Running racism in America thread

The example given - about gun laws - is a terrible example for comparison. And look: I don’t like guns. I’m pro-gun control, especially for our cops. But New Zealand simply doesn’t have the size, history, drug issues or competitive ethos/ambition the US does, all of which contribute to the problems the US has.

 

The problem with the United States being so big is that it gives the pendulum more room to swing. When almost anything is accomplished involving politics, there seems to be an almost inevitable swing backward in response. Then, there’s a surge back until society eventually settles into a midpoint that inches toward that positive change.

New Zealanders also have the advantage of spending most of their lives upside-down. That probably improves the blood circulation to their brains.

 

So here’s my question: The guy was drunk and asleep. Wtf did the cops have to handcuff him?

 

To me it’s a textbook case for why cops should have to assess a police call situation before even having access to a gun. Even in that situation goes bad - even if a cop is hurt - it’s a preferable outcome.

The gun is in the car, locked in a case controlled by remote access or ever-changing codes, and cops have to explain why they want to access that gun before they’re given access to it. Having to conduct all kinds of stops without a gun would change the nature of those interactions dramatically, I think.

 

I’m guessing he woke up at least a little during the sobriety test.

Any other time and I think this is a fairly unremarkable shooting. It wouldn’t surprise me if this officer has success in court.

 

If he’s charged at all.

 

I’m sorry. You’re new here, right? It was a black man being black. That’s all the cops need these days. Don’t want to get shot, then stop being black.

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of course

 

It would be great if Gross National Happiness was more important than GDP. Of course, that would require examining why places like Finland and Bhutan score much, much higher than the USA.

 

I think this incident was an example of the massive failure in training cops -- which boils down to this: why do so many non-violent crimes end up with a black guy dead? In all of the police shootings in the last few years that the black community is justifiably questioning, how many involved a suspect, with an actual weapon (not a damn hoagie or cell phone), where there was probable cause that the suspect had just committed a crime in which he used or threatened to use the weapon?

I'll tell you: none.

A white guy encountering police after passing a fake $20 or a white guy found sleeping off a drunk in his car in a Wendy's drive-through line is going to live through the experience. Guaranteed.

This cop in Atlanta couldn't bring a drunk guy to the station to sleep it off without it turning into a massive clusterfuck, which included the suspect stealing his taser, then shot while running away. I don't give a shit whether he pointed the taser at the cop. From what I know about those weapons, the wires couldn't have reached the cop anyway. And it was a drunk guy, running, and aiming backwards. He couldn't have hit water in that situation if he fell out of a boat.

Now we're back to a lather-rinse-repeat of the George Floyd situation. There will be massive protests and likely more violence and looting. All because Barney Fucking Fife in Atlanta couldn't handle a textbook Friday night situation without using lethal force.

And as an aside, this Atlanta cop and Derek Chauvin have probably been personally responsible for more COVID-19 transmissions in this country than 10,000 Lake of the Ozarks parties.

 

Agree with some of this. I think I totally miss your point on Covid.

I think, as a doughy white guy, I’d anticipate being shot if I stole a cop’s taser and fired it at him. I would not expect to be detained the way Floyd was, not, obviously, killed, or shot while sleeping the way Breanna Taylor was, or die the way many others have, Tamir Rice, Brown, etc. I wouldn’t be followed the way Trayvon Martin was.

But I would expect to get a DUI if cops found me at the wheel passed out in a drive thru, and if I resisted arrest, stole a taser and fired it at the cops, I would expect to be shot. Maybe I’m off on that.

I don’t really see it in this case. Things could have gone better. We should expect things to go better. Hope things go better. But I’m not sure I see something here where I would have expected to be treated differently than this guy was.

I see people online saying they should have towed his car and let him leave and arrested him later... maybe but that’s completely changing how we handle DUIs. Maybe that’s what we need to do but that is a drastic change.

 

I'm assuming everything named "Colonial" will have to change its name, like the golf tournament?

 

It was a single example in a world of hundreds.

Australia, which has a large gun culture with extensive farming and ranching needs, put strict gun laws in place after a mass shooting.

Away from guns, Germany - and much of western Europe - has an unemployment system in place that shames the US.

How Germany Saved Its Workforce From Unemployment While Spending Less Per Person Than the U.S. — ProPublica

South Korea handled its first battle with the pandemic that it's now in position to not be overwhelmed by a second wave that appears to be starting there and has been more difficult to contact trace.

But our approach is always the best. How dare we borrow ideas from Australians, Germans, or Koreans.