We should have truly confronted semi-institutionalized racism a long time ago.
How? And what's "semi-institutionalized" racism?
We should have also put the police back in their place when there was a chance for dialogue in the early 1990s.
What does this even mean?
Instead the issue was allowed to fester thanks to politicians on both sides of the aisle who found polarization useful to their own selfish ends. It is a great pity that it took multiple deaths for this nation to take notice.
And so things are getting
better?
That said, I think much of the contention in this thread can be explained by the fact that there is a major difference in the type of relationship a white suburban guy has with the cops compared to a young black man from the inner city.
Ugh, this always bugs me....
Are you white, or black? And with all due respect....if you're white, what makes you so uniquely enlightened that you are able to understand this problem, but other white peope aren't? For that matter, black people are hardly monolithic on this either.
The whole "you just don't understand" approach is just another thing that prevents dialogue, because any form of disagreement is dismissed because "you just don't get it.".
And that difference in relationship is partly due to how bad cops can alienate entire segments of the population.
There are some very crummy white areas where the same basic problem exists. But I agree - it is a problem.
Us vs. Them: Like our soldiers overseas, these guys don't start out bad, but after some time dealing with people that make their jobs hell by being harassed, lied to, dealing with numerous unsavory characters, they really start to resent the particular group in question. For us over there it was the Iraqis and Afghans, over here it is, generally speaking, minority neighborhoods. So, these guys grew to dislike people based off skin color or whatever and automatically assume they are up to no good and never question if one of their own is acting inappropriately. They begin to feel they are above the law, and take their frustrations out on anybody that evidences even the slightest amount of disrespect.
Completely agree that this is a huge problem. And I think this can blend in with "scared shitless" because part of the us v. them mentality is born and sustained out of a concern for their personal safety.
The reality is that this is an incredibly knotty problem with no easy solution. And it is not something that can be fixed from one side only. The only
realistic way it can ever improve is by an incremental rebuilding of trust on both sides. That means decent people on both sides making an effort to be decent to each other. And
that's the core difference of opinion, not that
suburban white guys don't get it.
Jigo is right. Whether or not cops
deserve to be treated politely isn't the point. Whether black people have cause to be angry isn't the point. The point is that
if people on both sides don't start treating each new encounter with the other as an opportunity to improve relations, relations will never improve. Right or wrong, justified or not, that's the reality. Because if individual cops keep experiencing widespread, generic hostility/animosity (and i'm not talking just about shootings) because of the nasty actions of
other cops, then the us v. them mentality will endure no matter how much training cops get.
It's a choice between the emotional satisfaction of venting your rage, or actually engaging in conduct that might help solve the problem.
Basic question - has the militant black lives matter reaction to the Michael Brown shooting
actually improved anything?