Quote:
Originally Posted by molson
Of course they should be subjected to the same restraint. I think officers show a ton of restraint in all kinds of situations - but when a mistake is made or crime committed by an officer, the consequences can be disastrous. Much more than say, an insurance adjuster who has racial biases or whatever.
I'm just saying that when an officer properly shows restraint, we shouldn't assume they're racist just because some other officer didn't act properly in another situation. What is the first officer supposed to do? Bash the white peoples' heads to even the score? Statistically, that individual officer has never shot anyone. If he's got state house protester duty, I doubt he's done much of anything in law enforcement yet.
Edit: And I don't expect this of others, but I have sympathy for the officers who have to stand there and be yelled at by unmasked spitters all day, and who have to still stay focused every second, knowing that things could deteriorate and and turn violent any second no matter what they do. And to know that if they do their job right, they'll still be considered racist because people will assume they would have opened fire if it was black protesters. They signed up for it, but it's still a shitty day.
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I think that is why the pushback for me is so weird. Despite my bias towards police, I know enough police officers have the restraint that was shown yesterday. That restraint just so happened to be when dealing with protestors that looked a particular way. So when the restraint is not exercised, then questions are going to be asked. Especially when that restraint is missing when dealing with a protestors that look different. When those questions are asked, the people asking the questions are seen as being unreasonable. Yesterday was one of the more extreme protests I have seen recently that did not end up with tanks, water cannons, rubber bullets and tasers. I don't know the rules and regulations that govern law enforcement in that case but I trust those that say that those officers followed them to a tee and probably went above and beyond what they needed to.
Do I want them to bash of the white people to even the score? No. I want them to stop bashing the heads of black people for less than what I saw yesterday and then telling me they were following procedures. If you are telling me they did their job correctly with the restraint they showed in the face of that shitstorm, I will accept that. Why should I expect any less in any other shitstorm? Especially when, given what happened yesterday, people are seeing yesterday's events as a protest precedent.