The Official Racism Thread Social • Page 48

We should hold a higher standard for police instead of trying to picture ourselves in their shoes. They ought to be trained better for those situations and it is not wrong of me, a taxpayer, to demand that.

 

As I said earlier, I think all police violence is illegitimate. This case specifically demonstrates that when one has the full context of the community's history.

 

#STOPFOP Action at the Baltimore Hyatt in Photos

 

So, granted that the community maintains popular support for maintaining police, you would say that such persons (police) should not be allowed to defend themselves when charged with apprehending armed persons who then attempt to shoot them? Had this not initially been an issue of contraband, but instead the prevention of armed robbery of a complainant civilian, would the illegitimacy of usage of force remain the same?

The ideologues of the left have continued to attempt to drag this conversation towards moral absolutism when it has no place there.

 

It isn't moral absolutism. Put it in this way: I'm not against police brutality. I'm against the police. I view them as unethical and a manifestation of the way in which we materially police class and racial boundaries through both ideological and physical oppression.



http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/08/1...say.html?_r=0&referer=https://www.google.com/

Milwaukee’s riot didn’t happen in a vacuum. It happened in the US’s most segregated city.

 

. It's not wrong but it's not realistic. You should also equally demand better behavior from your community. The north side of Milwaukee is where the majority of the city's murders occur, the men there are complete misogynists, and the drug use is horrible. There are way too many kids that my girlfriend teaches that will have issues because their mother was doing drugs while they were pregnant. I would love a better sense of community style policing from the MPD but you also need to demand change from the other side if you want to really better the community.

 

Now that is racism.

 

Please explain how. Did I point out a particular race in a single sentence?

 

You don't have to be explicit. People understand coded fucking language. It is the same rhetoric we heard in '80's and '90's, which assisted in this next iteration of criminalized black bodies. Also, there's no such thing as a crack baby. They simply do not exist. It is a figment of the imagination.

 

Those parents are often trying their hardest in a system that is against them. I'm not sure what demanding more from them would do when they're just trying to survive. I can demand stuff from people all day long but when a system is not set up to protect or help them there's only so much I can do. I can try to work and help them but at the end of the day there are just so many roadblocks they face that makes it nearly impossible for them to climb out of that. Take ur anger out on that.

 

The idea that people living in poverty aren't "working hard enough" is so insulting.

 

Someone her really really enjoyed watching The Blind Side.

I mean... so did I... but I'm a sucker for sports films.

 

So when I pick up these kids that my girlfriend mentors I shouldn't be angry at the drugs on the kitchen table and the parent that's clearly been using them? Yes that happens. Not every day but way too often. I welcome you to come tag along if you want to see for yourself. Open invitation.

 

Shaming drug addiction helps nobody.

 

You should be angry at a racial and class hierarchy that created the conditions for this to occur, that systematically excluded them from the means to survive. This part of the country has the highest income gap between black and white. Either one acknowledges that the continuation of Jim Crow policy left an indelible legacy, or one can do as you've done and blame the victims of those policies; that is, effectively, essentialize poverty and addiction, which is racism.

 

Like... remember when our "Heroine Epidemic" was called "The War on Drugs.''

 

guys come on, why aren't these incredibly poor people checking themselves into rehab ????

 

I know it happens. If anything it's taught me empathy and compassion towards them and anger at a system that has failed them. Anger towards them won't help anyway. Shaming people into doing what you want isn't a great tactic. Extend compassion, meet them where they're at, and try your best to help them navigate what they're given and try to provide them tools in a system that sets them up to fail

 

Thank you for posting this because I honestly had no idea they are a myth.

Links for the curious

 

we only pretend to care about mental health when a white kid shoots a bunch of people

 

Exactly. Sorry for the rant that is about to happen, I'm not trying to implicate you in the opinion below but it stems from your point.
The system is designed to oppress the poor and expand wealth and privilege for the rich. The legal system and police are an integral part of that system. The police, on a routine and systematic basis, and whether they are aware of it or not, continually create through various legal punishments effective obstacles for the poor and protections and separations from the poor for the wealthy. And it is like this in every walk of life for people struggling to get by. Landlords control real property and draft one-sided lease agreements for ever increasing rents (although wages remain stagnant) protected by the law to hold over the heads of families and individuals paying rent paycheck to paycheck. And who is there to evict them, not protect them, when they inevitably fall on hard times? The police. If you drive with a tail light out in a nice neighborhood the police give you a ticket you can't afford. They don't do this because they're worried about your safety, or pull you over concerned that you can't afford to fix your taillight this month. No, they don't want to see you driving that car in that neighborhood around those people that the laws are designed to separate you from. What happens when you can't afford a fine? They increase! That makes sense, that's helpful. That will teach you to not have enough for that fine. Need to fight a fine but can't afford a lawyer, because who the hell can besides the rich? Well the law is full of so many procedural niches that you're almost sure to lose on a technicality.
If you slip while you're struggling to get by, like so many are, the police, governed by the laws they enforce, are there to make sure you're buried for that slip up and kick you while you're down. And this is the design of their job. The fines are necessary to maintain their force, and the poor bear the overwhelming burden of paying them, and the intended result is an oppression of the lower class for the benefit of the wealthy classes of people. That's how I see it anyway. Fuck the police.

 

Here's the realism of the north side of Milwaukee, it's extremely high in poverty and has a high black population. It's an area where crime occurs regularly on the streets compared to areas which have more money and they can hide their crime behind closed doors. I would easily say that over 1/2 of all the houses are qualified to be condemned.
Personally this has more to do with a poverty issue than is does a racial issue. North Milwaukee is the shadowy place/forbidden zone in the Lion King a place people are warned to never go, it didn't matter what color your skin is, that place is known to be dangerous and trouble.
Add in the fact that Milwaukee has been a struggling city for years. Go on zillow and take a look at how many houses you can buy for under 50k, hell there are hundreds you can buy for 10k and cheaper. If you have never bought a house or know anything about the housing market, it's something that points to very bad things. The education system has been pure crap for decades which means families are not able to get the basic education they need to get themselves out of the shit that they are in. The poverty has also been spreading which is making matters worse.
I haven't read all the specifics on the shooting. An armed individual who happens to be black was shot while fleeing. That's what I've been told, shooting a fleeing person doesn't sit right with me as I'm a firm believer that deadly force should be used as a last resort. However if the officer has being shot at, then it's a different story with some justification.

 

For the nth time you cannot separate race and poverty.

 

I'd just like to mention, for anybody that is dealing with addiction and seeking help, there are a lot of free resources out there, including IOP and inpatient rehab.