"I am not shifting the discussion to anything irrelevant. When you look at the scale of violent crime in areas like St. Louis or Camden, it has an immediate relevance to police attitudes. There are so many crimes for them to track that of course they are going to be more aggressive in those areas than they would be elsewhere. The violent crime rate in Camden is 12 times greater than in the rest of New Jersey. Can you blame cops in that area for being more on edge and more aggressive than they are, say, in Princeton? And don't forget, they are fearing for their lives as well.
And I am saying this as someone who has seen cops be jackasses for no good reason, particularly in college towns, and generally doesn't have a very favorable attitude toward police in general. What I object to is the utter pettiness of bringing up police brutality in respect to race when there are far more significant and widespread problems in the black community than a couple of these isolated incidents.
Finally, I will conclude by saying this: the likes of Riotbeard do not want to have a fundamental conversation about these more important issues because they don't want to face the reality of what so many urban communities have become as a result of their ideas. The Great Society socialist programs of Lyndon Johnson have been in place for 50 years and they have utterly failed. The old Democratic Party activist Bob Beckel - who now works for Fox News - even admitted two years ago that was happened in these communities is not what him and his friends wanted or intended back in the 60s. He admitted it has been a disaster.
But, hey, we shouldn't talk about that. We should celebrate how black people have the "right to vote" 95%-plus in every election for the Democrats. I have a friend who in 2012 was working at an inner-city school that was all black and at the time of the election he heard the students saying that "if Romney won, he would take away condoms and bring back slavery" - clearly what they were hearing from their parents. Those are some really well-informed voters right there, I must say.
And, boy, am I glad I have never once voted in an election. Down with democracy!"
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Well I believe in democracy, at least in so far as it's the best system we have at the moment. What's the alternative?
For someone as strident as you, I'm amused that you don't make use of your vote. No one says that black on black crime isn't important. It is not the issue being discussed in this thread. Honestly, this is like someone opening up a thread about Andy Murray to have it overrun with Fedal arguments!
I've read articles about what it was likes for Black Americans moving north after the civil rights legislation in the 60s. Many were denied access to loans, and systematically disadvantaged. It's too easy to say it's failed. We need to ask the question why this tragedy has happened, and what should be done about it. These are a people who were integral in the development of America into the wealthy nation that it is today, and they historically have been denied access to the American dream. Yes there are success stories, but when the cultural experience is that hope is for the dreamers the majority will not see opportunity if it's right there in front of them. Somehow, they have to be included and encouraged to believe. But as it will take generations. More evidence of success stories will help to accelerate the process, but it will take a long time.
As an aside, there was a great piece in the Financial Times here in England, discussing how black hiphop artists having been given limited opportunities to get their music out to the wider population were forced to become more entrepreneurial, now when you look at the Forbes list of wealthy musicians the to 10 is dominated by people of colour. They were forced to find other ways and have accumulated vast wealth. There will be limited examples like this, but over time more opportunities will become available, I'm convinced of this. But perhaps I'm an optimist!
I thought I would humour you and respond, but I still think the specifics of this thread are interesting enough for us to focus the discussion on the actual topic
