tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post6914030063976082306..comments2023-09-26T09:31:52.849-07:00Comments on The Flamboyant Introvert: Cops Shooting Unarmed Black MenBakari Kafelehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06037720771479419105noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-5473740407758709872014-03-25T11:07:26.061-07:002014-03-25T11:07:26.061-07:00My apologies. Yes, I should read articles better ...My apologies. Yes, I should read articles better in the future. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-8257625313205864492014-03-22T15:52:19.326-07:002014-03-22T15:52:19.326-07:00Did you stop reading after that sentence?
My whole...Did you stop reading after that sentence?<br />My whole point is that it is common - but there is never any public outcry, because it doesn't fit the popular "minority oppressed by the system" narrative that people want to continue to believe in.<br /><br />I know it happens with some regularity! I just listed a whole bunch of examples!! I pointed out that if these same men had been black, everyone would know their names. They were "swept under the rug" BECAUSE they were white.Bakarihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04002145755975841287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-60033277408994655392014-03-22T09:50:13.799-07:002014-03-22T09:50:13.799-07:00"It turns out it is very challenging to find ..."It turns out it is very challenging to find examples of cops killing unarmed white men."<br /><br />As someone who lived in majority-white states for many years, I can tell you it does happen with some regularity. They, too, are swept under the rug. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-89563379850419522352013-08-02T17:36:51.854-07:002013-08-02T17:36:51.854-07:00I do think that past racism continues to have an e...I do think that past racism continues to have an effect today, and puts Blacks at a disadvantage. I added links at the end of the post to my past blogs on that topic.<br /><br />Your question is deserving of a more thorough response than I can put in a comment; my next post will address it further.<br /><br />But briefly:<br />What I have EXPERIENCED, as a young Black male living in a poor high crime city, is no, cops, authority figures, and other whites in general do not harass, threaten, pushed around, or insult more on the basis of race. <br />What I have seen is 2 things: <br />1)cops may "discriminate" based on CULTURE. Race and culture are not interchangeable. The man who sags his pants and wears a bandana can not claim he gets more police attention just for being Black. The cops aren't stopping Black men in suits who drive minivans. If you choose to dress and act like a gangsta, you can expect police to watch you more closely. Employers and landlords may "discriminate" against the person who speaks "ebonics", but it isn't because it implies the applicant is Black. It is because it implies the applicant is ignorant. That has nothing to do with race. Take, for example, the movie "My Fair Lady". Slang has always been a sign of a lack of education - almost by definition. <br />The suggestion that what I am saying means that Black people should "act white" - that is racism! That is saying that Black culture is and must be the culture of ignorance. Black people didn't invent ebonics because they were expressing their African roots. It developed because they weren't allowed to go to school. Encouraging it is like telling black people they should voluntarily ride on the back of the bus in order to honor their heritage.<br />2)Many cases of apparent racism by cops etc are in large part enhanced, if not caused outright, by the assumption on the part of the citizen being "harassed" that the cops are racist. If a white guy gets pulled over for speeding 5mph over, he thinks maybe the cop is filling a quota or is having a slow day. If a black guy gets pulled over for speeding 5 over, it must be because he is black. Then you have differences in how the person interacts with the cop. See Chris Rock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0mtxXEGE8<br />Its funny, but its very true. I've lived it. Its the difference between how I as a Black man can say I've never in my life been harassed, and another Black man swears it happens all the time. It applies to both races. Unfortunately, our culture basically teaches young black males the exact opposite lesson, with predictable - and not so funny - results.<br /><br />As I pointed out in the blog post, Blacks really do commit more murder. Yes, the rate is still extremely low. As Steven Colbert recently pointed out, the rate of committing murder is only 0.009% of the Black male population. But murder is the most extreme example and I picked it because many will claim there is a bias in the statistics of lesser crimes. Despite any potential bias, its still true that, as a whole, more Black males commit crimes than other races - just as more men commit crimes than women. Since men commit more crime, we should expect to see police stopping men more often. It doesn't imply any bias. It works the same for race.<br /><br />Now combine all of those prior points into one big picture view of the population. Are they enough to account for 100% of the difference between the average interaction of cops with suspects by race? It is impossible to answer that question, there are too many variables, and none of them have concrete numbers. Probably not, since cops are people, and human brains naturally seek patterns and are subject to bias. But those points do account for a whole hell of a lot of it, I would claim the majority. <br />Bakarihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04002145755975841287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-60271656276149738102013-07-18T15:15:17.504-07:002013-07-18T15:15:17.504-07:00Bakari, I've been reading your new and old pos...Bakari, I've been reading your new and old posts here and there over the last few weeks and just had to comment on this one. You once again have shown a remarkable ability to leave behind pre- and/or misconceptions and discuss a matter thoroughly, thoughtfully, and rationally. Similiar to you in "If I was King.." post and Mr Money Mustache's in his latest "Badass Utopia," I yearn for a public and political discourse to more closely resemble the process behind this essay.<br /><br />Loving the blog.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07777935388437404043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-67557596134794653112013-07-17T13:52:18.384-07:002013-07-17T13:52:18.384-07:00Oh, I agree with you entirely that a) it is unreas...Oh, I agree with you entirely that a) it is unreasonable to actually act on a prejudice based on statistics, or to actually treat any specific individual differently independent of their individual actions, and that b) our current state is a direct consequence of hundreds of years of slavery (with no reparations ever made) followed by decades of jim crow.<br />I have written more on that previously: <br />http://biodieselhauling.blogspot.com/2013/04/race-whites-still-winning.html<br /><br />However, the reason I wrote this is that I disagree - strongly - with the widespread idea that life is any harder or more dangerous for blacks due to anything built into society or white culture. The only part of culture that makes life more difficult and dangerous is the black culture that accepts violence and fails to encourage education. My whole point in this essay is in pointing out that black people do NOT get shot at while unarmed by police more often than whites. This is a myth. The number of innocent black people who are victimized by police - or by any white person, for that matter, is far smaller than the number of black criminals. <br />Blacks do get shot at more by other blacks, but I fail to see how this is an example of whites making life more dangerous for blacks.<br /><br />I am not asking for people to go out of their way to call attention to black crime rates. All I am asking is that we stop pretending that every Oscar Grant and Rodney King is a martyr, when they were in fact criminals, and stop pretending that their cases are representative of modern day oppression, when it plain and simply isn't.<br />I am asking this not just because I am personally bothered by mistaken beliefs, but because perpetuating these lies makes the situation worse, not better.Bakarihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04002145755975841287noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2399966929964838853.post-56018751635955139412013-07-17T13:41:53.016-07:002013-07-17T13:41:53.016-07:00This is very interesting Bakari, but not quite sat...This is very interesting Bakari, but not quite satisfying. While it may be epistemically justifiable to think any given black male stranger is more likely to be a criminal than any given white male stranger, that does not necessarily mean it is morally justifiable to treat that black stranger differently because he looks like what you think a criminal looks like. Especially considering the very low number of actual criminals in any population, to say to a black child, "Because you happened to be born looking like a very small number of bad people, we're all going to make your life harder and more dangerous and refuse to apologize or admit guilt for doing so," seems like a pretty grievous injustice to me. It seems especially unjust for white people to take that stance, considering that it is white people who created much of the economic and cultural disadvantage that I suspect has lead to higher rates of crime among blacks and considering how much privilege we already get for being born white. What do you think, are we not sometimes morally obligated to bracket our knowledge of statistical trends due to historical and social justice concerns, especially when that data deals only with a very small part of a population anyway?Zebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11097535848819294243noreply@blogger.com