One piece of that is exposing the people who do wrong by the people who were wronged.
Forgiveness? If you punch me in the face, and then walk down the street and punch someone else in the face, and so on - I’m not gonna even think about forgiving you until you’ve stopped actively punching people in the face.
How about, American police reforms their shitty methods, stops locking up and killing more of their citizens than any other civilized nation on the planet, stops harassing minorities and beating them to death for no reason… and then, once they’ve shown that they can behave, we can talk about forgiveness?
Great, but you are NOT a judge, and the people who are don’t share this view, evidently. So who the fuck cares what Judge Jasmine would do? I care about what the people who are actually part of the legal system are doing.
Exactly; and then hammer that point home, until enough people wake up and realize what cops are actually doing in this country.
As a middle class white dude, I had no idea about most of the abuses carried out by police officers. I thought cops were nice guys you could ask for directions or report issues to. That all changed back around 2014-2015, when I learned about the murder of Tamir Rice, and realized that the narrative I had in my head doesn’t check out based on the factual evidence.
That’s why these situations are SO IMPORTANT to highlight again and again and again.
@Jasmine, this story may make you uncomfortable. And it absolutely should. But if you’re anything like I was in 2014, the real cause of that discomfort is not the fact that some cops jad their image used in a music video. It’s the fact that the polive’s behavior in this case was inexcusable, as it often is; and learning new information that conflicts with our preconceived notions is uncomfortable.
But I ask you, really think about this case, and really think about whether the society you want to live in is one where police officers react to spurious suspicions about black people by knocking down their door and ransacking their house.
This country has been nothing BUT empathy, understanding and forgiveness for cops, and all it’s earned us is a police force that routinely violates people’s rights.
Not a lot of empathy or understanding for the guy whose house was ransacked…
I think it is obvious from my many posts on this and related topics that I don’t, but I feel the proper approach is independent analysis of the problem and a systemic solution.
Empathy and understanding and forgiveness? For God’s sake, the cops that broke down his door, stole his money, and busted his property without finding any evidence of crimes are fucking suing him because he made a funny song about their mistake.
Does the safety of Afroman and his family not matter? It was his house that was assaulted.
This wasn’t just a mistake. They targeted him baselessly, almost certainly for racist reasons, Adams county is 97.7% white, it’s also the poorest county in Ohio. That a Black man is sitting up there being one of the wealthiest residents of the county was unconscionable. He must be up to no good.
This was a criminal act under color of law, straight up. If you are for forgiving them and not holding them accountable, do you feel that way about all criminals, or just criminals that happen to have badges?
Sure, on a society level. But if you are a person who has had their house ransacked and robbed by the police, you don’t have the ability to force those changes on society.
What you can do is publicize the incident so that others know that those changes need to be made.
That’s great. But that’s not what the judge in this case did. How do you plan on replacing racist judges in backwater rural counties like Adams county to follow your standards? (BTW, they are elected, so are answerable to the 97.7% white population of the county before anyone else.)
To get independent analysis and systemic solutions implemented, you need to convince the public to vote for politicians who make that part of the platform. Highlighting police abuse (for example, through a funny music video) is a step on the path to this goal.
I’m Jewish, and I live in California. I live in the suburbs now, and before that I lived in the city; but before that, I spent a couple years in a fairly rural place. And a big part of the reason I moved away was the white supremacists. I’ll never forget how, on the day I moved in, I went to the car and saw a man walking by across the street, taking his kids to the pool; no shirt, a dozen swastica tatoos.
I wouldn’t bring my Jewish ass anywhere near Adams County, and I can’t even begin to imagine living there as a Black person. Especially when the police makes it this clear that they do not want you there.
There are some really great places to camp in Adams county (it being rural and undeveloped), so I used to go there from time to time.
But it is the sort of place that I’d tuck my hair up under my cap before I went into a gas station.
Doing the math of 27,000 residents with .3% being Black gets you about 80 Black people in the whole county.
I have some sympathy for the cops acting on orders that they couldn’t have known were faulty. The illegal trying to disable security cameras, theft and destruction of property much more than was necessary to conduct a search not so much. Fuck them and may they suffer all of the karma they have coming to them.
I think part of why this spurs so much outrage, though, is that we know police routinely get warrants based on bullshit. There’s no shortage of warrants signed off on the basis of an anonymous tip.
I honestly don’t know what precipitated this warrant, but when they find nothing, leave you with a mess, fuck with your shit, and traumatize your family, there needs to be accountability.
I also really bristle at the pound-in-the-door warrants when there’s no good reason to expect violence.
So both obtaining BS warrants and treating every town in the US like Fallujah? That’s on the cops.
Not to mention the cases where they pound in the wrong door… I swear, if you’re that fucking dumb and reckless, then all the cops involved in the breach should be fired and charged with breaking and entering.
First, I hope the case gets thrown out, Afroman sues them back, and everyone involved suffers even more severe consequences than being in a video.
But from a legal standpoint, it seems to my non-lawyer self that some of Afroman’s merch might be treading close to the line. The videos are one thing - I think the footage from his cameras are totally fair game. But putting the cop’s face on a t-shirt seems like a step beyond.
If Brad Pitt comes to my house, I can’t take a picture of him, put it on a t-shirt and sell it, or use his image to endorse my products. As much as I hate to say it, does the cop maybe have a case?
May be different if Brad Pitt breaks into your house, steals your money, and vandalizes your security system.
I’d say it looks transformative.
Assuming the only photo of Brad Pitt that you used was one you took while he was on your property, and that you were selling a product satirical of what Brad Pitt was doing on your property, and it is clear that you aren’t trying to imply that Brad Pitt endorses your product? I’m not so sure.
I certainly want it to be different, but is it?
Good point, maybe it falls under fair use as a parody?
But you can take a picture of Brad and post it on the internet.
I mean, it certainly looks like Officer Pound Cake is endorsing that product. 
(But of course, Afroman isn’t in the business of selling poundcakes)