EXP.7 Police Brutality

One theme that i saw within the Grapes of Wrath was the theme of freedom of expression and abuse of power by police officers and Government officials. One specific area that I saw this situation in action was in chapter 20. When Floyd Knowles tells Tom that he must watch what he says around cops and act in a "Bull-simple" manner. Meaning he must act dumb and unaffected. Floyd explains that if he does not act in that way he can get in trouble with the cops and be blacklisted or arrested and labeled as "red" and dragged off. This expresses a big cultural theme that many could consider to be the loss of freedom of speech and the Abuse of power seen from government officials. This theme can many times be seen even today with police brutality. Police brutality happens less than it did back in the day but even today there are still reports of cops abusing their power throughout the U.S and the world. One example of this abuse of power even today can be seen in this video of NYPD officials abusing a suspect caught on video. CLick Below to watch video.