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Funny how OP asks the experiences of black people and then turns around and insists what they experience is wrong. Almost seems like it was the goal of this thread
I hope not. I hope the OP was open minded and wanted to learn and converse. Not tell us what we should be thinking and what we should know. I take him at his word that he would listen and learn from our stories. If he did progress could be made at least one person at a time.
Racial profiling and stop and frisk. I am a middle aged college educated Black/Puerto Rican. I am pretty light skinned, lighter then most Italians. Blue eyes, goatee, shaved head. I dress in slacks and shirt and tie. Earn 90k, married with a teenage daughter. I get stopped once a year for something, whether in my car with my family, once on way to Church. Or walking in my neighborhood. Told to stay put, on street, for 15-20 minutes while they check my ID, check for priors, then let me go. I am 45 years old. This has happened to me since I was in HS, once a year. Maybe, it didn't happen one or two years in that period.
I'm a white male, professional looking in appearance and dress and when I've been stopped they ask me the same general questions as they do anyone, even blacks which is where am I going and do I have any weapons, drugs, or do I have any outstanding warrants or priors. Even after answering no to all these questions they still run my ID through their system. Most of the time this is simply procedure and while I understand it I also do not like it because its a total police state.
I do understand why people are tired of the police and why these cops are now getting shot and killed ambush style. It all goes back to how police treat people in general even if its all proper procedure or as they put it for protecting society.
I think the civil asset forfeiture BS is when I lost all respect for cops. Now when a cop is ambushed and killed I think of all the people the police have ambushed along highways and stolen their money in their racket they call civil asset forfeiture. Did you know its not illegal for cops to lie? Yes cops can look at you in the face and tell you bold face lies and its ok by law.
Fact is, maybe we could justify having fewer cops. But that is a no go for a politician. We might need more teachers and more fireman and more EMT's, and more social workers but fewer cops.
IMO there does need to be a good ratio of cops to lay citizens. And FWIW, I do support police and policing as I feel it is a tough job and that it is better to have a larger police force versus a smaller one in urban areas, especially larger cities.
Many of my relatives and others in Chicago believe that they still have more of an issue with crime there because they don't have as many cops as they have in NYC or LA in regards to police officers per citizen.
But IMO policing does need to be more community based and stop and frisk, as noted above, did not work to derail crime. Crime fell in the 1990s worldwide and not just in certain areas. Many relate the drop in crime with the decrease in use of leaded gasoline. I agree with this after reviewing the evidence and already being familiar with how lead can affect people and make them more prone to behavioral problems and living a criminal lifestyle.
I also agree we need more of the other professions you cited. I feel too often in our society, our public workers are demonized unfairly but in regards to LE I do believe that, to use the OPs word, there is a "culture" of silence in regards to racial bias and discrimination. Also that even the decent, good officers cover up too much for the bad seeds amongst them or they ignore their bad deeds and the court system is poor at prosecuting bad officers for their misdeeds.
But I personally know a lot of officers and for the most part, I think they do a fine job, but they also are complicit IMO of ignoring the bad seeds on the force and IMO there needs to be a focus on not protecting these bad officers. They also need to have a national database IMO, similar to how it is with teachers, where if an officer has been deemed incapable of being an officer (like the officer who shot/killed Tamir Rice) cannot go to another police agency and get hired and continue to inflict their poor policing on the public.
Its a self fulfilling prophecy. If you targeted whites in white neighborhoods like I mentioned, then whites would be found to have possession of illegal items. Then their neighborhood crime statistics would increase. Then those areas would be " High crime areas ". But they do it in my neighborhood and find what they do to justify it. I am coming from a NY City perspective. I know neighborhoods here, you might not. But I don't think people in the Bronx do more drugs then white people in Yonkers or Manhattan or carry more contraband.
Again. Stop and risk has no effect on violent crime. A stop and frisk doesn't cause someone to be murderd. I think you're in denial that black neighborhoods don't have real higher crime rates. All you have to do is look at cities that don't allow stop and frisk. By your logic those cities would have no or minimal murder and robberies in black neighborhoods.
I personally believe that all people can be racist and that even black people can be racist against other black people. Ironically, I have seen more of this type (black on black racism) than any others in my personal life.
I've heard that before and find it quite interesting. What is it based on? Skin tone or education or what?
I've heard that before and find it quite interesting. What is it based on? Skin tone or education or what?
It is based on American society having a history of perpetuating the idea that black people are inherently inferior to other groups of Americans in regards to intelligence, work ethic, criminal behavior and many other factors.
As stated on these forums, I do a lot of historical research as it is a hobby of mine and I am currently focusing on Colonial American history in regards to black American history and have found that even in the late 1700s and early 1800s that black people were stereotyped as being criminally minded, unintelligent, violent, and lazy.
These are the same things that people stereotype blacks as today. Many black Americans who grow up in this country are constantly inundated with these biases about themselves and they believe them about themselves and other black people. That is why you see black people agreeing with racists who believe that black Americans are inferior to other groups of people (similar to what the OP stated in an earlier post of which I highlighted). Black people also have a tendency to try to "prove" that they, themselves are "better." I always ask "better than what/whom?" Many of them will respond with "better than other black people." IMO this is evidence of the fact that they view themselves and our demographic in an inferior way. Viewing a group of people as inferior to another group of people is the true definition of "racism." Its true definition gets lost in todays society where anyone and everyone accuses anyone and everyone of being a racist, but the above is what a racist is.
IMO the biggest "issue" of black America is the fact that too many black Americans view our demographic in an inferior way versus whites, Latinos, or Asian Americans.
Fact is, maybe we could justify having fewer cops. But that is a no go for a politician. We might need more teachers and more fireman and more EMT's, and more social workers but fewer cops.
It's not about the quantity of police officers that is in question, it's the practices they use.
Again. Stop and risk has no effect on violent crime. A stop and frisk doesn't cause someone to be murderd. I think you're in denial that black neighborhoods don't have real higher crime rates. All you have to do is look at cities that don't allow stop and frisk. By your logic those cities would have no or minimal murder and robberies in black neighborhoods.
Ok, did you even tell this middle class black person that you think it might be wrong that I have been stopped so often ? Ever thought to say that I am just as much an American as you. That I contribute a great deal in taxes, my wife and I earn over 200k together, so you know we pay taxes to our community, and maybe deserve to be treated a little better by the civil servants we pay ? I guess your saying we should just live with it and not complain ? Is that what your saying ? Hardworking and tax paying Black and Latinos just deal with police mistreatment cause crime in our communities ?
The problem with these kinds of threads is that they are often started by whites who look for at least one or two blacks to say "I have never experience racial mistreatment". The OP often takes it and runs with it and says "see racism doesn't exist, it's all a figment of your imagination". Often times they only take the word of blacks who THEY agree with and think that's the law.
People don't know black people as well as they think they do, because to insinuate that middle class blacks don't feel they are discriminated against is totally off base. Plenty of middle class blacks feel they are, but at the end of the day they are not going to let it stop them from living their life. From my experiences many blacks, of all classes, are not interested in talking about race with certain whites. Many of them know good and well that the conversation will go NOWHERE and ultimately be a waste of time. Now if they feel like that person has an open mind then they will much more likely engage in a dialogue!!
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