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White supremacy cause of police brutality in US: Pundit

Monday, 09 May 2016 5:16 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 09 May 2016 5:14 AM ]

Demonstrators confront police during a protest over the death of Laquan McDonald in Chicago, Illinois, on November 25, 2015. (Photo by AFP)

Press TV has conducted an interview with Wilmer Leon, a political scientist from Washington, and Fredrick Peterson, a congressional defense policy adviser from New York, to discuss police brutality in the United States.

Leon says, “The history of America is replete with sanctioned racism by the American government.” He adds the US society is gripped by “white supremacy” and “that is a primary reason why African Americans are five times more likely to be murdered by police than their white counterparts.”

He also cites a tally of police killings by The Guardian, which said over 1100 people were killed by US police in 2015.

Over 54 percent of African Americans are stopped and frisked by members of the New York City Police Department, the scientist says.

“The data is overwhelming to support the position that African Americans are not only more likely to be stopped by the police, they are more likely to be murdered by the police,” Leon opines.

He also criticizes the police officers who not only kill the African Americans but also change the story to cover up police brutality, adding that the prosecutors in many instances do not even bring charges against law enforcement forces.

Peterson, for his part, believes police in the United States “are more resistant to intervention with force in cases where ethnic parties are involved than they would be ordinarily.” He says there are instances where “the police are backing off and not enforcing the law and protecting the safety and security of the residents of these neighborhoods against rabid criminal elements.”

He further says the issue of police brutality is “being exploited for political purposes by outside agitators that are paid to come in and camp for weeks in streets.”

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