Imagine you’re a Black American in May of 2020. George Floyd was killed, and you just saw the news of his death. It took your breath away. It’s 10 pm on a Tuesday, and you work the next day. You knew police brutality happened pretty often, but didn’t realize it would be so blatant. You continued to think about this, becoming more fearful by the second. You start asking questions like, why is nothing being done? What if I’m next? Why is this happening in the first place? That second question repeats in your head. “What if I’m next?” You curl up in your bed and begin to feel hopeless, targeted, fearful. Your head is spinning and you feel like you’re drowning. You eventually fall asleep. You wake up the next morning for work, feeling even worse. Your feet are dragging on the floor, your arms feel heavy, dragging to your side, your head is still spinning. You sigh, and put on your coat. On the way to work you see a cop car. Your heart drops. Usually, you have to constantly walk on eggshells when you’re out, afraid of being wrongfully accused. But those times, you never think about the possibility of being killed. This time it’s different. That normal fear you have turns into an intense anxiety, and you begin to feel overwhelmed.

The cop then gets closer to you, and you become more, and more anxious. He pulls up behind you, and you pull over. You roll down your window and he looks inside your car, asking a few questions. He decides to randomly search your car, and refuses to tell you why. He then lets you go, but with a warning for speeding; Even though you were driving the speed limit. You drove away, thankful that you got out of that situation with your life. This overwhelming fear is something that black people have to deal with their entire lives. The fear of being wrongfully accused, the fear of being killed, the fear of being attacked. They constantly have to be reminded that people just like them are being killed for that reason, and it makes Black Americans feel like there is a target on their back. Police Brutality is an example of this because cops are the reason Black Americans have a target on their back, and the continuing lack of accountability for cops makes it worse.

Police Brutality, a very important issue that has been in the spotlight since the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in 2020. There have been so many more cases before those two of black Americans being wrongfully killed due to police officers personal bias. But, those two deaths were the gateway to a bigger movement against police brutality. We continue this movement for those who have been killed, and to stop the problem overall, but what about the mental health of every other Black American? Mental health for Black Americans is already really hard, but these constant killings make it painfully worse. According to, “A Growing Dilemma: How Police Brutality Affects Mental Health in Black Communities ” The Black Community is continuing to be bombarded with constant trauma, and the fact that “ No government-funded programs exist to provide mental health support for the victims of police brutality and the family members of those affected by police violence.”(Young-Drake, Aladetimi, et al. 3) doesn’t help at all. All of us need to come together as a community in Kentucky and do something about this issue to end the constant loss and trauma continuing to happen. If we don’t, things are going to get worse to a point where police become something they never should’ve been in the first place. Not something to cause relief, but fear instead. Our government is continuing to fund the police to buy bigger, stronger and deadlier weapons, instead of putting that money into the community. Being, the community in Kentucky, Louisville, and the black community overall. According to Urban institute, a non-profit research organization, “Funding decisions such as these continue to support policing without recognition or discussion of the violence experienced in communities at the hands of law enforcement.”(Nembhard, Perez, et al. 1) Basically saying that the government is ignoring all of these lives impacted by police brutality and instead continuing to fund the police with more and more money. We need to do something about this issue. Due to cases of police brutality damaging the mental health of our community, the local and state governments should move funding from police into the community, have police go through anti-racism training, and reshape police training in order to reduce cases of police brutality.

Finding the source of the problem, police brutality, is the first step into fixing it, as well as looking into the continuing trauma black people experience due to this. But the history of police brutality goes way back to slavery and the thought of black people being inferior to whites. Specifically Detroit, in 1957-1963. According to Detroit Under Fire, an online exhibit about racism and police brutality in Detroit during that time period, racism in Detroit and other Jim Crow North towns, “was systemic and rooted in larger policies of white supremacy and racial control, including the use of law enforcement to defend the color line,”(“Detroit Under Fire”1)Meaning that police in Detroit were doing everything they could to control and hold back Black Americans because they were seen as less than. They wanted to defend the color line, to not mix black and white. Furthermore, the exhibit continues by saying that the DPD (Detroit Police Department) often, “operated outside of the law, including through mass racial profiling and illegal policies of investigative arrests, and fiercely resisted civil rights demands for a civilian review board to investigate police brutality.”(“Detroit Under Fire'' 1) seeing that stuff like this is continuing to happen is sickening. For example, the case with Breonna Taylor, it wasn’t properly investigated due to the police not wanting to get caught for being racist and wrongfully killing her. Now that it has been investigated they decided that she was definitely killed unfairly, and those officers had no right to shoot her. The fact alone that something that happened just two years ago, has been happening since the 50’s is insane. This violence needs to stop. A part of the unnecessary violence when arresting that police officers have is due to their training. According to Urban Institute, police officers “typically spend about 20 percent of basic training on firearms, self-defense, and use of force.”(Nembhard, Perez, et al. 1) With this disproportionate amount of time spent on the few times police officers have to become violent when arresting, it makes police officers more likely to use unnecessary violent force because they depend on what they learned in training. This focus on violence combined racial bias, causes these murders to happen more often.

Activism is important, but also recognising the mental health of those affected by traumatic events and giving them the support they need. When this police Brutality continues, people begin to depend less on the police and begin to fear them, going against the whole reason we have them. Police are meant to be something like doctors, or firefighters. People who we depend on when in danger, but police are becoming the cause of that danger. Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association explains that, ““This lack of faith in law enforcement makes people less likely to call on the police when they are in danger.” Because police brutality makes people less likely to call the police for assistance, “crimes don’t get solved.””(Young-Drake, Aladetimi, et al. 5) So police brutality not only heavily harms the mental health of those in the black community, but it also causes crime to get worse because people can’t depend on the police anymore to protect them. According to “For Black people, the mental effects of police killings linger” a woman named Atatiana Jefferson was playing video games with her Nephew, Zion Carr. The neighbors called the police on them so the police would come for a welfare check because their front door was wide open. According to the article, “When Jefferson heard a noise outside, she grabbed her legally owned gun for protection and went over to a window to investigate, the lawsuit said. Dean, who was standing outside the window with a flashlight, shot and killed Jefferson.”(Burke 1) This shooting has caused massive Anxiety and panic for young Zion who witnessed his own aunt being wrongfully shot and killed by police.It’s already traumatizing for a child to witness a death: but for it to be a family member and for them being killed because they’re black just makes it way worse. The article states that, “the now 9-year-old suffers from "anxiety, terror and agony" from witnessing Jefferson's death.”(Burke 1) This really shows how even after someone has died due to police brutality, black people are continuing to be impacted by it. Whether they were there and it was a family member in Zion’s case, or if they heard about it and it now feels like there's a target on their back due to the color of their skin. But in all these cases, Black people are continuously given the message, “you’re next”.

Bad mental health from a death caused by police violence has a varying effect on the Black Community. According to the Harvard Gazette, the official news webpage for Harvard University, “A first-ever study in 2018 found that a police killing of an unarmed African American triggered days of poor mental health for Black people living in that state over the following three months”(Pazzanese 1) Implying that when someone dies from police brutality, the effect of it is detrimental, especially when you’re a family member of the person. As stated in an earlier paragraph, it inflicts fear, and the message that “you’re next” which is why so many Black Americans are getting massive stress and anxiety when they see a police car, because they know that they will likely either be wrongfully accused or killed. The article continues, stating, “what we found was that every police shooting of an unarmed Black person was linked to worse mental health for the entire Black population in the state where that shooting had occurred for the next three months.”(Pazzanese 1) So you can see that they continue on this road of negative mental health when an African American was unarmed, soon going to the point that mental health was worse when an unarmed African American was than an armed one. This may be due to the overall difference in vulnerability between the two. When someone is killed unarmed, of course it seems very unfair and unjust since they had no way of protecting themselves; but, when someone is armed it seems as though they have more capability of getting out of the deadly situation with a police officer. This fact makes a difference in the mental health effects depending on the case. The article proceeds with, “If the Black person was armed, there was no negative effect on Black mental health. We also didn’t find any effect of police shootings of Blacks, armed or unarmed, on the mental health of whites in those states. ”(Pazzanese 1) Which even further proves this point, but it also makes space for another one. This really backs up the fact that when someone who has the same race as you, same religion, sexuality, gender, etc. and they are treated unfairly or killed because of it, it instills fear in you because you feel like a target has been put on your back. You feel that you may be the next person to be mistreated or killed. Since whites had no negative effect on their mental health after a black person was killed, this furthers that point because whites are aware of their privilege. They know that they can get out of a situation with a cop alive and not have to worry as much to be wrongfully accused. Which would result in no difference in mental health because of that privilege.

Trauma due to racism is continuous because racism still happens in our society. William A. Smith, professor of ethnic studies at the University of Utah, states that, “It’s not a post-traumatic stress disorder or injury because we’re not in a post-racist society. It’s something we have to deal with every day.”(Burke 1)Conveying the point that when racism continues to happen, and cases of your family members and friends being killed by police, that trauma doesn’t just go away. It continues to eat at you until you know that it won’t happen again, but the bad part is, it WILL happen again, because police brutality is still happening in our society. Darnella Frazier, the woman who filmed the murder of George Floyd, explained in a facebook post on the anniversary of Floyd’s death, the impact that witnessing it had on her and her world view. She states that she is, “trying to heal from something [she is] reminded of every day."”(Burke 1)showing how witnessing something like that can impact you. The fact is, that when something traumatic happens, you get PTSD. But, when the traumatic thing is continuing to happen and it seems like no one is doing anything about it, it becomes continuing trauma, something you can’t escape until it stops happening. Making it a big reason why police brutality needs to end. But this is more than just being depressed. This is a weight that most, if not all black people have to carry. Whether it’s when they see a police car, or when there's a lot of traffic, or maybe when they’re wearing a hoodie or hat outside. It’s a constant fear of being wrongfully arrested and harmed just because you’re black. Frazier continues saying, “Having panic and anxiety attacks every time I see a police car, not knowing who to trust because a lot of people are evil with bad intentions. I hold that weight."”(Burke 1) This continuous fear, trauma, and weight being held on Black Americans’ shoulders will not be lifted until the police department and criminal justice system is fixed. That’s exactly why it needs to be fixed. No one deserves to constantly live in fear of the police, especially since the whole reason for police is protection. Police are supposed to be a thing that you can rely on in a tough situation, a hero of some sort. But when Black People are being killed every single day because of someone’s personal bias, it makes them something they never should've been.

Police Brutality is a real public health issue, and it needs to be stopped. Police violence is state sanctioned, because many police departments do not follow the rules and usually are not penalized. According to, “A Growing Dilemma: How Police Brutality Affects Mental Health in Black Communities ”, unlike most countries, the use of violence for police officers isn’t seen as a last resort, instead just a method of getting someone to do what they want, “This lax framework for American policing gives officers greater discretion in using deadly force than officers in other countries.”(Young-Drake, Aladetimi, et al. 7) and this is one of the big reasons why policing has gotten so unfair in America, because there is such a lack of very important laws that should be in place when anyone including police, are using guns, because guns are a weapon used to kill. Furthermore, the article continues with the fact that police culture deters accountability, stating, “Police often maintain a code of silence regarding fellow officers’ violence and therefore fail to hold each other accountable. This undermines the experiences of victims who do report incidents, further increasing the potential for negative mental health results''(Young-Drake, Aladetimi, et al. 7) Which is stating that the majority of the time it’s very difficult for someone who has experienced police violence to be heard when reporting it because police officers dont make eachother hold accountability for their actions. Which is one of the big reasons why the police system is so messed up. Lastly, the article continues saying that police violence is stigmatizing. Meaning that when people report a situation of violence from police, they are usually blamed for the encounter because people are used to violence being used when it absolutely has to. A lot of people don’t know how loose the rules of using guns and deadly use of force are in policing, creating a stigma. This also just causes bad mental health for the person because even though they are the victim, police are victimizing themselves in order to escape consequences. The article states, “The actions of survivors of police violence are often heavily scrutinized and faulted to justify officers’ actions, especially by members of groups that benefit from the social order policing upholds.”(Young-Drake, Adaletimi et al. 8) implying that the culture of police lack accountability, which was stated earlier, and that alone creates a stigma against victims of police violence. Overall, between the loose violence rules when it comes to guns and lack of accountability in policing, it makes police violence distinct in the realm of public health.

Black Americans will continue to be impacted by police violence, whether its mental health, or being wrongfully accused. Those mental effects won’t stop until racism is over. Racism is a big issue though, not something that can be solved in a day. So there are steps we can take to reduce the amount of police violence, and offer support to those impacted by it. The first step that should be put in place to solve this issue is to offer mental health services for those impacted by police violence. For example, the state government could start different group therapies, to talk about how this is impacting people as Black Americans. As well as just talking about the issue overall. Another could be putting more money into the community, and less into police stations, which is what the term “Defund the Police” is referring to. When you spend more money on things like mental health services, and less on bigger and more lethal weapons on the police, police violence and the mental health effects of it are reduced. Additionally, reshaping police training by focusing less on what to do in a violent situation, and more on helping the community and dealing with regular situations, police won’t be as likely to resort to violence. Anti-Racism training will be an important step to stopping police brutality because those willing to learn and get rid of their bias, probably will, and when that happens, police violence is reduced. The local and state governments should move funding from police into the community, have police go through anti-racism training, and reshape police training in order to reduce cases of police brutality, due to their impact on the community as a whole.

Works Cited
Burke, Minyvonne. “For Black People, the Mental Effects of Police Killings Linger.” NBCNews.Com, www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/black-people-mental-effects-police-killings-linger-n1281353. Accessed 19 May 2023.
“Detroit Under Fire.” Home · Detroit under Fire: Police Violence, Crime Politics, and the Struggle for Racial Justice in the Civil Rights Era · HistoryLabs Omeka S, policing.umhistorylabs.lsa.umich.edu/s/detroitunderfire/page/home. Accessed 19 May 2023.
Nembhard, Susan, et al. “Understanding the Harms of Police Violence Can Help Build Community Safety.” Urban Institute, 19 Apr. 2022, www.urban.org/urban-wire/understanding-harms-police-violence-can-help-build-community-safety.
Pazzanese, Christina. “How Unjust Police Killings Damage the Mental Health of Black Americans.” Harvard Gazette, 14 May 2021, news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/05/how-unjust-police-killings-damage-the-mental-health-of-black-americans/.
Young-Drake, Reginald, et al. A Growing Dilemma: Police Violence, Mental Health ... - Howard University, thurgoodmarshallcenter.howard.edu/sites/tmcrc.howard.edu/files/2021-09/Mental%20Health%20Report_Mike%20Brown%20Bill.pdf. Accessed 19 May 2023.