logical_art wrote:This is a tragically misguided moral hysteria by the country and now the NBA. The evidence that unarmed blacks are more likely to be killed by police in a given encounter than whites is weak.
here's an exhaustive study showing that unarmed black people are three times more likely per capita to be killed by police:
https://news.northeastern.edu/2020/07/16/the-research-is-clear-white-people-are-not-more-likely-than-black-people-to-be-killed-by-police/so? black people have 3.5 times more interactions w/ police, you say? that itself is the function of racism! read on:
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/06/11/opinion/statistical-paradox-police-killings/but, to reiterate, killings are only a fraction of the issue. the broader point that blacks and whites are treated unequally by police is undeniably true and there is absolutely no question that it needs to be addressed. single-minded reduction of that reality to questionable and/or incomplete and/or uncontextualized violent crime data is nothing more than disingenuous distraction aimed at avoiding the broader issue, which includes sentencing and harassment (both undeniably biased based on race). blaming the media for exaggeration (which ALL media does and will always do) is similarly a mere distraction from attempting to deal with the underlying reality
it should be common sense that if at least SOME police officers are racist (and there are SOME racists in pretty much every walk of life), then there's going to be at least SOME inequity in policing. and there's no reason to think that the line would be drawn at violence. the only question is HOW MUCH inequity there is. if presented with data suggesting that there's no racial bias, or that there's somehow more mistreatment of white people, the sensible person should recognize that something is lacking in that data
if you don't believe that substantial racism still exists in police interactions with civilians, you either haven't talked to enough minorities or haven't been willing to listen. black people still can't even drive around in a nice car without fearing being pulled over for DWB. black parents still need to have conversations about police with their children that white parents do not
here's the personal experience of the whitest black guy around. it ain't unique (skip to 15:50):
and the many experiences of a completely non-threatening little black woman (along w/ a wealth of stories in the comments section):
even when famous:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chris-rock-police-photos-comedian-785805#:~:text=In%20a%202014%20installment%20of,driving%20an%20orange%201969%20Lamborghini.do the financial resources of police departments need to be rethought? absolutely. is violence in the name of racial justice the answer? my opinion: no. but the reality is that every time a white cop unnecessarily kills a black person the risks are going to grow
We have massive protests in the midst of a pandemic.
which, given that they are outdoors w/ many wearing masks and attempting to social distance, has not been shown to have a significant impact on infection rates
We have looting and rioting damaging small businesses already in trouble because of COVID19.
unacceptable (same with large businesses, by the way)
We have municipal budgets blown up because of having to deal with riots and protests.
it is not the responsibility of protesters to factor in the financial stability of those they are protesting against
We have increasingly strained race relations.
the result of white cops allowing themselves to be videotaped unconscionably killing black people. and a president consistently dog-whistling racists after building his political base by being the leading proponent of a racist conspiracy theory about our last president. and he's at it again:
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-kamala-harris-false-birther-conspiracy-eligibility-vp-2020-8We have people dead and injured.
a drop in the bucket compared to COVID, which you only seem to be concerned about as a societal issue when it comes to the practicality of protesting racial injustice. hmmm...
and by the way...TENS OF MILLIONS of protesters have taken to the streets already. that only a few dozen people have been killed (many due to the presence of outside agitators) is pretty damn remarkable
We have threats to the core teachings of Dr Martin Luther King, led by the cynical faux intellectual huckster Ibram X Kendi who claims that the only way to be anti racist is through racism.
cherry picking. there are plenty of dubious individuals on both sides of just about any issue
and don't pretend that you're big on the legacy of MLK. if you were, you wouldn't have an issue w/ overwhelmingly peaceful protests. MLK would have a problem w/ the violence associated with some of these events, but he would have no problem with the core of the protests
We have threats to meritocracy led by the childishly over-simplistic and unsubstantiated view that the only single reason blacks don't currently excel at everything is racism.
that comment is childishly over-simplistic. first of all, not a single person holds that grossly exaggerated view. secondly...
we've had threats to meritocracy since the founding of this nation in the form of the subjugation of races. it exists to this very day in the form of wildly variable educational opportunity alone
an equally accomplished black person is MORE meritorious than his white counterpart on average because he/she has had to overcome more in order to get there. that's reality. black people are NOT less accomplished on average because the village elders got together and decided that the culture would focus less on personal achievement or something. that's nonsense. it's systemic. perceived cultural deficiencies develop in large part organically due to systemic restraints
is someone with a 3.5 GPA who had every educational opportunity more meritorious than someone with a 3.3 GPA who didn't? unlikely
in short, it is the inequalities that persist due to racism past and present that do profound damage to the ideal of meritocracy, not the hiring/college acceptance practices put in place to ADDRESS that threat to meritocracy
We have new witch hunt for racists whereby even the accusation of racism can damage a persons livelihood without trial. And we have a McCarthy era like chill on open dialogue that threatens the spirit if not the law of our first amendment.
legitimate issues in many cases
For what? What will be the outcome of all this? BLM has been in existence for nearly a decade now and received millions of dollars of funding. What positive impacts do they have to show for their work? What will they have to show for their work that justifies all of the costs associated with their actions?
unless you've been sleeping through quarantine you should know the answer to that. for the first time we are seeing police departments committing to funding changes. for the first time public opinion has drastically shifted. for the first time we're seeing huge nationwide protests
saying that BLM has been around ten years and accomplished nothing is plainly disingenuous. as you well know, we're in the infancy the organization's impact due to the events of 2020. you could maybe make that case a year ago. you can't now. it required the events of 2020 for the organization to even be broadly seen as legitimate
and for the record, BLM has been only been around for 7 years, staging formal protests for 6 after starting as a hashtag
If people care about lethally bad policing...
again, it's about way more than lethality. and any change in policing policy that benefits black people will invariably benefit ANYONE who's suffering mistreatment
Why is the NBA hitching their wagon to this cause?
$$$. duh. they have calculated that the economic ramifications of alienating their players is more substantial then ignoring them is. that it's the right thing to do is of little consequence in their calculus
