Thinking about the Teenage Pool Party and the people defending the cops. I have a question for you

[Hekate]

A couple of people here want it understood that cops are to be obeyed no matter what, any time any where, and that the 14 y.o. girl no doubt brought her throwdown on herself.

I've got to tell you up front I am really upset.

So here's my question: I wonder if it isn't time for "proper" police/civilian interactive behavior to be taught to all kids in high school.

Today I was driving home from the grocery store listening to this story on NPR, and wondering: Should all kids of all colors have a class in the high school gym on how to behave extremely subserviently to armed uniformed police officers?

We can't just get by on saying Yes sir and No sir any more, can we? Not when just giving cops a funny look much less seriously having a teenage attitude can mean a death sentence.

Kids have got to practice cringing at an early age, so they'll know the right way to do it, right down to laying face-down in the dirt before they're even told to.

I include white kids in this because I remember those protestors at UC Berkeley who were cuffed, kneeling, unresisting, and a cop walked along the line of them pepper spraying their eyes. Obviously they were doing it wrong. I mean the young people, not of course the police.

Help me out here. What. The. Hell.

[TexasProgresive]

1. K&R

I believe that respect generates respect. If the cops speak respectfully then we might respond the same. What I think is they, the pigs in my day, want confrontation and so they treat people all the same dangerous criminals to children at play. I also think that a lot of aggressive cops are in roid rage.

[Hekate]

5. Interesting that you bring up roid rage. The only place I have heard that is here, but I think ...

....that there is something to it. Time for all cops to have regular drug tests, just like so many of the rest of the country must endure, and with much better reason.

[TexasProgresive]

9. I think anytime a cop fires his weapon

or is in an extreme physical altercation, he/she should turn in their gun(s), stripe naked in front of 2 civilian witnesses and pee in a cup.

[Travis_0004]

54. Most cops are drug tested

I would also bet that steroid use is less than 5% in most police departments.

I do find it funny when a cop is 300 lbs, or 140 lbs and DU accuses him of roid rage. If they are on steroids, they are noting doing a good job with them.

[jeff47]

95. Depends on the department and what they're testing for.

They probably are not being tested for steroids.

They definitely are not being tested for HGH.

[druidity33]

97. I would take that bet

and i would win. Unfortunately we'll never know because they'll never test all police personnel and if they do, there will be ways to doctor the tests. These are police officers, they're aware that evidence can disappear (or be manufactured), they will use the power they have...

[bvar22]

99. It would be easy to test for the illegal use of steroids.

If Police Departments test random (or incident related) for mood altering illegal drugs,
adding a test for illegal steroids would be EZ.

[awoke_in_2003]

98. 95% of the time you see cops doing this shit...

they are muscle bound goons. Steroids explain the muscles and rage.

[daleanime]

2. I'll believe that not all cops are bad....

when I see some bad cops turned in by some good cops.


Until then, I'm not buying it.

[questionseverything]

22. police sergeant prosecuted

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/illinois-police-sergeant-jeffrey-pelo-doubled-serial-rapist/story?id=11497530

[daleanime]

23. Next......

[questionseverything]

27. well that is an example of a bad cop turned in

prosecuted and rotting in prison for being a criminal by fellow cops

in general i distrust cops but anytime anyone says an entire group is exactly the same..they are probably mistaken

[yeoman6987]

3. I don't know but I can't believe it when a cop hands me a ticket

and I say, "thank you." Every time I pull away after saying it, I ask myself, "what are you thinking?" And then I get mad about the ticket and go immediately to the post office to send the check out so I can forget the entire thing. I have had 4 over my lifetime and do the same thing.

[Iggo]

4. Daryl Gates was right! Teach your kids how to properly get arrested!

[bravenak]

6. People defending the racist cops probably share that characteristic with the cops.

Racist always defend each other from public shaming. They twist themselves into pretzels and play word games.

[Fumesucker]

8. That happens any time you try to defend a non-principle based policy

We see the pretzel-twisting word games here all the time on a wide variety of subjects, not just racism.

[bravenak]

11. On pretty much every issue.

But this crap really gets to me.

[chervilant]

42. Assaulting our younglings...

What's their agenda:

"Look what we can do to your kids--we didn't kill anyone THIS time, but look what we can do!"

This needs to stop. I hope they prosecute the cop who assaulted that little girl, and I hope they charge the racist women who started the altercation.

[bravenak]

44. I agree with all of that.

There is no excuse for this stuff and it happens all the time.

[lovemydog]

74. Yes. Happens all the time

and is rarely captured on video. Has happened all throughout American history. Will continue happening too. We need major changes. Massive. Fortunately we have the ability to keep communicating, sharing information, etc. Down thread here, there's some good discussion of movies & books. I'm fascinated by learning more and I'm sure many others are too.

[questionseverything]

18. occupy

http://abcnews.go.com/US/occupy-protesters-beaten-pepper-sprayed/story?id=14990310

[bravenak]

20. Do you have a point?

Cops are racist. They are also abusive to people going against the system, because they uphold the system. The system is racist. See? Racism is all over the place.

[questionseverything]

26. so you understand that the folks from occupy were trying to fix things for ALL OF US?

you see the system as racist i think the system is about funneling money toward the 1%ers...but our enemy is the same

[bravenak]

31. Exactly. Same enemy different reasons.

[heaven05]

45. so the system is not racist

that's what you're saying....Occupy IS OVER.....trayvon up to the pool party and all the men and women of color being executed n their homes and streets in between is continuing. Economics means nothing when social justice cannot be bought with money. Ask serena if her money bought her equality in the eyes of the privileged attending her matches.... vox.com june 7

[questionseverything]

50. i pointed out occupy because it is an example of police abuse against whites

occupy is not over...they are buying up debt and forgiving it and they are becoming political, endorsing bernie


i did not say the system is not racist...it is...the 1% want it that way, they use it to divide and distract us

it has been over 20 years since the police in my county executed its first victim...he was a white boy that was mentally challenged,he had driven off without paying for gas...he had done it many times,the station would just call his folks and they would settle up later...but this day a new attendant was on duty and a roided up cop came from 15 miles away to shoot him dead ...there was quite a lot of angry about it but in the long run...the cop said "he feared for his life" and was not prosecuted...so while i understand it happens more to POC it still happens to whites too....that is my point that we need to work together to change this for EVERYONE

[heaven05]

37. +1000

[bravenak]

46. ...

[m-lekktor]

38. I don't understand how people can defend them after watching these videos.

I just watched a video on facebook where a cop shot a young UNARMED hispanic looking boy in the back as he was walking away. after the kid was down and bleeding everywhere the cop was very roughly wrenching his arms behind his back to handcuff him and when the cop realized the poor young man was fading out he started screaming at him angrily COME ON COME ON like it was his fault he was dying. I couldn't believe it. the kid died.

so yeah i haven't been reading the threads and i haven't looked at the pool party incident video with the young girl because i cant stand the cruelty. I am not sure what possessed me to watch the one i just described on facebook. I am glad i haven't been looking at those threads if people are making excuses for the cops.

[bravenak]

43. I've been avoiding the threads too.

It's too upsetting to watch the same people make the same excuses everytime something like this happens.

[m-lekktor]

47. I will probably watch the video but not look at the comments.

I feel i should at least "witness" it out of respect for and in solidarity with the young girl. I watched the facebook one I mentioned because my friend who posted it is this big burly weight lifting tough guy who was totally distraught over it and i had to see for myself.

I am still upset over this texas incident where somebody wrote racist shit on a family's house and poisoned and killed their sweet little puppy, the puppy picture was included in the article. Cruelty always bothers me deeply, I don't handle it well.

[bravenak]

48. The video will piss you off.

I was so mad I don't know what to say.

[lovemydog]

56. Yeah, it upsets me too,.

Like you say 'out of respect for and in solidarity with' the young girl I watched it. We owe it to ourselves to learn as much as we can about the racist history of our country and how it continues today.

Fortunately there's great information available. Here's a list of amazon bestsellers on African-American history:

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-African-American-History/zgbs/books/4867

I encourage anyone reading this to share some of your favorites.

[m-lekktor]

59. i have "the New Jim Crow" book on my kindle but i haven't read it yet.

also on that list i have the book "the half that has never been told". I am also familiar with King Leopold and his evil doings in africa. anyway I collect too many books for my kindle and get backlogged. I need to get the hell off the internet and read more! lol anyway I didn't look at all the pages on that amazon link but i have a few others on my kindle that deal with AA history if i find them easily i will post another comment with the names.. I would be interested in that Ta-Nehisi Coates book that is on the first page of those books. He is always interesting to read.

[lovemydog]

63. Thanks very much m-lekktor.

I know what you mean about getting backlogged in the number of books you want to read. I'm reading a recent book called Black Against Empire, a history of the Black Panther movement. I often read books fairly quickly but this one I'm going slow and savoring every chapter. It's very detailed and well-written. I suggest it one to anyone reading here, as well.

I appreciate it when anyone recommends books. Who knows, maybe someone else is reading our posts and can benefit from it too. I hope people keep recommending documentaries and other movies too because one can only read so much, lol. Some movies I recommend are Selma and Malcolm X, and the documentary Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners.

[m-lekktor]

67. I saw both the movies you mentioned Selma and Malcolm x.

I have watched the malcolm x one more than once. I own Selma so i can rewatch that anytime. I watched a documentary on the black panthers and how cointelpro/FBI fucked them up. anything about them is always interesting. I also have a book by angela davis on prisons. I will look for that documentary about her I wasn't aware of that one

on edit: i originally posted a link to a documentary on youtube called "blackpower mixtape" but after i posted the link i discovered the other parts to it were deleted. anyway i own it and haven't watched it yet. it is a swedish documentary about the black power movement that is supposed to be good.

[lovemydog]

70. The Black Power Mixtape.

Yes. I saw that a while back. It's outstanding. Didn't know it was free on youtube. Will watch it again.

Hey, we're communicating & sharing information. So we're not wasting too much time on the internet, lol!

[m-lekktor]

72. i edited my post. they deleted parts of it

i didnt realize it until after i posted the link to part 1. the complete copy might be on there elsewhere though but you already saw it anyway!

[lovemydog]

78. Oh yeah. Here it is on netflix.

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/The-Black-Power-Mixtape-1967-1975/70166238

It's also available via amazon and google play.

I encourage everyone to see it!

[m-lekktor]

81. I will watch my copy of this documentary this week. here are two other books

I have on my kindle of interest:

The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America by Gerald Home

http://www.amazon.com/The-Counter-Revolution-1776-Resistance-Origins/dp/1479893404


and

Fear Itself by Ira Katznelson. this one deals with the compromises FDR had to make with the racist/segregationist southern DEMS to make his "New Deal" pass.


http://www.amazon.com/Fear-Itself-Deal-Origins-Time/dp/0871407388/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433823132&sr=1-3&keywords=fear+itself

[lovemydog]

82. Thank you very much.

Those books look outstanding.

As a side note, from the Black Power Mixtape I became fascinated with the Pan-African movement. I've found some great interviews with Kwame Touré (Stokely Carmichael) & others on youtube!

[m-lekktor]

83. I am anxious to watch that one.

I would watch it now but I should make an attempt to try to get some sleep! lol anyway I need to find that Angela Davis one you mentioned as well.

[Fumesucker]

7. A PSA campaign about it would be good too...

Maybe the ACLU could run the campaign.

[Curmudgeoness]

36. This can be the PSA

&feature=player_detailpage

My brother-in-law, who is a retired cop, thinks this is the best PSA available.

[valerief]

102. Excellent! Of course, Rock would need to add shooting and tasing to the PSA. And NOT putting one's

hands to one's waistband.

[WillowTree]

10. Way to overstate it, Hekate.

'Cause there really is no difference between "behave[ing] extremely subserviently" and "cringing" and just following directions until a situation can be sorted out.

That kind of exaggeration doesn't go anything good for the credibility of your argument.

[bravenak]

12. Ha!

First one

[Hekate]

15. Really? Did you see that video? Did you see that girl? There WAS NO "sorting out".

The cops came loaded for bear and one of them drew his gun and pointed it at KIDS. What law did any of them break?

I have had it. I have had it up to here. My gods.

When I was in elementary school my family lived across the street from a couple of LAPD officers, so that sweet lesson about how "the police are your friend" was not only believable but true, in my childhood experience. Now I am a grandma of a 10 year old boy, and I look at his blue eyes and wonder if some hyped-up armed idiot in a uniform is going to shove a gun in HIS face when he is a teenager in a sullen mood, or if he's in a noisy group engaging in horseplay.

I want to tear my hair out.

[WillowTree]

30. Yeah, I knew I was going to get stoned for that.

Look. You weren't there and neither was I. I do know someone who was there, however. No, I'm not saying she's my "very bestest friend in the whole wide world", just a friend from school that I get to see very occasionally when I'm down that way.

According to her, and I have no reason not to believe her, have never known her to lie, she wasn't there from the very beginning, but she was present when the police arrived and she says that initially they told the kids, all the kids, black and white, to sit (not "lay face down&quot down on the lawn and that the only kids who got handcuffed where the ones who either kept fighting or got belligerent with the cops. And, because I'm not a member of the "The cops are always violent stormtroopers and, therefore, always, always wrong" brigade, that had a ring of truth to it to me. So what we see in that video is the cop wrestling the girl down (yes, I heard him say "face down" at that point) to handcuff her.

Could she be making it up? Possible. But I tend to believe that's what happened.

And no, I don't think the way he manhandled that young girl was appropriate. Just saying that I, and a lot of other people, tend to tune out someone's argument when they pepper it with gross exaggerations.

I'm done here. Have a great evening.

[Curmudgeoness]

41. So, if all the kids,

black and white, were told to sit down on the lawn, why did I see some white kids in bathing suits standing around watching? Why were they not sitting down on the lawn? There is only one reason, and that is because the cop was focused on the black kids. I can also see the cops' side of encounters, but you said it already---this was not appropriate interaction with those kids.

[avebury]

53. I want to know why the white woman who physically

assaulted one of the kids was not arreasted for assault.

[questionseverything]

19. they look pretty subservient to me

http://abcnews.go.com/US/occupy-protesters-beaten-pepper-sprayed/story?id=14990310

[yardwork]

24. Nonsense. /nt

[steve2470]

25. The cop was clearly out of line

HE was more out of control than any of those people. He was dealing with teenagers, mostly, who are not famous for being overly obedient to authority figures. All the guy had to do was interview some people and let the rest go home peacefully.

The guy needs to be fired and barred from further direct-with-public police work. If they put him behind a desk somewhere AWAY from the public, I'm fine with that also.

[questionseverything]

28. way too many good people out of work to keep a guy like that

on the payroll

[TreasonousBastard]

13. My first comment is...

that this is an anonymous discussion board made up of people who have no known credibility. Who really cares what any of us think?

But, more importantly, is that there are thousands of police stops and interventions every year (maybe even every day) and we just get to hear about the worst of them. Sure, there are bad ones we don't hear about, but we never hear about the good ones at all.

A week or so ago I was listening to a panel discussion with some serious police chiefs talking about this sort of thing. They were very well aware of the political and social problems out there and were sensitive to community concerns. I think they would all agree this was handled badly, but they did explain the training involved to try to reduce tensions while being aware of possible triggers that could make things worse. It's not an easy job.

I don't remember many of the details, but what impressed me was that they were making a good faith attempt to solve problems, not cause or inflame them.

[lovemydog]

34. That's true but police have killed thousands of unarmed black people

Last edited Mon Jun 8, 2015, 11:24 PM - Edit history (1)

throughout American history. Those killings weren't captured on video & didn't get media coverage. And the amount of brutality and harassment is immeasurable but is described in books and on web sites. Very few police have ever been taken to task for the brutality. The institutional angle of investigations and district attorneys, the composition & culture of police forces, favors police and fails to protect people of color in ways that shock the conscience. Those institutional patterns are still in place most everywhere now, and the brutality continues now. We must change this in the interests of fairness and equality before the law.

[LittleBlue]

14. The cop went full derp mode

with that barrel roll. His defenders must have died of embarrassment watching that

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

16. If I were a parent, I would tell my kids to obey the police no matter what

because frankly too many cops are behaving like psychopaths. And the ones who are not are still busy defending psychopaths. i have yet to hear one single officer on TV admitting that any policeman has ever done anything wrong. They are always right in their opinion and that kind of attitude makes it highly unlikely that they'll ever weed out the bad apples that increasingly populate their departments. Their silence makes all of them complicit. The 14 year old girl who was slammed down on a concrete sidewalk in her bikini could very easily have been gunned down by the insane, out-of-control officer. In his obviously enraged state, he could have gone on a shooting spree after drawing his gun. I suspect drugs are involved in this kind of behavior and certainly touchy inflated egos and emotions that are on a hair trigger. The young girl should thank her lucky stars she's still alive.

[kwassa]

17. The young girl shouldn't have to thank her lucky stars that she is alive.

She should be protected from having men like this in uniform in the first place.

[truebrit71]

69. Bingo!

..

[Hekate]

80. Damn right

[stage left]

84. +1

[uponit7771]

39. That doesnt work for black folk either, the guy who got shot getting his ID after being

... told by the cop to get his ID was obeying and still was shot.

I'm starting to think black folk being the "lower" is part of cop culture in the US

[elehhhhna]

21. yo I just saw a thread that mansplained how activists are whiney

The victims are doing that wrong, too!!!

Stupid victims. Victims = losers.

[herding cats]

29. You've got it right.

If the kids don't bow down properly subservient to the police, then they're suspects in unlawful use of a pool, or sidewalk, or basketball court or whatever. All because they have too much melanin in their skin. Even if they live in the neighborhood, they're still not a part of the community to the racist. They're not white after all. How could they belong in the same community as someone born white? The nerve of those people for bringing friends to use the community pool in such a "nice" neighborhood. Someone had better show them their place before they start doing things like this on a regular basis!

What really is ticking me off the most is how, even after seeing the video, hearing testimony from the kids not being profiled (the white kids) and learning that a white woman was verbally attacking these kids with racist language, then attacked a black girl physically, escalating the entire thing to new levels. Some people still cannot accept that this was racism. They cannot deal with seeing their racial bias so blatantly shredded before their eyes. Instead they're clinging to the words of internet trolls spreading hate and lies as if they're a newly discovered gospel from the bible. When they keep being told that their excuses don't stand up to scrutiny, they still insist on playing verbal gymnastics in an attempt to make it not be true. They're that emotionally invested in their racism. People like that cannot be reasoned with, because they wont' accept reason. They cannot be taught, because they don't want to learn.

That is the what those kids were dealing with. A blind hate so deeply a part of some racist adults lives it was like a religion to them and they were zealots of their beliefs.

[betsuni]

73. They need some sort of twelve step program to free them from their dependence ...

on denying racism. If they could just accept and release their ego -- Buddhist twelve step maybe? It's ugly.

[herding cats]

79. There has to be some way to help them out of their cycle of hate.

It's not healthy for them or the society they live in. If a support group doesn't work, there's always anti anxiety drugs to help curb their irrational fear of people different from themselves. That seems a bit harsh though, but I really don't know what to do with worst of the them. It's not as if they're out there seeking a path to enlightenment. They're convinced they're views are righteous.

[malaise]

32. Great post - check this out

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/08/mckinney-texas-black-children-pool-violence
<snip>
It made me cry to see a gun pulled on these children. I only had a police officer begin to pull a gun on me once, but it scared the shit out of me and altered my interactions with police forever – and I was an adult. How scarred will these children be after such trauma?

It made me cry because, even though I knew before watching that no one was going to get shot, I couldn’t shake the terror that one of those kids was going to wind among the Guardian’s count of police killings. If my terror was palpable despite only viewing what happened on video, how much terror must those poor kids have endured?

It made me cry to see a young black woman, vulnerable and almost naked in her bathing suit, being manhandled by a cop. Who tossed her around like her body was his property. Who listened to her sobbing for her mother, yet pushed her face down into the grass, kept his knee in her back and handcuffed her.

It made me cry to think about how the black lives matter discourse (including my own) is often focused on men who are killed by police, at the expense of recognizing the many black women who face similar mortal injuries - or any number of violent, sexual and psychological assaults.

more at link

[1StrongBlackMan]

33. My Fraternity, being populated by African-American males ...

has sponsored a workshop of (primarily) Black young males ... the take away point being: In any encounter with Law Enforcement, your number 1 priority is getting home safely.

Now, I know many here will argue that this is teaching Black males to be submissive ... but then, the vast majority of those arguing that have never had a gun pulled on them during a "routine traffic stop".

Well, I have ... on three occasions ... and in each instance, I wondered whether I would die that night ... and but for conscious action on my part, likely changed the outcome.

It is easy to be the defiant hero, when you are not likely to be called upon to do so.

[uponit7771]

40. WOW!! There are classes being taught with the police as the threat, which is true to life

[steve2470]

87. wow so sorry to read that!

That's never happened to me, a white person. If you ever feel like recounting the details in the AA group, I'd be happy to read. Best wishes to you!

[jwirr]

35. You are most likely correct but isn't it horrible that we have to teach our children to submit to

abusive government? It is one of the rights in our constitution - to be able to protest the actions of abuse. And we are being forced by a an abusive police force to teach our children that is not something you should do. At the very time that protest may be more important than any right we have.

[The Wizard]

49. They're reacting to

a half black / half white President. Bigotry looks bad on bigots. And worse when acting under the color of law.

[cstanleytech]

51. Subserviently? No but it wouldnt hurt to make sure that all kids are taught

that they should always show the same level of respect to the the police that they themselves would want shown to them, that means no cussing, screaming, biting, punching or in any other way treating them badly.

[bravenak]

52. That's what you got out of watching the video?

I saw a cop do a donut roll and start smashing on teenagers. Even slamming a girl down from behind and putting her down with his knees in her back. Wtf? The cop was the one out of line.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

61. The "donut roll" almost made this video comedic - if it wasn't so obscenely violent and enraging

That rolling entrance reminded me of something Captain Kirk would do or the Captain in Galaxy Quest who was doing a take-off on Captain Kirk. The cop obviously was completely out of touch with reality. Slamming a young girl's body down on a hard concrete sidewalk could have had serious consequences. People have suffered serious injuries for less.

[bravenak]

62. I'm glad I'm not the only one who almost laughed.

It was like Lethal Weapon to me, he was so Mel Gibson 1988. I know he saw himself in some type of war Zone. I bet he thinks he deserves a special award. Out of touch with reality is right.

[Frank Cannon]

89. That looked like a video game glitch.

That cop's entire behavior looked like something an NPC in Grand Theft Auto would do when your console overheats and/or it starts running out of memory. He was just kind of running around randomly pushing people down, yelling, and waving his gun. Truly bizarre.

[cstanleytech]

65. "The cop obviously was completely out of touch with reality." Well no shit.

[cstanleytech]

64. I was just answering the question that Hekate asked.

"So here's my question: I wonder if it isn't time for "proper" police/civilian interactive behavior to be taught to all kids in high school."

[bravenak]

66. How about teach cops that they cannot assault people just because they feel like it?

It is a cops job to de-escalate the situation. They get paid quite decently for it. Why should kids have to get classes on how to deal with abusive police, instead of training cops properly in the first place?

[cstanleytech]

76. Yes of course as a short term solution more training for the cops can help

but a long term one means the focus needs to be on the next generation and making sure they are taught from the start to treat everyone with the same level respect that they want themselves and their children and their children's children to be treated otherwise we are just going to be repeating this again and again.

[jeff47]

96. MUST. OBEY. AUTHORITY.

[suffragette]

103. Perfectly stated, bravenak

[stage left]

85. The cop was the only one in the video, cussing and screaming and acting badly..

Telling people to sit their asses down isn't respectful in my book or yelling at them to get their asses home. I don't think he bit anyone, however.

[cstanleytech]

86. "The cop was the only one" Now to quote myself "Well no shit."

If he had been taught better though when he was younger he might not have have lost it.

[stage left]

91. Ok

The older white women were yelling and screaming and losing it, too. As far as I know, though, they had struck their blows and slipped away. Therefore, they were not in the picture when police arrived. It's my experience that police usually contact the people who called them. I wonder if that happened in this case?

[cstanleytech]

92. I dont recall hearing them pulling a gun though so there is a whole world of difference

in who really lost their shit.

[stage left]

107. According to the video

all they pulled was Tatiana's hair. So yeah, they didn't lose it to the extent the police officer did. What they did is set the whole thing in motion.

[LanternWaste]

90. It can be difficult for tweens and teens...

It can be difficult for tweens and teens to react rationally to an irrational adult-- especially when that adult is a representative of law enforcement acting irrationally.

Far more realistic to ensure that law enforcement maintains a level of professionalism commensurate with their position in the community (e.g., "no cussing, screaming, biting, punching or in any other way treating them badly....&quot .

[cstanleytech]

93. Yes I realize that, I was a teen a few decades ago as well after all.

Point is though that the focus should be on teaching kids when they are young that they should treat others with respect so when they do grow up and get jobs they dont hopefully lose their shit like this cop did.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

55. Indeed, the days of Officer Friendly

died a quiet death sometime back around the Chicago Democratic Convention. I believe if we all worked for holding the PD accountable and demanding a change in their behavior we might get somewhere. Sure it's a hard job (being a LEO) but you know that going in and the job doesn't convey the right to beat the shit out (or worse) of a smart ass. Or a speeder. Or someone who 'talks back' to the police.
I have a relative who has more than 25 years on the force in LA. She has a different perspective than I do. But she can never asnser the question; 'why don't good cops turn in bad cops?'
In the final analysis, who works for who? The Police Department is supposed to work for us. This shit ain't gonna change itself.........

[avebury]

57. It was reported that some of the white adults were mad

because they felt that the kids were disrespecting them. When you hear about some of what the adults were saying, including Why don't you go back to your section 8 housing, I have no sympathy for the adults. I am old enough to me the grandparent of most of those kids and I firmly believe that respect is earned not automatically granted. Chris Hayes had a white father and daughter on his show. The girl stood up to the adults because of the inappropriate language used by the adults. When she tried to tell the cops what was going on, she ended up in handcuffs. Her Dad was initially upset with her but the more he learned about the incident the more angry he got with the cops and he got over being upset with his daughter.

On Lawrence O'Donnell's show, Joy Reid was just saying that the cops made no effort to talk to the parents who were supervising the pool party. They just started going after the kids. That cop looked like he was going to beat them into submission and that is the kind of police that the powere to be want. They want a subdued population.



It takes a lot of guts for people, in this day in age, to stand up to adults and authority in defense of those who are abused. It is amazing that the cop did not kill anyone there that day.

[gwheezie]

60. The adults behaved badly from the start

How different would it be if the white neighbors went over to the mom throwing the party and introduced themselves.

[avebury]

88. If I had been the parent of the white girl

who stood up for her friends against the racist baiting of her "elders" I would have been proud of her.

In the society that we live in today, it seems like the powers to be want the masses to just keep their mouths shut, heads down and to do as they are told. It takes a lot of guts to stand up for the defenseless, the wronged, and so on. It is appalling that two supposedly adult women got into a physical altercation with children because the said adults felt like they were being disrepected. Well if they want to be respected why don't the first act like adults and set good examples for the children, not act like thugs! The adults thoroughly mis-handled the whole incidence. It appears that, instead of talking to the adults who sponsored the party, they went straight to lipping off at the teens and acting like children themselves. And they were surprised by the reaction they got from the kids? A lot of teenagers don't have filters and they are going to tell you what they think, as they did in this instance. I have no sympathy for those women. As adults, society should have higher expectation that they know how to act as adults, they failed --- miserably.

[onecaliberal]

58. There is no defense for the cops. None!

This is so far beyond the pale.

[treestar]

68. There is no way those cops can be defended

though I object to broad brushing all cops as bad, even with all the incidents we have had. But this is Texas and I don't think white Texas cops are likely to be liberals. But there are liberals in Texas and possibly even good cops. But they were not there at that incident.

[byronius]

71. They always baselessly infer sinister motives to the victims, and this time is no exception.

'Secret Rave Party' is the new one here. Ooooh, that is scary.

The scramble to justify Casebolt's bizarre behavior is just as bizarre. So clear what happened here. So obvious.

It's a tough one for them. But Denial is a serious force.

[Unknown Beatle]

75. Hell No!

I don't fear the cops because I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm not going to kowtow to any cop. I'll respect them with a yes sir/ma'am, no sir/ma'am, but I'm not going to wussy out.

Has this country descended into a police state that students need to be taught how to maintain a subservient attitude towards cops?

The cops need to be taught and not the populace.

[vanamonde]

77. Lt Pike

The incident to which you referred was not UC Berkeley, but UC Davis. Lt Pike eventually received $38,000 in workers compensation. Go figure...


http://www.sfgate.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/UC-Davis-pepper-spray-officer-awarded-38-000-4920773.php

[prayin4rain]

94. The cop was obviously a racist POS and deserves jail time for assaulting

the little girl.

I was taught by my parents when I started driving to never argue with a cop, keep both hands on the steering wheel, etc. They explained that police officers have a dangerous job, don't know me, don't know why I'm looking around the car, etc.

Now, the little girl that the cop assaulted was too young to drive, so her parents may not have thought that they needed to teach appropriate cop behavior yet. Again, the cop needs to go to jail. The attack was completely unwarranted.

I was NOT taught to cringe in fear, I was taught that THEY are in a dangerous job and I need to follow their instructions without argument to do my part to help things go smoothly. If I disagree with something that goes on, that cop is not the person to plead my case to.

[Hekate]

100. This has been an interesting experience. Some of you understand the place of anguish from which...

Last edited Tue Jun 9, 2015, 11:10 PM - Edit history (1)

....I wrote the OP. Interestingly, those people were often from the AA group. I can't see my fellow DUers' faces -- none of us knows who the other is except by what we say. But I think the folks who totally didn't get it were not POC.

I was not being sarcastic in my OP, hence I did not use the sarcasm smilie. I may have exaggerated for effect, but not by much, as witness the poster who said his AA college fraternity actually has a program very much like the one I postulated.

By referencing my grandson's blue eyes, I meant to say: don't you understand the road we are traveling down isn't just about "other people's kids" or "black kids" or whatever distancing terms you want to use? Wherever we are going with this, imagine taking ALL vulnerable youth and putting them through a program that means to keep them safe while instilling deep fear in them -- and at the same time completely ignores the real problems of both racism and a civilian police force that increasingly dresses and acts like an occupying army on our own soil.

I appreciate all your responses, by the way.

[Rex]

101. It is clear she was following orders to leave and the cop wasn't listening to her.

Cops have to be able to process information and it seems that cop had other ideas already.

[drray23]

104. To make it even worse, this guy is an actual police instructor.

With guys like him teaching new recruits, no wonder we have this out of control police force. Its a haven for psychopaths, racists and gun nuts.

[Number23]

105. I rec'd already but didn't know if you'd seen this Vox piece

'The only good news about the McKinney pool party is the white kids’ response to racism'
http://www.vox.com/2015/6/9/8747567/mckinney-pool-party-white-teens

I give serious props to these kids.

[Hekate]

106. I had not seen that. Thanks -- also for the Rec.

Sometimes it's the younger generation that restores my hope for this country.