DGS49
Diamond Member
Nicholas Goldberg: L.A.'s district attorney explains the persistent racism in police culture
George Gascón explores the shocking — and yet not so shocking — bigotry revealed in the text messages of dozens of Torrance cops.
news.yahoo.com
Upon first reading, this article exposes an appalling culture of anti-Black police racism in a couple of specific communities, purporting to be representative of the general reality. I don't doubt it.
But when is racism justified? It is doubtful that "white" police officers initially have racist attitudes. There is screening that is supposed to weed out that sort of recruit. And it is generally reported that the same "racist" attitudes are present in experienced Black officers, once they have been on the street for a while. Clearly, the experience of being a police officer in a community with significant Black population is a major contributor to developing racist attitudes. And how could it not be? The kinds of crimes that draw the attention of police - violent crimes against persons, street drugs, burglary, robbery - are committed disproportionately by Black perpetrators.
If most of the bad actors that you encounter are wearing green hoodies, don't you think you are going to start focusing on people wearing green hoodies? It is only natural.
All you can ask of police is that they ENFORCE THE LAW in a color-blind manner. Focus on specific suspects based on the evidence that is known and not the race of the suspects. Treat everyone according to their own behavior, and not according to your expectations about their behavior.
Telling police not to enforce the law with respect to crimes that are uniformly committed by Blacks is no solution; it is a recipe for disaster.
At least that's what I think.