Emphasis added. I was with you up to this point. Maybe you’d like to be a Muslim in China, or gay in Russia or a few African countries, or a woman in any number of Islamic countries. Yes, the situation for black people in this country is bad, but hyperbole on that level doesn’t help matters at all.
Uh, I’ll take picking up trash for $100, Bob.
Either that, or the black student who proved his identity to the armed thug was the sort of guy who took pride in his break and enters by always cleaning up the yard before not leaving the scene of his crime.
I don’t think anyone made a call to the police. The press release says, “A Boulder Police Officer observed a man sitting in a partially enclosed patio area directly behind a ‘Private Property’ sign and initiated contact with the man to determine if he was allowed to be on the property.” So it appears the officer initiated the interaction on his own.
No hyperbole. Just cold, hard facts.
Incarceration rate by country:
United States of America incarceration rate by ethnicity: Incarceration in the United States - Wikipedia
Fortunately, I do not live in the USA or any other, as your elected president puts it, “shithole.”
Wow! That is inexcusable. Rousting a black person for sitting in an enclosed patio, and escalating the matter, withholding the black person’s ID and calling for backup. That officer should be fired, but of course that will not happen.
That thug cop obviously failed Racial Profiling 101. Yep, they should be fired. Disgusting.
Black people harrassed in this way are fighting back. Not against police, but against the neighbours making the calls to the police in bad (racist) faith. Such callers did not face any cost or consequence whatsoever for their calls, all the consequences were for the person guilty of “living while black”.
Now one man has civilly sued such callers for racist harrasment and endangerment.
Good for him, I say. This could be the next Rosa Parks lawsuit.
Thank you for this. It was very well said.
In my personal experience, most cops don’t actually want to hurt us (black people) during these types of encounters. They simply want to make sure that we know our place in society…on the bottom. If we stand up for ourselves then you can ALWAYS expect the cops to continue to escalate the situation until they win. No matter the circumstances, no matter the cost, no matter who is right or wrong, we are always expected to lose. Every.Single.Time.
If the young man in the video had simply acknowledged that the cops can fuck with him any time, any place and for any reason while meekly acquiescing to all of their demands then the situation would have been resolved sooner rather than later.
The worst part of these types of situations is the never ending cavalcade of white people telling us that we should just lie back and think of England while the officer has their way. And what’s our reward for being the cop’s bitch? We get the privilege of going home alive!
You don’t have to be in jail to be not free. See my examples, which you ignored.
What I would expect of the cops is that they do their OWN assessment of a situation when they respond to a call.
If someone calls them about a trespasser or a kid in a park with a gun or a hostage situation in a home, sure, they get there as quickly as they can, but they eyeball it for themselves before assuming the caller correctly described the situation.
Here, the first cop could see a man ‘armed’ with a bucket and one of those things you pick trash up with. The cop could have gone up and talked with him in a normal tone of voice, ascertained that he was picking up trash in his own yard (why the hell would he pick up trash in someone else’s yard?), and that he wasn’t trespassing.
In the unlikely event that I’m ever SWATted, I hope the responding cops take a moment to listen and notice that my house is awfully quiet for an active hostage situation, and at least give me a chance to come outside with my hands up before breaking down the door and opening fire as they enter.
I don’t want them just taking some overzealous (or perhaps malicious) citizen’s word on what’s going on in a situation they’re responding to. Unless they show up and see people with guns drawn, I want them to take a minute to take stock and see for themselves, and make their own judgment about what’s happening right in front of them.
Did you read the last few posts?
The officer was not responding to a call but rather decided, on his own, to see if the man, sitting at the time, belonged there.
If the officer who initiated the contact had a body cam, it hadn’t been released and the online video doesn’t show the initial contact.
However, we know that the man produced ID, identified himself as a resident and employee.
The police officer escalated the situation by calling in backup when the man became angry because of the apparent profiling.
As one white man has repeatedly pointed out in the thread, it would have gone much quicker and smoother had the man not become angry, but it was that anger that made the video go viral.
To be fair, cops have that with whites they suspect of challenging them, too. Women often get a free pass because they aren’t considered a threat in the first place.
I think it is telling, but overlooked that US cop dominance and violence at blacks is over 90% aimed at black MALES. Anyone have stats pointing at the opposite? ( I found an article here that describes the differences but says that it is also a problem Say Her Name: Recognizing Police Brutality Against Black Women | ACLU)
I still think that establishing negative consequences for racist bystanders calling the cops on black people being “in the wrong place” is the easiest plan of attack.
I suspect that once a situation has been instigated American cop culture encourages officers to ‘never lose’ the confrontation regardless of who they are dealing with. The problem lies in who gets placed in these types confrontations and why.
IMO the cop in the video was just trying to send a message: I don’t think you belong here. You are being watched. I can fuck with you any time, any place, even in your home. Stay in line and obey our rules or I will make your life difficult.
In my experience, white people rarely have to deal with this type of behavior from cops.
Like I said before, if the man in the video had meekly acquiesced then the confrontation would have been over and the cop would have went about his business satisfied that he had just protected and served the community against the potential African American menace. When dude in the video refused to bend over then the cop went into “never lose” mode and the party really got started.
IANAL, but I think it’s very difficult to go after them.
The person in case linked nice was harassing someone.
The officer who started this all has resigned. The city has also released the incident report, body camera footage, and radio traffic from the incident. All other police officers involved were cleared.
According to the article, Officer Smyly would have likely been suspended or fired at the conclusion of the investigation. Then the disciplinary appeal process with the police union would have likely resulted in overturning the firing or suspension. Instead a settlement was reached where Smyly retired before disciplinary proceedings concluded, and the findings were released immediately.
The report concluded that there was no proof racial bias was a motivating factor, but that departmental procedures were violated throughout the incident, and that Smyly’s behavior was not up to the professional standards of the Boulder Police Department or the community.
From the report:
So no officer was found to have pointed a weapon at the innocent person, but the fact that two tasers, two handguns, and a less-lethal shotgun were prepared to be used on someone who was doing nothing but cleaning up his residence and asserting his constitutional rights in a loud voice should be extremely concerning.
How much does anyone want to bet that the police officer who resigned will find work in law enforcement somewhere else?
School principal.
Huh, presumption of a black man’s guilt. Welcome to America.