#Blacklivesmat

[SteelCurtain]

This American Life did a fucking amazing two part series on Police Bias, from both sides of the issue. Seriously, whatever your thoughts on this matter, listen to these episodes when you have a minute.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=547

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=548

[Bad Wolf]

We should ignore the plight of the people the racism is largely directed at? Are you on drugs?

I neither said nor meant that.

[Faith No More]

I've looked at all the videos and news features about unarmed blacks being shot. I've seen the vids of police assaulting a pool party of black kids as if it was a high class drug raid, just because some white neighbour complained about the noise. It's anecdotal evidence of course, but blacks are treated differently because of the media culture.

It's the same in my country, on a lower scale, since we don't have that many blacks. But police beating up a black person is a far more frequent indicent than doing it to a white person. In fact, when Obama was elected president, one of our more reputable magazines published a cartoon about him visiting Vienna. Sadly I can't find it online, but it showed him admiring the views of many capitals until it finally got to Vienna. And then you only got to see a squad of policemen, batons drawn, swarming and beating someone lying on the ground. It pointed straight at the problem. The tabloids are painting people of color as drig offenders and possible suspects. That's creating a public opinion and from what I get from US news coverage it's not that different there.

Edit - found it.

<image removed>

Oh, we have a huge issue in the media of the portrayal of people of color, like how Richard Sherman was called a thug after his on-air rant after his Super Bowl win. The guy's a Stanford graduate, which is an extremely acclaimed university, but because he's black and wears dreadlocks, many people in media painted him as some hood-rat.

The problem is obvious to anyone that looks just beneath the surface of what the media tells us. We have many, many examples of these officers telling us they shot black people with their hands in their pockets because they feared for their lives. But I posted a link to an incident in Min.'s "Fucking Cops" thread where California police were tracking a white man suspected of murder for 18 days, and when they closed in on him, he pulled out a weapon and was ordered to drop it before they shot him. So, on one hand we have an officers fearing for their lives in a traffic stop when a person puts their hand in their pocket or reaches for the glove compartment, and in another case we have a suspected murder brandishing an actual weapon and being ordered to put it away.

Now, one example does not make a case, of course, but I personally observe constant, daily reminders of the stark contrast of between the differences of how our media, police, and judicial systems treat people of color differently.

[Bad Wolf]

Cops have always been agents of oppression used by the majority against the minority population in every country in the world.  Police departments in America have been especially racist in the origanization, recruitment, and enforcement of the law.  They are essentially nothing but organized gangs of thugs that act like the old slave patrols.  A common example is the NYPD which went all Jim Crow under the Jewish mayor with the stop and frisk BS.  That should be insulting to every decent American who values freedom and equal protection of the law.

When hispanics, Asians, and whites get tired of cops blowing away their friends and family members they will get off of their butts and demonstrate in their own movements as well.  Right now a lot of them participate in the BLM protests but tens of millions of people of all kinds should be demanding reform changes in the justice system.  It's a serious mistake to think that you are exempt from police brutality just because you are white and love cops.   One day you or one of your family members will find that out.

Not all cops are bad, neither are the systems that govern them. Not even the majority of cops are bad, if they were, we would see widespread chaos. As it is, most cops don't act like a malitia or hired thugs, remember we only hear cases of extreme events with cops, and almost all the time, they are bad events. No body ever cares when a cop does his job correctly, it's just what is expected and I don't think people appreciate that what is expected of them is difficult. Cops are held to very high standards- as they should be- but they are human beings just like us, most of them aren't evil or malevolent, they react to stress and frightning scenarious in much the same way that we do. And don't for a second twist this into me sympathysing and defending these cops that kill people because I know that somebody will go there.
I think that saying that all cops are 'agents of oppression' because of an increase in police brutality and the like, is like calling all catholic preists paedophiles. It's simply not true.

[popeyespappy]

Got any numbers? Statistics? Anything?

Not that I agree with the general tone of the OP's original post because I don't, but statistically speaking yes there is a lot of data backing up some of his claims. To begin with most violent crime is intraracial. White violent criminals tend to prey on white victims and black violent criminals tend to prey on black victims. The US population is about 72.5% white and about 12.5% black yet the number of both violent crime victims and offenders are pretty close to even. If you break the numbers down you'll find that blacks are 5 to 6 times more likely than whites to be both a victim and an offender of a violet crime. If you would like to do your own analysis of the numbers the data is available here: https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s

[Thumpalumpacus]

[quote='abaris' pid='1038445' dateline='1441153834']

Okay, but why were they founded then? Why weren't they founded earlier? Black people have been killing each other for years in gang violence. Why is it that only the suggestion of racism is enough to spur this movement into action?

The racism was known to have resulted in black deaths at the hands of law enforcement for decades. Why did BLM only organize now? Perhaps because with cameras and internet, more people are made aware of more killings? Perhaps because a tipping point had been reached?

[Mister Agenda]

We should ignore the plight of the people the racism is largely directed at? Are you on drugs?

I neither said nor meant that.

Maybe it doesn't seem that way to you, but I don't see how a reasonable person would think you didn't mean or say that from this:

"See I don't even know if BLMs purpose is to point out police brutality against blacks. But I think my point still stands that instead of singling one group out that experiences police brutality, they should include everyone. Black people aren't the only ones who suffer from police brutality, even if they are subject to it the most. Or do we need a #Hispaniclivesmatter, #Asianlivesmatter #Whitelivesmatter too? Huh?! how outrageous there can't be a movement for white people! They are so privileged  and nothing bad ever happens to them! How racist!"

[Mister Agenda]

Cops have always been agents of oppression used by the majority against the minority population in every country in the world.  Police departments in America have been especially racist in the origanization, recruitment, and enforcement of the law.  They are essentially nothing but organized gangs of thugs that act like the old slave patrols.  A common example is the NYPD which went all Jim Crow under the Jewish mayor with the stop and frisk BS.  That should be insulting to every decent American who values freedom and equal protection of the law.

When hispanics, Asians, and whites get tired of cops blowing away their friends and family members they will get off of their butts and demonstrate in their own movements as well.  Right now a lot of them participate in the BLM protests but tens of millions of people of all kinds should be demanding reform changes in the justice system.  It's a serious mistake to think that you are exempt from police brutality just because you are white and love cops.   One day you or one of your family members will find that out.

Not all cops are bad, neither are the systems that govern them. Not even the majority of cops are bad, if they were, we would see widespread chaos. As it is, most cops don't act like a malitia or hired thugs, remember we only hear cases of extreme events with cops, and almost all the time, they are bad events. No body ever cares when a cop does his job correctly, it's just what is expected and I don't think people appreciate that what is expected of them is difficult. Cops are held to very high standards- as they should be- but they are human beings just like us, most of them aren't evil or malevolent, they react to stress and frightning scenarious in much the same way that we do. And don't for a second twist this into me sympathysing and defending these cops that kill people because I know that somebody will go there.
I think that saying that all cops are 'agents of oppression' because of an increase in police brutality and the like, is like calling all catholic preists paedophiles. It's simply not true.

He didn't say 'all cops'. Considering how literally you expect people to take every word you post, a little more accuracy is in order if you don't want to come off as a hypocrite.

How high does the percentage of very poorly trained or tempramentally unsuited or bad cops have to be before you think it's a problem that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later?

[Regina]

#NotAllCops *rolls eyes*



We know it's #NotAllCops just like it's #NotAllchristians or #NotAllmuslims. This shit still goes on though, and if it really is #NotAllCops then why do so few cops have anything to say about it or want to push for reform?

#BlackLivesMatter as a slogan is harmless. I said this before, but it's petty seeing the amount of white people who seem so excluded that they had to tone police it and change it to #AllLivesMatter. There would be nothing wrong with #AllLivesMatter if these people had been saying that from the jump, but it's the way they suddenly start saying it just to blatantly finger-wag at a movement they feel excluded from because it's not about us. Society already knows our (white) lives matter, that's why it's "black lives matter" in the first place.

[Catholic_Lady]

#NotAllCops *rolls eyes*



We know it's #NotAllCops just like it's #NotAllchristians or #NotAllmuslims. This shit still goes on though, and if it really is #NotAllCops then why do so few cops have anything to say about it or want to push for reform?

#BlackLivesMatter as a slogan is harmless. I said this before, but it's petty seeing the amount of white people who seem so excluded that they had to tone police it and change it to #AllLivesMatter. There would be nothing wrong with #AllLivesMatter if these people had been saying that from the jump, but it's the way they suddenly start saying it just to blatantly finger-wag at a movement they feel excluded from because it's not about us. Society already knows our (white) lives matter, that's why it's "black lives matter" in the first place.

They're both harmless, imho. Personally, I can see both sides on this issue.