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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Okay, explain this to me - why is the premise that authorities treat non-white people differently such an outrageous allegation to some?

Considering this country's history concerning racism and discrimination...seriously...is it that ridiculous a notion?  Is it that audacious?  Is it that unbelievable?  [/quote]
New poster.  To me, it's outrageous to generalize unless there are clear statistics supporting the generalization -- and it just as outrageous when someone suggests most black citizens are criminals as when someone suggest most police use racist policies when interacting with black citizens.  I know it's true that [i]some [/i]black citizens commit crimes, and it's true that [i]some [/i]police officers apply racially discriminatory standards when dealing with black citizens.  And whenever we can identify [i]either [/i]bad activity (criminal acts or racist acts), I think our society should stamp it out.  But generalizing the bad activity to an entire class of people is unfair and inaccurate.

Statistics can prove useful to get a handle on how big the problem really is.  I know the number of black men getting arrested (and the number harmed by police during an arrest) is far bigger than the % of black men in the US population, which suggests there may be serious problems.  But I also know the number of black men committing crimes is also bigger than the % of black men in the US population, so perhaps if more black men are committing more crimes, then perhaps it makes sense that they're getting arrested more often.  In all this discussion, I've never seen anyone clearly overlay the statistics on how often each race commits crimes versus how often each race gets arrested or gets harmed by police.  I'm sure someone has developed those statistics, but they rarely seem to get reported.  Perhaps it's because so many people discussing the issue want to focus on only one side of the ledger or the other, and are less interested in getting to an objective truth.

And admittedly, even if the statistics unambiguously show that black men are disproportionately arrested and harmed by police (or even if the statistics show they are not), it won't change the fact that some black men are mistreated, and that some police are abusers.  The statistics might tell us whether we're facing a systemic problem, and whether we are making progress in addressing that problem.  But they won't change the ugly reality for individual citizens who face racial abuse.[/quote]

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