A lot of cops do shoot first and ask questions later. They shouldnât, but the problem wonât get any better until police officers donât feel genuine fear that they might be shot when they encounter a young black man or woman.
I guess I am trying to say there are two sides to this issue, but in our urban cores many young people resort to gun violence when they have a dispute. They get away with it because citizens donât report to the police. Many urban residents donât look on the police as their servants and protectors. That is costing lots of innocent lives.
Some cities do better than others, but things wonât get any better until citizens in our urban communities start looking on the police as protectors and not as occupiers. That is going to require the police to get out of their cars and start meeting the people they are serving. That is the essence of community policing. If a citizen thinks the kid down the street participated in a drive-by he should tell the cops. He wonât unless he sees the cop who shows up as his door as a friend. Over time, as the worst of the worst are removed from the community, young people will realize guns are no way to solve problems.
I think the Black Lives Matter movement and local police everywhere need to work with each other to solve the real problem. Too many young blacks are armed and not afraid to shoot each other let alone the police.
My four children span twenty years, from 12 to 32, and they all four get fired up like their mama when the subject of the BLM movement comes up. The 12 year old really cut to the heart of the matter. âWhen some people over here are saying âBlack Lives Matterâ and people over here are saying 'butâŚwaitâŚwe donât want to consider black people fully humanâŚThat just pisses me off. Sorry, but it does.â The oldest one said âWhat she said.â
Republicans are out of touch. Theyâre not the future. Vote for change.
Vote Democratic in November.
Oh my, thank you. I had no idea thatâs why cops were shooting unarmed civilians in the back, becauseâŚgangs.
âŚbut the problem wonât get any better until police officers donât feel genuine fear that they might be shot when they encounter a young black man or woman.
No, the situation wonât get better until cops know they can not get away with murder. The problem is not their fear of getting shot, itâs their lack of fear of having to pay for their crime of murder, and itâs absolute bull shit.
Never put yourself in the shoes of a cop going into an inner city neighborhood have you?
Very few cops are the blood thirsty psychopaths you imply, but they are human, they watch action news every night and they are often afraid they are going to be shot when they encounter black young people. Is the fear justified, no, but is it real, by all accounts, yes.
Since you arenât going to go into the inner city to do the job yourself you ought to at least take a look at the problem from the perspective of those who do.
Oh, you are right, too many prosecutors are far too lenient on officers who screw up. By the time the prosecutor is involved some family or families are destroyed and futures are lost. The key is improving the relationships between the beat cops and the people they are hired to protect.
Itâs not just the inner cities that are a problem. This country is so completely awash in heavy weaponry, often in the hands of fringe people, any time an LEO comes face-to-face with a citizen, he almost has to assume that the person is armed. Makes everybody jumpy.
No I havenât, but thereâs a long history in the US of cops pretty much doing anything they want toward black people and getting away with it that continues today. When the Feds cracked down on white vigilantes in the 60s the white sheriffs took over and a lot still think itâs ok.
Edit: Interesting headcount. Apparently Native Americans scare cops even more than blacks so far in 2016!
But given your explanation, shouldnât police feel genuine fear that they might be shot when they encounter a white man, young or old???
71% of the people who have shot and killed a police officer this year were white and male. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-outrage-white-men-kill-police-article-1.2780161
So I guess Iâm not understanding why all young black men and all young black women must bear the burden of being feared by police when all white men do not have to bear that same burden??? In essence, the premise that a police officer is justified in fearing someone (as you say, having âgenuine fearâ) because of a personâs youth and skin color is a racist thought.
So instead of blaming the victims of police violence, should not we be training police to have the same fear level of the young black man and young black woman as he or she has for the white man?! Since youth and (black) skin color are not exclusive indicators of a threat.
Do you watch your local action news? In my city it is all about black gang bangers shooting little neighborhood kids in drive by shootings. The local newscasters want everybody to fear black teenagers