The Police Problem - Bigger Than Racism
Not sure what got me looking at this today, but it's been on my mind, the whole idea that there is a "War Against Young Black Men".
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I went to look at the numbers and found a Washington Post DATABASE (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-database/) about it. However, my husband, (who is "woke"
said it "wasn't credible". So, I found an article by aljazeera.com (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/5/25/how-many-people-have-police-killed-since-george-floyd) . I also found data from the British Medical Journal (https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/fatal-police-shootings-of-unarmed-black-people-in-us-more-than-3-times-as-high-as-in-whites/) and a website called "https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/".
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Over 1000 people have been killed by cops since George Floyd. About 50 percent have been white. Now the data on whether individuals are armed is interesting. Out of 10,000 people killed in the past 8 years, about 1000 had no weapon at all. Over 500 had TOY weapons. Some had rocks. Three had a pen. Also: a machete, taser, ax. Of the *completely* unarmed individuals, about 40% were white.
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Now, there's a lot being said about the fact that there is a disproportionate number of young black men getting killed. But I think the numbers point to a different problem. Black Lives Matter, All Lives Matter, too many cops are killing people. PERIOD. The data also shows that sometimes it's the same cop. And that the cops are not getting prosecuted.
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I find myself thinking that as long as this is perceived as a black problem, its not going to gain traction. But the fact is, it's bigger than that. Some police officers are too quick to shoot first, ask questions later. Police officers are not being trained to de-escalate. And the bad cops are not being removed. It's more than just a problem of racism. And part of the reason I am SURE that it's not just racism is because some of the cops doing the killing are black. We just don't hear about it.
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A friend of mine is quick to say that "Defund the Police" is a problematic message. As I look at the data, I think "defund" is not the appropriate solution. "Re-train in de-escalation". "Recruit a higher caliber of police officers". And REMOVE a cop who kills an unarmed person. No matter what reason. Just remove them. And charge them with manslaughter. And force them to have a criminal felony record so that no one will hire them for law enforcement or even security. So that it is illegal for them to be armed. Even if they only spend 1 month in jail. Even if their punishment is community service. I want them to have a felony record.
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I honestly believe that if it was a felony for a police officer to kill an unarmed civilian, and a misdemeanor for a police officer to kill a person who is armed with something other than a REAL gun, a federal crime, things would change.
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