Where are the bills to end the militarization of police and murder of black men? WARNING GRAPHIC PIC

[qwlauren35]

74. I didn't realize how often these things were captured on video.

All of your questions are legitimate, of course.

Somewhere on DU there was news of a poll that more (the majority?) of white people think that police brutality is justified. (I am paraphrasing.) This suggests to me that there are still some white people who are scared of black people, to the point where they think that we can randomly overpower a police officer.

I'm also glad that you included footage of police officers' treatment of black women. It's especially critical when you know that these women are highly unlikely to overpower a police officer, but they are still being brutalized.

Now, one of the things I see happening in some cases is that a lot of people think that police brutality is acceptable if the assailant has committed a crime. This is something that has historically been perpetrated on black people, especially right after the Civil War when vagrancy laws were enacted to sweep black men off the streets and into coal mines and chain gangs. I think that it is because at the time of the brutality, we are being accused of a crime (someone has forgotten innocent until proven guilty) that the changes you speak of and the laws that we need and the discipline and dismissal of brutalizing police is not happening. Criminals don't have rights in America. It's actually in the Constitution.

So, we need to fight for the rights of those being arrested or suspected of crimes. It's going to be an uphill fight.