The Vicious Beating of a UMD Student

A video recently emerged of an incident that took place in early March, showing Prince George’s County Maryland police officers viciously beating University of Maryland student John McKenna with night sticks.  As a result of the incident Mr. McKenna suffered severe injuries.  The video has brought the issue of police brutality and the notion of excessive force back to the forefront of discussion.  

Such instances of excessive force, specifically examples that have been documented on video, have been released in the past.  However, this incident, although receiving national media attention, has not received even close to the amount of scrutiny and discussion as prior incidents have garnered especially incidents where minorities were the victims.  For example, the Rodney King beating and trial captured public attention at unforeseen levels.  And the widely publicized January 2008 Alabama police beating, which was captured on a police car video-cam, gained national attention as it showed  five officers brutally kicking and beating an African-American man unconscious after a high-speed chase through Birmingham.  Although the assault on the Maryland student is not as vicious in nature as the King assault or the Birmingham beating, it is still very egregious nonetheless.  However, it is only covered as a passing story on the nightly news. 

Of course there are factors that influence every news story and over the history of our country, the conflict of race and society has been a reoccurring theme.  However, despite the fact that these concepts continue to confront us, we must understand that it is important that every injustice be met with the same vigor.  I am not suggesting that every act of police brutality, independent of race, be discussed and dissected at a national level.  However, I do believe it is our civic responsibility and we must encourage our communities, that irrespective of race, it is of vital importance to engage in an active dialogue whenever an incident like this occurs to ensure conduct like this never happens again.