Originally Posted by Blackadar
Mizzou, let me answer this and try not to take this as an insult. You won't like what I have to say, but I hope you consider that what I'm saying is not meant to be mean, but meant to show you how you are being received and how misguided your opinion is.
You seem to be making assumptions based on your past experiences with police forces without regard to what the experience is really like. Yet interactions with the police in poor and minority communities often isn't positive. Many people in such communities feel under siege, harassed, targeted and picked on. Interactions with the police aren't pleasant or polite from either side. Minorities are often under-represented and this feels much like being targeted by white cops. As such, your statements about how Michael Brown should have reacted are ludicrous assertions based on your experiences with the police without regard to the many negative experiences those in poor and/or minority communities deal with on an ongoing basis.
Let's start with a few facts. The Ferguson PD is overwhelmingly white in a community where 67% of the residents are black and 30% white. Yet only 3 out of 53 officers are black. A white person is 4 times less likely to be pulled over by the police (not overall, on an individual basis). Search rates against blacks is much higher, even though the hit rate is actually higher on whites. There's a huge racial gulf in who is on the force and how people are policed. In short, this kind of community is the worst for incidents that get rolled up into something commonly called "driving while black".
To provide an example, do you think the cop that snarled "bring it, you fucking animals! Bring it!" to the protesters the other night (it's on tape) is an isolated incident? Can you justify that? That kind of stuff happens all the time, it's just not on video and/or nobody cares because it's happening to another "black thug" or because it doesn't result in a shooting/chokehold/beatdown. But when you're on the end of that kind of interaction on an ongoing basis, it's going to greatly influence your actions and reactions to the police. Now the converse could be argued, but it's the cops that have the vast majority of the guns, power and responsibility.
You're making assumptions on how police encounters "should" go, without ever considering how many negative police encounters a young black male has in a community like this by the time he's 18. So no, if you're a young black man or if you have any idea what police interactions are like in a community like that, you do not make the assertion that nothing would have happened if he wasn't high or didn't "rob" a convenience store (that wasn't even reported by the store!). It's ludicrous. It's wrong. And it's bigoted. In short, you're being quite bigoted even without realizing it. Now I don't consider you to be a bigot, but in this case I think you're so far off base you're now saying bigoted things. That's where "check your privilege" comes into play. It's a nice way of saying "you're saying bigoted and/or incorrect things because you really don't understand what it's like". If you really think what you're saying is correct, then you don't know what it's like and perhaps should refrain from making such statements because it's insulting to those who do know what it's like in such communities.
I haven't made the claim that the shooting wasn't justified. I am making the claim that it's going to be very, very difficult to justify shooting an unarmed black man at range for any reason after stopping him for jaywalking and that this unfortunately happens all too often by cops. And even if this guy was charging at the cop and you accept their entire version of the events, under proper escalation of force protocol he still should not have been shot. Furthermore, I'm pointing out the inconsistencies/lies in their own statements and their how their reaction to the protests/looting show how truly fucked up that law enforcement community really is. As it is, I don't know how anyone could accept their version of events given what they've already lied about.
Again, I don't consider you to be bigoted and I think you're a good guy. I just think you're passing judgement and making some very poor assumptions here without regard to what a young poor minority goes though when dealing with the cops.
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I'm lucky in that I've seen both sides of it - both good police departments and bad. It's amazing how leadership can change the nature and attitude of a force. I remember one force that was pretty cool and known for working within their communities. Then a new Sheriff was elected, he came in with fatigues and thought he was the second coming of Buford Pusser. His guys got decked out in cammos and started carrying assault rifles. Within two years, that was the worst department I had to deal with. Community complaints rose drastically and I would cringe while these guys were bragging about their "no knock" warrants and massive mistreatment of suspects. Ever seen a naked guy chained spread-eagle to the bars for at least 8 hours straight (the entire time I was onsite)? Yeah, I got to listen to his cries of pain as his muscles cramped up and had to walk past him after he pissed on himself. Too bad that wasn't an isolated case in that department...or others. Ever hear a cop brag about ripping off the ear of an inmate? Or forcing a guy to have a laxative and putting him into a punishment chair (it's a very uncomfortable chair designed to bring on muscle spasms and stuff like that) for 4 hours (which was the max), standing him up and then making him sit in it for another 4 hours? Yeah, not very fun. Yet in other departments, the cops were nice, interactions always polite (no swearing) - it all comes from top down.
In a good force, the guy above who said "bring it, you fucking animals! Bring it" would be busted down the very next day. In Ferguson, it seems just like just another day.
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