Introducing The Next Generation Of Leaders And Thinkers

Point And Shoot

 

ben-fields-brutality1

Unfortunately for police officers of the present, who rely on stopping power and force to make their presence known, the citizens of the digital age are equipped with a weapon more powerful than those which can be holstered or swung. They are equipped with cameras.

Unless you’re alone and pent up in your room with the door shut and the blinds drawn at the moment, you’re probably within range of somebody’s camera. In 2014, more than 85% of cell  phones were camera phones, which means that if you aren’t a professional photographer or videographer, you’re certainly an amatuer.

We spend more time than ever on the Internet, where practically every photograph or video taken in the last 30 years resides, and where our photographs and videos will eventually end up (if they aren’t there already). And in the off chance that we aren’t using the Internet in some way, shape, or form, we are out living Internet-free lifestyles which we will eventually upload to the… Can you guess? …Internet.

At first glance, this seems like a sad, sad cycle. Huxley wrote about it, and his predictions were on par with the technologically minded society we so wholly embrace today. But what Huxley hadn’t accounted for, was the ability of this technology to serve a social purpose by exposing injustices of the everyday, like the recent incident involving Sr. Deputy Officer Ben Fields and a black female high school student at Spring Valley High School.

The incident began on Monday, when the teacher asked the student to stop using her phone during class. After the student refused, the math teacher contacted Officer Fields to handle the situation. When Officer Fields arrived and asked the student to leave the classroom, he was met with yet another refusal from the student. It was after the student refused to leave the classroom, when Officer Fields violently grabbed the student and flipped her out of her desk, dragging her to the door.

“He grabbed her arm, and he put his arm around her neck at first. So that’s why you actually see her — if you get the right video — then you’ll see her trying to swing at him, and at that point, he just flipped the desk back and grabbed her out of it and threw her. And that’s when you see her rolling across the floor.” – Nyah Kenny (Classmate)

In wake of Officer Fields actions, Richmond Co. Sheriff Lott announced on Wednesday that Officer Fields had been fired, renouncing his behavior by explaining, “Throwing someone across the room is not pain compliance and is not something we teach.”

Officer Fields was a casualty of the camera, much like those who’ve committed similar acts and met the same fate. Perpetrators of social justice must not forget that the world is watching, and violence won’t be tolerated.

If not for the student who decided to record Officer Fields’ handling of the female student, the outcome of the situation and treatment of the student would have been much different. Students at Spring Valley High have publically stated that Officer Fields has behaved this way in the past, and were surprised but relieved to hear that his latest act of aggression had been captured on video.

The Internet is a spectacular place for people from all corners of the world to unite and connect, but with these capabilities comes a certain responsibility every user must assume. Acts of injustice are nothing new to the world, but before cameras were such a ubiquitous commodity, it was much easier to hide the ugly truth. This new ability to expose wrongdoings brings awareness to the public, and when awareness is achieved, reform may begin. Keep your camera near, and don’t be afraid to point and shoot.

Follow the writer on Twitter: @neutralcolored

Related Posts