It’s just as biased and prejudicial to assume or think or express that all black people are any one negative thing as it is biased and prejudicial to assume or think or express that all police officers are any one negative thing. There are moral, values-driven, upstanding, competent, character-infused, law-abiding, intelligent, level-headed black people in this world, and there are also respectful, professional, thoughtful, diplomatic, caring, kind and good police officers too. Not every black person is either good or bad, and not every police officer is either good or bad. All groups of people and all subgroups of people are comprised of both good and bad. To punish all black people for one’s own negative image of black people as a whole is just as wrong as punishing all police officers for one‘s own negative image of police officers as a whole.
There are police officers this very day who are paying for what Derek Chauvin did, murdered George Floyd for absolutely no justifiable reason, officers who have never conducted themselves in the manner in which Chauvin and his accompanying officers did. This includes every other officer who has committed misconduct and/or an illegal act, not just this most recent incident of murdering George Floyd.
Keep in mind that not every black person thinks alike, acts alike or is alike. The exact same goes for police officers. Furthermore, an account needs to be considered for those officers who are themselves minorities of some sort. Equal to what I’ve written above, even the minority officers are neither all good nor all bad, and for that reason they cannot be lumped into one narrow category. To assume that the skin color or national origin guarantee that any police officer will be good or bad just as much misses the point as any other blindsidedness does.
Attacking a police officer on the street at random because of anger over George Floyd’s murder, attacking police stations, these actions aren’t helpful in advancing toward a solution to illegal acts by those police officers who have committed the illegal acts.
Racists, Klanspeople, bigots and others who denigrate the black race are wrong for doing so. Their accomplices who denigrate the entire police profession are wrong also.
Thank you, Professor. I am passionate about fair play.
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Thank you for shedding light from the first-hand Australian perspective on this same problem that we’ve been experiencing in the USA. I hope that the day will come, and quite soon in fact, that this entire issue is completely eradicated from all corners of the globe.
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A radio news commentary this week uncovered that it’s been practically clockwork in the US that riots of this caliber and over this issue have flared up approximately every 25 years.
2020 Minneapolis, Minnesota and then various other cities nationwide
1992 Watts, Los Angeles, California
1968 Watts, Los Angeles, California
1942 Detroit, Michigan
1917 Chicago, Illinois
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Good points. What’s even more maddening is that riots have to be considered as effective or non-effective in bringing about change.
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Thank you very much, Jane, for your insights here. I know that there is inherent good in a lot of people, hopefully more than 51% of people, and what you’ve written here reinforces that. Being so close to the place where this current inflammation started does give your perspective more credence than others who are far removed from it.
This is not merely a police/community issue, because both of those entities are made up of the same common denominator: people. [I am not saying that your position is merely police/community.] I have been in many situations and circumstances wherein one might not expect one person to look askew at another and been surprised that that’s exactly what happened. Look at any family or extended family, and you can see strife even there based on how one person looks at another’s position in life. It expands from family to non-family in eccentric concentric circles as people interact.
I am grateful for having had the opportunity to travel all over the world for more than thirty years, and as a young lad in my twenties I learned something from it that resonates since that time: we are more alike than we are different. Taking the time out to learn and understand others, even if and when we don’t see eye to eye, goes a long way.
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Element 99 