Linton Blackwell, an Atlanta-based rapper, entrepreneur, and father, was fatally shot by Atlanta Police on October 11, 2025, in a Buckhead bar parking lot during an altercation that took place inside the bar.
Throughout the United States, research from Statista has found that there have been between 1,138 and 1,314 documented police shootings. 24-26% of these fatalities were Black Americans, even though African Americans only make up 12% of the population. Black children all across the South and throughout the country are often instilled with the belief or ideology that calling the police when they are in trouble might not be the safest option.
19-year-old Amani Jackson, a VOX ATL journalist who has covered policing in Atlanta, provided an informative description and history lesson of how policing came to be in the U.S. He explained that it started mainly in Northern states, and most people on the force were ex-confederates and KKK members. During the Reconstruction era, slave patrols evolved into what we now know as our police. Their role wasn’t to protect citizens, but millionaires and property owners, and they were seen as a tool to protect White rights.
This is the foundation for modern-day law enforcement. Dating back to the 1700’s, the police department was not what it is now, although some would argue their values haven’t changed.
A month after Blackwell was killed, the autopsy revealed that he had taken 17 shots in the back. This raised questions for Blackwell’s family and his community, with many wondering what the Atlanta police officer’s motives were.
Another case of police brutality took place in 2015, when Sandra Bland was charged with felony assault on a public servant. She was arrested and was then taken to Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas, where she spent 3 days. On the 3rd day, she was found hanging in her cell.
According to the BBC, Sandra Bland was born Sandra Annette in Naperville, Illinois, in 1987, to a single mother and was the fourth of five daughters. She was also a Black social justice activist and earned a degree in agriculture from Prairie View A&M University. Bland had a social media video series titled “Sandy Speaks”, dedicated to speaking out on topics such as police brutality and racial injustice.
Months before her death, Bland was hired as a community outreach coordinator at Prairie A&M and was bound to start her employment on Aug. 3, 2015.
In July of 2015, Bland was pulled over by Texas trooper Brian Encina for failure to signal during a lane change. The incident quickly escalated due to Encina’s excessive force. Bland was threatened and violently handled despite Bland informing the officer of her medical condition.
“They often act before knowing the situation,” says Micydon, a 15-year-old student who had no prior knowledge of the case. She says Black women have been and are often seen as “not human” and a threat.
After Bland’s death, a photo of her mugshot was released. In the photo, she is seen looking unconscious. This picture circulated speculations with people suggesting it was a police-involved death. One photo posted on X, which many people on social media thought was edited, showed her with her eyes appearing to roll back in her head. In the other, her eyes were open, but low, and she did not look well.
Micydon thinks that more laws on how enforcement handles people could be established, ensuring more safety. On Sept. 1, 2017, Texas Senate Bill 1849, known as the Sandra Bland Act, was enacted. The bill is focused heavily on striving to improve jail conditions and protect inmates, especially those with a background of mental illness. Part of the document requires police officials to comply with the Texas Racial Profiling Law, a bill enacted to eliminate the possibility of discrimination against any person.
In 2016, two years after the bill was passed, Texas Observer’s Gus Bova revealed the statistic that Black drivers in Texas are 59% more likely to be stopped and searched by police than Whites.
“We’re responsible for people regardless,” Officer Erik Ford, an Atlanta policeman, says. He believes that with body cameras, incidents like these are less likely to happen, since footage is never erased, always on, and inaccessible to the officers who use them. According to NPR, among the police departments studied, complaints against police dropped by 17% and the use of force by police, during fatal and non-fatal encounters, fell by nearly 10%.”
Gwen Dixon, a former civil rights activist, says that police hold so much power over people. “I feel personally that most police are narcissistic bullies who take advantage of the power they have that comes with a badge, so that a woman in general, especially a black woman, would have the gall to stand up to them.”
