Blm?

[not2big]

BLM is rightfully under the impression that black lives are under tighter scrutiny by law enforcement and the Justice Department than white lives and want to even the scale so all lives are scrutinized equally.

[Dance Sucka]

I agree with this, but like I said my sense is the political will isn't there (I'm speaking specifically about the US, but it's probably true more broadly). The incentive structures aren't set up to actually solve problems for the average working person, and that includes cops as well as fast food workers, etc. The incentives are set up to do the minimal amount possible to keep most people's frustrations at bay so the corporate and political elite can maintain the status quo (ie, maintain their own power and wealth).

Funny thing is, this is a time when something interesting and meaningful might actually happen, given the combination of the social protests and the Covid deal, but I fear it will just be another flash in the pan, and regardless whether it's Trump or Biden, it'll just be business as usual.

Ok, I really gotta get off my soapbox. It's taco salad time at my house!

Interesting points. I dunno if the rate of police using excessive force has anything to do with incentive structures. Because of the community backlash, if you're a white officer and you shoot a minority civilian, even if it's a clean shoot and totally justified, you could still become a target of protest and hatred. The same goes for if the shoot is anything less than clean, plus your career is probably fucked. I imagine that these risks are known by all law enforcement, and that it comes as part of the territory and training. I wonder if we have any officers here who do PE who could provide a clearer perspective. It just doesn't make sense to me how any of this is related to incentives like power or money.

Apart from that...Taco salad sounds awesome!

BLM is rightfully under the impression that black lives are under tighter scrutiny by law enforcement and the Justice Department than white lives and want to even the scale so all lives are scrutinized equally.

While this makes sense, it's really an overgeneralization. I'm sure it's true in some cases, but there's far more evidence pointing to implicit racial bias than just plain scrutiny. Here's a great explanation of the issues and research on policing and racial disparity from the American Psychological Association: Policing in black & white

[madyogi]

I dunno if the rate of police using excessive force has anything to do with incentive structures ... It just doesn't make sense to me how any of this is related to incentives like power or money.

I'm not really talking about incentives for any individual officer. A few bad apples aside, officers are well intentioned and like I said, they're out there doing a mostly thankless job, often under dangerous circumstances. What I meant was the incentive structures are not really there at an institutional level to make meaningful reform. The power and money operate at a level quite apart from the average officer on the street.

I wonder if we have any officers here who do PE who could provide a clearer perspective.

I would also be interested in their perspective.

[Johnny D]

BLM is rightfully under the impression that black lives are under tighter scrutiny by law enforcement and the Justice Department than white lives and want to even the scale so all lives are scrutinized equally.

Are they, though? In the US, more crime is committed by blacks so it would stand to reason that they encounter LEO more frequently (now, if you want to talk about ending the policies which lead to crime, that's another issue) but they're not statistically more likely to be victims of LEO brutality when compared with the rate of brutality against other races per encounter.

[Johnny D]

The "all lives matter" response to BLM is an easy way to dismiss the real issues. Unfortunately, BLM isn't focusing their campaign on the real issues, making it increasingly harder to take them seriously. While policing reform is necessary in most places in the US, "defunding" the police isn't going to achieve the results that BLM would hope for. There are deeply seeded structural problems that go way beyond law enforcement, which have resulted in a systemic marginalization of blacks in the US. Sure, much of that legislation and policy of the past has since been removed, but the effects of it will take time and effort to undo. Ending "the war on drugs" would be a great start but there's still so much more in the system that has to be addressed. BLM is/was in a great position to bring awareness to these things but, instead, hung their hat on the more tangible issue of police brutality. It's too bad. That's an issue for all races in the US but BLM wants to own it and monopolize it as unique to their culture. Some years ago I thought they might be onto something, would be able to shed some light on systemic issues that have been hidden for decades, and possibly affect some change for the good. I don't see them doing that now, unfortunately.