Police Brutality- Poem from the 1930s

The poem "Southern Cop" by Sterling Brown demonstrates the oppression African Americans face when dealing with police officers. While this is from an early time period, this poem shows that this has been a problem for decades, and still is. The poem is different in that it is told from the perspective of the police officer, rather than the victim or bystanders. It shows that police officer tend to believe any African American running has committed a crime, and in this case, and in most, that is false. Police bias against African Americans is clearly shown here, and how this leads to oppression. The audience of this poem is all of society in order to bring awareness to the problem of police oppression. Before this poem was written there had been many instances of police brutality, resulting in the author feeling the need to bring light to this injustice. The author of the text was an African American man and professor, adding to his ethos because he could relate to the victims of this oppression. This poem appeals to the reader's emotions because it allows the reader to imagine what it must be like to be an African American in this time period who is always subjected to oppression by police officers. It allows the reader to put themselves in their shoes to truly feel the victims emotions. Logos is also shown here because the author logically tells the story of the incident with Ty Kendricks and police officers, and he also uses poetic devices such as repetition to emphasize his message in the poem. The author also uses stasis in the poem by defining the problem and retelling the facts of the incident. Overall, Brown does a great job at trying to fix the injustice of police brutality in his rhetoric.

https://letterpile.com/poetry/Sterling-A-Browns-Southern-Cop-The-Irony-of-Anger