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Everyone has bias. I don't believe it. I hear the little biased voices in my head all the time. I just work harder to counter them out!
That's good. Anyone can work on being objective and even attain objectivity despite having bias.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jade408
The reason we can't make any progress is because:
1. no one wants to take ownership of their issues
2. no one wants recognize what other people observe if it is counter to their experience
Dunno if those are the reasons we can't make any progress. In fact, I'd say we've made LOTS of progress, at least on the race front. Well, it seemed that way until recently, anyway.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jade408
Everyone is like "I do not have a racist bone in my body! It's those other people." And suddenly there are no other people because everyone is great!
I used to think there was no racism, and we were behind it. I have diverse non-racist friends. And then more stuff started to happen to me and I noticed patterns of behavior my non-black peers didn't experience.
Of course racism exists. EVERYWHERE and people of all races are capable of being and some are in fact racist.
But, really, for the vast, VAST majority of people, the only thing holding them down or raising them up are their own actions and decisions.
That racist guy down the street who doesn't like me because I don't look like him? Guess what? He has absolutely NO control or power over me, and nothing he thinks about me will prevent or otherwise preclude me from being successful in school or at my job.
Most people who are racists today are not very intelligent (IMO and from my observations) and they are usually quite powerless and totally lack any meaningful influence.
Race relations in the US have progressed remarkably in the past 50 years, enough so such that anyone who has the drive and determination, and the intelligence, to make something of him/herself will likely succeed, and many people will be happy to help such a person along the way.
I doubt we'll ever completely eradicate racism. But, to allow what really impotent racism that exists today to be an obstruction to your goals and dreams is an exercise in self-defeat.
When anyone ASSUMES someone is "racist," or "prejudiced," or whatever you want to call it, based on the color of the other person's skin, or their socioeconomic class, or their neighborhood, or (fill in the blank), it's from a place of superiority internally. It's the classic blind spot, the classic irony. Inevitably, the one who is flinging the accusation can't see their own racism or prejudice. They can't see the log in their own eye because they're too busy focusing on the splinter in someone else's eye.
Look how Texans are portrayed on the news. Do you think that keeps Texans from having healthy self esteem, or for that matter, a superiority complex?
Look how Southerners in general are portrayed on the news - and hey, we STILL know our food is the best in the nation. I don't know any southerners or Texans (of any color) who are struggling with some sort of inferiority complex just because they're negatively portrayed by the media on a regular basis.
And sorry, but from where I live, I see plenty of white trash making the nightly news. That doesn't make me feel inferior. Those people are not singing the song of my people. They are not my peers. I don't know why on earth law abiding, responsible African American people would feel that someone like Christian Taylor or Michael Brown would be THEIR peer just because the color of their skin might be similar.
The problem I have is, police officers need to be more cool headed than the average citizen. There are processes and procedures for a reason. To be a good police officer, you need to work well under pressure. Bare minimum requirement.
I agree which is why he needed to be fired, at the very least. He may also face criminal charges. He is going to have to go before a grand jury.
There are lots of truths and angles to this story, including the truth that Taylor would almost certainly be alive today if
1) He hadn't been committing criminal acts at 1 am, and
Sounds like you are thoroughly convinced institutional racism doesn't exist. It's easy for individuals to argue against situation that they have never experienced. Spared injustice is a benefit of white privilege.
Au contraire - I'm very aware of institutional racism, which exists across all color lines. My point is that it's not just white people who can be racist. African Americans can be racist as well.
And I have experienced racism, so you can go throw that accusation at someone else.
The case was settled, but seriously, this woman thought the boy did not live in the subdivision and nearly ran him over. No racial language was used, but it was pretty clearly racial.
The officials deny that this reflects the attitudes of people in the city, but from message boards I have participated in there is plenty of racism coming out of the mouths of people who live here. It may be a minority because Pearland is quite diverse, but it is there.
Well I said he was threatening and you said I was completely wrong.
So, you are taking the route that the cop shot and unarmed, non-threatening individual but won't be charged. Maybe next time you could better define your views than "You are completely wrong"?
Either that or just continue to rely on insults in when you are too lazy to better express yourself.
Here is what you said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathguy
Several of you are missing the part where he ran at the officer which is threatening. Now, he didn't follow procedures and wait for his partner which could have produced a different outcome and for that he was fired. But it doesn't mean that the shooting was invalid.
P.S. To people suggesting tasers, police are often criticized for tasing guys on drugs who then go into cardiac arrest. I really wish it had been a different outcome and I'm going to wait for the toxicology reports and if someone did give him drugs I hope they catch them.
And here is what I said in addressing that ^
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2sleepy
I think you are completely wrong, but I don't think the Officer will be charged criminally. Law enforcement is given a great deal of latitude in what constitutes legitimate lethal force and it usually comes down to the Officer's state of mind. With that said, the City is going to pay dearly in a civil suit. This cop had options, the best option would have been to do as he was trained and waited until the other officers had planned a strategy. From everything I have read, there were no exigent circumstances that required this cop to confront the suspect alone. In my opinion he was trying to show everyone what a bad a$$ he was.
I completely disagree that your claim that the suspect was so "threatening" that lethal force was necessary or proper. My validation for this is the comment by the Chief that he used poor judgement and the fact that he was subsequently terminated. The cop had other options, there was the obvious one; wait to coordinate the apprehension with the other 3 cops present or if he just couldn't resist playing the Lone Ranger, his first choice should have been to use less than lethal force. Your claim that you can die from a taser while technically true is a bit of a red herring, namely because your chance of dying from a gunshot is exponentially greater than dying from a taser. Between 2001 and 2014 there have been 634 taser related deaths in the US Compare that to the approximately 400-500 total deaths of civilians by Police Officers every single year. In the 15 years during which taser deaths were tracked, they constituted less than 6% of all deaths by Police Officers and a good number of those deaths were from improper use of a taser.
Of course racism exists. EVERYWHERE and people of all races are capable of being and some are in fact racist.
But, really, for the vast, VAST majority of people, the only thing holding them down or raising them up are their own actions and decisions.
That racist guy down the street who doesn't like me because I don't look like him? Guess what? He has absolutely NO control or power over me, and nothing he thinks about me will prevent or otherwise preclude me from being successful in school or at my job.
Most people who are racists today are not very intelligent (IMO and from my observations) and they are usually quite powerless and totally lack any meaningful influence.
Race relations in the US have progressed remarkably in the past 50 years, enough so such that anyone who has the drive and determination, and the intelligence, to make something of him/herself will likely succeed, and many people will be happy to help such a person along the way.
I doubt we'll ever completely eradicate racism. But, to allow what really impotent racism that exists today to be an obstruction to your goals and dreams is an exercise in self-defeat.
While that individual down the street may not hold much power, the fact is that the system is racist - look at the disproportionate number of black people who experience police brutality. Wealth does NOT protect a black person from racism within the system.
U.S. social propaganda has convinced many people that an individual’s hard work is the main determinant of success in the country. This ideology totally denies the impact of either oppression or privilege on any person’s chance for success, and pretends that every individual, regardless of color, gender, disability, etc., has the same access to the rights, benefits and responsibilities of society.
It also implies that Blacks have only their individual character flaws or cultural inadequacies to blame, and not racism.
When anyone ASSUMES someone is "racist," or "prejudiced," or whatever you want to call it, based on the color of the other person's skin, or their socioeconomic class, or their neighborhood, or (fill in the blank), it's from a place of superiority internally. It's the classic blind spot, the classic irony. Inevitably, the one who is flinging the accusation can't see their own racism or prejudice. They can't see the log in their own eye because they're too busy focusing on the splinter in someone else's eye.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KathrynAragon
Au contraire - I'm very aware of institutional racism, which exists across all color lines. My point is that it's not just white people who can be racist. African Americans can be racist as well.
And I have experienced racism, so you can go throw that accusation at someone else.
Are you certain it was racism and not prejudice you experienced?
Racism is representing or describing race that “creates or reproduces structures of domination based on essentialist categories of race.” Racism begets a structure of domination based on race.
Prejudice is “preconceived opinion" that is not based on reason or actual experience,” and this resonates with how sociologists understand the term. Quite simply, it is a pre-judgement that one levies of another that is not based in reality.
I agree which is why he needed to be fired, at the very least. He may also face criminal charges. He is going to have to go before a grand jury.
There are lots of truths and angles to this story, including the truth that Taylor would almost certainly be alive today if
1) He hadn't been committing criminal acts at 1 am, and
2) If the police officer had followed protocol.
Possibly. But the thing is, we will always have people committing criminal acts. That is why we have police. So the police need to be extra diligent about following protocol. "Criminals" shouldn't just get killed for doing something criminal. They should be handled fairly by the criminal justice system - not the arresting officer.
Possibly. But the thing is, we will always have people committing criminal acts. That is why we have police. So the police need to be extra diligent about following protocol. "Criminals" shouldn't just get killed for doing something criminal. They should be handled fairly by the criminal justice system - not the arresting officer.
Most criminals don't get killed for the crime they committed but for using force or resisting the officer. Get arrested and go with the program. Don't fight the case on the street , fight it in court if you think you were wronged.
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I don't know any southerners or Texans (of any color) who are struggling with some sort of inferiority complex just because they're negatively portrayed by the media on a regular basis.
