The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
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The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
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Re: The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
#2I think to a large part this is a consequence of the racist policies the country had for a long time creating a permanent underclass. This will probably take some more generations to heal.
I also think that the US in general celebrates violence much more than other developed countries (on TV nudity->bad, violence->good). I am always horrified when even very liberal people seem to be OK with people being raped in prisons "because they deserve it". And I think a lot of people are totally OK with rough treatment by police.
Re: The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
#3I think to a large part this is a consequence of the racist policies the country had for a long time creating a permanent underclass. This will probably take some more generations to heal. I also think that the US in general celebrates violence much more than other developed countries (on TV nudity->bad, violence->good). I am always horrified when even very liberal people seem to be OK with people being raped in pris…
> racist policies the country had for a long time
The US still has racist policies, they just usually can't be overtly racist now.
> This will probably take some more generations to heal.
Will it ever heal without affirmative action? Even if racism and racist structures magically disappear tomorrow, there will still be segregation and significant wealth and power gaps that capitalism has no interest in alleviating.
Re: The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
#4I think to a large part this is a consequence of the racist policies the country had for a long time creating a permanent underclass. This will probably take some more generations to heal. I also think that the US in general celebrates violence much more than other developed countries (on TV nudity->bad, violence->good). I am always horrified when even very liberal people seem to be OK with people being raped in pris…
> racist policies the country had for a long time The US still has racist policies, they just usually can't be overtly racist now. > This will probably take some more generations to heal. Will it ever heal without affirmative action? Even if racism and racist structures magically disappear tomorrow, there will still be segregation and significant wealth and power gaps that capitalism has no interest in alleviating.
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Re: The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
#5I think to a large part this is a consequence of the racist policies the country had for a long time creating a permanent underclass. This will probably take some more generations to heal. I also think that the US in general celebrates violence much more than other developed countries (on TV nudity->bad, violence->good). I am always horrified when even very liberal people seem to be OK with people being raped in pris…
I think that's reasonable. I strongly recommend Kendi's booked "Stamped from the Beginning", which is basically a history of racist ideas. One of the things that's really striking about it is the extent to which the ideas commonly in circulation are ones useful to the powerful.
One clear example from the book is the various theories of natural inferiority. During long periods when white slavery of Africans was common, Europeans claimed that Africans were naturally inferior because of the much hotter climate. But earlier, Greeks thought that northern peoples like the Slavs (from whom we get the term "slave") were inferior because they were from a cold climate.
The US had a lot of that going on, with different ideas about religion, culture, biology, and society shifting to be what was convenient for the rich. Given how much US wealth came from chattel slavery and after that labor exploitation, it's not a stretch to suspect that police, whose basic job is using violence to enforce the status quo, would have a lot of ideas and habits that match.
Re: The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
#6It's very difficult to take seriously when many opportunistic people so readily turn every case of blacks behaving badly into police brutality.
In the coverage of Floyd yesterday, I even saw a black man (with a PhD) continuing the absurd narrative that Arbery was just out for a jog. It's difficult not to laugh sometimes.
While black collectivism is admirable, and something we Whites could learn a thing or two from, they must temper it with an ounce of reason and sense. They must accept that there are an awful lot of extremely dangerous and violent black men who our police must contend with every day, and that their behaviour in those situations is very often directly linked to the consequences they experience.
In the same way Whites feel a sense of justice when a bad White is roughed up by the cops, blacks will need to do the same. Their unrighteous indignation every time a thug is often rightly removed from our streets does nothing but reveal how wide our cultural gap really is.
Re: The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
#7I think to a large part this is a consequence of the racist policies the country had for a long time creating a permanent underclass. This will probably take some more generations to heal. I also think that the US in general celebrates violence much more than other developed countries (on TV nudity->bad, violence->good). I am always horrified when even very liberal people seem to be OK with people being raped in pris…
I think that's reasonable. I strongly recommend Kendi's booked "Stamped from the Beginning", which is basically a history of racist ideas. One of the things that's really striking about it is the extent to which the ideas commonly in circulation are ones useful to the powerful. One clear example from the book is the various theories of natural inferiority. During long periods when white slavery of Africans was common…
The history of the US police is firmly rooted in slave patrols, so your suspicion is pretty much spot on.
Re: The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
#8I'm not an American, but there does seem to be some value in a contrarian opinion here.
Namely, it isn't just police brutality that's the problem, but the whole cycle of violence. Yes, the officer who killed George Floyd needs to be prosecuted. Yes, the officer who wantonly pepper-sprayed protesters while driving past needs to be fired and charged. However, the riots and burning of police precincts have reinforced an "Us vs Them" mentality in the police and primed officers for the next round of brutality. Imagine that a mob of people of mostly the same ethnicity came to your place of work, threatened you with violence, and burned the place down after you and your co-workers fled. No matter how justified the mob's anger may be, this is how you create racist cops.
The riots in Minneapolis are rooted in mutual suspicion and lack of respect between the black community and police. Both sides can point to awful things the other side has done, but both sides need to be better in order to break the cycle.
Re: The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
#9I'm not an American, but there does seem to be some value in a contrarian opinion here. Namely, it isn't just police brutality that's the problem, but the whole cycle of violence. Yes, the officer who killed George Floyd needs to be prosecuted. Yes, the officer who wantonly pepper-sprayed protesters while driving past needs to be fired and charged. However, the riots and burning of police precincts have reinforced an…
I totally agree that the looters are hurting the cause and I wish some of the leaders would step up and tell the looters to stop. But considering that one side is doing this professionally and has the right to use lethal violence I think we should apply higher standards to them. Government has to break the cycle.
From what I have read police training is severely lacking and they also let get bad cops away with a lot. Instead of cleaning up from inside they circle the wagons and defend bad guys.
Re: The Long, Painful History of Police Brutality in the U.S.
#10We have a systemic problem in this country when it comes to policing, and it’s not about racism - it’s far worse than that, if there even is such a thing. It’s called “qualified immunity” and it’s NOT in our country’s constitution. It’s a fabrication, a lie, a horrifying farce that allows our cops and DAs to operate with near total impunity for any malicious activity they choose to engage in. Our “system” is hopelessly broken and we have an obligation to rectify it. I don’t want us to engage in more “dialogue” with law enforcement, I don’t want more “transparency”, I don’t want more “synergy” with “the community”, I just want this shit to STOP. There is no excuse and I’m sick of it.