Issues involving police brutality are becoming an unfortunate feature of daily American life, at least for some.

While the majority of citizens scurry about their respective areas of residence, not fearing any repercussion for living the lives that they do, others are not as fearless or nearly as tranquil.

Those that are apart of the majority never seem to understand the semi-infinite animosity that persists between minority members of our great melting pot of a population and members of the elite group assigned to protect and serve.

Marhsawn Pitts is well aware of the reason behind the distrust and animosity after a first hand crash course in the workings the “long arm of the law.”

In violence plagued Chicago, members of local law enforcement have decided to enter the fray on the side of mayhem, flexing their collective muscle against anyone in site. Unfortunately, Pitts was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A special education student attending a special needs school on Chicago's south side, 15-year-old Pitts was violently hurled into a set of lockers by the school's resource officer, after which, the teen was immediately locked in a police taught chokehold dubbed the “facedown takedown.”

The reason for such drastic action? The youngster forgot to tuck in his shirt, a blatant violation of school dress code policy.

A Government Accounting Office report detailing statistics about police tactics such as the facedown takedown was released one day prior to the assault on Pitts. It concluded that the “restraint” maneuver was responsible for over 20 fatalities, leading the hold to be banned by eight states, with Illinois is not among them.

When will a day come that police, members of the community assigned to protect and to serve, do the job that they were sworn to do?  Marshawn Pitts, whom has suffered from a brain injury since early childhood, is one of the lucky few. Not lucky in the ordeal that he survived, but lucky that his mishap is propelling the vehicle of change.

Arming the citizenry one idea a time

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