Abby Voth, Junior
A group of Philadelphia authorities recently began running an investigation on the social media of fellow city’s police members. The hope of the Philadelphia police force was to discover if the claims from the Plain View Project, a social justice research organization, of racial bias was correct. According to ABC News, more than 300 racist social media posts were made by police officers in New York, Pennsylvania, Dallas, St. Louis and Phoenix. From the thousands of officers investigated, around 328, on-duty, police force members were found to have posted at least one biased message or image on his or her social media. The posts included celebrations of violence against Muslims, African Americans, immigrants, and other minorities.
Emily Baker-White, the leader of the Plain View Project, stated, “We found a very high and concerning number of posts that appear to endorse, celebrate or glorify violence and vigilantism” and “We also included posts that seemed to emit some sort of bias against a group of people -- whether if that’s a minority faith, a minority race, ethnicity, immigration status, whatever it is”. At the moment, the spokesperson for the investigation has decided to not release any examples or actual posts. The officer who posted the original message or photo is often “hyped up” by his or her fellow members of the police force. The result of other officers endorsing the social media posts is a continuation of similar posts and the dialogue under each photo that furthers the dehumanizing language. While no direct consequences are reportedly being given to the police officer’s who posted on his or her social media, Baker-White hopes the investigation and release of information will result in a change in culture for both the United States police force and the American public.
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