The Paw Print

A news publication created by Baruch's College Now high school journalism class

AALIAYAH FRENCH

You Have The Right To Remain Black and Blue

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Protest_against_police_brutality“Freeze and put your hands where I can see them”. A phrase we’ve heard all too often in movies, shows and in real life. It’s understandable if a person has committed a crime worthy of punishment, but it’s another thing to wrongfully accuse, beat, manhandle and arrest someone with no substantial reasoning. Women, specifically, have come into grim encounters with brutality by police officers but the police’s actions have seemingly been bypassed and “swept under the rug”.

 

You may ask yourself, why hasn’t police brutality been combated? The simplest answer would be corruption. As much as we’d love to believe that the government protects us from unconstitutional law enforcement, police automatically have the upper hand in society.  Their word over an “alleged” criminal’s passes for the right to arrest any day! Corruption! The government, time and time again, has turned a blind eye to police abusing their powers.

 

Zeroing in on a particular group targeted by police brutality: The African American women. Women of all races and ages have been victims of abusive treatment by law enforcers throughout the country, but there seems to be an underlying trend of cruelty against black women in the states. But its stories like the Miriam Carey car chase make it hard to love America as your own.

 

On Oct. 3, 2013, Carey was at a checkpoint near the White House and refused to stop her vehicle. In the attempt to escape, she knocked over police officers in her way, speeding off into the busy and pedestrian-filled streets of Washington D.C.  After a lengthy chase, police cornered Carey and shot her dead.

 

The sad part of the story perhaps, is not that she died without a given reason, but police justified her death by blaming their actions on the risen tensions in Washington due to a Naval Yard shooting that happened a month prior. Or perhaps the saddest factor: her 1-year-old daughter was in the back seat of a car being shot at.

 

It’s unfortunate that media made it seem as though Carey was a possible terrorist. An unarmed, African American woman was thus labeled a threat and police were praised instead of reprimanded.

 

To boot, how about the instance when an Arizona State University professor Ersula Ore was attempting to cross the street and was stopped by police and asked for I.D. When she refused the request, the officer began to manhandle her in what looked like an attempt to handcuff her. She struggled with the officer, notifying him that she quote, “didn’t know what she was in violation of”. She told CNN that the officer had no valid reason to arrest her. He told her that resisting to show I.D. was against the law.

 

Ore was later charged with assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. And of course, the ASU came out with a statement saying, “We have found no evidence of inappropriate actions by ASUPD officers”, when in a video, it was clear that the officer threw Ore to the ground.

 

Ben Max, journalist from Gotham Gazette told a journalist team that the NYPD has been making efforts to thoroughly monitor and supervise police activity in the city. “They are making changes to the administration”, Max says. “They have a new position called the Inspector General of the NYPD, whose main purpose is to do independent oversight of police officers… there’s even an office that looks closely into NYPD practices”.

 

Could this be a small but highly effective resolution that could gradually combat law enforcement abusing their power?

 

There’s no telling when police brutality against women will come to a halt. When government will take responsibility for injustices of their police. When they will realize that brutality exists solely because of the lack of discipline within the law enforcement bureau. Cases such as Carey’s and Ore’s go down in history with other cases like Rodney King, proving the corruption of police to be alive and well. Thus, I propose that police officers to be charged for brutality and that the government wouldn’t be bias in their decisions to reprimand these abusive officers. African Americans have been targeted by police for decades, adding to the statistic of cruelty against their women.

 

A Critic, Waiting for Life to Begin

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Rafer Guzman never expected to start out as a free-lance writer. Stationed in San Francisco, he commenced his journey as writer. Though lacking experience and references, he diligently submitted pieces of his work to local news sources, both online and print. He realized in order to get the credit and “respect” he wanted in the journalism industry, he’d have to start small but work extremely hard. Rock criticism seemed to be a great place start.

 

“Having lived for the 80’s”, he told a journalism class, it was easy to acknowledge his immense interest in records and concerts. He found himself reviewing shows and records that came out in the 80’s. He knew editors valued the youthful and modern critics due to their ability to scope out artists and shows that were prominent to the younger generation. He collected information about each concert and record and used it in his stories, hoping to give the public insight on the nature of each.

 

Being deeply infatuated with rock became exhausting for Guzman in his later years. “I got sick of covering music at 40 years old”, he says. “It was hard because I was usually out 3-4 nights per week traveling to Jones Beach or Madison Square Garden or Nassau Coliseum or the Izod Center Then on top of that it’s just you at these shows”. He expresses that attending concerts with crazed Miley Cyrus and Ashley Simpson fans had become played out and incredibly uncomfortable!

 

Then, just when it seemed like he’d been going through the motions, just when he thought his talents weren’t being utilized, he had an epiphany. Going to graduate school would give him the credentials, expertise and training to tackle the journalism industry with conviction and force. Columbia Grad Rafer Guzman was on the road to success with a resume full of references and new-found skills that he hadn’t obtained prior to his graduate schooling.  He landed a job at the Wall Street Journal with a focus on business news for 4-5 year duration. He knew he wanted to do more with his profession than solely business reviews, thus, he continued his search.

 

Guzman later discussed the moment that a rock critic position opened at Newsday. He sent clips from prior work he’d done and scored a job there. He commenced his journey at Newsday starting small. Any stories other critics didn’t want, he’d take up. “After a year, it was safe to say I’d done a dozen stories”.

 

Patience was truly a virtue for Guzman when Newsday had began buy-outs, offering money to workers who would leave. The entire film department quit. He saw this as an opportunity to take hold and truly shine in the film critics department. Eventually, he was the only film critic at Newsday, focusing on wide release movies such as Transformers and Tammy.

 

When asked about the impact his critic work has on society he informed us that Newsday, being a suburban and conservative paper, has a lot of Long Islanders who look to the news source for the perfect, “Popcorn entertainment on a Friday night.”  He mentions in the interview that he admires Newsday for its family oriented qualities. It provides the perfect dollop of sports news ranging from soccer to lacrosse. It specializes in appealing to all interests- one of the main reasons Guzman loves his place of work.

 

“I never get tired of watching movies”, Guzman, the Stanley Kubrick fan confesses. He also admits that it is fun to see “bad” movies.  His job requires that he see every movie that comes out in theaters, whether documentary, comedy, horror, action or drama film. He hints us in on his love for action movies. “…Its cinematic and lively”.   Screening rooms are where most critics go to view movies. He prefers the Half Public/Half Critic theaters. “It’s fun because your sitting with a bunch of critics who are really quiet,” Guzman says, “and then you have people from all over and you get to hear their prerogative of what we’re watching”.

 

Personal Preferences? X-Men, Guzman feels, are a masterpiece due to its relevance in bringing real world issues to the forefront. He applauds the efforts of directors of Disney Movies such as Beauty and the Beast, Frozen and Tangled for bringing the theme of a female heroine, who for once, was the master of her own destiny. Movies such as these have motivated him to continue with his current occupation and have led him to fall in love with pieces of work that he views.

 

A current father of 2, Guzman loves his job as a movie critic and has earned his rightful place in the journalism industry. He worked tirelessly until a new position was opportune. Patiently waiting his turn, he did the work and ended up on top of the film critic department at Newsday. Rafer Guzman is a prime example of a critic who waited for the career he deserved and stopped at nothing to achieve it.