TOON: Exhibit A: Why Black People Don't Automatically Believe Cops Who Say "I Feared For My Life."

[napkinz]

[samsingh]

1. kick

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

2. Without video, ANY shooting all the cop has to do is say I was in fear for my life, like with Brown

[napkinz]

3. "I was in fear for my life"

the stay out of jail free card

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

4. Then you shouldnt be a god damn cop

[Ghost in the Machine]

6. I can remember back in the 80's when the cops wouldn't even go into Overtown (Miami Projects)

after dark because they would get shot at by snipers from apartment windows or from someone just walking by them. The whole place was a drug paradise, and someone was always getting killed there.

I don't know how it is today, I moved away from Miami 20 years ago and have only been back 2 times since, and that was just for 2 days each time.

*Some* cops have reason to fear for their lives every time they go on duty, but most of them are nothing but jack-booted thugs who think they are above the law.

Peace,

Ghost

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. I offer you this

crime rates nationwide peaked in 1992. No I refuse to recreate research here. But policing truly has not been this safe since the late 1960s. And that is per the FBI UCR data

http://reportingsandiego.com/2014/11/18/crime-rates-in-the-united-states/

[napkinz]

5. ...

[Gothmog]

8. Great cartoon

[99Forever]

9. ...

So sad, so true.

[napkinz]

10. this is why so many have to have "the talk" with their children ...

[99Forever]

11. Indeed.

I had hoped to live to see the day we had grown passed that need. I'm not so sure it will ever happen but refuse to give up on trying.

[napkinz]

12. excellent video on this subject ...

[Victor_c3]

25. excellent video. I love the juxtaposition at the end with the white dad and son.

powerful video. I hope it is widely distributed and viewed.

[sheshe2]

13. Tears

[napkinz]

14. and the fight for accountability and justice continues ...

ON, SC – APRIL 08: People participate in a rally to protest the death of Walter Scott, who was killed by police in a shooting, outside City Hall on April 8, 2015 in North Charleston, South Carolina. Video captured by a bystander showed officer Michael Slager shooting Scott as he ran away. Officer Slager has been charged with murder as a result of the incident. (Photo by Richard Ellis/Getty Images) | Richard Ellis via Getty Images

https://www.themcglynn.com/

[Pooka Fey]

15. K&R

[Stellar]

16. Strange....it appears that the guy running away is the one actually fearing for his life.

nt

[A Simple Game]

17. You could have saved yourself some typing

Why Black People Don't Automatically Believe Cops Who Say "I Feared For My Life."

by leaving Black out. I think most white people don't trust the cops anymore, many of us never did.

The "cops can do no wrong" crowd is even getting thinner on DU, or at least smart enough to be less vocal.

[napkinz]

22. the subject line quotes the cartoon nt

[Capt. Obvious]

23. I too am tired of black people having a monopoly on fearing cops

This injustice must end. #WhiteFearsMatter

[1StrongBlackMan]

24. The additional typing is required ...

to accurately reflect our environment/society.

http://nij.gov/topics/law-enforcement/legitimacy/pages/welcome.aspx

[treestar]

47. There is no cops can do no wrong crowd

there is a cops are always wrong crowd though

[Ino]

18. I'm white...

and I don't believe anything cops say without video proof they're telling the truth.

[one_voice]

19. K&R

[blkmusclmachine]

20. ,

,

[lykemike]

21. A minor correction

Forgive me, but the sentence should read:
"Why black people automatically don't believe cops"...

[el_bryanto]

26. It's a quote from the cartoon

I'm curious why you think that is an improvement, though?

Bryant

[hifiguy]

27. Hell's bells, I am a middle aged white guy

and I do not trust one word a cop says about these kinds of incidents.

I can't imagine the enormous amount of completely justified distrust African Americans must have.

[Heidi]

39. Agree. And because I'm white, I benefit from the privilege of not having to experience the sh!t

our African-American sisters and brothers experience as a matter of course.

DUer JustAnotherGen posted a video a while back that really educated me about how I can use my privilege to help level the playing field, if only a little:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024379495

[Blanks]

28. I admit that I haven't been shot at by cops...

But this notion that cops only harrass black people is a false notion. I would never tell my kids (like the video above shows) that the cops are there to help (or whatever it is that he says).

I acknowledge that black people are disproportionately harassed, but a lot of cops don't feel like they're doing their jobs unless they aren't ruining someone's day.

Cops need more training and oversight, while being reminded daily that they are supposed to 'serve and protect'.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. I don't think any implied that cops "only harrass black people"

The PROBLEM is that statistically, blacks (notably black men in urban areas) are stalked by police at a higher rate than any other group. And with the "Stop and Frisk" nonsense that is slowly being dismantled in many of the large cities (like New York and my own - Philadelphia), you see the statistics very dramatically and why the continued outrage.

[Blanks]

31. See the video above. It was definitely implied. eom

[BumRushDaShow]

32. Unless there is something wrong with my Firefox

there are no "videos" in this thread.

[Blanks]

34. It is post #12.

I suppose the appropriate thing for me to do would have been to post a response to that post, but I'm in kind of an odd mood today.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. It is apparently someone who I have on ignore. nt

[Blanks]

38. I looked it up on YouTube, but I couldn't come up with it. Eom

[napkinz]

40. about the video ...

According to Khary Lazarre-White, The Brotherhood/Sister Sol cofounder, the PSA addresses a historical and modern reality.

Civil rights have made strides over recent decades, but many black families continue to feel anxiety over interactions with law enforcement. Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Michael Brown are hardly special cases, after all. A study by ProPublica found that blacks age 15 to 19 are 21 times more likely than their white counterparts to be shot dead by police.

“It is a video that can help parents have the talk,” Lazarre-White said in a statement. “It is a light shined on an issue all of Americans need to confront.”

more at: http://www.takepart.com/video/2014/12/13/video-difference-black-and-white-parents-talk-kids

[BumRushDaShow]

42. Thanks!

I was actually looking through that ProPublica study... Apparently a whole lot of folks were having issues with the data but the critics were missing the whole point of a systematic, ingrained, and often subconscious mistreatment of one racial group over another, and the statistics across the board establish that. When you have stuff like this that is basically considered a "disturbance", with a few arrests out of hundreds who were causing serious property damage, but a couple of teens standing on a corner chatting are stopped and frisked and under suspicion or are arrested for showing better basketball skills than the cops (this was posted in a different thread too), there is a problem here.

[napkinz]

43. you're welcome BumRushDaShow

I also posted in my other thread excerpts from another article on this subject:

Black Moms Tell White Moms About the Race Talk

see http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026486962#post28

[BumRushDaShow]

44. Thanks again

I did read that thread and just saw your later post!

And as an interesting side note, while black men are harassed on the street, black women are often harassed and followed around in the stores, suspected of being a potential shoplifter. I know I have been and rarely or never bring a pocketbook with me in supermarkets in case my going into it to get a shopping list or to check my wallet for coupons or cash, would automatically make me suspect for sticking something in there off the shelf. This is no way to live.

[yuiyoshida]

30. The one thing I learned from DU

Never, ever, talk to a cop. Anything and everything can be used against you in a court of law.

[Omaha Steve]

33. K&R!

[Kablooie]

35. Events have changed my mind if I am ever chosen for jury duty.

If a cop says he killed someone because he feared for his life I will consider this a lie and a mark against the officer.

I'm white and up until recently I probably would have considered police testimony most likely true but I've completely turned.
Police will have to present very, very compelling evidence before I would believe his story.

My default used to be, police are probably telling the truth.
My new default is, police testimony is a lie.

Until the good cops come out of hiding and start exposing the bad cops this will probably become the default for a lot of people of all colors in the US.

[shaayecanaan]

48. What if a police officer is testifying in support of a rape victim? nt

[Kablooie]

49. The officers testimony wouldn't be the only thing I would be my decision on.

but I would Have to be be skeptical of his testimony unless there was compelling corroborating evidence.
In a rape case I would hope there would be more than just one officers testimony produced as evidence.

[lykemike]

36. its odd..

But it feels like terrorism. My most recent run-in occurred simply because I made eye contact as I drove past the cop; I knew he would "bust a U". We are scared to death of being pulled over in a place where there are no witnesses.
I can tell you story after story, but you still wouldn't understand. Law abiding citizens shouldn't be afraid that they could be killed by the police.

[lpbk2713]

41. It worked for Zimmy.

And he wasn't even a real cop.

[treestar]

45. I don't think anyone should automatically believe that

Or automatically believe anything, for that matter.

[Rex]

46. That picture should travel up and down the internets. nt

nt

[DesertDiamond]

50. Not just black people anymore. A lot of white folks are seeing the light. I'm one of them.

[MADem]

52. Black men had to die--two of them ON VIDEO--for the rest of the country to

start to get the spirit on this issue, too.

I'll tell you, it's a hell of thing to be a martyr for the cause, and I'm sure Mr. Scott would have preferred to not take on that role, but I do think those images herald a sea change in the way that cops will be required to police. And damn it, it's way past due. Ever since "Nahn Wun Wun Changed Ever-Thang" the police have been engaging in brutal overreach. It is worse than it ever was in the sixties and seventies and it was pretty bad back then.

Remember how Bill Clinton tried to introduce "community policing" to get the police closer to communities, and then as soon as Bush hit the White House the funding got pulled and then, oh boy, Nahn Wun Wun and the Po-po can do no wrong! They need to get back to that--wearing cameras, because they will NEED their own video now--I know I'm always going to keep my cell on full charge when I go out. I may buy myself one of those little charger battery things, too, that you plug into the phone for "emergency juice." No harm in being prepared...