I know a young white southern baptist family, father in the county sheriff's dept. He responded to a domestic violence call which escalated to a child abuse/neglect case. A young African American boy was on his way to foster care. This father of a young girl fought a difficult battle to adopt the young boy. He's now a loved member of an amazing family.
I challenge you.. for every example of police brutality you cite, also cite a case where a life was saved, or changed for the better. They're out there folks, every day, in every state. Think about it, think about how many lives have been turned around through intervention. You may HATE the idea of it, but law enforcement intervention is often the catalyst to someone changing for the better. Unfortunately we can reach rock bottom, a point where even family can't help. To every disillusioned chap who cites an example of being arrested, or knowing someone that was arrested, take two minutes to find a story where a life was changed as a result of law enforcement intervention. Sometimes, we're too full of pride to save ourselves from ourselves. Who helps, family? Who helps when they fail?
Regarding use of force, I pose this.. it's cause and effect. You chaps who feel your civil rights are being violated are more vocal and more dangerous anyone previous. You think it's okay threaten and kill cops. How is one to respond? How does any force respond an opposing force? Use less force? Use more force? We have two choices.. disarm or arm. Who's fault is it if the latter is chosen? Our country's? Our local government? Our local law enforcement? I say it's yours, people carrying this torch. You and the assholes actually out there showing their asses to cops. YOU are the problem.
This last point will sting and I'm sorry, but it needs to be said. African Americans.. think about your culture. Think about your households. Think about what is common belief among a growing number of your group, that you should fear and hate law enforcement. Teachers, parents, aunts, uncles, sisters and brothers all okay in communicating to their own that police are to be feared and hated. Look at every other ethnicity that comprises the US population; do you see any other ethnicity doing this? Let's keep the challenges Hispanics are having out of this; admittedly there's work to do there. Do you see whites, Asians, Hispanics, Native Americans, or any other ethnicity doing this? Okay with saying fuck the police? I'm talking as a larger percentage; we all have bad apples.
To this I say, it takes one side starting somewhere. You're waging war when you could be enjoying whatever it is you enjoy while having a basic respect for people. I love speed, know how many times basic respect has gotten me out of a ticket? It's not my skin color, trust me.
If there were a highly respected African American, someone of a Martin Luther King caliber to rise up and plea for change, saying that African Americans should take the first step, could you? Could you teach your children that the police are there for good reason? Imagine the possibilities. Imagine what could happen if all of a sudden, cops nationwide didn't have to fear for their lives, if they knew that no certain ethnicity had the propensity to respond violently against them vs. the next.
Again back to my point, how does one respond? Disarm? Arm? Be less cautious? Be more cautious?
Trust. Respect. When that shit flows both ways, anything is possible. This can end one of two ways. More violence or less. Blaming another is way too easy. I challenge an entire ethnicity to bring about change. We all need to take care of our own. I challenge you to find a Hindu in your state who's committed a violent crime. Google away. I say this in hopes only to demonstrate the power of what happens when an ethnicity takes care of their own. If African Americans want to be perceived as peaceful and non-threatening, you all need to initiate the change. You can't kill people and demand equal rights. It's your fault the perception is "on the whole." You have not taken care of your own. You let your brothers and sons commit violence. Yes, it's your fault.
