Reply to Why are American blacks always having issues with the Police?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Some posters here are posting parenting advice in the guise of political discourse.  But that is really disingenuous.  How many parents actually teach their kids to disrespect cops??  Zero, I wager.  How many people plan to argue with the next cop they see?  Zero more I think.

No, what really happens is people get upset, they have problems, they have a hard day, then this cop pulls them over, the person doesn't act like a perfect little sheep  (or maybe they do) and blam, they are dead.  The cops have to handle the situation non-violently BECAUSE they have a gun.  It's not your job to be meek because they might shoot you.

US cops kill people at a 70X higher rate than any other country in the industrialized world. They kill more people in a month than UK cops did in the ENTIRE 20th CENTURY.  That's incredible. And it's wrong.

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/american-cops-killed-people-month-march-uk-entire-20th-century/[/quote]

NP here, I trust your data but it's also because we have a somewhat violent and armed population. No other western country has so many people that carry guns. Cops deal with guns in domestic abuse calls, drug related violence, gang or retribution violence. This is in white and black communities.

Compliance matters when dealing with an officer who pulls you over or who responds to a call. [b]If one does as they ask and you have done nothing illegal it will likely end well. [/b][b]Sometimes it doesn't.  There are racists cops. They ought to be fired immediately. Most cops are great people who protect our neighborhoods so our kids can walk to school and play outside safely. I feel tremendous gratitude to our police forces who work to keep us safe. [/quote]

I no longer believe this. At least not for minorities. (And I am sure many black posters on this thread will chime in and say they have never believed it and it has never been true for them.)

I feel gratitude to have the police. I also feel afraid of the police -- not much for myself, because I am white, but for others. The problem isn't just individual "racist cops." It's a system that devalues black life as a whole. Thus an individual cop who may feel he is not racist is primed to react more harshly to a black individual than a white individual. Hell, I do so myself. If I am walking down the street and five teenage boys are coming toward me, I am twitchier if they are black than if they are white or Asian. I hate that I feel this way, but I do. And I have never had a personal negative experience with any teenage boy of any race. Racism is built into our society, regardless of individual feelings. Most racism today is of the subtler, unconscious variety. I'm sure you can find some good ol' boy who will happily expound on how blacks are inferior or the races should commingle or what not, but most people probably don't feel this way. Yet, they may react more negatively to blacks than to whites, and not even realize they are doing so.

With regard to cops, it's also a major problem that the system is not set up to punish bad cop behavior. I am a lawyer and I have seen many cases of acknowledged excessive use of force by police. For instance, police who, when responding to a call, break into the wrong house, don't bother to correct their error after being informed of it, and beat the people inside even when they don't resist. There is no apology or attempt to change. When the victims sue, they are lucky to get a small settlement. Police have too much immunity under the law. [/quote]

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