UDigital Scrapbook Entry- Rome
Jack S.
5/1/15
Per. 4
Praetorian Brutality
In Ancient Rome the Praetorian Guard was the emperor's personal guard. While it was supposed to just serve as a guard for the emperor they turned into their own self lead army. They went from protecting the emperor to robbing, murdering, and raping citizens of Rome. The guard focused especially on the poor citizens because they thought less of them. While the Praetorian Guard started as a sign of safety and protection the morphed into an enemy of the lower class of Rome.
In today's world the police force in the U.S. has been morphing in the same way that the Praetorian Guard did. In the past few years and even months, the police have had an unfortunate streak of "accidental" killings in which all of them the victim happened to be black. This has caused an outrage in the black community and even in communities of other races. For example , in Baltimore there have been riots the past two days and on the first day it was only blacks, but on the second day there were people of all races including students from Johns Hopkins. These recent events have turned the police into an enemy of the people instead of an ally and it is completely self inflicted.
The transition that both of these so called protectors of justice have gone through has tarnished their reputation and turned the public against them. In the type of work that these people do it is hard for them to work without the cooperation of the people and by doing this like this they loose all of the publics cooperation. The police must prevent things like this from happening to regain the trust of the public and continue making our safe.
Links: http://www.unrv.com/military/praetorian-guard.php
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/police-brutality/