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Walking While Black

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Re: Walking While Black

#171

Post by amp108 »

superkuh wrote: post #31

This was a wonderfully written piece and a lot of it rings true to me even as a white as you can be person in a smallish state university town in the midwest. But maybe being 6'2" with a big unkempt hobo beard is almost as scary as being black. I too love walking the streets at night. And I too have to not be myself and behave in very conscious ways to avoid being hassled and detained by the police. Police just assum…

> I'm not trying to marginalize his message that skin color is the cause. But it's certainly not the only cause. The root of the problem lies with the police, and society, villifying anyone who isn't diurnal.

I had similar problems when my hair was long, but I really don't think it's comparable to what black people face. Being white, my problems went away when I cut my hair, nighttime walks or no. And black people get harassed day and night, so I think anti-nocturnalism is a small, small part of the problem, not the root.

Re: Walking While Black

#172

Post by twic »

simonh wrote: post #170
faitswulff wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> aren't very many coloured people Highly recommend using "people of colour," instead.

Fair enough, but that's more of an Americanism. It's not really used here in the UK.

It's pretty unusual to say "coloured people" here in the UK, too. I usually phrase it something like "people who aren't white", clumsy though that is.

Re: Walking While Black

#173

Post by Slansitartop »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #133
michaelgrafl wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A friend of mine who worked on a plant site in Alabama for a couple of months told me he would get weird stares from the locals when he was going for runs in the morning/evening. I never knew whether to believe him, but everything in this thread seems to underpin his story.

In American articles, pro environment types sometimes mock how Americans will drive to the gym, drive home to get ready for work, then drive to work creating extreme time stress. The punchline is usually to the effect of "Why not just bike to work? It would be cheaper, take less time and be better for the environment." One justification for going to the gym is the poor outdoor air quality in some places. It seems lis…

> In the years I have lived without a car, my example of walking everywhere has tended to popularize walking wherever I lived. (Yes, even when I was homeless.) After seeing an uptick in walking, you could see visible evidence of improved air quality, such as healthier plant life in the area.

> Crime also went down. In the apartment complex where I gave up my car, the cops stopped staking out the entrance on weekend evenings. In another city, helicopter manhunts and similar police activity trended down.

This is a pretty fantastic, and frankly unbelievable claim.

Re: Walking While Black

#174

Post by DoreenMichele »

Slansitartop wrote: post #173
DoreenMichele wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In American articles, pro environment types sometimes mock how Americans will drive to the gym, drive home to get ready for work, then drive to work creating extreme time stress. The punchline is usually to the effect of "Why not just bike to work? It would be cheaper, take less time and be better for the environment." One justification for going to the gym is the poor outdoor air quality in some places. It seems lis…

> In the years I have lived without a car, my example of walking everywhere has tended to popularize walking wherever I lived. (Yes, even when I was homeless.) After seeing an uptick in walking, you could see visible evidence of improved air quality, such as healthier plant life in the area. > Crime also went down. In the apartment complex where I gave up my car, the cops stopped staking out the entrance on weekend e…

Perhaps you aren't familiar with Jane Jacobs' work. Her position was that eyes on the street was the key to safety in urban areas. This is that mechanism in action.

Re: Walking While Black

#175

Post by ubermonkey »

ImaCake wrote: post #164
ubermonkey wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a cyclist, and one of the big cycle equipment blogs is DCRainmaker. He ran a story about a run-in with some Australian cops while on a ride that is just mind-blowing in how different it is from similar run-ins with American police. See here: https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/03/getting-pulled-over-by-f...

Great to see some anecdotes to support my gut feelings on this! I am amazed that Americans would consider this pleasant police behaviour. As an Australian, I consider this unnecessary and heavy handed, although it gives me more than a little pride that the cops were able to admit to being wrong.

The stop was absolutely unnecessary, heavy-handed, and very "American."

What made is shockingly, unbelievably different is the email at the end where the cop admits his was wrong. That would never happen here.

Re: Walking While Black

#176

Post by Slansitartop »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #174
Slansitartop wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the years I have lived without a car, my example of walking everywhere has tended to popularize walking wherever I lived. (Yes, even when I was homeless.) After seeing an uptick in walking, you could see visible evidence of improved air quality, such as healthier plant life in the area. > Crime also went down. In the apartment complex where I gave up my car, the cops stopped staking out the entrance on weekend e…

Perhaps you aren't familiar with Jane Jacobs' work. Her position was that eyes on the street was the key to safety in urban areas. This is that mechanism in action.

> Her position was that eyes on the street was the key to safety in urban areas.

I'm sure that's true. However, the unbelievable part was the influence you ascribe to yourself. I do not believe that you, personally, set in motion a chain of events "wherever [you] live" that "lowers crime" and causes "healthier plant life."

Re: Walking While Black

#177

Post by plantain »

ImaCake wrote: post #67
toomanybeersies wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to walk home from my friends' house to mine when I was at university in New Zealand, often drunk or high. The police would usually stop and talk to me if they drove past. I always thought of it as a good thing. I lived in a high burglary area (being a student area), so there were a lot of shady characters walking around at night, especially in the back streets. They never actually detained me or even got out o…

The police in New Zealand and Australia seem to be a lot less agressive than their American counterparts. I don't ever hear of stories like the original post come from either country.

Maybe you don't follow the Australian news? Just from the last few weeks, these are the ones I remembered.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-03/melbourne-police-on-vi... http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-23/former-asio-specialist... https://www.gladstoneobserver.com.au/news/public-hearing-in-...

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