Thanks for welcoming me, everyone.
That's a hard question, Ignoramus, I'll try to answer as best I can
SA became democratic in 1994 and before that, as you may know, the country was controlled by an oppressive government enforcing segregation laws. These laws were obviously disenfranchising and often also bizarrely intrusive (it was, for example, illegal for people to have sex with anyone who has not of the same race as they were). During this time, the police force was white and, as follows from the nature of the segregation laws they enforced, altercations with the police could be humiliating and violent. Police also broke-up protest with gunfire, arrested those opposing the government, and tortured and killed many involved in the anti-government movement. When South Africans talk about what the police force did during this time, we do not usually think of it as injustice coming specifically from either the police force as its own structure, or from rogue police officers -- because the struggle was against the government and the police force, though violently oppressive, was only one of the government's many arms.
After 1994 (and the adoption of a non-discriminatory constitution) the police force became integrated. I'd say that, for a few years at least, police officers were generally respected and trusted by the communities they served (as I'm writing this, though, it hits me that my perspective on this is terribly one-sided and may be totally wrong: I was 5 years old in 1994 and in the first few years after the advent of democracy, my neighbourhood was almost exclusively white) . In recent times, though, it's become overwhelmingly clear that South Africans generally perceive police officers to be corruptible, incompetent and lazy (if there are any South Africans in this forum, feel free to disagree with me on this point!). Even though they are mistrusted, I don't think they are feared. I'm sure that some South African police officers are inappropriately violent at times, but I don't think SA currently has anywhere near the police-brutality problem the US has.
As for South Africans' perception of police brutality, the BLM movement and the incarceration crisis in the States -- I've been living in Korea and China for the last few years and haven't visited home for longer than a few months, so its entirely possible that I'm very wrong, but I do not think South Africans are too aware of these things. Every know and again I see an article about it in the SA media -- these are mostly columns praising the BLM movement and condemning police brutality in clear terms.
(July 9, 2016 at 8:26 pm)ignoramus Wrote: Welcome new person...
I'd like to ask about your take on police brutality in your country and how it compares to the good ol' US of A?
That's a hard question, Ignoramus, I'll try to answer as best I can
SA became democratic in 1994 and before that, as you may know, the country was controlled by an oppressive government enforcing segregation laws. These laws were obviously disenfranchising and often also bizarrely intrusive (it was, for example, illegal for people to have sex with anyone who has not of the same race as they were). During this time, the police force was white and, as follows from the nature of the segregation laws they enforced, altercations with the police could be humiliating and violent. Police also broke-up protest with gunfire, arrested those opposing the government, and tortured and killed many involved in the anti-government movement. When South Africans talk about what the police force did during this time, we do not usually think of it as injustice coming specifically from either the police force as its own structure, or from rogue police officers -- because the struggle was against the government and the police force, though violently oppressive, was only one of the government's many arms.
After 1994 (and the adoption of a non-discriminatory constitution) the police force became integrated. I'd say that, for a few years at least, police officers were generally respected and trusted by the communities they served (as I'm writing this, though, it hits me that my perspective on this is terribly one-sided and may be totally wrong: I was 5 years old in 1994 and in the first few years after the advent of democracy, my neighbourhood was almost exclusively white) . In recent times, though, it's become overwhelmingly clear that South Africans generally perceive police officers to be corruptible, incompetent and lazy (if there are any South Africans in this forum, feel free to disagree with me on this point!). Even though they are mistrusted, I don't think they are feared. I'm sure that some South African police officers are inappropriately violent at times, but I don't think SA currently has anywhere near the police-brutality problem the US has.
As for South Africans' perception of police brutality, the BLM movement and the incarceration crisis in the States -- I've been living in Korea and China for the last few years and haven't visited home for longer than a few months, so its entirely possible that I'm very wrong, but I do not think South Africans are too aware of these things. Every know and again I see an article about it in the SA media -- these are mostly columns praising the BLM movement and condemning police brutality in clear terms.
