Since if you complain about this you get President Trump as thanks, I don’t know what to do about it. There are a lot of jurists out there who don’t think black lives matter, as we can see in the rare instances when charges are actually brought and they even get a chance to sit in judgment on a case.
Any ideas?
In a rational culture the obvious fact that this seems to happen almost exclusively to black males should raise a concern in the country which fashions itself to be to the gold standard in the world for truth and social justice. But once again, this verdict simply confirms the fact that, as a country, our high opinion of ourselves and of our criminal justice system is severely misplaced. There are, and always have been, two separate and unequal standards of justice which are applied, and they are based largely on race and class.
We are a country of self deluding hypocrites. We are still failing to live up to the standards of our claimed ideals. But perhaps we have never really intended to live up to them. Maybe, as a country, we who are currently in the racial majority are at the moral equilibrium with which we are most comfortable and satisfied. If so, that tells all we need to know about ourselves and our humanity.
In fact American Indians face comparable rates with less public notice.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/native-americans-getting-shot-police/
But we’ve known that ever since Abu Ghraib and the rise of the Donald Trump-sponsored “birthers”. If we were still in denial about our hypocrisy.
And we’ve gotten a master class with warrantless wiretapping and Mother Emmanuel AME Zion Church, Charleston, SC.
It is why New Orleans’s deconstruction of its white supremacy monuments makes the news.
“But we’ve known that ever since Abu Ghraib and the rise of the Donald Trump-sponsored “birthers”.”
This we’ve known for a lot longer than that. How about when the Declaration of Independence was written stating “all men are created equal” while even some of the writers of that document held slaves.
This is one of several issues on which no progress can be made until they do.
I live in a majority-Asian neighborhood of California.
Do not assume that Asian-Americans are any less racist than whites. Many of them are comfortable assuming that any black male is a criminal.
In my experience that attitude is most strong among Chinese Americans but it not uncommon.
“All black males are violent criminals.”
This is something that has become a cultural “norm” in our society, something that “everybody knows.” Our culture, media and institutions send messages directly and indirectly that tend to validate that view. To this day. When immigrants come here and they start absorbing those ways and peculiarities that they perceive will make them more “American,” this is one of them. And while the more enlightened will reject this as the nonsense it is, many absorb this as part of their worldview. And rather than being taught by our cultural norms and perspectives to reject it, the opposite is taught, i.e. it is “understandable” to feel that way and thus it is not only excused but encouraged. That you see this in Asian Americans and any other non-white group is not surprising.
These “facts” are also what causes juries to consistently not hold police accountable when an unarmed black person is shot when they clearly were not a threat, because it doesn’t matter that they were armed or not. Just being “black” is threat enough. And this is deeply ingrained.
Stuff like this underpin white supremacy, e.g. they have to be “bad” in order for “white” to be “superior.” And these things are so deeply ingrained that even blacks will internalize them without thinking. Hence you have had black cops shoot and kill unarmed blacks as their white counterparts have. And the idiots among us will say, “it can’t be racist if the cop doing the shooting was black!” No, fool, its not the cop doing the shooting its about the d*mned victim!
I’m 61 years old and have been suspected of stealing most of my life, beginning as a child running errands for my parents and grandparents, to my professional life where I was once dramatically and hysterically chased out of a temporary office where a woman had inadvertently left her purse — imagine what that did to my confidence and effectiveness given how others saw me after that. I don’t look, dress, talk or act like what one might think a thief looks like, but being black at times has superseded all of that.
Immigrants to this country absorb these tenets of white supremacy as cultural norms, because they are deeply ingrained. And when they see the reactions to BLM and Colin Kaepernick, they are taught that its better to not push back on them if you want to become an “American.”
In my experience ethnic bigotry follows immigration mass migration order (the shut-the-door-behind-you syndrome) from English to most recent immigrants with these exceptions — African-Americans, indigenous Americans, and “mutts”.
And to justify itself, at different points ethnic bigotry has invented extremely irrational stories, the spinning in the US off of the label “black Irish” being one of many of them. We see that same sort of irrational spinning today in search a story, any story to smear a particular immigrant group.
Given the timing, no doubt the Iraqi Chrisitians who have had safe haven in Michigan until this week are set to be the next targets.
The worst sort of hypocrisy of the legally-sponsored school curricula on “what it means to be an American”.
This outbreak is recent and will see a global backlash in a few years–even from our traditional “friends”.
I have a brother who is married to an asian (nisei) and live in a neigborhood that has become mostly Chinese/Taiwanese or whatever.
Both he and my SIL are pretty seriously racist and right-wing IMO.
The problem is the unaccountability of police, full stop. The group identity of the victims DOES NOT matter. You cannot shut down a bully by telling him to pick better victims. It is no good trying to throw a protective bubble around one victim at a time. Other victims will always and immediately be chosen.
Well, one reason you can’t tell the police to pick better victims is because they already do that. Philando Castile would likely still be alive if he were white. Not because the cop would’ve been less likely shoot despite fearing for his life, but because he would’ve less likely feared for his life.
The problem is our society as a whole has been taught from the very beginning, the last 200+ years, to fear black people, especially black men. This is deeply ingrained, and is an underlying tenet of the white supremacy that is a pillar of our society, to the extent that for many if not most its subconscious. Its not something that can be overcome by a few weeks training on tactics and relating with the public in general. It has to be dealt with head on, and there is a resistance to doing that because society in general doesn’t want to acknowledge the history and the effects of it that keeps this deeply ingrained.
Police officers, regardless of race or gender, come into the force with these same fears that society has been taught, and they are “trained” by others who also have internalized these fears. The officer who killed Castille was Latino; there was a case last year of a shooting in NC and the officer was black. The issue is not so much the officer doing the shooting, its the victim.
What really needs to happen is police departments need to address these fears directly and head on. They need to train an awareness of them. That will never happen as long as those on the force and in society at large are either oblivious or invested in pretending that this is “normal” and any discussion of it is “divisive.”
That said, the police have another problem, and that is the blue wall, us vs. them attitude that is ingrained in police departments cause officers to view the public in general as the enemy. Even though the prevalence of unarmed blacks being shot by police is higher, it does happen to people of all “races” and either gender.
A lot needs to be done but I don’t expect anything to change with this current admin and AG.
Yes, I agree but I would add that those on the jury participated in the final judgement . And they found innocence. Is that an enabling verdict? Many feel that police are always put at risk and this is a “natural” outcome. They have been taught this. Society in general bears some blame and that is where your reference to Trump and Sessions comes in. I wonder what can you expect when the President thinks it is just jolly to mock the disabled, or invite his audience to punch someone right in the face. Or,even expel immigrants or ban those of another religion. This, the Russian investigation and their greed to fill their own pockets, and deny others is all of piece. Violence follows.
Yes, long history in the US of whites fearing blacks, distrusting them, regarding them as inferior. So much so, and for such a long period, that even 150 yrs ago Lincoln lamented this sad state of affairs, racism being deep-seated in the blood of white Americans, and wondered if anything could ever be done to rectify it. Which is why he gave serious consideration at times to finding other countries where the black population could be sent to start a new life.
To that very long unfortunate history of bad black-white relations, we can probably add the underlying biological preference in humans for one’s own race, or tribe, as per the research of some evolutionary biologists of recent times.
A double obstacle to overcome.
Good luck.
I think it’s going to require more than just sensivity and professional training, but at least that’s a step in the right direction — if done properly. Also sorely needed is a much broader rethinking and frank public discussion in the major MSM outlets of how society regards policing and how in recent decades the pendulum has swung much too far towards the extreme of complete impunity as, after all, police work is inherently dangerous.
Reason suggests that, following some years of public enlightenment, once we get a more balanced and justice-oriented mind set among a jury pool, and not the current one of mostly reflexively favoring the police no matter what, then we can begin holding police to account. Short of that serious legal check on police conduct, regardless of all the training, we are likely to continue to see numerous unwarranted shootings.
Cry. At length. Then drink, heavily.
Not only because of the travesty of justice in this case and the loss of an innocent life but also because this reveals just how deep the racism and authoritarianism runs in this country.
And every cop with fascist sadistic streaks just aching to vent on the more vulnerable (meaning outside the protection of the mainstream) members of society takes this as a green light that there really are no limits on their sadism and murderous intentions. As long as it’s confined to the vulnerable, whose lives have no value to the folks in the mainstream.
Personally I think aside from systemic changes like teaching cops to de-escalate the only thing that will help is getting less authoritarian minded people to become cops.
…and then we can get less logically-minded people to become scientists!
Where you really want an authoritarian-minded person is as health inspector, just so long as they understand what their authority is to be used for.
I’d have liked to be a fly on the wall when the jury was discussing the evidence. What could they have thought when presented with a video of the shooting and how could they justify any decision that allowed that policeman to walk away unpunished?
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. When all you have is a gun, every black man looks like a criminal. It’s not an isolated case, folks, it happens over and over. And we probably see just a fraction of the most egregious times it happens.
The policemen and women are given the benefit of the doubt while black men are not. We need better training for our police.
Short of ending our current system for dealing with crime — police, court, prison, wham, bam, bam — I don’t see this ending.
We have Constitutional remedies, sorely out of use if ever more than lip service to justice.
As a black man, I fully expected the officer to be acquitted. And no one in my circle of friends, or theirs, exist anyone who thought otherwise. Its just a known fact, if you’re black you can and will be targeted, and if they stop you, you’re at risk of being shot on a pretext that might not even get an eyebrow raised if you’re not, period.
I have never been convicted, let alone charged with a crime in my life, beyond traffic tickets. But when I am out driving, I feel like I am a criminal because if a cop pulls in behind me, I will pull into the nearest parking lot or driveway, just so that I don’t have to have them riding behind me. I am cognizant of what could happen if I am stopped by the police. It may sound irrational to those who are not black but I know many law abiding black folk feel that way.
Given the way police tend to target blacks, and how many of these encounters end tragically like this one did, its not irrational for blacks to fear for their lives when stopped by the police. Does that give them the right to defend themselves and use deadly force when they feel their lives are threatened, the same way the police do in the presence of a black person? I hope not but it may come to that, if it hasn’t already.
I’m an old white man, and regarding U.S. cops, I have had some good experiences and some bad ones. I learned over time that EVERYONE should steer clear of them. Never call them unless it is absolutely necessary, because there is a finite chance they will Fuck You Up. If you do have to deal with them, be polite, keep your hands visible at all times, and make no sudden moves.
One example: my son has been fighting severe depression after a TBI last year. A month ago I had to call 911 because he had cut himself. Well, the cops showed up before the ambulance did, and they nearly shot him because he was not cooperative. There were 4 cops in the house by the end of the confrontation, one with a taser leveled at him, two others with their hands on their guns, and one with an attack dog that was just going nuts. (Why?) Finally my son settled down and they cuffed him and led him to the waiting ambulance. Is this really the best way to handle situations like that? Of course not.
US cops are simply not properly trained to deal with threats, even minor ones, they consistently over-react. In the US police are faced with guns everywhere. They are trained to react violently to preserve their own safety. The US is a violent society and the cops reflect that. They take it out on blacks and the poor more than on someone like me because they are more afraid of blacks and the poor (maybe for some partially-valid reasons, like crime being higher in those communities, but that does not justify their racist one-size-fits-all over-the-top responses). Cops are not going to change here without proper gun control and some kind of re-education. I don’t see that happening in my lifetime.
Nothing can change until white Americans face up to their history, the original sin of slavery, and the moral absolution of that sin by the Christian church. Slavery was okay morally, said the church (and everyone else) because whites were the superior race.
The civil war abolished the practice of slavery, but the white supremacist Christian morality that underpinned it has endured. That same morality justified Jim Crow. It justifies mass incarceration and voter suppression today.
I don’t know how to root out something that is so deeply ingrained in American culture. Make every high school student take a course on the works of James Baldwin? A truth and reconciliation process 200 years too late?