GROWING POLICE BRUTALITY

Almost daily I see reports, photos, and videos of growing police brutality across the US.  The video is one of the worst yet.

This kind of thing happens(ed) regularly in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan where the US military has free reign over the public.  Then these soldiers come home and many of them get jobs working for local police departments or jails/prisons.  They bring the brutality of the war zone with them.

This video is disgusting but a true sign of the times.  This is how people of color, and increasingly low-income whites too, are being treated by a highly militarized police force.  Native Americans, blacks, and Hispanics have been on the receiving end of this brutality for hundreds of years.

The authorities and the courts rarely bring real justice in these cases.  Police often get away with this kind of treatment which only encourages them to do it again.

The talk of American "exceptionalism" is belied by videos like this one.  The reality is that America has a dark and brutal side - most of the rest of the world understands that already.  The American people are increasingly witnessing it first-hand.