In Search for Respect

Spanish Harlem
"El Barrio"

In Search for Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio, Phillippe Bourgois talks a lot about structural violence . One of the many concepts depicted in this excerpt was the idea of police brutality and how thats directly related to the on-growing problem of racism. One of the stories told by one of the characters in the book, Caesar, was of how a bunch of cops started beating on these two black crackheads, for assaulting a girl. Caesar explains that it wasn't just a regular “throw-you-up-on-a-car- extra hard” kind of beat down, but the kind of beat down where there was nothing but blood on the floor. He explains how they were taking turns beating on the two men, and it primarily was because they actually enjoyed it and actually look forward to doing things like this on a daily basis. Throughout the story, one of the most impacting lines I read was “That’s terrorism with a badge.”(36) This ties into the idea of police brutality because its basically saying that police officers now a days take their badge for granted, demonstrating superiority and using it to their advantage. It was never ok to brutally abuse someone, despite the crime they have committed, and in the case of the story, being that the two men were black, that counts as a racist act. 

Police brutality and racism amongst the system is something that corrupts our neighborhood. It not only makes people feel less safe in the streets, but it also makes us think that we aren’t safe in the hands of the people who we depend on the most for security. As it was said in the reading, “Should just put animals out there patrolling the streets… ‘cause they’re worse than animals. It’s like they’re animals with a mind.” (37)

Police brutally is also closely related to the idea that higher powers have total control over everyone else who doesn't fit the category. Due to the fact that they are peace keepers and have to be respected, it seems like they use that as an excuse and it ends up corrupting them. I have seen this many times on the news, and it has proven over and over again, how police can get away with many things just because of the badge they wear.