Rap song directed at specific Pittsburgh officers (buying, racist)

[Yac]

Sigh...
I understand this is an emotional issue for many, but I have to point out that when discussing even very emotional issues on city-data, you have to remain calm and respectful to those that don't share your opinion. Because if you start a fight, even if you're right, you will get punished for it.
Yac.

[groar]

Originally Posted by Q-tip motha

Again this is all moot given the fact that they beat him on the assumption that he was doing something wrong, which is far beyond their authority. If this case occured in an area with a population that wasn't as old and didn't have a tendency of lagging behind the rest of the country this would be a nonissue. The officers would be off the street as no jury (outside of elderly white western PA) could have found justification in their actions.

i think you give the rest of the country more credit than is due. this stuff happens everywhere. the officers who gunned down amadou diallo in nyc weren't even charged with anything, and the mayor immediately held a press conference trying to imply that somehow because he had some problems with his student visa he deserved to be killed for reaching for his wallet while standing on his doorstep. that was standard operating procedure for giuliani any time police killed an innocent person, which happened several times when i lived in the city. or jean charles de menezes in london, who had all sorts of lies told about him (he was wearing a bulky jacket on a warm day, he ran, he hopped a turnstile to get into the underground, he jumped out of his train seat at an officer, the police identified themselves) in order to justify his being shot dead, until video footage came out that proved all of those things false. no charges filed against individuals there either, just against the police department itself.

it's obvious even from this thread that there are lots and lots of people who just tend to believe the police over other people, no matter what. you get enough people like that on a jury (and i would guess this happens more often than not) in a case like this where it is one person's word against another's, of course things are going to tend to go the cops' way.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by groar

it's obvious even from this thread that there are lots and lots of people who just tend to believe the police over other people, no matter what. you get enough people like that on a jury (and i would guess this happens more often than not) in a case like this where it is one person's word against another's, of course things are going to tend to go the cops' way.

I don't always believe the police. Look at Drew Peterson, one of the most arrogant, evil examples of a cop out there. And as far as court decisions go, I've seen some farily obvious, high profile cases go totally a different direction then I ever imagined. Casey Anthony is a perfect example.

[Craziaskowboi]

Glad to see this conversation devolved into another "PITTSBURGH IS TEH MOST RACIST CITY EVAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!1" *****-fest.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by Gnutella

Glad to see this conversation devolved into another "PITTSBURGH IS TEH MOST RACIST CITY EVAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!1" *****-fest.

If it's anything, its full of reverse racism

[groar]

oh please, give one example of someone saying something bad about poor, poor white people as a group.

oh wait, i forgot, it's "reverse racism" if anyone dares to suggest that racism against minorities actually exists in the present day. great spin there.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by groar

oh please, give one example of someone saying something bad about poor, poor white people as a group.

oh wait, i forgot, it's "reverse racism" if anyone dares to suggest that racism against minorities actually exists in the present day. great spin there.

Reverse racism to me is one race constantly blaming all their problems in life on the fact that they are whatever race they are, and the world keeps doing them wrong because of it. This does happen a lot here.

[Lucario]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

Reverse racism to me is one race constantly blaming all their problems in life on the fact that they are whatever race they are, and the world keeps doing them wrong because of it. This does happen a lot here.

I don't see any of that here. Racism is racism. Racism is bias plus power. Nobody here is calling whites inferior.

[ElijahAstin]

Originally Posted by Lucario

I don't see any of that here. Racism is racism. Racism is bias plus power. Nobody here is calling whites inferior.

According to Meriam-Webster, nope:

1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2: racial prejudice or discrimination

I haven't closely followed this thread, so I won't venture to comment on the extent of the name-calling and its racial implications (or lack thereof). But I really hate the way some people subvert the word "racism" to mean "only white people can be racist." I understand the "prejudice plus power" logic, and in fact think that's a great way to explain a number of adjective-modified forms of racism, such as institutionalized racism. However, the implications behind such semantic subversions are clear, and do little but give a "pass" to people like Al Sharpton (and in some people's minds, even Louis Farrakhan). I'm not trying to suggest you buy into the full extent of that; I just really hate that kind of linguistic butchery.

[Uptown kid]

Good post HeavanWood