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What's the biggest reason for Blacks not advancing


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You missed one of the major contributing factors. Court decisions in the past have given officers a relatively wide lattitude in justifying the use of deadly force. So in fact, it is not insanely easy to indict an officer for use of deadly force. I'm not making any judgements on those court rulings or their applications today with this post, but facts are facts. And those court cases are a big, big reason that officers are rarely indicted on the use of deadly force.

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You missed one of the major contributing factors. Court decisions in the past have given officers a relatively wide lattitude in justifying the use of deadly force. So in fact, it is not insanely easy to indict an officer for use of deadly force. I'm not making any judgements on those court rulings or their applications today with this post, but facts are facts. And those court cases are a big, big reason that officers are rarely indicted on the use of deadly force.

edit: i see what you are saying.

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You're absolutely right that some bias creeps in. However, even without that bias, officers have a lot of backing from the law when justifying deadly force. People disagree on how right or wrong that is, which isn't my point here. There are plenty of arguments for and against it. But that, combined with the stuff you posted, is a pretty potent mix.

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Does Al Sharpton only show up during these kinds of events, or is it that he's active in the community but the press doesn't put him on TV until this kind of thing happens? He seems to exist solely to appear beside distraught families in press conferences.

He and Gloria Allred are funny that way.

 

He's never improved a situation he's inserted himself in. And he's responsible for one of the worst shows on television (although the 5 on Fox News gives it a hell of a run and sometimes beats it)

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but it would be hard to trust and stomach for many who have dealt with a history of institutional racism. so i will withhold judgment on all involve and just see this as a tragic event happening in a country that still has issues to address.

 

finally, i think the issue for a lot of blacks not advancing is similar to a lot of americans, cyclical poverty. but i do think whites receive are certain amount of privilege that is hard to quantify and largely intangible.

 

 

Thanks for wording the perspective eloquently.

 

 

This last part is the least contestable bit of your entire post, but it's the part that we (meaning white people) generally refuse to talk about or acknowledge at all, instead focusing on "well maybe the kid was a gangbanger", and "well the idiots shouldn't riot in response that doesn't help" and "social media is what's making all of this so bad" and whatever other deflection you want to list.

 

Not that any of these are mutually exclusive but the reality that there are as many white people as there are that don't recognize their privilege and the lack of privilege afforded to PoC and don't have at least a marginal amount of understanding and empathy in situations like this is unconscionable and tragic.

 

"White privilege is me being outraged and angered by the #FergusonDecision rather than utterly terrified."

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Does Al Sharpton only show up during these kinds of events, or is it that he's active in the community but the press doesn't put him on TV until this kind of thing happens? He seems to exist solely to appear beside distraught families in press conferences.

 

Little bit of both, probably.

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I do not have any empathy or sympathy for people that riot in response to a GJ decision that, by all sane reasoning, appears to be appropriate and just. Not only that, there are many people looting and burning their own community. Of course, the people rioting are not intersested in facts or whether the justice system worked in this case. f#*k them. As far as I'm concerned, they can be arrested and tear gassed every night for the next week if they so choose.

 

Notice I said rioters, not protestors.

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Darren Wilson was not Every Officer any more than Michael Brown was Every Black Teenager. The ghost of all of history may hover over every "they", but when two men make individual decisions, the judgment must be framed by those individual moments.

The law is quite settled on these matters. If activists want to change the law, that is another debate, but the law as it stands is clear, should anyone care to look:

"The "reasonableness" of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight. The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments - in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving - about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation." [Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989)]

Popular opinion fails in precisely the way that the lawmakers predicted when courts and juries and the calm, rational systems of jurisprudence were designed. The law does not have a chip on its shoulder because a cousin was treated badly by the police. Jurors must not make any correlation between some SWAT team's error somewhere and Wilson's trigger. Those who really want justice wait for truth to be distilled from the chaos of public opinion.

They are few.

Article insert from PoliceOne.com.

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Okay, let me post this here. I posted it on another message board:

 

Welp, that was fun. Just as I expected.

 

Listen - some know that I am an African-American male, with a wife, and two kids.

 

I pay my mortgage.

I pay my taxes and all my bills.

I've never been to jail (cept to visit, lol).

I've never been arrested.

 

Most I've had is a couple speeding tickets.

 

I am also, like many others, a college educated man.

 

That all being said - and this is going to sound extremely harsh...

 

Michael Brown is dead for three reasons, and all three he could have avoided himself.

 

1. He stole items that did not belong to him - and it was caught on video.

2. He was breaking the law by walking in the middle of the street, which drew the attention of a police officer.

3. He fought the law...and obviously, the law won. No joke.

 

My father used to always say, "Son, if you want to get into trouble, don't look too far, it's always around you. So don't be stupid, and do something stupid, to invite trouble into my house."

 

Is it a shame that another young African-American man is dead? Yes. Did he bring this trouble on himself? As soon as he took the items that didn't belong to him, you bet.

 

THIS - this is unlawful - and the officer involved is probably going to jail.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeT_oSLtI-o

 

But the Michael Brown tragedy? Totally preventable by the young man.

 

Who do I truly blame? Unfortunately, I will ALWAYS look at the parents.

 

 

Okay, all that to answer the post question, "What's the biggest reason for blacks not advancing?"

 

It's not a simple question to answer, because there's many large reasons.

 

1. Lack of civic leaders in the community.

2. Lack of formal education.

3. Apathy.

4. Absence of fathers/sound parenting in the home

5. Lack of an appreciation of the history in the AA community.

6. Generational issues (today's generation does not take responsibility for themselves).

7. Media whores (Sharption, Jackson, etc) knowing the expediency of using race to benefit themselves (playing the 'card').

 

These are just a few.

We have a African American talk show host here in Tulsa. He often will mention all of the above and then add this thought. He said most African American homes prior to the 1960s were 'whole homes' - marriages in tack, mother and father raising the kids, etc. He feels the break down of the family unit is the primary driver of the issues we face today. He would also say that the so call "War on Poverty" and the welfare state are the primary reasons the family unit in the inner cities and poor areas have suffered. He's not talking about doing away wt govt aid when needed but taking away the incentive to work that too many programs foster. The role of the father is diminished and the father's influence in the home goes missing. Thus we end up with generational poverty - one generation following the other. I haven't verified that his opinion is true that most AA homes were 'whole homes' prior to the 1960s but his 'thesis' coming from an AA perspective is interesting.

 

Related to the above list, I do think the Sharpton types fan the flames all too quickly before the facts are known.

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Darren Wilson was not Every Officer any more than Michael Brown was Every Black Teenager. The ghost of all of history may hover over every "they", but when two men make individual decisions, the judgment must be framed by those individual moments.

The law is quite settled on these matters. If activists want to change the law, that is another debate, but the law as it stands is clear, should anyone care to look:

"The "reasonableness" of a particular use of force must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer on the scene, rather than with the 20/20 vision of hindsight. The calculus of reasonableness must embody allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second judgments - in circumstances that are tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving - about the amount of force that is necessary in a particular situation." [Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989)]

Popular opinion fails in precisely the way that the lawmakers predicted when courts and juries and the calm, rational systems of jurisprudence were designed. The law does not have a chip on its shoulder because a cousin was treated badly by the police. Jurors must not make any correlation between some SWAT team's error somewhere and Wilson's trigger. Those who really want justice wait for truth to be distilled from the chaos of public opinion.

They are few.

Article insert from PoliceOne.com.

 

 

 

 

Another honest question, given the pictures of officer Wilson's face the day after, and the undisputed reality of Michael Brown being unarmed, and Darrin Wilson's own testimony to the grand jury that Brown didn't go for his gun in the holster but went for it after it was pulled out and being aimed at him, and whatever other facts or speculation you know about the situation,

 

do you think that 6 shots, including 2 to the head, is reasonable force?

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I wonder how long it would take a 300+ pound dude to cover 150+ feet? That's probably the shakiest part of Wilson's story. (Haven't read the full release yet but I think I heard the DA/CA say that the lethal shots were fired when Brown was 153 feet away from the cruiser.)

He assaulted the officer on some level, a weapon was discharged, Wilson has to affect an arrest at the point where he was assaulted. If Brown listens to the verbal commands to get down this situation doesn't even make the news. It is very possible during a critical incident debrief to get confused on how many shots were fired, what the distance was, small details, etc. This has been proven over and over and over again through past incidents. The entire incident took 90 seconds, you can definitely cover 150 feet if you are a 300 lb 18 year old. But by all means let's question the officers response instead of Brown's lack there of.............

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i really did not want to get involved in this, but i have a couple points to make. it is insanely easy to indict someone. as the saying goes, 'you can indict a ham sandwich.' yet, law enforcement are rarely indicted. and there could be valid reasons for it, and not so valid reasons. the cops and prosecutors work together, so the prosecutor might not be so ambitious. however, prosecutors may have pressure to put a case before a grand jury he or she otherwise would not because of the nature of the incident. and finally, jurors may just see cops as more trustworthy.

 

the other point i would like to make is that it is understandable for a community to be upset when an unarmed teen is shot by the police. yes, misinformation is a huge problem in these cases and reasonable people can make reasonable arguments that the cops actions are justified. but it would be hard to trust and stomach for many who have dealt with a history of institutional racism. so i will withhold judgment on all involve and just see this as a tragic event happening in a country that still has issues to address.

 

finally, i think the issue for a lot of blacks not advancing is similar to a lot of americans, cyclical poverty. but i do think whites receive are certain amount of privilege that is hard to quantify and largely intangible.

 

+1

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I wonder how long it would take a 300+ pound dude to cover 150+ feet? That's probably the shakiest part of Wilson's story. (Haven't read the full release yet but I think I heard the DA/CA say that the lethal shots were fired when Brown was 153 feet away from the cruiser.)

Foot pursuit?

 

I don't think that's the story . . . I think that everyone agrees that when the shots were fired from the area of the cruiser that Brown was facing the cruiser. The dispute is primarily whether he was standing still, walking towards, running towards, or as the DA repeatedly put it "charging" the officer.

 

My question is how long would it take Brown to cover ~150 feet? 5 seconds? 6? More?

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