What Black Parents Tell Their Sons About the Police

Great article. Wanted to share. Seems topical.

http://gawker.com/what-black-parents-tell-their-sons-about-the-police-1624412625

Perspective. It's one of the most valuable things in the world.

Here's my question: Why in the world are some people so scared of black men? Have you guys just been completely brainwashed by the TV? I have read people on these forums claiming that it makes perfect sense to shoot a young black man in any altercation because he's 6'3" (Trayvon Martin) or 6'4" (Michael Brown). Yeah, I don't think you guys would be so terrified of a 6'4" white guy.

I think there's a serious lack of familiarity going on here. I think some of you must simply not encounter enough black people in your day-to-day life to be able to think of them as human, with your tiny little republican brains that think the world stops at your fingertips.

I am frankly disgusted and appalled by some of the things I've heard people write about the shootings of black teenagers over the last few years. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. You know who you are.

 

The advice above that they are giving isn't far off from what I, a white man, tell my 6'2" 240 lb offensive guard son. You tell police officers 'Yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am." You don't talk back to policemen. You don't make sudden moves to grab your registration out of the glove compartment. Yes, I don't do the KKK bit.

The thing is, we (and that includes policemen) are products of what we see, hear and learn. I will freely admit, when I see a group of black boys all dressed in similar clothes, I think of gangs. I do have good reason for that. When I was teaching in the early 90s, I taught in a semi-inner city school (not inner city, because the city wasn't really big enough for that, and it was actually a "wrong side of the tracks" on the edge of town). It was a tough enough school that a murder (of a student I had taught) happened in the school parking lot after a basketball game. Anyway, the local street gang (members of which attended the school) had an initiation, which involved committing a violent crime on a white man (which I happen to be). I knew some of the gang members (and this is documented, since two of my former students were arrested and convicted of murder as part of a carjacking). I once ran into those particular boys and their friends in a store parking lot. I never do this (I hate locked car doors), but I locked my car door the second I saw them. Since then, I see a bunch of black boys dressed similarly, I do think about them, but I don't act on it, other than wariness.

I have encountered enough black people in my life to have seen many different aspects of them. I don't act as if they never commit crime, I also don't act as if all are criminals. To use the old cliche, I do have friends that are black--friends to the point that I have had their son over at my house overnight, and friends to the point that I will drink alcohol with them (I don't drink alcohol with just anybody).

 

So you think of gangs. That's fine. But do you think that they should be treated as gang members by the police? Should the cops assume that every black male they see is dangerous? And yes, I know that police are supposed to treat everyone like they're potentially dangerous, because everyone is, but that's my point: if they assume that all black males are more dangerous than others, those cops are just gonna get taken unawares by all the 5'3" white guys.

Black males are no more dangerous than white males, and should not be treated any differently. If you wouldn't shoot a 6'4" white teenager under certain circumstances, then you shouldn't shoot a 6'4" black teenager, either. That may boggle the minds of some people, but they need to start catching up to reality.

 

I gave the "talk" to my son too, after he got his license and started driving. Apparently the writer of that article feels it's an extra burden that only black parents have to deal with but for any parent, if you don't tell your kids how to behave around the police you are putting them at risk. Every kid should get the "talk'.

I wonder if Michael Brown got the talk from his father? I'm guessing no.

 

Humans are still tribal and cenophobic nature. We group according to our similarities. Anything that is different than us is scary and a threat.

Even in the modern age.

There are many other factors too that complicates things, such as religion and culture.

And this is STILL the image a lot of people have of them today:

[video=youtube;1csr0dxalpI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1csr0dxalpI[/video]

And also when it comes to western culture, black si the color of evil while white is the color of good.

You've heard the phrase white hat?

In the early movies, and sometimes even today, evil characters literally wore a black hat and good literally wore a white hat.

Darth Vader is all in black.

The columbine shooters wore black trench coats so those trench coats were banned in many places around America.


And another thing about western culture you might have noticed too is, that when something is big and threatening western people tend to ridicule it to reduce it to a buffoon so it won't be threatening anymore. that's why Worf, in star Trek, was made the butt of many jokes.

 

Jason Riley touches on this subject extensively in his book "stop helping us: why liberals make it harder for blacks to succeed."

He notes - as a black man - being treated differently by the police, and women clinging tightly to their purses or crossing the street as he walked by. He said that he cant blame anyone for this fear because when he himself is walking down a dark street at night, he too is more likely to be fearful if he sees a group of young black men coming near him a opposed to a group of young white men.

He points out that as an educated intellectual, he is simply using the odds of probability to his advantage, and reminds everyone that his wife and kids cant afford to have him make the "politically correct" move in these situations.

 

I'm white and that's the same thing my Father told me about interactions with police. I don't think that advice is race specific.

 

That's weird because I'm a mostly white person in California and when an officer stops me, I use my Sunday school manners and keep my hands visible and other things mentioned in that article, yet doing it has never made me feel oppressed.

 

First off, black parents, are a rare breed. Over 70% of black kids are born into a household with only 1 parent, with the father usually MIA. Thank the liberal welfare state for that huge shift over the last 50 years.

Young black males are about 3% of the US population and account for about 50% of the annual number of homicides. Do you really think it's irrational to be more concerned about a group that commits a highly disproportionate amount of crime relative to their population size? Would you be more concerned about seeing a pitbull running down the street towards you or a Cocker Spaniel?

I highly doubt you read anything on this forum from anyone claiming "it makes perfect sense to shoot a young black man in any altercation because he's 6'3 or 6'4". Sounds like made up progressive hyperbole BS to me, unless you can substantiate your claim with a quote. Go ahead.

What are the demographics of your neighborhood? Do you live in an area with a lot of black people? My guess is no. The biggest lovers of diversity seem to be those who live in the safety and security of their (or their parent's) gated white suburb.

 

Does this black father's advice change when his Son is stopped by a black police officer? I was just in rural south Georgia for a few days and noticed quite a few black sheriff's deputies and police officers there. Are they also to be considered members of the KKK?

 

"There is nothing more painful to me at this stage in my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery. Then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.... After all we have been through. Just to think we can't walk down our own streets, how humiliating. " - Jesse Jackson

Maybe Daybreaker will come in and call Jesse Jackson a racist?

 

Liberals never hold themselves and their own to their own standards, unless a fellow liberal embraces some aspect of conservatism or converts to a conservative completely.

They never see themselves as racists because they have superior morality to everybody else, ad are people of extremely high character so they can never be racist.

 

I loved that Zulu movie, was the only old movie I actually watched entirely in my whole life.

As for Star Trek that reminds me, I saw the George Takei guy I think his name is on a liberal TV show very recently, Real Time with Bill Maher, and he said that they were trying to show people in a subliminal way more liberal and socialist values through the TV show, but when they had a half black half white alien or something kiss the white captain, the Southern conservative states blocked out the show entirely as soon as they did that. You dont think think those VERY same people also dont like the fact we have a black president? Grow up, the South is still riddled with racism.

 

Are you saying Jesse Jackson's statement is a conservative position?

 

I don't know what he said, I've been purposefully avoiding all hit pieces on this issue as i'm frustrated with all the shouting and no attempts to actually resolve this issue.

 

And in both cases it seems like they assaulted someone with a gun. Lesson learned. Dont be an idiot and attack people. They might be able to defend themselves

 

You don't know what Jackson said? You responded to his quote which was posted here.

 

The police should be assuming almost every young male is dangerous--they all can be. That doesn't mean that they should have their pepper spray and handguns out, but that they need to be cautious.

I think a 6'4" white boy would be shot if he hit a policeman so hard, that the facial bones of the officers face were broken. At first, I thought the cop was in the wrong in the Michael Brown shooting. The more I read about the evidence, the more I think the policeman was in his rights to defend himself.

 

That was a totally idiotic example of a movie clip to illustrate your point. Historically, the British soldiers in Africa wore white hats--it's historical, or do you claim that instead of for heat, they did it to be the good guys?

 

Not at all. That's a strawman.

And not the point of what I was trying tos ay. Take a look at the Zulu.

They're big and scary to white folk.

so white folk must ridicule and put them down in order to make themselves feel safe and comfortable.

Hence, we get all kinds of junk like this:

[video=youtube;sls5H4xVHys]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sls5H4xVHys[/video]

 

Nah, I don't think the KKK would accept them as members.

 

JIMV said it. Actually a lot of you have said it, though you get all forgetful and deliberately obtuse when you know you're wrong. But JIMV was the one I saw the most recently. We discussed it a bit. He didn't go all obtuse like you're doing.

 

Wow, it did not take long before the straw dogs were trotted out, so you could vilify and demagogue.

 

I noticed you couldn't produce a quote, and also dismissed most of my post. Very telling, and predictable.

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It's what he does.