re: America Is Not For Black People

I think this raises larger concerns about people turning a blind eye to what is going on in inner cities -- and this isn't a Republican or Democrat problem, black or white, etc. etc. It's much more complicated. It's something we as a society have to address in addition to addressing the militarization of the police.

it is a tough division we see now, one group feels more threatened by the "police state" while another feels threatened by the people that beg borrow and steal to make their way. I've had my car broken into and been robbed at gunpoint. I'm sure we all have some not so distant connection to a person who lost their life due to violent crime. The author is right about the police being geared for a sort of domestic battle, the question is what is causing that battle and is it necessary.

The Drug War, Gang Violence, Problems in the Education System, Unequal Distribution of Wealth, Racial Division and Tension certainly plays a huge role, Breakdown of the traditional family values, sensationalist reporting in the media the list goes on and on.

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I think this raises larger concerns about people turning a blind eye to what is going on in inner cities -- and this isn't a Republican or Democrat problem, black or white, etc. etc. It's much more complicated. It's something we as a society have to address in addition to addressing the militarization of the police.

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Nothing will change until the people who live there want to change.

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very thought provoking.

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Except it does leave out the change in law enforcement and criminals

I live in a historically black neighborhood well over a century old. When I was younger we had beat cops who knew the neighborhood and knew the people. Back then you had "corner aunts" who looked out in the absence of official law enforcement. That all changed between 1980 and 1990 as 2 things happened.

#1 Drugs
#2 Beat cops were replaced by "soldier mentality" cops

Step back from issues of black / white / yellow / brown (all 4 have drug gangs) and look at the base issue of drugs and the mentality of criminals and the law enforcement that has been developed to combat them. It may not seem like much but when you call folks in from outside a neighborhood (of any color) with no ties to that neighborhood you are asking for, and will get, escalation as adrenaline will already be pumping full force from the outset of confrontation.

When a marine jumps into a firefight in a war zone people get killed because it is a war and we not only accept it, we admire the bravery. When a cop jumps into a similar environment - and drugs have created war zones in every major city in the USA - we had the exact opposite effect. You can not fight a war on your own soil and look like the hero. The media will cover the sensational aspects and not get to the real core of the problem. The drive for ratings is killing this country as we want arguments instead of real discussions that lead to real solutions.

America should be for Americans - the legal ones be they black / white / brown / yellow - and should be more about what we share in common than the small issues of how we differ like skin color or hair color. Maybe the days of beat cops and corner aunts are in the past. That may be the saddest casualties in this current drug war, and make no mistake it is a war.

well it certainly tragic that this boy was shot and killed. But this column/article reads like the riots in the aftermath are almost expected and deserved.

Where is the outrage in 'Urban America' about the black on black crime. Good grief, that's an every day event. Rarely is there a peep uttered.Same old same old. But when a black is shot by a white policeman, all hell breaks loose.

No one wants to address the fact that just maybe some of the inner city problems are actually brought on by its own constituents. The illegitimacy rate is astronomical. More and more babies born into poverty by 'baby mamas' already in poverty.

Sorry ,this article just blames someone else for anything that goes wrong.

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My issue with this situation in Ferguson is that it's being painted as a black/white issue. It is not.

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I don't think race is the main issue, but I don't think it can be ignored in Ferguson. The town is something like 80% black, but the police force and city council is around 90% white. Now, I don't live there and don't know if that stark contrast contributes to any racial disharmony, but I don't think that can be ignored.

I do think the militarization of the police is the bigger issue, along with a cop shooting an unarmed person multiple times.

Police must build trust within the communities they police to be effective. The overly aggressive application of military like tactics are having the opposite result.

Read the whole article.

Couple points: The Texas Open Carry guys who walked into Chipotle had the cops called on them, it caused a lot of fear, which this author happened to gloss over because it didn't suit his agenda.

He excuses the rioting and destruction of innocent store-owners possessions and livelihood as 'just a community dealing with grief''. Civilized communities do not deal with grief by rioting, burning, looting, and violence. This is not something that should ever be excused and is something done by thugs, not by 'concerned citizens dealing with grief'.

The author complains about the cops having all this military equipment and using it against blacks. The Attorney General, as well as the president is black. They are authorizing the militarization of the police force. The accusation of whites holding down the blacks is stupid. This is not 1960. There is a black officer in the picture for pete's sake, and he didn't get his job because of affirmative action, he got it because he likely worked hard and applied himself. Hard work is likely something the looters know nothing about. No one is holding these kids down from getting an education, or from going to work in the oilfield.

The problems here are police militarization and a community that is kept in a cage of welfare/handouts and the constant drumbeat of 'you can't be middle class because that's acting white'.

His comments on over-militarization of the police are pretty accurate but otherwise I wasn't impressed. It came across to me as yet another writer talking about the splinter in my eye while ignoring the plank in his. One sentence in particular stands out.

They—we—are inexplicably seen as a millions-strong army of potential killers, capable and cold enough that any single one could be a threat to a trained police officer in a bulletproof vest.

The leading cause of death for black males 15-34 is homicide - or put another way another black male and believe it or not, the numbers behind statistic is even worse that that blanket statement sounds.

In the 25-34 age bracket, homicides exceed the #2 and #3 causes combined. In the 20-24 range, they exceed the rest of the top 10 causes combined. In the 15-19 age bracket, homicides exceed all other causes of death combined.

Conversely, for white males, the leading cause of death in all those age ranges is unintentional injury. Homicide ranks #3 in both the 15-19 and 20-24 age brackets but doesn't exceed the 10% mark. Homicide as a cause of death isn't even in the top 10 for the 25-34 age bracket.

Looked at from the offender standpoint, the offender is black in 55% of all murders regardless of the victim's race.

People are for the most part really simple creatures. They're interested in keeping themselves and their families safe and secure and they're readily influenced by what they see in their environment. When they see that 7% (est. black male population. Women regardless of race make up less than 10% of murderers) of the population is responsible for 50% of the murders and that population has readily identifiable physical traits they (1) do what they can to minimize risk by avoiding that 7% and (2) tend to view every member of that 7% with suspicion.

The idea that the author finds it inexplicable that he and those that look like him are viewed as potential murders is either a blatant lie or he's in total denial.

The reasonS why the situation exists as it does is the discussion that must happen. There's not going to be one root cause or solution, but until it is addressed then nothing will change.

The really disappointing fact is that it won't be addressed. Too many liberals simply say war on drugs, education and economic, whitey discriminating again, etc and too many on the right say its the culture, entitlements, thugs gonna thug, etc.

As always, the truth's probably a combination but it is an extremely uncomfortable discussion that would inevitably lead to people on both sides admitting that they've been wrong so nobody's willing to have it. As a result black kids keep dying, white folks keep moving, and nothing changes at all.

Sources:

CDC 2010 black male causes of death

CDC 2010 white male causes of death

2011 homicide study

FBI Murders by Offender


I know tl;dr, numbers are racist, etc.

Great article.

He's a little facile about the violence which doesn't involve police (that is to say he doesn't address it at all) and that is a glaring hole.

But his "guns aren't for black people" paragraph is hard to argue with. As much of the piece is.

Thanks for posting.