With the things we are hearing in Baltimore...(rest in details)

I would highly recommend checking out the show, The Wire. It is set in Baltimore and was written by David Simon, who used to be a police reporter for the Baltimore Sun.
After growing up in urban areas, I can attest to the accuracy of the show, which unlike typical cop shows, helps you become empathetic with people living in inner cities.

Clearly there’s a problem. Whether it’s getting worse now, or it’s always been this bad and we’re seeing an uptick in reporting (possibly due to a proliferation of video cameras on cellphones) where they would be previously swept under the rug, I’m not sure.

Yep. And brown people. I grew up and lived in the ghettos of L.A. for a lot of my life. I saw it with my own eyes. I saw how different I was treated because I look like a white girl. Cops even asked me what I was doing with thugs and criminals. They were my friends and were no different than I was except for the color of their skin.

@gorillapaws I do think we are just more privy to it now. I lived with it most of my life. We are talking 40 years.

I don’t trust any law enforcement officers. I will not be friends with them. Sure I’m stereotyping, but I can’t fathom why anyone would want to be associated with such a group.

I don’t think it’s just media hype. I’ve been hearing about issues between Baltimore PD and minorities for decades.

Institutional racism is real. The perfect example being NYCs stop and frisk policy and the infamous war on drugs.

Black people aren’t born looters. As with any child, people are born into terrible conditions and that affects how they are as adults.

It’s an issue with no easy fix, and it won’t be fixed for awhile, but I can definitely tell you making people go bankrupt for healthcare and college isn’t helping.

@Blackberry Ah yes but universal heath care that every industrialized nation on earth has except the states is baad and just one step closer to communism, and helping with over burdening student loans just isn’t free capitalism.

My daughters friend was a police officer but couldn’t last a year. The final straw was when he witnessed senior officers agitate a mentally ill person so they would have to beat him into submission. He had never used his billy club before and he was traumatized. When he returned to the station his colleagues were celebrating that he had broken it in.
He was gone within a month. Good cops just can’t survive in that culture.
I hope not all police departments are as he experienced but my suspicion is that the ones who view the public as the “other” are in the majority.

Systemic/Institutional racism exists everywhere in the united states. It’s not just police, it’s basically everything.

@Silence04 as educated as people claim to be, and in this day and age that is truly sad.

It’s not just Baltimore. Where I live it’s practically illegal to ride a bike in a black neighborhood. Some kids get a bike ticket three times in one day. Black people are 26% of the population, and 78% of the bike tickets go to black kids living in one of two predominantly black, and very poor, neighborhoods.

I grew up in Eugene Oregon (liberal hippie paradise) where seeing a black person (that doesn’t play sportball for NIKE University) is kinda like seeing a Unicorn. I did manage to have a black friend. I got busted all the time for drinking in public. First time I was actually busted while drinking a 40 and pissing on a Safeway. 85 dollar ticket.

Jason got busted for just drinking on the sidewalk outside his house. I was there when he got arrested. He did three days in jail since it was a Friday night. I was drinking about five feet away and the cops didn’t give a shit. And again, this is in Oregon.

So story number 2. My sister has 13 year old twin girls. About three months ago they stole a bunch of booze from my sisters house and went to party at their school at 2AM while my sister slept.

Cops come. Twins run and one is quickly caught. The other gets further away and hides in the bushes. The cops get her. So 13 year olds on school property drunk and run from the cops.

Punishment: Cops take them home and wake up my sister at 4AM. That is it.

So we have that. But my sister lives in a part of town where the average income is around 150K per year and the twins are pretty white girls.

If they were black boys and did the exact same thing my sisters twins did I would have gone to a funeral a few months ago.

I can only repeat what i’ve said before, the US police are fucking neanderthals.

It’s a problem of a FEW over the top cops but more of a problem with ANY criminal fool, black, white or polka dotted that commits a crime, runs from or threatens the police and then cries “victim” when they are manhandled.
If you are black and live in a black neighborhood your criminals are going to be black. Same goes for hispanic or white communities.
I’m a middle aged white female with zero criminal history and if I resisted arrest, attacked a cop or ran from one I wouldn’t be shocked and surprised if I was harmed.

Do you think a cop wouldn’t shoot a white, middle class female for the same behaviors.
Run from a cop, all bets are off IMO. no matter your race, gender, age.

The mayor of Baltimore is black, the chief of Police is black, most of the city council is black, most of the cops are black, It seems unlikely that racism is the cause of all this. I could believe stereotyping but not racism. Picking the answer that makes you feel self-righteous may feel good but it doesn’t solve any problems.

So you think shooting is a valid response to running for a stupid crime? What the FUCK is wrong with you?

Thanks for all the answers, but do you trust the police??
To do the right thing??

LOL no

It isn’t a mistake that this is the Nick Cave poster on my closet door.

Starsky & Hutch would be fucking horrified, Huggy Bear too.

I think it is demographics too. Of course you are going to see more police violence in inner city zones than in an area such as my own. Goes with the territory. I am in no way condoning police violence but, it is more likely in dangerous, crime ridden cities where many are repeat offenders.

I live in a rural, foothill mountain community in Northern CA. We have the occasional fugitive blowing through from the city trying to get out of town, heading for Reno or other parts of Nevada. We have a few wilderness drug ranches, an occasional robbery or domestic shooting or some such thing, few minorities, mostly cowboys, gentleman ranch estate owners where the L.A. and San Francisco Bay area people migrate from to get more bang for their real estate buck, a lot of old timer hippies that moved out to the hills in the 60’s and 70’s and many vineyards and wineries. We have some hispanics, a few asians and even fewer black residents.

Most blacks are not hippie farmer cowboy types.

They can’t help but be biased in those areas when that bias gets confirmed over and over again. Yes it is wrong but put your self in the shoes of a street cop working the shitty part of town, especially Baltimore. I’d bet some of them have ptsd.
For the record I don’t trust cops anymore than the random person on the street to do the right thing, perhaps even less so.

@Coloma

You think running from an officer is justifiable grounds for lethal force? Seriously?

@Darth_Algar I never said that. I said don’t cry “victim” if you are manhandled in your attempts to flee, manhandled is not murdered.
I also said I was, in no way, condoning police violence, however, if one is foolish enough to actually try and run, well…
No, they shouldn’t lose their lives, OTOH if a cop says ” stop or I’ll shoot” and you still don’t hit the deck, you made your choice.
It takes a whole lot of stupid to think you can outrun the cops and not suffer some serious consequences.

What about these cops that have to deal with these low life thugs, day in and day out ad nauseam.
Don’t you think they get mighty sick and tired of the same old crap they have to deal with on a daily basis?
It’s a two way street, I also have empathy for the authorities and what they are forced to deal with.

IF someone is running AND brandishing a weapon and refuses to halt, then yep, take ‘em out before they take some other innocent out first.

@Coloma

Oddly “Do you think a cop wouldn’t shoot a white, middle class female for the same behaviors.
Run from a cop, all bets are off IMO” sounded a hell of a lot like it.

@Darth_Algar I already addressed that in my post a couple above. Yes, if I had a weapon and ran I’d fully expect to be shot. Cops may be a little more hair trigger in high crime areas, I won’t dispute that, but for the most part they are going to respond exactly the same way in any highly charged encounter.

Crazy has no color, age or gender.

Running from the police on foot is not grounds for lethal force, not even getting tasered.

Is this the case of the Tasering/shooting or is it the one where the man was injured in the back of the Paddy Wagon?
In either case, from my limited experience of doing ride-alongs with several Police Departments all over the country, Officers don’t start out their careers with a mindset of being suspicious or more likely to watch black people to do stuff. Experience has taught them that the majority of their dispatches for any given night is going to be instigated by, or perpetrated by black people. Unless you are in like Duluth Minnesota or somewhere where there are simply no black people. Ride alongs are easy to arrange and I highly recommend anyone who is interested in their community, or interested in block watch or just curious, to go along a couple of nights on a second or third shift to see the things that go bump in the night. It’s fun, and enlightening.

@ARE_you_kidding_me you must be kidding me.
Taser is perfectly acceptable, especially if the suspect running is a rapist or murderer, same for shooting. Allowing a dangerous criminal to escape to continue committing acts of violence against others is not acceptable.
Shooting or tasering someone for petty theft is overkill, shooting or tasering a known violent offender is not. C’mon people, really?

What are cops supposed to do when dealing with highly dangerous people, take them out for an ice cream or a beer? Pffft!

Remember when the cops “chased” O.J along the freeway in his Bronco.
“Shoot the black bastar…OMG it’s fucking him, I gotta git me his autograph”
See, not all cops are racist scum ~

Most of these cop taserings and killings are routine traffic stops and stop and frisk scenarios. Not criminals fleeing from active crime scenes. When was the last time a cop stopped a rape in progress?

Not talking about taking down known violent criminals, tasering is not benign either.

“The whole history of progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning, they want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.” – Frederick Douglass, 1857

Riot on, comrades. Riot on.

@gorillapaws insight:
“Whether it’s getting worse now, or it’s always been this bad and we’re seeing an uptick in reporting (possibly due to a proliferation of video cameras on cellphones) where they would be previously swept under the rug, I’m not sure.”
Yes, I read every post from the Q down.

I think we’re seeing an uptick of visually supported reporting of abuse. What would be nice is a like record of looting/theft. It’s coming.

@ibstubro https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CCPRDrIUsAA4yh3.jpg:large

I live in Portland, Oregon which is literally the whitest major city in America. The black population is only 6% of the city – but black people are stopped in traffic at a rate of 11.8%. And when it comes to stopping pedestrians, police stopped black people almost 20% of the time… and there’s only 6% of black people in the entire city. They are also more likely to be searched and more likely to be patted down for weapons – even though white people were found with contraband 42.7% of the time, and black people were found with contraband only 30.5% of the time.

Keep on thinking that way @Coloma. It’s just that kind of mindset that allows police to keep getting away with abuses and murder.

@Darth_Algar Thinking what way? That I want to feel protected from lunatics on the loose?
I do not condone extreme abuse by law enforcement, not even remotely, but yep, if some psycho rapist escapes he could be crawling through MY window an hour later. If he gets taserd or gets shot in the foot while trying to escape, well, if that’s what it takes to PROTECT me and others so be it.

If someone with a weapon fails to halt and runs off with a gun in their hand they are putting others at risk. What is going to, ultimately, happen if cops lose all ability through fear to do their jobs?
I don’t have a problem with moderate physical force if it means a dangerous person is not going to escape and harm others?
I do not want to see cops being so afraid to assert their authority to “serve and PROTECT” that they are going to let extremely dangerous people walk away for fear of being accused of inappropriate conduct every time they lay a hand on someone, and this is what is unfolding in these tomes now.

I am not talking about beating the snot out if someone in a routine traffic stop, or using extreme force for other minor infractions, but in the event of serious potential threat, yes, do what you need to do catch the criminal. There was a story recently here in CA. of a man that had a long history of violence, domestic violence and other arrests. He shot the family puppy in front of his kids, stole somebodies horse and led the cops on a 3 hour long chase through rugged country in the desert. They did beat the tar out of him and now the guy was just awarded $650k by the county.

THIS is insane!
You can disagree with me all you want but as far as I’m concerned that asshole that caused grave harm to animals, traumatized his family, stole someones horse and risked harming or killing it and then cost that county thousands of dollars chasing his sorry ass all over the countryside in extreme heat, officers risking their lives from dehydration, falls, and other hazards .well…I’d have beat the crap out of him too.
Commit a crime get whats coming to you and then be rewarded with a more than a half million dollars because you got smacked around, I don’t think so.

@SQUEEKY2 wrote, “Do you trust the police, to do the right thing all the time?” Nope. Nobody’s perfect, and despite all the qualifying tests to become a LEO, some bad apples slip through.

I’m looking forward to body cams being standard issue for all LE. I believe it will greatly reduce the number of excessive force incidences. But perhaps even more importantly, they will make public the quality work by cops that is rarely reported.

The videos should be a real eye opener for people to see the verbal abuse, nastiness, and crap that cops deal with everyday. I’m not condoning excessive force, but It’s no wonder some cops turn bad after some time on the job.

It isn’t just discriminatory policing or excessive force the cops are guilty of. At this point theft is literally part of their job. It’s called asset forfeiture and was started in an attempt to hurt drug dealers. But in fact it codified a system wherein the police can seize your property without ever charging you with a crime and the burden of proof is of the victim to prove that the confiscated property was not involved in a crime. It’s an inversion of the founding principle of our justice system: innocent until proven guilty. Last I heard about 80% of those cops seize property from are not charged with a crime and the property is almost never returned to the original owner.

Here’s an example.

@Coloma

You can keep saying shit like “psycho rapist”, but the role of the police isn’t to judge guilt or to carry out executions. The only time lethal force is ever justified is if the person is at that moment threatening some else’s life or well being. That very rarely happens. The police don’t know that someone is a “psycho rapist” and that’s not their determination to make. No matter how much we may be sure that someone is guilty, that is the role of the court and jury to decide, not the police. And it’s certainly not the role of the police to execute someone just for running away.

@Darth_Algar Again, I am not advocating “lethal” force, or “execution”, but, in the event a person brandishing a weapon, that is armed and dangerous, fits the suspects description exactly and that willfully runs, well, I stand by my sentiments. If you need to taser them or otherwise stop them by incapacitating them, well, I have no issue with using reasonable force.
I feel that what I have attempted to say here is being twisted and convoluted beyond “reasonable doubt.”
Armed and dangerous means just that and if that is the case, yep, whatever it takes.

Bottom line, if a criminal or criminal suspect is stupid and willful enough to RUN from law enforcement they deserve to be tasered or incapacitated in some way.
If you have nothing to hide you hide nothing, if you are not guilty you do not run.
That’s all I am going to say about it.

@Coloma Do you realize that tasering someone can kill them? If someone is in a situation where they’re threatening someone’s life that’s a reasonable time to use a taser or lethal force if necessary… but just running from the cops is not justification for the police to tase them. They could be mentally ill, they could be immigrants fearing deportation, they could have a warrant out for child support payments, etc. none of these reasons justify using a taser that could kill them. Chase them, tackle them, absolutely.

@gorillapaws My opening line above was brandishing a weapon, armed and dangerous, fits a suspects description, and…after all of that…willfully runs Sheesh…I think a little reading comprehension tune ups are in order here. If the person is mentally ill, is fleeing child support, or an illegal I still stand by my opinions IF they have a weapon. Tear gas and rubber bullets can kill people too.

@Coloma I was responding to the following line:

“Bottom line, if a criminal or criminal suspect is stupid and willful enough to RUN from law enforcement they deserve to be tasered or incapacitated in some way. ”

I don’t believe I’ve taken that out of context. It seems to stand on its own, and I stand by my response to your statement.

@gorillapaws Yep, I do think if someone is stupid enough to run they deserve what consequences they get. Not being beaten to death maybe but, hey…how dumb can you be to run in the first place.
I think we are too soft on criminals and they will be controlling us before long at the rate things are going.

@Coloma

I know you’re not directly advocating. But the kind of passive acceptance of these things, like you demonstrate here, is the exact attitude that allows the police to get away with so much shit.

Edit: I rescind that. You are advocating. With your last couple of posts here you’re pretty much saying “obey or die”.

@Darth_Algar I think uncalled for assault is horrible and am not being passive in any way. All I am saying is that hardcore criminals deserve to get their due, not murdered, not beaten within an inch of their life but not be handled with kid gloves and treated like little old ladies.
Then, god forbid, they get taserd, their arm twisted and knocked on the ground they can then sue for meg bucks.

For those who may not be aware, I’m one of the “hardcore criminals” Coloma thinks should be savagely beaten with batons and shot dead in the back if I try to run from the righteous beating the police should be applying to me. My crime is breaking the laws made by and for the rich, for the purpose of maintaining the comfort of the rich and their pet toadies: the Good Germans who never disobey the State because the State is our gracious Father who hands down infallible wisdom.

@SmashTheState Nice spin you put on my sharings there.
If you want to initiate real change get into politics instead of defending being a thug.
But then, of course, you’d have to clean up your act and drop the Clamper look. lol

“Thug.”

Why don’t you use the word you really mean? Nigger. Carl Stokes, a city councillor in Baltimore made exactly the same challenge to CNN for their use of the word “thug,” since it’s clearly what they – and you – really mean. It’s like the polite bourgeois use of the euphemism “urban” with exactly the same meaning.

I don’t need to “spin” your words. It’s pretty obvious to everyone what you really mean.

And just incidentally, I did run for office, and I didn’t need to “clean up my act” to do it. Furthermore, while I didn’t win, I was regarded as a serious candidate, covered extensively by the media, and I managed to turf the incumbent out of office by coming up the middle and capturing third place; he lost by just 44 votes. And during an all-candidates debate at a highschool I received a standing ovation for telling the kids that they could vote with a piece of paper, but they could also vote with a brick.

@SmashTheState I do not use the words you ‘re putting in my mouth and have no such attitude, and nothing is obvious.
“Nigger”?
Where the hell did you glean that from my sharings?
Really? Pffft!

It’s no secret you are hardcore anti-authoritarian and would like to smash the state. Yeah well, what else is new? I am the 70’s girl, been there done that, and you know what?
Bricks don’t work.

Peaceful protest is one thing but if you “smash” a cop car and set it on fire yeah I hope they take you down like the thug you are behaving as.
I spent years being a pacifist and now, in my maturity I say, act like a thug, lose all credibility and you deserve to get an ass whoopin’.

Nobody takes a raving madman seriously.

“If not saying they should be killed or beaten or anything but…...they deserve whatever they get”.

Oh for fucks sake, you guys are impossible to communicate with!
For-the-last time.
Perpetrate extreme violence, assault other humans, rape, murder, mug little old ladies, molest babies, brandish or us a weapon and then RUN from the cops, YES, YES, a thousand times YES, get your ass kicked but good!

Get beaten for jay walking, stealing a hamster from a pet shop, littering, swiping a candy bar, speeding, urinating in public, no.
Oh what a tangled web you weave when first you practice to perceive.

Your words speak loud and clear. You can add all the little “I only mean the violent ones” disclaimers you want, but your posts belie an assumption that anyone one might run or otherwise resist must be violent, and are, therefor, deserving of whatever beating or death the police might lay upon them.

@Darth_Algar No. I said anyone armed and dangerous, brandishing a weapon or fitting a suspect description exactly that runs, yes, should be taken down in whatever manner works.
I’m done, I have a lot of things I’m doing right now and this horse has been beaten to death. Pun intended.

Coloma is demonstrating why so-called “peaceful” protest does not work, has not worked, and will never work. If such change was possible, it would instantly be made illegal to prevent it. For those who are interested in understanding this in more detail, I encourage you to read Ward Churchill’s Pacifism as Pathology.

“Smoking dope and hanging up Che’s picture is no more a commitment than drinking milk and collecting postage stamps. A revolution in consciousness is an empty high without a revolution in the distribution of power. We are not interested in the greening of Amerika except for the grass that will cover its grave.” – Abbie Hoffman

@SmashTheState So then, it’s okay for you to throw bricks but it’s not okay for your opponents to smash you back? lol
Uh huh….it’s a two way street and if you’re going to perpetrate acts of violence then you can expect nothing less than an equal retaliation. Like attracts like.
Peaceful protests do, indeed work, and glean more respect than behaving like a thug.

You are clearly attached to and enjoy being loud, crass, uncouth and vile and violent in your “protests.”
Just the look on your face in your avatar speaks volumes about who you are, you want, NEED, to be seen as some sort of pioneering, martyred brave heart when it’s all been done before and you only parrot those that have gone before you.
No original thought is happening, just rote recitation.
It is so obvious your very identity hinges on your self aggrandizing image of ” I am the way, the truth and the light.”

Not impressed, it’s a facade of desperation.

@Coloma I’m not going to get involved beyond this, but I think calling him out for his profile picture is a bit much. To me, all his image indicates is passion – and there’s nothing wrong with that.

@Coloma
www.checkmyprivilege.com
I use this site to help keep my own opinions in check, you should too.

@Coloma – If he wants violent revolution, peaceful protest won’t accomplish that. The Wobblies peaked about a hundred years ago but in their hayday, their strategy was to create so many arrests that the jails couldn’t hold them all. You don’t do that with peaceful protest. The bricks they throw are not intended to annoy but rather to maim, maybe kill. They are not opposed to hurting or killing but only to who gets hurt or killed. You will never convince a wobbly of any reasonable approach because they are not reasonable. They are what the extremists call extreme..

Submerged from the realization of the average American is the stark fact that the traditional function of law enforcement regarding black folks in this country is best summed up as “keeping those people in their place.” There should be no surprise that the relationship between cops and those on the lower rungs of society’s ladder is always adversarial. For obvious reasons, everyone from undocumented immigrants to children of homeless parents will raise an eyebrow at the old slogan “the policeman is your friend”.

Considering the history of the various ethnicities in our country, the one thing distinguishing black people from all others is the fact that their assimilation into our society has been vigorously resisted. In fact their assimilation was in many instances PROHIBITED BY LAW. And of course, there’s the problem of “blending in” when those about you can visibly discern that “you’re not one of us”. That black people have been complaining about their treatment at the hands of law enforcement since the Emancipation Proclamation, and their complaints poo-pooed by the bulk of us is understandable when you consider that reality required tough tactics regarding a group defined as criminal by the color of its skin. The cops are merely doing their job in brutally “protecting” us and of course them from themselves.

I will say that I just learned last night that the term “thug” has racial connotations. Since I am not “privileged” to know that latest ghetto slang terms I will say that my use of the term “thug” means criminal or other rif raffy types, not a slang term for racial slurs.
Now I get why @SmashTheState made the nigger reference.

@DrasticDreamer

You are right, that was hitting below the belt, er, brick.

@Silence04 No need, it is rare for me to get pissy in questions or towards others, I’m well behaved and extremely diplomatic 99% of the time. Everyone is allowed their 1% of pissiness on occasion.

@Jaxk I see, well I am sure getting an education here that’s for sure.
Yep, as long as they accept that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Pitch bricks at cops get tasered or maced or thumped.

@Coloma “Yep, I do think if someone is stupid enough to run they deserve what consequences they get. Not being beaten to death maybe but, hey…how dumb can you be to run in the first place.”

So you do think it’s appropriate to use a taser (even knowing it could be fatal) on someone “stupid” enough to run, including people like the mentally ill, deadbeat dads, or undocumented workers?

@gorillapaws I addressed that above somewhere, I said yes, but only IF they were also brandishing a weapon. Otherwise no. I still think anyone that runs from the cops is not only foolish but obviously guilty of whatever. If you are not guilty you don’t run you stand and face the consequences, you know, the old ” you can run but you can’t hide” thing.

If the suspect running has warrants for serious crimes or violent crimes then my answer is yes as well. Better to get them off the streets than allow them to continue on their spree.

@Jaxk I usually do not agree with you on many topics, but I totally agree with your post here,THANKS.

@Coloma That link wasn’t for your pissiness… It was more of a reality check to remind you that you are a privileged white person living in Northern California in the mountains with minimal people of color and have never done anything “criminal.” Therefore it’s safe to assume you have zero first-hand experience being extremely underprivileged, racially oppressed, profiled as a “thug,” and treated as such for no justifiable reason by police officers. So please understand, your mountain views on the subject of “who is deserving of a violent police response” may not carry much merit from the perspective of others.

In other news: the “thug” in question was carrying a small, legal pocket knife (usually considered a “tool”, not a “weapon”, when carried by white people), was illegally arrested and the arresting officers have now been criminally charged with his murder.

@Silence04 Actually you are assuming much.
Yes, I have lived the life of a rural, hippie cowgirl for the last 23 years and have enjoyed being privileged but, that is no longer the case, infact, I lost it all in this economic shitstorm between 2010 and 2013, my business, home and have, just barely, found my sea legs again.
I remain underprivileged right now only I do not live in an inner city environment. My daughter is also dating a black man, whom I adore, he is intelligent, thoughtful and extremely bright in the IT field.

We have had many conversations about matters such as this, the difference is he is educated not a thug.
I grew up in a major capitol city, lived in southern CA. for years and was privy to much racial diversity along with being very much a victim of racism as a kid when my father, an architect for the BIA moved us to New Mexico where I was bullied badly by the hispanic and native american kids as the only little gringo girl on the reservation.
I have led a very diverse life and I do not have “mountain” views which I could assume is the sugar coated version for “redneck.”
I’m about as far from a redneck as you can get and do not condone sport hunting and NRA membership. haha

I am a perfect blend of liberal and conservative, liberally liberal and conservatively conservative, depending on the issues but mostly liberally apolitical. lol
I usually take a non-violent position, but, I also do not want to see law enforcement be so afraid of harming one little hair on a criminals head that we allow the worst of the worst to get away with their crap.
I do not agree with allowing the inmates to run the penitentiary

Have I made myself clear enough now?

I’ll also add that being underprivileged and racially oppressed is still not a good enough reason ( excuse ) for behaving like a thug.
How many centuries are we going to carry this racially oppressed card around anyway?
EVERYONE can find a way to improve themselves if they really WANT to, happens all the time. This is true for all PEOPLE regardless of race.

My daughters current boyfriends father was jailed in Texas at one point, he has nothing to do with his biological father and certainly did not follow in his footsteps. He has a college degree and is doing very well for himself at the tender age of 25. He is certainly not whining about being oppressed and loathes those that do.

@Coloma Well considering you said i was assuming too much, you didn’t really do a great job proving otherwise. If anything you further elucidated your ignorance on this topic by suggesting:
• A life of constant racism is equal to the few times you were bullied as a kid.
• Cherry picking one black person as proof that others can just as easily achieve the same status and school of thought.
• Racial oppression is a thing of the past and is currently filling up too many news headlines to the point of annoyance.

I’d suggest checking out this video, it’s old but covers some good topics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AMY2Bvxuxc

btw, Mountain view was meant more in the literal sense. As in reference to an ideal view for a premium house/vacation rental (privilege joke, get it?), but I see how that could be misinterpreted.

@Silence04 I have nothing to “prove”, I am not totally on top of all the issues with racism and I wasn’t “cherry picking”, I do think that everyone has the ability to rise above their race and circumstance in america, I used my daughters friend as an example of someone who chose to detatch from their unhealthy parent and strive for more, rather than to follow in their unsavory footsteps, something every person can do if they are are self aware enough to recognize they have a choice.
I would not say that is true in other parts of the world obviously. Racism isn’t any different than the sexism millions of women still experience on a daily basis all around the world, and
I do think that one should not live up to their racial stereotypes if they want to be taken seriously.

I also didn’t mean to insinuate that there is no such thing as racial oppression anymore but I don’t see racism as any better or worse than any other form of oppression and I don’t think it is a viable excuse for violent protest. If one wants to be taken seriously they do not behave like a crazy person.
I get your reference now in regards to your mountain privilege comment, thanks for clarifying.