Police Power and Racial Tensions in Ferguson, Missouri

[HighlandHomie]

The KKK - er, I mean Ferguson PD, is bringing enough attention on this entire situation to hopefully exploit the bigger societal/human rights issues at play here that Mike Brown's death will not be in vain.

I know E.J. Wells (who sent me a rep comment of, "I hope you get racially profiled, bitch" because he doesn't agree with my sentiments on rotten humans who choose to become cops then abuse their power in a sometimes dangerous manner) and several others who have revealed themselves as typical products of sheltered white-privileged lives on this board will continue to search for reasons Mike Brown should be dead, but all the law enforcement involved in the case has already embarrassed themselves to the entire world.

Obviously the militarization of the police forces in the US is one of the biggest things people are talking about, and hopefully petitioning their local/federal elected reps to change, but the systemic oppression of communities such as Ferguson, and countless more like it nationwide, is the biggest thing that people are being forced to acknowledge now.

The most disappointing thing for me is that I remember seeing all these people crying tears of joy and brimming with optimism at rallies when Obama was elected, yet here were are - with a scenario with civil rights violations no less - and Obama has done/said nothing of real worth because he's a POLITICIAN.

I voted for Obama twice, and feel he doesn't get a fair shake from his detractors on many foreign and/or domestic policies, but his involvement (or lack thereof) in Ferguson from the start of it is appalling to me and enough for me to be truly sickened by the fact the corporations were able to dupe the public into thinking they were voting in someone who really could 'inspire' a nation.

People are beginning to organize and speak out about oppression, and with or without politicians currently in DC, there will be some sort of change. And for that, we may look back in 30 years and point to this time period with all the excessive violence, unarmed victim killings by the police and say this is when the people took back some of the power.

Or not.

Or the public will get distracted by pouring ice on themselves for the next few weeks, the next big viral news story and they'll forget about an entire community of people being threatened/abused/tear-gassed by the police for gathering in the town they inhabit.

 

[Stoked]

Interesting thought exercise. The biggest issue of course would be resources. To even be viable as a point of discussion you would have to somehow guarantee equality of resources to remove the need for wars in the future over scarce resources.

If you feel that equal resources would eliminate wars then you have more faith than I. To stop strife then it would have to be complete and total segregation with no way of contacting each other. Even then we are worse of simply due to the loss of beliefs and view points. When you're all the same it simply guarantees you never grow.

 

[BabyPeterzz]

I agree that it does bring a unique and valuable viewpoint to the debate. But it is not the only one that should be listened to. Doing so only guarantees that the debate goes no where and no progress is made.

Some questions:

Are all cases involving a death where the people involved are different races a race issue or just this one?

We're talking about this case, so all my comments refer to this case.

Should white people be given an equal platform for opinions on race as any other race?

Equal platforms don't exist.

What is the goal, in your mind, for race relations and how should that goal be achieved?

Wow. Big questions. Mutual respect I guess? I don't know.

Sincere questions as I want your honest opinion.

.

 

[HighlandHomie]

If a Mod could change the thread title to "Ferguson, MO discussion" that would be great. I apologize for the immature thread title when I posted it originally. No excuse other than I am immature.

 

[framer]

Yeah, I think my "give a damn" about these thing was busted for good when the media had to invent the term "White Hispanic" in order to make the narrative for George Zimmerman work. Any time Sharpton or Jackson show up and are welcomed, I just don't care anymore, because nobody is interested in the truth. If you want to loot and riot, I hope you get hurt and learn a life's lesson before you get killed the next time. If you are a police department doing no knock raids for stuff that doesn't call for lethal force, I hope you get sued to the point the practice stops.
And yes, if your community's first reaction to a problem is to riot, you don't deserve to be taken seriously, if you are the rioters in Ferguson, the Arab "street," students rioting after winning a football game, or WTO "protestors." Don't do these things and expect people to treat you like their equals, because you aren't. You are toddlers, and will rightfully be treated like it. You want to protest, follow MLK or Ghandi who were grown *** men, and accepted full responsibility and did great things.
It pisses me off that the first Black president is an effete Alinskyite and not a true disciple of MLK. What a wasted opportunity. What great things could have been done.

 

[[size/HUGE] boobs [/size]]

After going back and rereading, I see that I wasn't clear at all. Dude, I am a fan of marijuana. I think it should be legal. I have zero problem with anyone that wants to use it. Unfortunately, it currently is a crime though, and unlike other ridiculous laws (J-walking for instance), it is highly prosecuted. You know the stats as well as I do. So, knowing that if you get caught you're probably in deep ****, I automatically think the kid is a moron and has little regard for the law. Do I think that marijuana, assuming he did the things that are being reported, had anything to do with the alleged attack on the officer? No, not really, but the fact that he willingly and blatantly committed at least two serious crimes (in the eyes of the law, and frankly, to a lot of people) crushes his credibility. My admittedly bad rape example was in reference to someone who posted that he could have smoked that weed at anytime and that it stays in the system for a good amount of time. I am strictly talking about credibility and this kids choices to break the law.



No, I don't think it should carry any weight, although it surely will.



Others have already commented with the same incredulity that I'm feeling, so I'll just save my comment. That being said, would you mind explaining to me how you come to your answer? I'm not trolling, I sincerely want to know if I've missed something huge.



Ya, they are spelled totally different. That's about it though.



Pretty much this. The only scenario I can think of goes back to OneBrows theory that the cop is a psycho, racist, sociopath who pulled up next to these guys and stated something insane like, "I'm going to kill you, ******, and your ****** friend too. Then I'm going to kill your ****** mom and your ****** family, and there's nothing you can do about it." and then started to pull out his gun to do just that. In that highly improbable scenario, I can see someone trying to stop the cop from pulling leather.

I would believe Obama has extra terrestrials living in the Whitehouse before I believed that particular scenario, but I suppose it could happen.

Boom crackwax!

[video]https://youtube.com/watch?v=Tb8mU_g_f2w

 

[AlaskanAssassin]

Has it been proven he rushed the cop?

Also the alleged robbery was unknown to the cop at the time so it didn't play into the mindset of the cop. To him it simply started as two guys walking down the street.

I thought we knew that the cop was informed of the robber's description as he was attempting to get the guys out of the street?

 

[GVC]

I'm still waiting for more details, so I don't have a strong opinion either way on the officer's guilt. That this happened is terrible, of course.

I do think it's important to understand the history of law enforcement and incarceration in the Black community in America when considering events like this, and the anger that comes with them. Up until the early 1970s, incarceration rates had been pretty stable for decades, however over the next 30+ years (trends are beginning to change) these rates exploded. This growth has been driven by the War on Drugs and stricter penalties (longer sentences) on crime in general. Even as violent and property crimes decreased, rates of prosecution and incarceration for lesser crimes increased. With rulings on Terry stops (stop and frisk, etc.), which have effectively legalized or even promoted racial profiling (whites who are stopped are much more likely to be found with contraband...), and the higher baseline crime rates, the increase in police presence, incarceration and their negative consequences (1 in 14 Black minors have a parent in prison; roughly 50% of parents in prison were their household's primary bread winner) are profound in the Black community. The gains made during the Civil Rights movement have largely been undone by these changes in law enforcement.

As such, it makes perfect sense that some African Americans would feel as though the police are their enemies. I imagine a pretty compelling argument could be made that the police do more harm than good in low-income Black communities.

 

[Stoked]

.

Thanks.

I see how race plays a part but I disagree that this is a 100% race based case

You are right that equal platforms don't exist but should they?

Mutual respect is a good start. But how is that achieved? Working towards fair treatment here on out? Recompense for past wrongs on a societal and social level? How?

 

[GVC]

Yeah, I think my "give a damn" about these thing was busted for good when the media had to invent the term "White Hispanic" in order to make the narrative for George Zimmerman work.

The "media" didn't invent that term. The US Census Bureau classifies "white" as a race, and "Hispanic" as an ethnicity, and has done so for many years. George Zimmerman is a White Hispanic.

 

[TroutBum]

For sure. I don't know ****. One of my good friends is a cop. Still, **** the police. Right in the ***.

Well ya, if you're going to do it, you might as well go for the brown-round.

Not once did I claim to have any answers here. I have my opinion of course. I'm not any smarter than you here, actually thats not true, I'm definitely smarter than your dumb ***. But I digress.....

Well, thanks for being productive then? I know that when I want to change someone's mind or at least grease the gears, the first thing I do is attack their intelligence about that particular topic, and then admit that I don't have an answer or better idea. Doesn't always work, but if it doesn't, then those people are just as stupid as I told them they were. Also, everyone here knows you're smarter than me. Frankly, Hotttnickkk is about the only person I feel confident in my intellectual superiority.

I really enjoy a bunch of white dudes from Utah (i know some of you are not, and I don't care anyway) spouting off about what a white cop should do when dealing with a black, unarmed kid. It's awesome, really awesome.

Common sense doesn't care if you're white, black, yellow, or pooh-brown. It's the universal equalizer.

Just curious, whose opinion would be valid then? A black cop? Any black person? A white person from another state?

It seems to be that anyone who can think and does not have all the facts can have a valid opinion. In fact I would hope that lots of different groups are forming opinions and discussing them in an open way over this entire issue, be they black white asian or martian. No way does only one person or one ethnic group have all the best answers to this case or cases like it. We need open dialogue about it, not closed-minded rhetoric.

Agreed.

I know, crazy huh? Poor oppressed white people by black cops. Where's the outrage??!?@??

I know! I'm going to call The Bishop Whitey Whiterson and have him rally the troops!

Minus the hyperbole, yes, I think this cop did not act in good faith. Where there's smoke, there's fire.

I completely agree with your smoke analogy, but, ummm... All of the smoke is surrounding the kid, not the cop. Again, I ask for the information you have that is contrary to what I have, because I'd really like to know how you came to your conclusion.

I'm frustrated by those trying to justify this cops actions because I wholeheartedly disagree, with every ounce of my being. Those analysing this situation trying so hard to leave race relations out of this boggles my mind.

Ferguson, MO = 67% Black
Ferguson Police = 96% White

Come on....

Salt Lake City, UT = 75% White
Salt Lake City, UT = 98% Hispanic Landscaping Crews

Come on....

I think it's safe to say that white guys don't typically get jobs on landscaping crews. It's not because of some racially intolerant society or Landscapers Union that is out to kill whitey, it's because of a myriad of factors including pay, hours, how labor intensive it is, and mostly, because most white guys are too proud to do that kind of work. Swap out Landscaping for McDonalds and the pieces still fit.

I'm sure the black community, who, judging by my white-bread upbringing, notoriously have worn the slogan "**** the police" around their culture like some sort of Medal of Honor, are lining up to fill out job applications with the police department.

But what the **** would I know about it, I'm just a dumb white guy after all.

 

[HighlandHomie]

I completely agree with your smoke analogy, but, ummm... All of the smoke is surrounding the kid, not the cop. Again, I ask for the information you have that is contrary to what I have, because I'd really like to know how you came to your conclusion.

Totally irrelevant to unarmed kid being shot multiple times and killed.