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This is nothing new. I personally have respect for law enforcement however this MUST change. Black people are treated differently by law enforcement and may police officer abuse their authority.
Having black skin is NOT a crime. This MUST stop. It happens every day. Black people are reaching the breaking point. If you do not like or even hate black people then you should not be a police officer in predominantly black areas. This is not about GOOD police officers, its about the rotten apples.
I understand that law enforcement is a low paid and often thankless job but police officers must stop taking out their anger and frustrations on citizens. Change must come in the way in which officers treat the community AND the improvement of the training and salaries of police officers as well.
I know that many of the usual suspects will go off of the topic but this is about changing the manner in which law enforcement interacts with the communities that they police. This thread is about ideas and solutions. Please keep it moving if you have neither to offer.
I think you already touched on a couple of changes that need to be made, and I've suggested these in the past here, too. Higher pay, higher quality of officers, better training, and annual psychological testing. Just because someone passed a head test when they applied for a job doesn't mean they're going to pass after years of doing the job.
There are some areas where crime has gone down because instead of stopping suspected criminals, the cops are getting out of their cars, walking around and getting to know people, gaining trust, and implementing various programs within the community. Toledo has Coffee With a Cop which is supposed to be pretty popular, for example. In those areas where trust has been earned, I'm assuming people are more willing to report what they know.
On the other side of the issue is response to police officers. It isn't helpful if there are communities filled with people who feel all cops are to be disrespected and it's okay to be aggressive with an officer. That, in itself, is enough to create a tense situation that can lead to something going horribly wrong.
Sadly, after the recent murders of officers, I'm not sure any cop would be willing to get out and walk around in a high crime area.
There is not one single "Black Leader" who has called upon Black people to stop arguing and fighting with the police. Not one. And THAT is the solution.
Who CARES if Black people are "treated differently"? And how do you know that White people ARE treated differently?
The recent cases of Cop on Black shooting did not involve a single case where the Black man was shot while obeying orders. "Don't reach for it"...."Show me your hands"....."Freeze"... Is all this so hard that Black people simply cannot follow instructions? It seems to be.
Man with a gun and a badge tells me to do something, I'm going to do it. If I think he's picking on me I can take that issue up later.
You obviously cared enough to respond to her thread. PS, Blacks don't have leaders. We aren't a monolithic group of people for the umpteenth time.
It's a shame how folks will cover their ears and bury their hands in the sand to ignore to social injustices that minorities face and then become appalled when people retaliate and expect sympathy.
There is not one single "Black Leader" who has called upon Black people to stop arguing and fighting with the police. Not one. And THAT is the solution.
Who CARES if Black people are "treated differently"? And how do you know that White people ARE treated differently?
The recent cases of Cop on Black shooting did not involve a single case where the Black man was shot while obeying orders. "Don't reach for it"...."Show me your hands"....."Freeze"... Is all this so hard that Black people simply cannot follow instructions? It seems to be.
Man with a gun and a badge tells me to do something, I'm going to do it. If I think he's picking on me I can take that issue up later.
I've always said this, Chris Rock has a skit where he's joking around but saying the same things, I've posted a youtube clip of it a few times now already.
I think if you are polite and comply with the police you should be ok. There are more and more black people coming out and saying that that isn't so, that even when being cooperative they are still abused.
Not sure what to make of that, I don't have any evidence to support or deny that claim by black folks.
I just can't wait for all LEO's to have body cams, I think that might help out a bit, for either sides protection I would think.
Well...black people could just stop breaking the law so much.
While I do agree with this to a certain extent, singling out one race is part of the problem. By singling them out we are being labeled as racist and it just fuels the fire. Not to mention that is only PART of the formula, not the entire equation since there ARE plenty of white criminals. The scale may be tipped in one way or another right now, but I think we could all work together to help balance things out. Some black people tend to think we want to ignore the injustice they face. We all get labeled as such. Some white people try to explain that we don't want to ignore it but feel that there are other ways to help fight that injustice than violence. We get ignored because we are told that we don't understand the issue. Education on both side, and responsive individuals would go a long way towards bridging that gap.
I believe there are a lot of things that need to happen simultaneously.
- Black people need to take accountability for their actions and stop screaming racism the second a white person does something they don't agree with. They also need to respect law enforcement, period.
- White people need to take accountability for their actions, and stop the stereotype that all black people are bad people. Sometimes they need to hold their tongue. It just isn't true, nor is it warranted to place a brand on an entire society because of bad apples. They need to respect law enforcement, period.
- LEO (regardless of color) need to spend more time with the community that they are trying to protect to better show them that they are not only around when it's time to arrest someone. The community needs to know that the LEOs are always there, and are a welcomed part of the community. They also need to be more vigilant in picking out the bad apples in the LEO community and work towards getting them out of their roles.
While I do agree with this to a certain extent, singling out one race is part of the problem. By singling them out we are being labeled as racist and it just fuels the fire. Not to mention that is only PART of the formula, not the entire equation since there ARE plenty of white criminals. The scale may be tipped in one way or another right now, but I think we could all work together to help balance things out. Some black people tend to think we want to ignore the injustice they face. We all get labeled as such. Some white people try to explain that we don't want to ignore it but feel that there are other ways to help fight that injustice than violence. We get ignored because we are told that we don't understand the issue. Education on both side, and responsive individuals would go a long way towards bridging that gap.
I believe there are a lot of things that need to happen simultaneously.
- Black people need to take accountability for their actions and stop screaming racism the second a white person does something they don't agree with. They also need to respect law enforcement, period.
- White people need to take accountability for their actions, and stop the stereotype that all black people are bad people. Sometimes they need to hold their tongue. It just isn't true, nor is it warranted to place a brand on an entire society because of bad apples. They need to respect law enforcement, period.
- LEO (regardless of color) need to spend more time with the community that they are trying to protect to better show them that they are not only around when it's time to arrest someone. The community needs to know that the LEOs are always there, and are a welcomed part of the community. They also need to be more vigilant in picking out the bad apples in the LEO community and work towards getting them out of their roles.
You make a lot of good points, the bottom line is that cooler heads need to prevail and we need to stand back and look at the issues and deal with them.
Yes. There is a tendency to prejudge black people. "What are THEY doing in THIS neighborhood"?
Well, I will use myself as an example. I am a black woman. College educated. Raised in a 2 parent home. Grow up in an upper middle class black neighborhood in Los Angeles. Attended private schools my entire life. My parents bought me a BMW for my 18th birthday. When I was 19 I was stopped and harassed twice by the police. Not for speeding. Not for making illegal turns and failing to stop or running a red light. But I was stopped and questioned at length basically about how I (a young black woman attending university) could afford a BMW. During the "interrogations" I remained cordial but frustrated and annoyed. I received a bogus ticket for one of the stops that I fought in court (it was thrown out by the judge).
If I been a 19 yr. white woman the assumption would have been that I was just a spoiled co-ed driving a nice BMW. But I COULDN'T just be a cute spoiled co-ed because the assumption is that blacks are all criminals. It is MUCH worse for young black men.
I cannot argue that DWB is not a problem, it does happen and has for many years. As someone who wore full leathers and rode a Harley before they became "yuppy lawyer/doctor bikes"
I got stopped constantly or at a minimum got a glare from cops thinking I was somehow connected to a biker gang even though there was not one patch on my leathers.
I used to pull up to stoplights and could see/hear the door locks being locked and windows rolled up so yeah, I get it.
That kind of thing does need to stop but understand, it's not just blacks that this happens to.
I cannot argue that DWB is not a problem, it does happen and has for many years. As someone who wore full leathers and rode a Harley before they became "yuppy lawyer/doctor bikes"
I got stopped constantly or at a minimum got a glare from cops thinking I was somehow connected to a biker gang even though there was not one patch on my leathers.
I used to pull up to stoplights and could see/hear the door locks being locked and windows rolled up so yeah, I get it.
That kind of thing does need to stop but understand, it's not just blacks that this happens to.
You just made my point. I made a reference to an encounter I had with the police.
If you look like a thug you're gonna get more grief from the police, white or black.
I cannot argue that DWB is not a problem, it does happen and has for many years. As someone who wore full leathers and rode a Harley before they became "yuppy lawyer/doctor bikes"
I got stopped constantly or at a minimum got a glare from cops thinking I was somehow connected to a biker gang even though there was not one patch on my leathers.
I used to pull up to stoplights and could see/hear the door locks being locked and windows rolled up so yeah, I get it.
That kind of thing does need to stop but understand, it's not just blacks that this happens to.
You just made my point. I made a reference to an encounter I had with the police.
If you look like a thug you're gonna get more grief from the police, white or black.
Exactly and if you CHOOSE to resemble that you are ALSO choosing to take the bad with good too so there should be no complaining since it's a choice that the individual is making.
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