Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond)
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 how familiar are you with “the southern strategy”?
I’m quite familiar with white southern politicians going from Democrat to Dixiecrat to Republican within a generation?
Which enemy is more dangerous, the one who tells you they’re you’re enemy, or the one who claims to be you ally, but doesn’t do much to actually help you out and has done plenty to hurt the people the claim to want to help?
Which party made the “Tough on Crime” bill that’s since led to significant increases in incarcerations of minorities? Interesting factoid, the current presumptive favorite for the Democrat nomination co-authored that bill passed by the Clinton administration and both chambers of Congress which were controlled by Democrats at the time before Republicans took control of both chambers during the midterm elections that year.
Let’s not pretend that the Democrats are innocent when it comes to racism even in modern times.
This is why for me Biden was the absolute worst choice for democratic nominee. I didn’t vote for him but I have to now because emboldened, unapologetic racists murdering people is currently among my top priorities. I’m continuing to work to reshape the Democratic Party as well. Wrote a letter and participated in city council meetings this week.
So you’re voting for the lesser of two evils then? That’s the mentality that has allowed this system to operate unchecked for 230ish years. Find a third party that matches up with your ideals and start supporting them. It won’t matter in November at the national level because no third party has enough support to steal any electoral votes, but can make a difference at the local level which is going to have a much larger impact on day to day lives and be the level that makes real change happen at.
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@Crimsonorblue22 be careful and don’t go out if you don’t have too. They’re plenty of good people marching for a cause but others are set on destruction.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 I don’t give a crap about party at the local level because there I can support who ever fits with my ideals. But at the national and state level my goal has been to get rid of trump at just about all costs and vote out Cornyn and Cruz for their unwavering support for him (on top of their policies I couldn’t disagree with more). I Give my support to anyone I find who fits my ideals but won’t waste my vote when i at least agree with more of one party’s stance when compared to the other. Is Biden a perfect candidate, far from it. Is he better than trump? It’s not even close.
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 Wackos everywhere. No disagreement there. Just Interesting that the most racist wackos all seem to be Working for the Republican Party.
Also, don’t pretend that Democrats have never done anything racist themselves. Trying to frame this as Republican vs. Democrat does nothing to help either side. Historically, Southerners who now tend to vote Republican have been more open about their racism as a culture. Northerners have historically been much more subtle in their racism which can be seen through policies such as redlining and gerrymandering.
Both parties have blood on their hands as far as racism in this country goes.
I agree the entire system is founded on racist policy. But to compare some on the left proposing radical policies to current Republican officials spreading racist conspiracies is a false equivalence and only works to excuse the behavior as “oh well, crazies be crazy” I’ve never said there aren’t wackos on both sides but do take issue with folks both sidesing where a majority of the Unapologetic racists sit politically RIGHT NOW!
Donald trump has purposely courted and emboldened disgusting scum for the last 4 years and only now are some republicans finally starting to examine what that has done to the party.
And, yes I Understand that most democrats prop up racist policies as well because white supremacy is deeply embedded in so many of the laws of this country including the ones you mentioned.
The north retreated from reconstruction policy as the kkk grew and spread around the south. As social Darwinism became a popular philosophy whites of all political persuasions began to believe maybe blacks were at the bottom because that’s where they are supposed to be. That’s the system folks are still fighting against to this day so forgive me for at least listening to people who think maybe the best idea for a clearly broken part of that system is to try something else completely. Black people didn’t even count as people when this system was formed so maybe reforms of that system aren’t enough.
It’s the height of privilege to tell the majority (92%!!) of black people they’re dead wrong to support either maintaining or increasing the their local police forces and decide that The Almighty White Saviors will just abolish the police and everything will he hunky dory, regardless of the black community’s opinion.
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 Wackos everywhere. No disagreement there. Just Interesting that the most racist wackos all seem to be Working for the Republican Party.
Also, don’t pretend that Democrats have never done anything racist themselves. Trying to frame this as Republican vs. Democrat does nothing to help either side. Historically, Southerners who now tend to vote Republican have been more open about their racism as a culture. Northerners have historically been much more subtle in their racism which can be seen through policies such as redlining and gerrymandering.
Both parties have blood on their hands as far as racism in this country goes.
I agree the entire system is founded on racist policy. But to compare some on the left proposing radical policies to current Republican officials spreading racist conspiracies is a false equivalence and only works to excuse the behavior as “oh well, crazies be crazy” I’ve never said there aren’t wackos on both sides but do take issue with folks both sidesing where a majority of the Unapologetic racists sit politically RIGHT NOW!
Donald trump has purposely courted and emboldened disgusting scum for the last 4 years and only now are some republicans finally starting to examine what that has done to the party.
And, yes I Understand that most democrats prop up racist policies as well because white supremacy is deeply embedded in so many of the laws of this country including the ones you mentioned.
The north retreated from reconstruction policy as the kkk grew and spread around the south. As social Darwinism became a popular philosophy whites of all political persuasions began to believe maybe blacks were at the bottom because that’s where they are supposed to be. That’s the system folks are still fighting against to this day so forgive me for at least listening to people who think maybe the best idea for a clearly broken part of that system is to try something else completely. Black people didn’t even count as people when this system was formed so maybe reforms of that system aren’t enough.
As a history major, I have to correct your statements about Reconstruction because they just aren’t accurate. That’s the textbook version. Bottom line is the northern soldiers (a big % of whom were black) went to the South to support to Freedman’s Bureau help educate black people and get black men registered to vote. Guess what happens? Black people start getting elected to local, state, and national level offices because there more black people men than white men in the South after the Civil War and of course this scares the hell out of southern whites because they were losing power and control. How do they respond? With the KKK and start murdering black people by the thousands. In 1871, Grant passes the KKK Act which is the only time in US history that the right to habeas corpus is suspended during “peace time”. It also allows Grant to use the US military to fight the KKK which he does. While the US military is fighting a war against the KKK, white southerners enact another strategy that ultimately changes the course of US history. They begin overstuffing ballot boxes every election at every level to get fairly elected black people out of office and replace them with their own people. Politicians all across the south who support reconstruction are being murdered by the KKK and several states enact martial law in certain counties/parishes where the violence is at its worst. South Carolina, of course, and Louisiana, specifically the New Orleans area are the two most impacted with North Carolina and Georgia not far behind. There was one election in South Carolina where 101% of eligible voters cast ballots. This strategy culminated in the 1876 presidential election where electoral college representatives flat out refused to acknowledge the actual results and those it was left to Congress to decide the election. The US military and KKK are still actively fighting while all of that is going on to keep in mind. Congress comes up with the Compromise of 1877 in which the Radical Republicans essentially sold their souls to Satan to get Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency by agreeing to withdraw all troops from the South and return to business as usual which introduce southern blacks to Jim Crow.
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 I don’t give a crap about party at the local level because there I can support who ever fits with my ideals. But at the national and state level my goal has been to get rid of trump at just about all costs and vote out Cornyn and Cruz for their unwavering support for him (on top of their policies I couldn’t disagree with more). I Give my support to anyone I find who fits my ideals but won’t waste my vote when i at least agree with more of one party’s stance when compared to the other. Is Biden a perfect candidate, far from it. Is he better than trump? It’s not even close.
Again, voting for the lesser of two evils is the bullshit mindset that got Trump elected in 2016 since he was viewed by a lot of people as the lesser of two evils between himself and Hilary.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 I don’t give a crap about party at the local level because there I can support who ever fits with my ideals. But at the national and state level my goal has been to get rid of trump at just about all costs and vote out Cornyn and Cruz for their unwavering support for him (on top of their policies I couldn’t disagree with more). I Give my support to anyone I find who fits my ideals but won’t waste my vote when i at least agree with more of one party’s stance when compared to the other. Is Biden a perfect candidate, far from it. Is he better than trump? It’s not even close.
Again, voting for the lesser of two evils is the bullshit mindset that got Trump elected in 2016 since he was viewed by a lot of people as the lesser of two evils between himself and Hilary.
#Gary2016
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@FarmerJayhawk said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 I don’t give a crap about party at the local level because there I can support who ever fits with my ideals. But at the national and state level my goal has been to get rid of trump at just about all costs and vote out Cornyn and Cruz for their unwavering support for him (on top of their policies I couldn’t disagree with more). I Give my support to anyone I find who fits my ideals but won’t waste my vote when i at least agree with more of one party’s stance when compared to the other. Is Biden a perfect candidate, far from it. Is he better than trump? It’s not even close.
Again, voting for the lesser of two evils is the bullshit mindset that got Trump elected in 2016 since he was viewed by a lot of people as the lesser of two evils between himself and Hilary.
#Gary2016
Gary Johnson was my vote as well in 2016. Need to go do my homework on their potential candidates this year in next few weeks.
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@kjayhawks I’m far from town. Thx!
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@kjayhawks did you know Mac was have a peaceful protest tmrw? On hutch post.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@FarmerJayhawk said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 I don’t give a crap about party at the local level because there I can support who ever fits with my ideals. But at the national and state level my goal has been to get rid of trump at just about all costs and vote out Cornyn and Cruz for their unwavering support for him (on top of their policies I couldn’t disagree with more). I Give my support to anyone I find who fits my ideals but won’t waste my vote when i at least agree with more of one party’s stance when compared to the other. Is Biden a perfect candidate, far from it. Is he better than trump? It’s not even close.
Again, voting for the lesser of two evils is the bullshit mindset that got Trump elected in 2016 since he was viewed by a lot of people as the lesser of two evils between himself and Hilary.
#Gary2016
Gary Johnson was my vote as well in 2016. Need to go do my homework on their potential candidates this year in next few weeks.
Jo Jorgensen is the LP nominee this year. Pretty uninspiring, honestly. I was pretty excited for Amash until his about face.
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@Crimsonorblue22 I heard the same, will be interesting
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@kjayhawks https://www.ksn.com/news/hutch-pd-concerned-about-safety-ask-organizers-to-cancel-demonstration-planned-for-saturday/
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@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 Wackos everywhere. No disagreement there. Just Interesting that the most racist wackos all seem to be Working for the Republican Party.
Also, don’t pretend that Democrats have never done anything racist themselves. Trying to frame this as Republican vs. Democrat does nothing to help either side. Historically, Southerners who now tend to vote Republican have been more open about their racism as a culture. Northerners have historically been much more subtle in their racism which can be seen through policies such as redlining and gerrymandering.
Both parties have blood on their hands as far as racism in this country goes.
I agree the entire system is founded on racist policy. But to compare some on the left proposing radical policies to current Republican officials spreading racist conspiracies is a false equivalence and only works to excuse the behavior as “oh well, crazies be crazy” I’ve never said there aren’t wackos on both sides but do take issue with folks both sidesing where a majority of the Unapologetic racists sit politically RIGHT NOW!
Donald trump has purposely courted and emboldened disgusting scum for the last 4 years and only now are some republicans finally starting to examine what that has done to the party.
And, yes I Understand that most democrats prop up racist policies as well because white supremacy is deeply embedded in so many of the laws of this country including the ones you mentioned.
The north retreated from reconstruction policy as the kkk grew and spread around the south. As social Darwinism became a popular philosophy whites of all political persuasions began to believe maybe blacks were at the bottom because that’s where they are supposed to be. That’s the system folks are still fighting against to this day so forgive me for at least listening to people who think maybe the best idea for a clearly broken part of that system is to try something else completely. Black people didn’t even count as people when this system was formed so maybe reforms of that system aren’t enough.
As a history major, I have to correct your statements about Reconstruction because they just aren’t accurate. That’s the textbook version. Bottom line is the northern soldiers (a big % of whom were black) went to the South to support to Freedman’s Bureau help educate black people and get black men registered to vote. Guess what happens? Black people start getting elected to local, state, and national level offices because there more black people men than white men in the South after the Civil War and of course this scares the hell out of southern whites because they were losing power and control. How do they respond? With the KKK and start murdering black people by the thousands. In 1871, Grant passes the KKK Act which is the only time in US history that the right to habeas corpus is suspended during “peace time”. It also allows Grant to use the US military to fight the KKK which he does. While the US military is fighting a war against the KKK, white southerners enact another strategy that ultimately changes the course of US history. They begin overstuffing ballot boxes every election at every level to get fairly elected black people out of office and replace them with their own people. Politicians all across the south who support reconstruction are being murdered by the KKK and several states enact martial law in certain counties/parishes where the violence is at its worst. South Carolina, of course, and Louisiana, specifically the New Orleans area are the two most impacted with North Carolina and Georgia not far behind. There was one election in South Carolina where 101% of eligible voters cast ballots. This strategy culminated in the 1876 presidential election where electoral college representatives flat out refused to acknowledge the actual results and those it was left to Congress to decide the election. The US military and KKK are still actively fighting while all of that is going on to keep in mind. Congress comes up with the Compromise of 1877 in which the Radical Republicans essentially sold their souls to Satan to get Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency by agreeing to withdraw all troops from the South and return to business as usual which introduce southern blacks to Jim Crow.
Yes that is a more detailed and accurate version of what I said. Agreeing with you that the north basically gave in to the south to allow blacks to become second class citizens. Withdrew all Troops vs retreat is pretty much the same thing. Thanks for the full picture.
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@FarmerJayhawk said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 Wackos everywhere. No disagreement there. Just Interesting that the most racist wackos all seem to be Working for the Republican Party.
Also, don’t pretend that Democrats have never done anything racist themselves. Trying to frame this as Republican vs. Democrat does nothing to help either side. Historically, Southerners who now tend to vote Republican have been more open about their racism as a culture. Northerners have historically been much more subtle in their racism which can be seen through policies such as redlining and gerrymandering.
Both parties have blood on their hands as far as racism in this country goes.
I agree the entire system is founded on racist policy. But to compare some on the left proposing radical policies to current Republican officials spreading racist conspiracies is a false equivalence and only works to excuse the behavior as “oh well, crazies be crazy” I’ve never said there aren’t wackos on both sides but do take issue with folks both sidesing where a majority of the Unapologetic racists sit politically RIGHT NOW!
Donald trump has purposely courted and emboldened disgusting scum for the last 4 years and only now are some republicans finally starting to examine what that has done to the party.
And, yes I Understand that most democrats prop up racist policies as well because white supremacy is deeply embedded in so many of the laws of this country including the ones you mentioned.
The north retreated from reconstruction policy as the kkk grew and spread around the south. As social Darwinism became a popular philosophy whites of all political persuasions began to believe maybe blacks were at the bottom because that’s where they are supposed to be. That’s the system folks are still fighting against to this day so forgive me for at least listening to people who think maybe the best idea for a clearly broken part of that system is to try something else completely. Black people didn’t even count as people when this system was formed so maybe reforms of that system aren’t enough.
It’s the height of privilege to tell the majority (92%!!) of black people they’re dead wrong to support either maintaining or increasing the their local police forces and decide that The Almighty White Saviors will just abolish the police and everything will he hunky dory, regardless of the black community’s opinion.
Never told anyone they were wrong. Just that I was willing to listen and I think racists are worse than optimists. When and where is that 92% Number from? Never even said if I agreed with abolish the police but ok. And yes as a white man I am the height of privileged. Just try not to pretend I’m. It like some folks. I don’t know the answers. I personally won’t solve systemic racism or police brutality. But I will continue to learn all I can.
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@FarmerJayhawk said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 Wackos everywhere. No disagreement there. Just Interesting that the most racist wackos all seem to be Working for the Republican Party.
Also, don’t pretend that Democrats have never done anything racist themselves. Trying to frame this as Republican vs. Democrat does nothing to help either side. Historically, Southerners who now tend to vote Republican have been more open about their racism as a culture. Northerners have historically been much more subtle in their racism which can be seen through policies such as redlining and gerrymandering.
Both parties have blood on their hands as far as racism in this country goes.
I agree the entire system is founded on racist policy. But to compare some on the left proposing radical policies to current Republican officials spreading racist conspiracies is a false equivalence and only works to excuse the behavior as “oh well, crazies be crazy” I’ve never said there aren’t wackos on both sides but do take issue with folks both sidesing where a majority of the Unapologetic racists sit politically RIGHT NOW!
Donald trump has purposely courted and emboldened disgusting scum for the last 4 years and only now are some republicans finally starting to examine what that has done to the party.
And, yes I Understand that most democrats prop up racist policies as well because white supremacy is deeply embedded in so many of the laws of this country including the ones you mentioned.
The north retreated from reconstruction policy as the kkk grew and spread around the south. As social Darwinism became a popular philosophy whites of all political persuasions began to believe maybe blacks were at the bottom because that’s where they are supposed to be. That’s the system folks are still fighting against to this day so forgive me for at least listening to people who think maybe the best idea for a clearly broken part of that system is to try something else completely. Black people didn’t even count as people when this system was formed so maybe reforms of that system aren’t enough.
It’s the height of privilege to tell the majority (92%!!) of black people they’re dead wrong to support either maintaining or increasing the their local police forces and decide that The Almighty White Saviors will just abolish the police and everything will he hunky dory, regardless of the black community’s opinion.
Never told anyone they were wrong. Just that I was willing to listen and I think racists are worse than optimists. When and where is that 92% Number from? Never even said if I agreed with abolish the police but ok. And yes as a white man I am the height of privileged. Just try not to pretend I’m. It like some folks. I don’t know the answers. I personally won’t solve systemic racism or police brutality. But I will continue to learn all I can.
This poll here https://news.gallup.com/poll/184511/blacks-divided-whether-police-treat-minorities-fairly.aspx
It does seem there’s a big divide in what a lot of white liberals want (fewer police, not Biden) and most black folks, who tend to be more conservative, especially on culture issues. Not sure what that is (maybe just pragmatism?) but certainly an interesting trend in our politics.
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@FarmerJayhawk I’d be interested to see result from a similar poll conducted in the last year or so instead of 5 years ago.
I’ve only just started to learn about the abolish police/prison idea so I’m in no way an expert. But the more I read about it (whether I agree or not I am still working through) it’s clear to me it is not close to the same level of “crackpot” idea as the Soros paying cops to murder black people then paying black people to riot conspiracies. That was my main point of contention. I was having myself a day yesterday and perhaps didn’t explain my point of view clearly enough and maybe got a bit fired up in my general crankiness.
You seem like an academic who likes to read and learn so I’d encourage you to at least understand more of what the movement is advocating for before rejecting it completely. Never hurts to learn more about why massive numbers of people are protesting in every single state.
Teen vogue of all places has a couple good intro articles if you’re interested. If not, obviously that’s your perogative.
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@FarmerJayhawk I’d be interested to see result from a similar poll conducted in the last year or so instead of 5 years ago.
I’ve only just started to learn about the abolish police/prison idea so I’m in no way an expert. But the more I read about it (whether I agree or not I am still working through) it’s clear to me it is not close to the same level of “crackpot” idea as the Soros paying cops to murder black people then paying black people to riot conspiracies. That was my main point of contention. I was having myself a day yesterday and perhaps didn’t explain my point of view clearly enough and maybe got a bit fired up in my general crankiness.
You seem like an academic who likes to read and learn so I’d encourage you to at least understand more of what the movement is advocating for before rejecting it completely. Never hurts to learn more about why massive numbers of people are protesting in every single state.
Teen vogue of all places has a couple good intro articles if you’re interested. If not, obviously that’s your perogative.
I found a similar poll (not the identical question so it’s not a great comparison) that found only about 1/3 of black adults favored cutting funding to their police department. https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/s23agrrx47/20200531_yahoo_race_and_justice_crosstabs.pdf
I’ll take another look at it for sure. I did take on the absolutely masochistic task of reading White Fragility, Foucalt’s postmodernism, and How to Be an Antiracist so I’m getting where they’re coming from, but the philosophical foundation seems incredibly shaky. I’m open to reducing the amount of police if we can maintain public safety, but the details of actually pulling it off will be very difficult to work through. For example, one of the biggest expenditures in police forces is pension obligations to retired officers. In some states (notably California) it’s unconstitutional to touch those pensions. There’s a lot of unanswered questions and not a lot of policy detail out there, hence my severe skepticism.
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More reading on the topic. Found this interesting and definitely raises some questions for me.
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/06/03/457251670/how-much-do-we-need-the-police
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@FarmerJayhawk said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@FarmerJayhawk I’d be interested to see result from a similar poll conducted in the last year or so instead of 5 years ago.
I’ve only just started to learn about the abolish police/prison idea so I’m in no way an expert. But the more I read about it (whether I agree or not I am still working through) it’s clear to me it is not close to the same level of “crackpot” idea as the Soros paying cops to murder black people then paying black people to riot conspiracies. That was my main point of contention. I was having myself a day yesterday and perhaps didn’t explain my point of view clearly enough and maybe got a bit fired up in my general crankiness.
You seem like an academic who likes to read and learn so I’d encourage you to at least understand more of what the movement is advocating for before rejecting it completely. Never hurts to learn more about why massive numbers of people are protesting in every single state.
Teen vogue of all places has a couple good intro articles if you’re interested. If not, obviously that’s your perogative.
I found a similar poll (not the identical question so it’s not a great comparison) that found only about 1/3 of black adults favored cutting funding to their police department. https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/s23agrrx47/20200531_yahoo_race_and_justice_crosstabs.pdf
I’ll take another look at it for sure. I did take on the absolutely masochistic task of reading White Fragility, Foucalt’s postmodernism, and How to Be an Antiracist so I’m getting where they’re coming from, but the philosophical foundation seems incredibly shaky. I’m open to reducing the amount of police if we can maintain public safety, but the details of actually pulling it off will be very difficult to work through. For example, one of the biggest expenditures in police forces is pension obligations to retired officers. In some states (notably California) it’s unconstitutional to touch those pensions. There’s a lot of unanswered questions and not a lot of policy detail out there, hence my severe skepticism.
A LOT of good data in that survey. And while you say 1/3 support cutting funding only a third oppose cutting funding as well so it’s not like it’s a clear cut issue.
The rest of that policing data though. Man there are some stark differences in the way police are viewed/received by white and black people. The saddest and most telling to me was 5% of black people feeling safer in the presence of police. What an absolute failure of policing that is.
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Minneapolis City Council has apparently voted to dismantle the Minneapolis PD with a big enough majority that it cannot be vetoed. https://theappeal.org/minneapolis-city-council-members-announce-intent-to-disband-the-police-department-invest-in-proven-community-led-public-safety/
I’m sure the debates about this nationally will will be calm and respectful, lol!
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@Texas-Hawk-10 wow, never act surprised what idiots will do once given power. The Democratic Party claims to love BLM but have done little to improve conditions in the inner cities. Most of these police brutality case are in democrat led states, cities and majority counsel leaders.
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@kjayhawks That’s literally what Minneapolis is now doing. Redirecting the massive amount of funding currently going to further militarize the police into community based programs. And it won’t happen overnight nor will it be without bumps and missteps.
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I’m not sure the council knows what they’re doing. At all. From their statement, “We recognize that we don’t have all the answers about what a police-free future looks like, but our community does,” they said, reading off a prepared statement. “We’re committed to engaging with every willing community member in the City of Minneapolis over the next year to identify what safety looks like for you.” The phrase police-free should scare the bejeezus out of everyone. https://www.startribune.com/mpls-council-majority-backs-dismantling-police-department/571088302/
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@benshawks08 defunding militarization is a good step. Disbanding the entire police department is quite possibly the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of. Call your support team when someone is breaking into your house or when your being assaulted lmao. They could’ve defunded and put money towards a more diverse police force, and proper training. Police training or lack there of is an issue. So having some random neighborhood watch guy with little to zero training is better?? Stuff like what happened down in Georgia to that kid trespassing will become the norm. People will take the law into their own hands. Several things could’ve been done logically, guess it’s back to the old west…
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@kjayhawks I’d encourage you to read more about what the defund the police movement is really asking for. Currently, police respond to way too many types of emergencies. Someone struggling with mental health, police. Today APD tweeted that they responded to a hand gliding crash. Surely that should have been EMS. Why would that situation need someone with a gun and a license to use force? Most burglaries/assaults and crimes in general aren’t interrupted by the police but instead investigated by them after the fact. And the clearance rates of those cases is laughable. You obviously don’t have to agree with disbanding the police but it would help if before you dismiss the idea you take a look at where it comes from.
Also, jogging while black is not trespassing. But good to know where you stand on that.
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Another interesting interview on the topic of you are interested in learning:
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/05/871083599/the-history-of-police-in-creating-social-order-in-the-u-s
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And some data to process:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/us/us-police-floyd-protests-country-comparisons-intl/index.html
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@kjayhawks I’d encourage you to read more about what the defund the police movement is really asking for. Currently, police respond to way too many types of emergencies. Someone struggling with mental health, police. Today APD tweeted that they responded to a hand gliding crash. Surely that should have been EMS. Why would that situation need someone with a gun and a license to use force? Most burglaries/assaults and crimes in general aren’t interrupted by the police but instead investigated by them after the fact. And the clearance rates of those cases is laughable. You obviously don’t have to agree with disbanding the police but it would help if before you dismiss the idea you take a look at where it comes from.
Also, jogging while black is not trespassing. But good to know where you stand on that.
Why would police respond to a hang gliding accident is because they do have first aid and basic medical training that can help stabilize a victim while paramedics/EMS make their way to a scene. Because police are out patrolling an area, they are usually closer to scenes like that than paramedics are. They can also radio to dispatchers if there are any special needs or circumstances the paramedics need to prepare for, if fire and rescue is needed with jaws of life and stuff like that.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Right. I get that. I’m saying that job could instead be done by someone without a gun, without license to use force against citizens.
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@benshawks08 You just completely missed the point. If a police officer, regardless if they’re armed or not, has the basic medical training to help in a situation like that, FYI they do, why would they not be the first ones on scene if they are closer than anyone else to give help?
Your position is delaying medical care to someone who needs it and could needlessly result in a person’s death when they could’ve been helped by someone going into the situation knows it’s a medical issue that can assist until better trained professionals can take over.
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@benshawks08 said:
…jogging while black is not trespassing. But good to know where you stand on that.
C’mon, don’t start looking for gotchas when you guys are arguing means while trying to attain common goals. The background of that Georgia incident involved reports of trespassing and burglary in the house being built, and videos are online that appear to show murder victim on site on prior days. But no one here said he deserved it because of trespassing. The concern raised was how vigilantes, if no police exist, would react to even simple trespass by going nuclear as happened to that poor guy.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 You are also completely missing the point. Defunding the police means reimagining the way our society works so that just maybe the person closest and most ready to handle a medical emergency is NOT an armed law enforcement officer.
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The city council literally said they were eliminating police, not just tweaking some things. Unless police-free doesn’t actually mean police-free, like defund the police doesn’t actually mean defund the police?Nobody has ever tried that. Even the poster child for the movement, Camden, NJ, hired most of the same officers back after rebuilding their force.
Here’s what could happen: crime rates fall because people stop reporting crime because why report if there aren’t police to investigate? I guess the rich people with really great insurance can get PI’s?
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@FarmerJayhawk They also said they will be replacing it with an alternative model for public safety. Wholly re imagining a system to keep people safe is not the same as abandoning safety.
Here’s what else could happen (because since it’s never been tried, you have absolutely NO IDEA):
Crime rates could fall as community and education programs lift people up and remove the primary motivation for crime, poverty.
People from the poorest and most marginal groups in our society begin to develop a level of trust in a system that wasn’t built to oppress them.
Homelessness will finally have enough funding to seriously address the issue (also reducing crime).
Here is what is already happening: People in certain communities aren’t reporting crime because they fear reporting to the police will only make the problem worse or nothing will be done about it anyway. Rich people have private security and hire private investigators because they know police clearance rates are crap.
And if you are paying attention the “the movement,” Camden, NJ, is not their poster child for the very reason you say.
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 You are also completely missing the point. Defunding the police means reimagining the way our society works so that just maybe the person closest and most ready to handle a medical emergency is NOT an armed law enforcement officer.
I’m not missing that point, I just don’t respect it because the plan is to defund without a plan in place to replace police is dumb. Considering who the representative of Minneapolis is and what her political beliefs are (socialist/communist leaning), I have even less respect for what she’s probably going to end up trying to propose because I strongly disagree with her political beliefs and how law enforcement looks in countries with those political systems.
Fixing 350 years of legalized racism in this country isn’t an overnight fix which is what many are demanding and it’s not realistic and any solutions that made by strictly partisan groups will have zero chance at long term success because the other side will ways be resentful and trying to prove that solution won’t work. Just look at Obamacare, it was crafted pretty much exclusively by the left with little to no input from politicians on the right. What happened when the right gained control of Congress? They started working to dismantle Obamacare because they largely had no input on it when it was created.
The only way to create lasting and permanent change in law enforcement is to get political leaders from both parties, law enforcement leaders from different parts of the country, and leaders from black communities together and talking to one another to come up with solutions that will have a lasting impact on the issue of law enforcement. What Minneapolis is trying to do will end up being an absolute failure.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 So you refuse to even consider the plan because you don’t like one person who represents the area and have rejected “what she’s probably going to end up trying to propose” before she even proposes it. Yep, that’s definitely the best way to get people from both parties and leaders from different communities talking.
You also have no idea that what they are doing will be an absolute failure because as @FarmerJayhawk said, it’s never been tried. And nothing is happening overnight and to suggest it is is simply ignorant of what is happening. They voted to work towards the goal of disbanding the police department. All police officers haven’t been fired today.
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@benshawks08 I believe the idea of any community suddenly deciding to devote funds to a wholesale approach to community support (catch-all phrase), while revamping police depts, is a dream only. Every antitax nut will use defunding police as a way of advancing extremist no-government and will insist on taxes being cut instead of devoting funds to alternate uses.
The most immediate result, I fear, is one that the people seeking it have not contemplated and will abhor: I predict the single greatest explosion in private gun ownership in our nation’s history.
Defunding might work in gun-free societies. That is not the US.
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@benshawks08 The Minneapolis City Council’s own words on the matter are they don’t have a plan in place on how replace Minneapolis PD. They also said that the reforms put in place 2 years ago aren’t changing things fast enough for their liking. No fcking sht on that one!!! You don’t fix decades worth of issues in two years. People have to be trained on new procedures, that takes time. New policies have to be given time measure their effectiveness with those who have been trained in those policies. They listened to people who are being emotional and not rational about a situation and made a decision that’s not based in logic, they made an emotional based decision without a plan in place to address the issues their decision will cause.
I have two personal stories of why what the Minneapolis City Council is doing is going to end up an absolute sh*tshow for them. The first one is the old principal at my school. A big percentage of students at the school I work come from one of the roughest neighborhoods in Houston (Greenpoint, aka Gunspoint for anyone familiar with Houston) so these are kids that don’t get much discipline at home and are usually major behavior issues at school. So this principal was desperate to get these kids behavior under control because we were one of the top scoring schools in the district prior to the rezoning that brought Greenpoint kids to my school. Our principal tried a bunch of different programs to help with discipline, but when there weren’t immediate results, she would abandon that idea to try something else. Nothing she did had any meaningful effect because she didn’t give anything time to work before declaring it a failure. Before she was principal, and before I got there, it was common that my school might have less than 5 openings a year (mostly retirements and upward promotions), there were actually some years where there were no openings. The year I got hired, there was about a 60% turnover in the staff all because of how bad a leader the principal was because she never either didn’t have a plan for something or didn’t give a plan enough time to determine it’s effectiveness. The only reason I’m still at the school is so I can finish up my 5th year at a Title 1 school and get the rest of my student loans forgiven. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve been gone after year 1 or 2 due to terrible leadership.
I see the same thing happening in Minneapolis. There were tangible and measurable steps taken to reform their police department to address issues, but we’re not given a chance to be successful and are being abandoned without a plan going forward that they’re going to basically be coming up with on the fly. That’s a recipe for disaster for Minneapolis and they will probably become the poster child city for how not to handle police reform.
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
All that tweet says to me is how much education in this country has been devalued over the years by both parties.
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@benshawks08 the young man that was gunned down in Georgia was caught on the people that shot him cameras for trespassing several times and identified by his mother. Which doesn’t dismiss them murdering him but a far cry from the mainstream media report of him just being hunted while jogging. People don’t go running in cargo shorts man common on. I refuse to comment further, good day sir.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 So how much time is enough time for Black people to live in fear of the police? How long should they shoulder a disproportionate weight of bad policies that negatively impact the community?
I too have worked at a school under bad leadership and all seen good leadership but your post about your situation shows how far we all still have to go. If you are trying to get somewhere, do you take 4 small steps and then measure how far you are from your goal now?
It hurts me to see your willingness to classify a neighborhood in need as “gunspoint” and then resent them “coming to [your] school.”
And to address the ACLU tweet, you agree education has been long ignored and underfunded by both parties. Where do you think that funding has gone? What is one group both democratic and republican mayors and council groups continually add funding for? Hmm… Of only such a group existed.
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@kjayhawks I have seen many people jogging in cargo pants and cargo shorts, particularly people of color.
And if you read the testimony at the hearing last week you will see that the 3 assailants literally chased him while he was running, bumping him with a truck and finally cornering him. There is no adequate word for it other than hunting.
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@FarmerJayhawk They also said they will be replacing it with an alternative model for public safety. Wholly re imagining a system to keep people safe is not the same as abandoning safety.
Here’s what else could happen (because since it’s never been tried, you have absolutely NO IDEA):
Crime rates could fall as community and education programs lift people up and remove the primary motivation for crime, poverty.
People from the poorest and most marginal groups in our society begin to develop a level of trust in a system that wasn’t built to oppress them.
Homelessness will finally have enough funding to seriously address the issue (also reducing crime).
Here is what is already happening: People in certain communities aren’t reporting crime because they fear reporting to the police will only make the problem worse or nothing will be done about it anyway. Rich people have private security and hire private investigators because they know police clearance rates are crap.
And if you are paying attention the “the movement,” Camden, NJ, is not their poster child for the very reason you say.
So I guess we’re putting people who commit violent felonies in detention? If a white kid rapes a girl, do we send him to therapy? There are so many unanswered questions that they have zero clue how to think through or come up with a coherent answer. We’ll never solve poverty entirely either. Without sufficient state capacity to enforce contracts, there’s little incentive to follow them, which will very much exacerbate issues of poverty that already exist.
Let’s just look at this from a game theory perspective. Effectively, you’ve created an incentive for crime. Without the ability to effectively enforce the law, you’ll have bad actors decide crime is a more attractive path. In GT parlance, you’ve made the payoff to crime higher than it otherwise would’ve been. No officer to bust you for drugs? Might as well sell on the busiest street corners. Nobody to respond to a break-in? Becomes more attractive to break into that Apple store for a Mac upgrade. Or: Apple hires private security at night and goes off half-cocked and kills a dumb kid for breaking in because well-trained police weren’t available. The multitude of things that could go VERY bad here are staggering.
A well-respected black leader in St. Louis texted me last night and asked, “dude what the f*** are they doing? This is craziness.” And look, I’ll be thrilled if it works. Really. But the thought of a “police-free” city absolutely terrifies me.
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“Analysis: Why the call to defund police is music to Trump’s ears”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/08/politics/defund-the-police-blm/index.html
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@benshawks08 said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
@Texas-Hawk-10 So how much time is enough time for Black people to live in fear of the police? How long should they shoulder a disproportionate weight of bad policies that negatively impact the community?
I too have worked at a school under bad leadership and all seen good leadership but your post about your situation shows how far we all still have to go. If you are trying to get somewhere, do you take 4 small steps and then measure how far you are from your goal now?
It hurts me to see your willingness to classify a neighborhood in need as “gunspoint” and then resent them “coming to [your] school.”
And to address the ACLU tweet, you agree education has been long ignored and underfunded by both parties. Where do you think that funding has gone? What is one group both democratic and republican mayors and council groups continually add funding for? Hmm… Of only such a group existed.
So how much time is enough time for Black people to live in fear of the police? How long should they shoulder a disproportionate weight of bad policies that negatively impact the community?
Not the same question that I addressed. The change itself needed to happen much more recently than 2 years ago, but since there’s no time machine to go back and address that issue, you have to start addressing them today. Minneapolis City Council’s own statement suggests those changes didn’t begin until 2 years ago when new policies and procedures were put into place. 2 years is nowhere near enough time to determine if those changes have had any meaningful positive effect. Instead, the city council decided to nuke everything and did so without a plan moving forward. That’s bad leadership.
I too have worked at a school under bad leadership and all seen good leadership but your post about your situation shows how far we all still have to go. If you are trying to get somewhere, do you take 4 small steps and then measure how far you are from your goal now?
Yes, you take those small steps forward, evaluate what’s working and what still needs to be improved on and keep moving forward. You don’t backtrack just because you don’t go from a standstill to full on spring immediately.
It hurts me to see your willingness to classify a neighborhood in need as “gunspoint” and then resent them “coming to [your] school.”
I don’t resent those kids being zoned to my school. They were zoned to our school despite 3 other schools in the district being closer to that neighborhood because we were one of the top performer schools in the district and they were their previous school was the lowest performing. My issue was with the principal who end up being completely unprepared for that change in demographics and didn’t do her homework and then didn’t give any plans the leadership team at my school came up with enough time to work.
And to address the ACLU tweet, you agree education has been long ignored and underfunded by both parties. Where do you think that funding has gone? What is one group both democratic and republican mayors and council groups continually add funding for? Hmm… Of only such a group existed.
Considering that funding for education and police come from two different levels of government, that fact kind of ruins the story you’re trying to create. School districts are funded at the state level while police departments are typically funded at the local level of government. The decrease in funding of public education isn’t going where you’re trying to imply it’s going.
Properly fixing these systemic issues will never happen as quickly as anybody wants them to happen. That’s the first thing people need to realize. Second thing is that these issues weren’t created overnight and therefore will not be solved overnight either. You don’t fix 350 years of legalized racism in 50 years. This issue is a marathon, not a sprint. Leaders from different groups with differing ideas need to come together to have discussions about applicable solutions that are achievable. The reason you have to have representatives from all sides involved because it gives ownership to all parties involved and gives them incentive to make these changes happen.
What’s happening in Minneapolis and other places that are calling to defund police is that cry is pretty much only coming from one side, the far left. Even most moderates on the left are against this idea of defunding police departments. All that’s going to come from what the Minneapolis City Council is doing is resentment and resistance from the right and moderate left because the city council is giving them little reason to want to see a new plan succeed because they no input into the new ideas.
They’re doing exactly to the right what has been happening to the black community for generations and that’s silencing their voices. Most BLM supporters aren’t anti-white, they just want their voices heard and respected as well along with white people. We know what silencing an influential groups voice does because we’re seeing it right now with these protests and riots and the left trying to silence the voice of the right isn’t going to end well for anyone in Minneapolis.
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@mayjay the point went light years over your head. No people don’t typically don’t go jogging in cargo shorts, to say otherwise is a lie. The point was the mainstream media portrayed as random rednecks hunting random minorities. Did they hunt him down? Sure they did but it wasn’t a random deal. They took the law into their own hands and should be punished accordingly.
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@kjayhawks said in Racial Truths and Untruths and the Search for Justice while Doing Justice (previously titled To Infinity and Beyond):
the point went light years over your head. No people don’t typically don’t go jogging in cargo shorts, to say otherwise is a lie
Maybe you need to live in a different place. Incidentally, I wasn’t lying but I can see why I only now remembered why discussing something with you is difficult. Disagree or different experiences=stupid or lying.
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@FarmerJayhawk said;
So I guess we’re putting people who commit violent felonies in detention? If a white kid rapes a girl, do we send him to therapy? There are so many unanswered questions that they have zero clue how to think through or come up with a coherent answer.
Let’s start with how the current system handles “a white kid rapes a girl.”
What happens first? Well a majority of the time absolutely nothing as most rapes go unreported. But let’s say she goes to hospital to get help and is even able to identify the culprit (most people are raped by people they already know). It is still unlikely that she will press charges because as she reports it to the police she will be told, “most of these cases come down to he said, she said so there really won’t be much of a case.” So she goes home and faces the arduous task of dealing with just about the most traumatic injury that can happen to a person knowing nothing will happen to the person she sees regularly. She will be forced to make drastic changes to her normal routine and likely lose many friends and people who support her because they won’t believe her especially because she didn’t press charges.
In this scenario, sending a white kid to therapy would be a win for me. You?
Now, what if she doesn’t know who committed the rape and does want to press charges. Clearance rates for these cases is horrendously low and likely her rape kit will be stuck in a giant line of rape kits that have yet to be evaluated. And all the stuff that happened to the girl in the first scenario still happens and now she also adds the fear of knowing her rapist (whom she can’t identify) is still out and about without anyone addressing the issue.
So that is from her perspective.
Now let’s look at it from the rapist’s perspective. White kid rapes girl, nothing happens. What incentive or motivations are there for him to not do it again. In the current system, he raped a girl knowing that if caught he would go to prison (though not for as long as his black friend if he were caught doing the same thing). Knowing that he’d be labeled a sex offender for the rest of his life. But for him that didn’t happen the first time (because it rarely does). What does that do to the fear of punishment (remember that originally wasn’t enough to prevent him from raping in the first place)? Is he now more afraid or less? Is he more likely, or less to rape again?
Even if he is caught, if he is charged and if he is found guilty (three pretty big ifs if you’ve been paying any attention to the goings on in America), his rate of recidivism is still very high and he is likely to rape again within his lifetime.
Unfortunately, as has been proven over and over again, punishment is not the best way to shape human behavior. Our entire system is built on a false pretense. You may want revenge, and seeing someone punished might make you feel better, but it doesn’t change behavior.
This is without even getting into the ridiculous race disparities in these punishments. And just to throw this out there, for every 9 people put to death by the state for crimes committed, 1 is set free due to new evidence proving their innocence or demonstrable evidence that justice and rule of law was not upheld during their original conviction.
Next let’s take this one: “Nobody to respond to a break-in? Becomes more attractive to break into that Apple store for a Mac upgrade. Or: Apple hires private security at night and goes off half-cocked and kills a dumb kid for breaking in because well-trained police weren’t available.”
A. Trained cops kill dumb kids for breaking in at a higher rate in this country than any other comparable democracy.
B. Apple, the mall, and everyone else who can afford it, already hire private security at night, during the day, when they are open and when they are closed.
THIS is the system you are upholding and claiming there is no alternative to. I think we can do better and it would be immoral not to at least try.
