They should be reachingout Don't get your panties in a bunch... we are doing no such thing. I'm just pointing out exactly that, my opinion. If you don't agree with it, fine... we can discuss it... but don't get all petulant about it.
Not to derail the slapfest going on or anything, but... Anyone else thinks it's sad that, just 48 hours ago we were talking about a coup attempt in Turkey, and now the national "news" doesn't even update on it during breaks in their coverage of the LA shootings? That country is going to be a black hole for months now if not years. But if you missed CNN night before last you'd think it was totally cool to go ahead and book that trip to Istanbul.
You've said multiple times that there's a huge problem with the way policing in the US is conducted, comparing it to how other 1st world countries police - something I whole-heartedly agree with. The question is, where is the will to make these changes going to come from? For as much as I see people engage in criticism of police conduct around here, people seem just as quick to make every excuse for police officers when they're criticized for specific acts that get protested by BLM. So I ask again, where is the impetus to actually force police agencies to make the changes we all seem to agree need to be made?
Since we're creating straw men, isn't that pretty much exactly how conservatism works? Blame the liberals/blacks/gays/feminists/muslims/etc for everything that's wrong with the world?
You are absolutely correct, I do believe that there is a huge policing problem in North America, and it is slowly being addressed. BLM is not helping with that effort, in my opinion. For instance: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-...white-people-demands-money-being-fat-black-bi That BLM Organiser is doing nothing about cops... it's all about playing the victim and getting what's hers. Just because all you see on TV is BLM doesn't mean that's the only group "fighting" against police... it's happening everywhere. The push to get body cameras on cops isn't a BLM thing... nor is the fight to hold cops accountable for their actions in the courts. BLM is just the most newsworthy element that everyone sees because it's such a shit-show, for the most part. It's the most recent Occupy movement; it is all anger and emotion without a coherent message or plan, and it is pushing out anyone who isn't black because "you white folk are the problem and you won't understand". That single message alone is enough for me to say, "fuck you, I'm done with you". How they don't get that, I have no idea. But let's not forget the fact that BLM is not about abolishing police brutality, it's about abolishing police brutality for Black People. What they don't understand is that the US vs THEM is between cops and non-cops, not Black vs The Rest Of The World.
Fair point Ive done both as you say. Hard because it deals with some many sides in the political arena. I think drug reform, prison sentencing reform, are higher level changes that should be focused on. It won't be instantanious because there will always be hardliners gumming up the works. You are starting to see some bipartisan shift on it though. Framed in budget and deficit terms. In the long run it will lower the police interaction as a proactive force. I honestly don't know if there is a will for drastic change with the state of society today. It's not bright.
Recognising that there are issues with police behaviour, many police forces across Canada have started pushing body camera programs over the last few years: https://www.calgary.ca/cps/Pages/Body-Worn-Camera.aspx http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/body-camera-police-forces-canada-1.3519530 This is not the result of any BLM effort... it's about police watchdog groups that have been fighting the rise of bullying police behaviour against the poor (regardless of race), and "civilians" in general, for years. This was going on before BLM was even a thing.
FYI, the reason I point out the body camera stuff is because it is one of the things that has been shown to have a net positive effect on police behaviour and interaction with the public. http://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/portable-devices/do-police-body-cameras-really-work It is a concrete plan of attack against one aspect of the policing problem. For all the BLM stuff out there, I have yet to see a single piece of information about what can or should be done to help affect change in the situation. Every politician has a platform that they run on that outlines their plans for making things better. Groups like the NRA and others have them as well. I would love it if someone could point me to a plan, or some information on what BLM stands for, and how they propose to make things better. Anyone?
I know this can get a little heated at times with the cop stuff, but I'd just like to take the opportunity to thank, without qualifications or exceptions, every one on this board and their family members who have ever served their community as a law enforcement officer, fireman(woman, whatever), paramedic, soldier, or anyone in support of those duties. Y'all go out there every day and don't think twice about putting your life on the line for every person you'll never know. And what you get as thanks is instead a bunch of armchair arguments about what people think you should do. You go to work each day not knowing if you'll come home alive. I think with that kind of sacrifice you should be allowed to make mistakes. Today I was worried to death for the law enforcement family of a co-worker. I wish that wasn't the case, but they were in genuine danger being near Baton Rouge. Instead of arguing with each other over semantics on ideals I think it'd be a lot more productive to argue about how to go find and the cowardly scum who keep committing these acts. You wanna talk about us vs. them? How about we kick these shitheads out of our society, we call them out and point them out to local authorities who can do something, and we rid ourselves of this dangerous, murderous cancer. /soapbox
I'd also be interested in the thoughts around this article, which basically points out that cops kill more Whites and Hispanics than blacks: http://www.dailywire.com/news/7264/5-statistics-you-need-know-about-cops-killing-aaron-bandler
BLM isnt automatically deserving of a higher level of nobility because they are black advocacy group. And criticizing them isn't an automatic defense of the police.
What would decrease rage against police? What is needed to increase trust within communities? What would allow lower SES communities to feel protected by instead of targeted by law enforcement officers?
Officer shot multiple times in his patrol car in Milwaukee. http://www.wisn.com/news/officer-shot-on-milwaukees-south-side/40749004
I think a big part of it is the war on drugs, the financial aspects, and militarization of the police force. The war on drugs part I think is pretty self-explanatory. The financial aspect refers to the need (not desire, but the NEED), of some police forces to supplement their budgets with the fines from tickets. Most tickets that result in fines are very, very low on the priority list for actions that need policing, and do nothing but piss of the community. Parking Enforcement is probably the best rage-inducing example of this. Focus on being a person in the community, trying to help the community, with respect, and that will go a long way.
Its naturally going to be overshadowed by the mess 90 miles south in Chicago, but Milwaukee has had a pretty disturbing escalation in crime over the last decade. Lot of areas that were nice, middle class locales when I was growing up have just fallen into disrepair as a result. Not entirely surprising from a historically very segregated city with inept local government for quite sometime.
I'm sure some people are also going to try and tie it into the whole BLM situation and the crap going on in Baton Rouge, but it's not unreasonable to assume that a more likely scenario is that the kid, in his early 20's, with two felony counts already against him, was involved in an early morning domestic dispute that would probably put him behind bars. He then blames the cop who attends for this, and facing jail time, goes out in a fit of rage by shooting the cop and then killing himself rather than be locked up.
The shooter was an author and a you tuber: Here's all his videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV3kJdRXOJcbkKvRiRKfXkA/videos EDIT: A reporter went to his last known address and was greeted by an AK-47. Police have closed the area off. https://twitter.com/meganbrilley?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author
That video reminds me so much of the way members of the Nation of Islam talk. There is a longer history of black supremacist cults in this country than people seem to realize. Most of them were founded by about 2-3 decades before the civil rights act, and have since been overshadowed by people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, who left the Nation of Islam and was likely assassinated by them. The BLM is a lot more reminiscent of the black panther party of the late 60s. He just seems like a guy who spent way too much time reading that kind of stuff. I don't think this is actually a case of radical groups successfully hijacking a more mainstream radical group, because unlike their predecessors the BLM doesn't really have an identity. The concepts aren't entirely new though. And yes, I realize the Nation of Islam has its roots in reaction to some pretty awful stuff. It doesn't make me dislike them any less.
I think the comparison to the civil rights movement with the BLM and modern concepts of race are misguided. For one, there is no Martin Luther King. There is no discussion or platform, at least not in a meaningful way. They also aren't shouting at George Wallace. Since this has started we've basically had two sides, both of which are telling half the story. Black on black crime matters. Police brutality matters. Both ignore the cogent points of the other side and use their half to fire back. One wants more cops, more prisons, less civil rights, and more shake downs. The other wants separation from accountability and standards for cops that are just disconnected from reality. Because white people put such standards on black people. Or something. So yes, this isn't the civil rights era, but we've seen such groups flourish and burn out in much more justified time periods. You'd think we would have learned a little more by now.