that respectability politics is not the solution

to racism, instead they are proof to surrender (Houston). This is because no matter how

respectable the blacks may be acting; their performance will not undo how the society operates,
and that it would not be fair for the blacks to give up their cultures and accept the notion of

respectability just because the majorities do not approve them. Instead, they should uphold their

culture as acting right will only fuel the structural racism that people do not dare to challenge

(Stafford). While many people may believe that Black Respectability Politics should be

reinforced, the truth is police forces are the ones who are disrupting the balance of the black

community, which can be seen from the lyrics that MC Ren has to be polite to the cops despite

his pride being tarnished.

Black communities have been the victims of police brutality for the past decades. The

amount of racial profiling nd discrimination that they faced are just unbareble, which results in

the Blacks protesting by voicing out their dissatisfaction, just like how the group N.W.A

protested through the use of hip hop to convey their anger, which turned out to be a major

success. The song F*ck The Police reverses the roles of police and the Blacks, making the

police as the underprivillage and the group as the law, punishing them for what they had done to

the Black community. The group may appear to be showing disrespect to the police due to

hatred, but it is actually just a way for them to cry for help.
Citation

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2015.Accessed 12 July 2017.

Derber, Charles, and Yale R. Magrass. Bully Nation: How the American Establishment Creates

a Bullying Society. Lawrence, KS: U of Kansas, 2016.

Ericlynnwright123. Nwa Fuck the Police Hq. YouTube, YouTube, 22 Nov. 2012,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5fts7bj-so. Accessed 3 June 2017.

Fletcher, Michael A. "The Incredible Pay Disparity Facing Blacks and Hispanics in Retail

Work." The Washington Post. WP Company, 02 June 2015. Accessed 11 July 2017.

Houston, Shannon M. "Respectability Will Not save Us: Black Lives Matter Is Right to Reject

the dignity and Decorum Mandate Handed down to Us from Slavery." Salon. N.p., 25 Aug.

2015. Accessed 11 July 2017.

Johnson, Kevin. "Police Killings Highest in Two Decades." USA Today. Gannett Satellite

Information Network, 11 Nov. 2014. Accessed 11 July 2017.

Love, David A. "Hip-hop and Politics Have a Long History behind The mic." TheGrio. N.p., 15

June 2010. Web. 12 July 2017.

Moore, Leonard N. Black Rage in New Orleans: Police Brutality and African American

Activism from World War II to Hurricane Katrina. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2010.

Natarajan, Ranjana. "Racial Profiling Has Destroyed Public Trust in Police. Cops Are Exploiting

Our Weak Laws against It." The Washington Post. WP Company, 15 Dec. 2014. Accessed 11

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Stafford, Zach. "Respectability Politics Won't save the Lives of Black Americans | Zach

Stafford." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 12 Oct. 2015. Web. 11 July 2017.