Quote:
Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby
(Post 1818593)
I didn't know that "black people being *shot* by white police" was the issue, so much as black people being chased, shot, tazed, accused, jailed, charged, beat up, battered, physically assaulted by white police, more than white people who were under suspicion of the same crimes.
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“Under suspicion of the same crimes” is an interesting distinction. Thanks. It’s important. It gives a different answer than say, comparing one neighborhood with another. Poorer, more densely populated neighborhoods are more likely to have a higher crime rate, irrespective of skin color, and so to have more police personnel assigned to it. More crimes happen, more are seen, more attempts at arrest are made, more criminals resist arrest in many ways, and so more violence between criminals and cops occurs. Again, this is irrespective of skin color. I don’t believe cops often think, “This suspect has dark skin, so I’m going to beat him hard as I attempt to arrest him as he resists me and threatens my life,” or “This suspect has a pinkish tan complexion, so if he threatens my life while resisting arrest, I’m just going to politely ask him to comply without laying a finger on him.” (I’m not talking about a general level of anger, fear, mistrust, or racism many cops develop because of how they are treated in a community that leads to an aggressive and authoritarian response to provocation of any sort by darker-skinned people.)
I believe many cops have highly prejudiced attitudes against people with darker skins, generally conditioned by experience, and many people with darker skins (but not most!) have highly prejudiced attitudes toward light-skinned people in general but especially against police officers of any sort, ALSO generally conditioned by experience. However, I think the evidence shows that when it comes to attempts at arrest, cops tend to react the normal way they react to resistance, and the worse the resistance, the worse the response. If the criminal happens to have darker skin, that is seen as racism. If the criminal happens to have lighter skin, that is usually not seen as racism. In fact, neither one is primarily racist, but hatred of criminal action and a desire to make the arrest. Another element is that when lighter-skinned people who resist arrest are arrested after police violence, this usually happens in some other neighborhood than one with mostly darker-skinned people, so the darker-skinned people don’t witness it and come to believe that the violence must be due to their skin color.
I very much want to see relations between the police and the community improve. I want cops to learn effective ways of defusing situations. I also want community members to respond to law enforcement officers with respect, both verbal and physical. I’d like to see them cooperate more with police by telling them where to find criminals so they can be arrested. The old habit of not telling the police harms people. Sometimes a law-abiding mother or brother can save the lives of others by calling the police and saying, “I know my son did this, and here is where you will find him.” This goes against human nature, but it is part of being a good citizen. People should be rewarded for this citizenship.