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Did white privilege protect Nikolas Cruz?
https://www.salon.com/2018/02/27/did-white-privilege-protect-nikolas-cruz/By Chauncey Devega at Salon
"SNIP......
The woman said Cruz had the mental capacity of a 12- to 14-year-old and had been kicked out of school for throwing chairs at students and teachers. She also provided the FBI with the user names for at least three of Cruz's Instagram accounts, where he wrote that "he wants to kill people" and posted photos of mutilated animals.
The FBI admitted last week it had failed to act on that tip.
........
CNN also reported that the Broward County sheriff's office had received 23 calls related to Cruz or his brother over the previous decade. These included "information from a neighbor's son that Cruz planned to 'shoot up' an unknown school" and a different call from someone who reported that "Cruz was suicidal and could be a 'school shooter in the making.'"
The many ways that white privilege and the color line intersect with guns and masculinity in the tragic case of the Parkland massacre could be a chapter in a textbook for an Introduction to Sociology course.
It has been repeatedly documented by social scientists and other researchers that police and other law enforcement officers are much more likely to be extremely aggressive, escalate to physical force, act in a more lethal manner and to be "proactive" when interacting with black and brown people as compared to whites. This pattern is true even when police interact with black people -- especially black men -- who are unarmed. In general, America's police take perceived threats to public safety from whites much less seriously than they do from nonwhites (as well as Muslims).
......SNIP"
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7962
(11,841 posts)Look at his picture; hes hispanic. We see "why didnt they do something" many times with any race in local stories all over. Just this time its a mass murderer so it gets the attention. Poor performance on many levels, even during the attack, is the reason.
But hey, its easy to point the finger at race. Thats become the knee jerk. Drill down into the actual numbers of violent crime if you want to see who does what.
bunt homer
(88 posts)Even though we commit most mass shootings.
RandiFan1290
(6,238 posts)
tblue37
(65,409 posts)
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)But he was still a slave-owning racist who listed her in his inventory on the same ledger page with his livestock.
In other words, you are arguing an irrelevancy.
tblue37
(65,409 posts)the reason why he wasn't dealt with. Some seem to think he must be hispanic, because of the last name--which he has only because he was adopted by a couple named Cruz. Others are aware he was adopted, so his last name does not indicate race or ethnicity, but then they focus on his being white. Others get into an argument based on whether hispanics are PoC or white. All of these points strike me as non sequiturs.
The Cruz couple adopted two babies, half-brothers. One was white, one was not. They are still brothers, and they both have the name Cruz because they were adopted. There are many factors relevant to what happened in Florida, but I honestly don't think that in this case the perpetrator's whiteness was a major factor in the way he was treated by the police. His brother also had the cops called on him several times, and also was handled leniently, despite not being white, so obviously something else was in play.
I think the conscious policy of the BPD to avoid arresting juveniles is probably the single main reason, but there is also a good possibility that lackadaisical policing practices, especially where affluent families are concerned, is another significant factor.
Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)He is white, adopted by Hispanic parents at birth.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)But even if he were Hispanic, that's not a race.
But let's pretend race is not an issue or that white people don't commit more crimes than anyone else in this country (and let's not even get into the epidemic of "white-on-white" crime) while people of color are given closer scrutiny and treated as more dangerous and prone to crime.
You probably have no idea what and who you sound like.
tblue37
(65,409 posts)Having people of color in your family does not mean someone isn’t racist
Says a woman whose black great-great-grandparents had white half-brothers and half-sisters - who eventually inherited them and continued to keep them as slaves.
I wonder if Cruz thought about his black half-brother when he etched Nazi swastikas on his weapons.
But I’m sure he appreciates your efforts to defend him from the unspeakable possibility that he won’t go down in history as just a mass murderer but as a RACIST mass murderer since that would be really unfair.
tblue37
(65,409 posts)Nikolas Cruz several times, but both of them were handled rather leniently and neither was arrested, so Cruz's being white probably is not the reason he wasn't treated more severely.
I am in no way trying to defend the evil little creep. I just think people are arguing from insufficient information.
For example, people are suggesting that he would have been handled differently if he were a minority, but his brother, who is a minority, was handled similarly.
It is probably the fact that the BPD has a policy to avoid arresting juveniles, combined with the affluence of the area the Cruz family lived in that prevented Nikolas Cruz from being properly dealt with, not the fact that he is white.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)But given the history and current events in America and in Florida, it is a perfectly logical question to ask, so I’m puzzled at how eagerly and aggressively some people are trying to shoot such questions and impugn the motives of people asking them.
Possibilities are floated constantly on DU n all manner of topics, but, for some reason, whenever a question about race comes up lately, the wagons get circled immediately. Interesting.
Guy Whitey Corngood
(26,501 posts)
IluvPitties
(3,181 posts)Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are white Hispanics. Most Dominican baseball players are black Hispanics. Your average Mexican-American is mestizo/indigenous. Most Hispanics are racially mixed, though.
treestar
(82,383 posts)A person who is Hispanic can be white, black, American Indian or any mix thereof.
hexola
(4,835 posts)Nobody wants to take the boys guns...that would violate his 2nd Amendment Rights...
Nobody even wants to go there...
They ARE afraid of the NRA!
HopeAgain
(4,407 posts)probably has a lot to do with it as well. But sure, if Cruz were a minority, no doubt the result would have been different.
Two things that should not be an elected office: sheriff and judges.
Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)Seems that there was a joint program beeeen the schools and the BCSO to not arrest juveniles for crimes- often even felonies- whenever possible.
The more I look the more I see that references in articles from before the shooting where the model is held out as an example of how to reduce how many kids are in the juvenile justice system, places where the Sheriff himself brags about ordering his deputies to use civil citations and other programs instead of criminal tickets or arrests, and agreements signed between the schools, BCSO and other agencies that pretty much laid out not using criminal charges whenever possible as a way to reduce the number of criminal charges.
It wasn’t long ago Broward County had the highest rate of kids put into the juvenile justice system, and it seems their response to it was not to reduce that but looking at the underlying causes and addressing why the behaviors were happening but instead to take the easy way and just quit arresting offenders under 18. Because it seems their focus wasn’t on actually reducing the amount of crime committed by youth but by making it look like they did by making the stats on it look better.
It would be like a police department ordering officers to not make DUI arrests unless the person was at .16 BAC instead of .08 and then bragging they reduced drunk driving because the number of arrests were down. When in reality if anything it probably rose because the drunks knew they could get away with it and not get arrested.
What shielded him was a really, really bad policy out in place. There were good intentions- to reduce the number of kids in the juvenile justice system. But they did that the wrong way. The right way is to attack the systemic underlying reasons for behavior that get kids put into the system to stop the behavior. Instead they had a policy to simply not issue criminal citations or make arrests for the behavior but to use “alternative” methods outside the criminal justice system.
And that may have been a good approach for some kids. But it’s not for all, and policies that mandate ignoring or not charging criminal behavior in youths just to make your statistics look better can end up with what we have here, where they had multiple chances to charge him criminally and even one of those interventions into the criminal justice system would have likely stopped this from happening.
hexola
(4,835 posts)19 could mean almost 2 years as an adult...
RandiFan1290
(6,238 posts)That is why you are reading it here
Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)You will find sources that predate this event where this program is discussed and bragged about. Do your own research.
It’s also being discussed on a lot of police forums and message boards inslcuding BCSO deputies saying it’s a factor.
I don’t think it’s the only factor at play, but it does explain why there was such a culture in BCSO that led to so many warnings being ignored and chances to arrest him for crimes being passed by.
I get some people want to sweep that idea under the rug, because they want it to all be about something else. But the BCSO screwed up very, very badly and the ways and underlying causes for this need to be investigated and understood.
When the sheriff himself is on the record saying he mandated that juvenile offenders be handled with civil citations instead of criminal citations and arrests that is significant when coupled with the behavior we see that they ignored and failed to act on.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)But he's white, so WHAT DOES RACE HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?!?!
Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)He didn’t just start this behavior last week.
And the attitude and culture within the department about juevelines would still impact decision making with 18 year old students as well, even when they are not legally juveniles.
B2G
(9,766 posts)Dade did the exact same thing and received a lot more federal funding for their schools as a result.
It is all about the money.
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)But you're going to get slammed for it since, apparently, it is verboten to discuss racism on a Democratic discussion board because it makes some white people uncomfortable ... I mean, it's "DIVISIVE."
zipplewrath
(16,646 posts)About the only rule that might get invoked is promulgating right wing talking points and this wouldn't fit at all. They don't even recognize white privilege.
There is little doubt that it was a contributing factor. It was probably second order however. What I mean by that is that there was probably a general perception that "they didn't have to worry about that", which comes out of their perceptions of what kinds of people and communities are susceptible to these things, which comes back to race and economic status.
dembotoz
(16,808 posts)we do ok with the very bright and normal kids.
we do not as well but something for the really damaged kids
but those who are above services for the special Olympians and below really integrated into society?
not so much
B2G
(9,766 posts)I have seen no mention of his race, his biological family or circumstances surrounding his birth or adoption other than the fact he was adopted by the Cruz's around the age of 2.
I have my own theories as to why they did nothing however, and race isn't one of them.
brush
(53,792 posts)Even if it was allegedly in a gun safe.
WTF did they think it was a good idea for that person to have that gun?
B2G
(9,766 posts)brush
(53,792 posts)So still, why the hell did his adoptive parents think it was a good idea for a disturbed kid to have an assault rifle?
Talk about all parties involved, from the adoptive parents to law enforcement and school authorities dropping the ball (the school finally expelled him after multiple complaints by other students).
B2G
(9,766 posts)His dad died when he was extremely young. His mother died in November.
He was 18 when he purchased it. We don't even know she was aware he had, but how could she have stopped him from legally obtaining it?
brush
(53,792 posts)Last edited Fri Mar 2, 2018, 02:27 PM - Edit history (1)
B2G
(9,766 posts)I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, but this was an elderly woman who was obviously in compromised health.
I see no reason to blame her. From all reports, she had been through a lot with him.
brush
(53,792 posts)was put in a gun safe.
Turns out he had a key too.
My contention is it was known he had the assault rifle and it was allowed.
Gun safe or not that's still crazy considering all the behavioral problems over the years with that person.
B2G
(9,766 posts)It was the parents of the friend he was staying with.
brush
(53,792 posts)B2G
(9,766 posts)I'm sure if they had any clue at the time that things would unfold as they did, they would have done things much differently.
Life's like that.
LexVegas
(6,070 posts)
EffieBlack
(14,249 posts)He’s not white
He wasn’t treated any differently because he was white
Why bring race into it?
You’re being “divisive!”
I’m not sure why so-called Democrats are so quick and adamant about deflecting any discussion about possible racism by other people, not them
I guess white tribalism is much stronger among some Democrats than folks will admit.
Caliman73
(11,739 posts)Many people are privileged by the color of their skin, gender, education level, socio-economic status, immigration status or citizenship, etc...
Those of us who acknowledge privilege as "a thing", understand that we have unearned advantages in life. This is not to make us feel guilty, but to compel us to be mindful of those privileges and work toward understanding the struggle and extra efforts that others have to take on to be in the same societal position. For instance, I am a man. I work in a field predominantly staff by women. There was an issue at one of our work sites, about the women being worried about walking to the parking structure next to the building. At first I thought, "What is the big deal? It is safe." That is privilege. I am not an overly imposing figure, but enough so that I would not really be approached as a potential victim. It is not something that I really ever have to think about, but women do, all the time. It is one of many things that women have to consider that I never have to.
Digression over...
There are a lot of people who resent the idea of privilege and "unearned advantage". They think that it says they did not work hard to get where they are or that they aren't good enough without their "privilege", which is not true.
I think of it as a race on an Olympic Track. The middle distances like the 5000 meters start off in a stagger. I imagine privilege is starting off on the inside track, a shorter distance than the outside track. It doesn't mean that you aren't running your ass off, but if the people in the outside lanes also have hurdles and other obstacles they have to negotiate just to finish the race, then you should be aware of that and understand why there is a disparity of outcomes.
I’ve come to expect this. I wish I wasn’t
