Police Brutality by Noah

Sharpeville Massacre

pillsbury_noah — 2017-04-06 01:34:22 UTC

An annual, non-violent protest conducted by the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in 1960 through the town of Sharpeville. The protest was an effort to fight against the numerous imprisoned African Americans and the unjust racial bias in the police system. Hundreds of African Americans would march to the police station and offer themselves to be arrested in order to fill the jails and bring the economy to a standstill. During the 1960 protest, the non-violent people were met by dozens of police members. Tensions rose and eventually the police opened fire on the crowd, leaving 69 people dead. The image below shows the protesters running from the bullets being fired. This image is not only iconic, it is symbolic of the overall battle between the police and African Americans. The image depicts terror and panic from the African Americans, which are common issues throughout the whole struggle against injustice. While on the other side, it shows the power and control that the police has over them. This image is shows both sides of the conflict in one, dramatic shot (Historical).

Africa Media Online

Street Art

pillsbury_noah — 2017-04-06 02:56:19 UTC

This picture shows a police officer beating a dandelion, but the seeds of the flower are blowing off into the wind. The words set in the background speak the message of this photo. The idea behind this photo is that no matter how much you attack and abuse someone or something, you cannot destroy the idea that the person believes in or is trying to spread. The words of one can stick around for years and years after someone has passed away. The symbolism is through the seeds flying out of the dandelion. The seeds will fly off to somewhere, sprout and become other dandelions and multiply from there. Eventually creating hundreds of thousands of them. Just like how a message someone tries to spread; it will be heard by some around them and be embraced. They will spread the message further and further until there are hundreds of followers for the group. With the atrocity of police brutality, people all around the world are hearing about these injustices and supporting the idea of "all lives matter" and spreading that message further and further (Latimer).

Nina Montenegro

Family Protection

pillsbury_noah — 2017-04-06 03:31:36 UTC

This realistic cartoon is meant to tell a story with subtle details. At first glance, you see a family talking to their child. Looking closer. you see their facial expressions: worried. Looking even closer, the TV shows an unjust police killing of a child. That shows the topic of what the parents are talking about with the child: safety, racism and injustices. The depiction of the shooting on the news shows it is a widespread issue that the nation should be hearing about. Looking into even further detail, you can see two iconic figures of advancing equality for all. They are looming over the shoulders of the family, showing their work has made a permanent change and is always shown in the background, but the more modern issues outshine the progress made in the past. The whole picture attempts to connect with the innocent families that dont think that anything will happen to their child. It is meant to say that you have to be aware and make sure everyone knows about these injustices. It is also meant to send a message to the people that are not of color by trying to make them see the unfairness of the situation. For a generation of children and teenagers to live in fear of people that are meant to protect. It tries to reach out to all in an effort to see the widespread brutality of the situation (Golding).

michael d'antuono

Police "Force"

pillsbury_noah — 2017-04-06 03:36:31 UTC

Street art can be the most expressive and creative style to send a message in. the artists do not follow any formula or rules. They exercise their freedom of speech with their own creative mindset in order to speak to the people who pass by. The artist, AZWasHere, has made many images of street and graffiti art. On the topic of police brutality, AZWasHere makes a reference to star was and the dark side, specifically Darth Vader. With most people seeing or know about Star Wars, the idea of "the force" is well known to say the least. The artist plays with that idea and connects the police force and the power of the force. In the movie, the force is an overlaying power that is always present and only some can control, just like the police force. By putting Darth Vader in the piece, it not only creates the idea of two separate sides (good and evil), it shows AZWasHere views the police on the dark side. Darth Vader is the symbol of evil during the Star Wars series who, in multiple scenes, is shown choking people to death using the force. The police have also been known to choke African American while "restraining" them, some to death. Through multiple symbols, AZWasHere makes the relation between the police force in real life and the power hungry dark side in the Star Wars series. Not only is this an original, it reaches to a different audience who may not understand what police brutality is like.

AZWasHere

Comics

pillsbury_noah — 2017-04-06 03:43:25 UTC

Political cartoons were one of the most common ways to show an idea or raise awareness. They were in every newspaper and all over magazines. They were so effective because they were so simple, but contained a big message within. The image below is a very common drawing to show police brutality and injustice. The subjects are clear in the piece: a swat member standing on top of a blindfolded woman. The swat member holing a police baton and a book with the title "Legal use of force". The police holding the book is meant to show the code of law that the police force must follow/ The woman is holding a balancing scale. The scale is symbolizing of balance and equality. The picture itself sends the message that the police force not only stands on top of freedom, but they use "legal police force" to restrain the people. The woman is also shown as helpless, defenseless and unidentifiable. This is in attempt to make a connection to all the other people who have been abused by the police for no reason. It also makes the intended meaning of the bubble words "Please! stop resisting ma'am!" very clear. This cartoon, as well as many others, are an effort to infamize the police and expressed the helplessness of the common people.
(Marie).
Kiera Condon

Modern Day - Ferguson

pillsbury_noah — 2017-04-06 03:46:58 UTC

The mass protests in Ferguson were caused through the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. He was killed by a white police officer who was later seen an innocent by the court he was tried in. Both events led to marching protest around the area where Michael was killed. These protests were nonviolent until the police brought out their big guns and stated being aggressive with the people of Ferguson. That is when the protests became extreme and what the media showed. The escalation of the protests is what the news showed over and over and what all social platforms shared. There were hundreds of photos and videos taken of the madness and the one below is one of them. It shows an unarmed man in the streets, surrendering to a group of armed and intimidating police officers. This one picture really sums up the whole issue of Ferguson and a really good depiction of the police brutality epidemic as a whole. The innocent people being suspected as dangerous just because of their color. The extreme outcomes that occur because of the power bestowed on the police officers. The picture shown below represents the whole fiasco, showing the police as a huge, organized and powerful force going against a very small, innocent group (Robison).
Reno-Gazette Journal (Scott Olson)

bibliography

pillsbury_noah — 2017-04-11 03:02:25 UTC

"Historical." DM2001022704:SAED:POLITICS:OCT1960 - Five Months Ni | Africa Media Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. .

Latimer, Tirza. "An Idea Cannot Be Destroyed (But It Can Be Revolutionized)." Open Space. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. .

Golding, Shenequa. "Artist Michael D'Antuono Creates Gripping Anti-Police Brutality Portrait." Vibe. N.p., 06 Oct. 2015. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. .

Robison, Mark. "Fact Checker: Is Police Brutality toward Blacks Rare?" Reno Gazette Journal. N.p., 23 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2017. .

Marie, K. "Behind the Brutality." N.p., n.d. Web. .

Curatorial

pillsbury_noah — 2017-04-25 01:24:34 UTC

The topic of police brutality is not a new discussion for any part of the world. People of higher power have been abusing their control for decades. Since then, it has been shown through a multitude of media styles like blogs, news, speeches, posts and art. The art forms have taken countless forms and interpretations to get different messages across, but all containing the same, overlaying topic. These injustices have never directly impacted the upper class people. Therefore, the art that is well known and widespread is not the art that is posted in museums or hung in houses. It is the art that is painted on buildings and mass-produced in newspapers and shared on Facebook for the world to see. The artwork i chose to express police brutality is all work that can be found in every day life. The issues surrounding police brutality involve the common, every day people. The people that seems suspicious because of certain qualities, stereotypes and races. With this in mind, the work that best depicts the struggle, fear and inequality is shown through the people themselves. Who better to tell a story than the one who experienced it? The art by the people, for the people, has an aspect of truth and relatability that flashy, big time art cannot capture. Each piece of art that i chose to show below is a different form of media, varying between actual photographs to well-done paintings done for the purpose of being shown around the internet. I feel these cover the whole spectrum of views around police brutality. Each having a different context and message, but informing the viewer further on the same topic, creating a web of information between different works of art.