Is the police in US institutionally racist?

The author and black rights activist Sapphire, who lives in New York, tells Channel 4 News the police force across the US is institutionally racist.

"There is an undue use of force among the police in the United States," Sapphire claims.

There is an all too common pattern of tragic deaths and a coinciding lack of accountability. Police officials have historically blamed their victims health and shortcomings in physical anatomy in the cases of numerous chokeholds from the 196os and have continued to do so with this year's Eric Garner case.

The police cannot continue to justify these killings with the "we were terrified for our lives" excuse. Instead, Sapphire urges they find another line of work that is less frightening or makes efforts to better understand the communities they work within.

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