# Blacks get lassoed by white men on horseback and paraded through Texas town... **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 6, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278 "2019-08-06T23:29:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/61 "2019-08-15T18:53:33Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > It was racist in the context of America and American history. Even if the officers didn’t intend it to be racist. By their poor judgment and (possibly) ignorance, they did something racist. Most sorts of every-day racism are from ignorance rather than malice. Exactly. Similarly, if a white legislator meets with a delegation of black constituents and offers them a photo-op luncheon, and what’s served at the luncheon is fried chicken and watermelon, the legislator may not have intended to do something racist. Maybe the legislator in question simply loves fried chicken and watermelon and has it for lunch every day and figured it would be the natural choice to serve anybody else. But given the longstanding use of those foods as symbols in US racist iconography, serving them to those people in those circumstances would definitely come across as racist. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/62 "2019-08-15T19:10:21Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > … In the other examples I mentioned there is plenty of evidence to support the claim of racism. In this particular case, not so much. It would be interesting to know when the last time this treatment was applied to a white guy. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/63 "2019-08-15T19:13:10Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > It was racist in the context of America and American history. Even if the officers didn’t intend it to be racist. By their poor judgment and (possibly) ignorance, they did something racist. Most sorts of every-day racism are from ignorance rather than malice. This is a bit more severe than every-day mundane occurrences, of course. I work for the state government (not in Texas) and one thing we’re taught in our ethics training is that as a public employee, it’s not enough to avoid doing something wrong, it’s also important to make sure it doesn’t look like you’re doing something wrong. For example, if you have to perform an inspection at a bar that serves alcohol, you should park your state vehicle a block or two away so that it doesn’t look like you’re drinking on the job. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/64 "2019-08-15T19:27:12Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > For example, if you have to perform an inspection at a bar that serves alcohol, you should park your state vehicle a block or two away so that it doesn’t look like you’re drinking on the job. How do you avoid being seen going into or coming out of the bar? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/65 "2019-08-15T19:51:50Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > How do you avoid being seen going into or coming out of the bar? Unlike your car you don’t have a big sign on you. It’s not like we have uniforms, just badges. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/66 "2019-08-15T21:25:25Z")
> [@MikeF](#): > > Stupid? Yes. But the first headline I saw (Slate, I think) read “Cops on horseback drag man through Texas town”. I can’t find the article now but I’m certain the word “drag” was in the headline. I envisioned a man on his back or knees being, you know, dragged. The picture I saw showed the guy walking with the officers and the rope appeared slack. There was certainly no dragging going on. Wait what? You seem to be excusing the police because the man was walking, and was not actually exercising passive resistance and being dragged. So a headline used an incorrect word, and this makes it OK then? You think the problem was with the “dragging” part, and the rope around him was no big deal? Huh? Have you just beamed down to the planet? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/67 "2019-08-15T21:40:58Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Wait what? > > You seem to be excusing the police because the man was walking, and was not actually exercising passive resistance and being dragged. So a headline used an incorrect word, and this makes it OK then? You think the problem was with the “dragging” part, and the rope around him was no big deal? Huh? Have you just beamed down to the planet? It’s not okay but being guided by rope as you walk is very different from being dragged. The headline is worthy of scorn like all sensationalized clickbait headlines that are misleading. But the whole look and what it evokes, given America’s past, is really bad. The incident itself is still not okay, and criticizing a headline doesn’t make it less bad. ---
**Author:** ![Trafalgar\_Laura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trafalgar_laura/32/2907_2.png) [@Trafalgar\_Laura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trafalgar_Laura)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/68 "2019-08-15T22:03:29Z")
All I can think is what that poor man must have been going through. I imagine I’d have gone along with the policemen, led by rope… because they had guns and could kill me if I disobeyed or ran. Yet I’d also be terrified, wondering if I were being led to some worse death. Wondering if there’s some chance I could get away safely. The whole thing is so weird and inappropriate that the idea they were leading me to some more private spot for something awful (and unofficially sanctioned) to happen would seem quite plausible. It’s not as though there’s no history of this happening. All they had to do was call a car and wait a little while. Parading a man, especially a black man, bound by rope feels more like a public display. At _best_, public humiliation as punishment. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2019, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/69 "2019-08-15T22:14:23Z")
I’m wondering if a lawsuit is pending to declare a violation of human rights, particularly a violation of the 8th Amendment prohibition on cruel or unusual punishment. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2019, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/70 "2019-08-20T20:41:29Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > Wait what? > > You seem to be excusing the police because the man was walking, and was not actually exercising passive resistance and being dragged. So a headline used an incorrect word, and this makes it OK then? You think the problem was with the “dragging” part, and the rope around him was no big deal? Huh? Have you just beamed down to the planet? There was no rope _around_ him. Stop with the exaggerations. The rope was tied to his handcuffs. He was not _dragged_, he was walked. I don’t know what the policy is for handling a resistant person in that situation. Probably wait for a paddy wagon, since that situation is supposed to be crowd control, not general transport. I’m not saying what they did was right, but exaggerations like above just inflame the situation. > [@BigT](#): > > There has also been no apology that what they did might seem racist. That is not true. The police chief has admitted that they used poor judgement in this incident. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/71 "2019-08-21T01:08:56Z")
Irishman has called for the paddy wagon in a thread dealing with the question of police racism. Irony’s last words were “Oh, man, I wish I’d thought of that”. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/72 "2019-08-21T02:23:35Z")
So let me get this straight. You’re upset not because anything bad actually happened, but because it _looks_ bad? Not because anybody actually got lynched or anything, but because a rope kinda sorta reminds you of a lynching, and horses just seem to antiquated? You realize cops use horses in 2019, right? And this doesn’t matter a good god damn if they remind anybody of the 19th century? And that it also doesn’t matter what something _looks_ like because it’s not the cops’ job to look good? > [@Kobal2](#): > > What cops do everywhere in the world ? Call for a car/paddy wagon, and wait. But why? They didn’t need a car. They had horses. The suspect could walk. Why would they call for a car? So they don’t _look_ bad? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/73 "2019-08-21T03:05:45Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > And that it also doesn’t matter what something _looks_ like because it’s not the cops’ job to look good? Tell it to the [Galveston chief of police](https://news.yahoo.com/texas-police-department-under-fire-193520279.html), or are you claiming you know his job better than he does? > [@](#): > > Chief Vernon L. Hale III of the Galveston police department said the officers “showed poor judgment” […] Hale’s statement said that this practice is considered acceptable in certain situations but in this instance it was not used correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/74 "2019-08-21T03:16:56Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Tell it to the [Galveston chief of police](https://news.yahoo.com/texas-police-department-under-fire-193520279.html), or are you claiming you know his job better than he does? He’s their boss. It matters what he thinks. I’m not their boss, and neither are you. It doesn’t matter what we think. There are about 10,000 people being disciplined and written up by their bosses today, all across America. I don’t care about them, either. I just want to make sure that the SDMB’s ire is pretty much based soley on optics, not, y’know, substance. If I’m wrong, if this is some sort of specific call out to some previous instance, something intended to actually have an effect on or “send a message to” the Galveston citizenry or whatever, please tell me. But so far as I’m aware, the complaint here is that this is visually reminiscent of a general practice from 150 years ago, 50% of which is due to the presence of a horse, something commonplace in 2019 policing, not to mention ranches and races. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/75 "2019-08-21T03:34:25Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > He’s their boss. It matters what he thinks. I’m not their boss, and neither are you. It doesn’t matter what we think. There are about 10,000 people being disciplined and written up by their bosses today, all across America. I don’t care about them, either. > > I just want to make sure that the SDMB’s ire is pretty much based soley on optics, not, y’know, substance. If I’m wrong, if this is some sort of specific call out to some previous instance, something intended to actually have an effect on or “send a message to” the Galveston citizenry or whatever, please tell me. > > But so far as I’m aware, the complaint here is that this is visually reminiscent of a general practice from 150 years ago, 50% of which is due to the presence of a horse, something commonplace in 2019 policing, not to mention ranches and races. Yes. This is the problem. It’s a pretty big problem. As a public servant myself, if my agency had done something the equivalent of something this it would be a huge scandal and we’d probably be getting special training and messages against it for years. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/76 "2019-08-21T03:41:52Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > He’s their boss. It matters what he thinks. Right, and what he thinks is that these officers violated correct standards of practice and “showed poor judgement”. Presumably there are official policies backing up his assessment of the situation, unless you think the Galveston police chief is an arbitrary despot who gets to just rebuke his officers as a matter of irrational whim. > [@Chessic Sense](#): > > But so far as I’m aware, the complaint here is that this is visually reminiscent of a general practice from 150 years ago 😕 If you think lynching in the US ended 150 years ago, no wonder you’re confused about why people are indignant about this incident. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/77 "2019-08-21T04:19:42Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > 😕 If you think lynching in the US ended 150 years ago, no wonder you’re confused about why people are indignant about this incident. No kidding. And there are threats often enough, even in 2019, such as hanging nooses around schools to show that the idea of lynching someone is a nifty weapon for the bigots. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/78 "2019-08-21T13:49:14Z")
Lynching ended 150 years ago? Tell that to the relatives of Emmett Till and James Byrd jr. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/79 "2019-08-21T14:09:59Z")
For the most part, lynching didn’t end a 150 years ago; it started 150 years ago. Lynching was a means to an end - the end being confining newly-freed blacks to lower class status. ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2019, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278/80 "2019-08-21T14:55:42Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > So let me get this straight. You’re upset not because anything bad actually happened, but because it _looks_ bad? Yeah. Because when it comes to race and public perception, what something _looks_ like is a pretty big deal. This looks like an old-timey reenactment of a minstrel show. > [@](#): > > You realize cops use horses in 2019, right? And this doesn’t matter a good god damn if they remind anybody of the 19th century? And that it also doesn’t matter what something _looks_ like because it’s not the cops’ job to look good? You know how “All cops are bastards” used to mostly be used by ganster rappers and not, y’know, liberal white guys? And then [this happened](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/mSCftESyKyU/maxresdefault.jpg)? And [this happened](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/170620185053-philando-castile-dash-cam-large-169.jpg)? And [this happened](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150408091220-walter-scott-shooting-framegrab-super-169.jpg)? And now trust in the police keeps going down among everyone who isn’t white, republican, and an asshole? Yeah, see, this is why it is absolutely the cops’ job to “look good”. If your community does not trust you, policing that community because hard to impossible. Pulling shit like this doesn’t just look bad. It’s extremely humiliating for the person involved, and for anyone who can identify with that person. It will give them yet another in a long list of very good reasons to not trust or go to or snitch to or help the cops in any given situation; yet another in a very long list of reasons to see cops not as “Officer Friendly, the helpful community safety officer” and as “Office Punisher, the guy with the itchy trigger finger who has some very strong subconscious biases about the place of the negro”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blacks-get-lassoed-by-white-men-on-horseback-and-paraded-through-texas-town/838278.md?page=5)