HOLY CRAP, this just came down my Facebook. These are CHILDREN, you fucks. CHILDREN! Warning: it's two cars worth of cops "investigating" and "questioning" three boys that can't even be ten years old. I'm not starting a separate thread because (a) it's tangentially related as to how cops treat black children on bikes in black neighborhoods and (b) there is enough of this shit for the WOC of this board to deal with without yet *another* thread on how their babies are mistreated and grow up in fear of the men who have sworn to protect them.
(Some profanity, but it's deserved. Just warning in case there are kids nearby. The profanity is at the end, after they drive off so you can stop it there.)
He was originally charged with a felony. He was going to surrender to police last night, but there was a huge public outcry (200 people showed up) and they dropped the charges. (This is in my city.)
ETA: The Wilmington Police Department not has a bunch of 1 star reviews on FB, with comments about this. My FAVORITE part are the people commenting on the events they have set up to help teach kids how to ride bikes. www.facebook.com/WilmingtonPolice/
Both sides accepted responsibility? How should he have otherwise acted?
I'm trying to imagine how this would have played out had he not contacted a noted local religious figure/authority figure, and had a contact with a police officer to go with him when he turned himself in. If he was just some neighborhood guy who didn't have, or didn't think about contacting, these types of connections. And how much this played into his not getting charged.
HOLY CRAP, this just came down my Facebook. These are CHILDREN, you fucks. CHILDREN! Warning: it's two cars worth of cops "investigating" and "questioning" three boys that can't even be ten years old. I'm not starting a separate thread because (a) it's tangentially related as to how cops treat black children on bikes in black neighborhoods and (b) there is enough of this shit for the WOC of this board to deal with without yet *another* thread on how their babies are mistreated and grow up in fear of the men who have sworn to protect them.
(Some profanity, but it's deserved. Just warning in case there are kids nearby. The profanity is at the end, after they drive off so you can stop it there.)
He was originally charged with a felony. He was going to surrender to police last night, but there was a huge public outcry (200 people showed up) and they dropped the charges. (This is in my city.)
ETA: The Wilmington Police Department not has a bunch of 1 star reviews on FB, with comments about this. My FAVORITE part are the people commenting on the events they have set up to help teach kids how to ride bikes. www.facebook.com/WilmingtonPolice/
Holy fuck that video with those three little boys. They were babies and why the fuck was he even justifying stopping them? That's right, there is none, they were just black and riding their bikes. Thank god Mr. Flowers was there to record that bullshit. I also can't believe they tried to charge him with a felony, for recording a video.
That was heartbreaking. The police need to do better. Pick better people, provide better training, create more accountability.
I'm sorry but this has nothing to do with training, you don't need to be trained not to shoot someone that's not threatening you, you don't need to be trained to not be hostile to a human being, esp a teenager who has just been an freaking accident. This right here is lack of common sense, decency, and just plain being a human being. This girl wasn't threatening, she wasn't combative, she was scared, rightfully so, of an adult who you are raised to respect, because he's the police, and she's being treating as if she's done something criminal and not worth helping.
Yes yes yes. You cannot teach someone to act decently to people. You cannot teach people to not be afraid of a person because of their race. What you need is to be able to weed these people out during the application process. You need to pay police better salaries so you can get and retain the higher qualified people. I am going to keep advocating for national standards for police departments. I know it will never happen because people will cry that it is an overstep, but come on now.
She thinks that these murders and acts of police brutality are part of a calculated effort to bring black people to the point where we cannot take another thing, that we go crazy and riot all excuse so that the government has a feasible excuse to do something to us, en masse. She said maybe concentration camps or something similar. Mind you, it wasn't 20 minutes ago that I was all . But I just don't know how to explain the clear attack by LEO on black people. It is real.
Is it sad that I agree with this? I can be borderline conspiracy theorist on certain matters. But I do think that their is some secret society that went into overdrive when we dared elect a black president. I don't know if concentration camps are the end goal, but definitely to make us seriously feel that we are second class citizens. And yes, I know that these things were happening before Obama, but I definitely feel a societal shift since he was elected.
Post by mrsukyankee on Sept 23, 2016 8:58:40 GMT -5
RAGE. What the hell is wrong with these cops? I wish I lived nearby one of those locations so I could go and protest hard. It's the white people who have to stand up and do it now.
He was originally charged with a felony. He was going to surrender to police last night, but there was a huge public outcry (200 people showed up) and they dropped the charges. (This is in my city.)
ETA: The Wilmington Police Department not has a bunch of 1 star reviews on FB, with comments about this. My FAVORITE part are the people commenting on the events they have set up to help teach kids how to ride bikes. www.facebook.com/WilmingtonPolice/
what in the world was he being charged with???
It was never really clear, but something stemming from recording the officers, even though it's legal. Shocking, I know. He said that a SWAT team showed up at his house at one point.
We are really lucky this didn't go down in a different way.
She thinks that these murders and acts of police brutality are part of a calculated effort to bring black people to the point where we cannot take another thing, that we go crazy and riot all excuse so that the government has a feasible excuse to do something to us, en masse. She said maybe concentration camps or something similar. Mind you, it wasn't 20 minutes ago that I was all . But I just don't know how to explain the clear attack by LEO on black people. It is real.
Is it sad that I agree with this? I can be borderline conspiracy theorist on certain matters. But I do think that their is some secret society that went into overdrive when we dared elect a black president. I don't know if concentration camps are the end goal, but definitely to make us seriously feel that we are second class citizens. And yes, I know that these things were happening before Obama, but I definitely feel a societal shift since he was elected.
I'm sorry but this has nothing to do with training, you don't need to be trained not to shoot someone that's not threatening you, you don't need to be trained to not be hostile to a human being, esp a teenager who has just been an freaking accident. This right here is lack of common sense, decency, and just plain being a human being. This girl wasn't threatening, she wasn't combative, she was scared, rightfully so, of an adult who you are raised to respect, because he's the police, and she's being treating as if she's done something criminal and not worth helping.
Yes yes yes. You cannot teach someone to act decently to people. You cannot teach people to not be afraid of a person because of their race. What you need is to be able to weed these people out during the application process. You need to pay police better salaries so you can get and retain the higher qualified people. I am going to keep advocating for national standards for police departments. I know it will never happen because people will cry that it is an overstep, but come on now.
I agree. That is why my first thought was higher better people.
Good training will only help if you start with good people.
It's not just that police departments aren't hiring the right people. It's also that group think takes over and it becomes very much an us vs them mentality. I've seen it happen with law enforcement in my own family. It's sickening. After awhile they start grouping people into "tax-paying citizens*" and everybody else - this second group gets treated like they're animals*. Completely dehumanized. Add in the militarization of police departments across the country, three strikes and you're out, stop and frisk and all that related crap and then people wonder how we're here.
The other thing is maybe policing isn't a lifelong calling. Instead of seeing it as a 20+ year career how about evaluating these officers every so often to see if they're still treating everyone with the same sense of humanity. Are they able to deescalate a situation now? Are they still able to deescalate a situation two years from now? Five years from now? If not, time to get them off the force. Maybe incentivize positive outcomes. I really don't know but if you can't recognize and acknowledge the basic humanity of a person - regardless of how you come into contact with that individual - I don't think they should be interacting with the public.
*these are not my terms. These are terms I have heard in the past. They are awful groupings - racist and classist.
It's not just that police departments aren't hiring the right people. It's also that group think takes over and it becomes very much an us vs them mentality. I've seen it happen with law enforcement in my own family. It's sickening. After awhile they start grouping people into "tax-paying citizens*" and everybody else - this second group gets treated like they're animals*. Completely dehumanized. Add in the militarization of police departments across the country, three strikes and you're out, stop and frisk and all that related crap and then people wonder how we're here.
The other thing is maybe policing isn't a lifelong calling. Instead of seeing it as a 20+ year career how about evaluating these officers every so often to see if they're still treating everyone with the same sense of humanity. Are they able to deescalate a situation now? Are they still able to deescalate a situation two years from now? Five years from now? If not, time to get them off the force. Maybe incentivize positive outcomes. I really don't know but if you can't recognize and acknowledge the basic humanity of a person - regardless of how you come into contact with that individual - I don't think they should be interacting with the public.
*these are not my terms. These are terms I have heard in the past. They are awful groupings - racist and classist.
the same thing happens with prison guards. The training, the group think, the conditions you're forced to force on others because of fucked up protocols - it just starts to beat the compassion out of you even if you start out ok. And then you take somebody who started out as a power hungry racist and they're just allowed to FLOURISH in that environment.
And then you add in things like availability heuristics and confirmation bias - you're constantly seeing people at their worst in your professional life, and it gets easier and easier to start believing that "stereotypes exist for a reason" and other bullshit. (see: cognitive bias thread) (ETA - I think this part is also important for how it helps explain in-group bias - like women who are all, "I don't like other women, they're so catty/emotional/whatever" and newblack cops who are all, "my people need to just do better and then this would stop happening." When society and the media show you something over and over and over again, and then you see it for yourself a handful of times - even if it's actually not the majority of what you see - your perceptions get skewed. You remember it wrong. You really do. Our brains suck at actually getting shit like that right.)
But then heaven help somebody who tries to point out to you how your racial biases are skewing your perceptions - because "I'm not racist! how dare you say that! I don't see color!"
It's a fucking mess. The tinfoil hat setup seems pretty plausible to me, because I feel like we couldn't have fucked ourselves worse if we were trying.
Post by notsocreepylurker on Sept 23, 2016 20:04:35 GMT -5
I only read the part of the article in the OP and can't see the video here at work. But I am not sure if I really want to know the answer but the car this girl bumped into with her bike - what did the driver do? Did he just drive off? Did he stick around and watch the cops do this and not say anything?
I only read the part of the article in the OP and can't see the video here at work. But I am not sure if I really want to know the answer but the car this girl bumped into with her bike - what did the driver do? Did he just drive off? Did he stick around and watch the cops do this and not say anything?
He stayed there and waited for the police. I would not be surprised to hear he was the one who called the police. And one of his comments was that she tried to ride her bike away from the scene of the accident and had to be almost forcibly detained (and those were pretty close to his actual words.) And he stood around and waited for them to put her in the car while he fairly calmly gave them his ID and information even afterwards.
RAGE. What the hell is wrong with these cops? I wish I lived nearby one of those locations so I could go and protest hard. It's the white people who have to stand up and do it now.
A police officer from my city killed Philando Castille. It's a very small community-maybe 8500 people. They put him back on desk duty about 3 weeks ago and so many of us showed up at the city council meeting to fight it, they suspended him again the next day. (The case is still being investigated, so they had reinstated him prior to a decision even being made). The make up of the city and the policing are clearly showing a racist system is in place here. The action group of residents, working closely with the Castille family and friends and BLM, has also finally gotten the city council to create a citizen oversight committee to work with the police department to ensure this isn't swept under the rug. None of these things are "answers", but it does show what a bunch of concerned citizens can impact when they care enough to show up, act swiftly, and refuse to let the all white, all old, all clueless city council ignore it. We are also in talks for replacing council members at the next openings, etc. this has bothered me since I moved here - the council doesn't at all reflect the changes to the neighborhood. I think if we had acted sooner regarding the council and been more aware of the racial profiling in traffic stops, the response after the shooting would have been better. They handled it AWFULLY and I have no doubt that without the group of people forcing the issue, this would have been a non- issue to the city.
We have had to really look at the fact that we have a systemically racist police force operating here, the data was available, just asking our friends and neighbors of color about it could have revealed the problem and we just skipped along ignorantly and now a really beloved man is dead. There is a lot of "that happens in other places" going on with police shootings. But I'm telling you. It happens EVERYWHERE.
ETA: my point is - you do live near one of these locations. Because this happens everywhere. Get involved where you are. Before something tragic happens.
I was arguing about this on my FB page last night and another friend's page (friend is white with 2 little black children). Both people said that she deserved this treatment because of the way she acted. I can't. I'm getting all riled up again now. Both discussions are pretty done and I want to go yell at them again.
(I'm not sure if it's clear, but the person I was arguing with on my friend's page was not her. It was a former Pestie, but not a name I recognized.)
I'm 99.5% sure we share a wonderful friend with many small dogs and two amazing little kids. I couldn't believe A showed her ass like that, but at the same time realized even more that those we think we know are part of the problem. It's strengthened my resolve to stand up and do something. Passivity is as bad as flat out racist actions.
I've been away from the media and social media for the past few days, so have not engaged in conversations about recent events. This is the first time I saw that video and that poor little girl! I can tell her screams were those of terror, not anger. My 3 year old would know that's fear. My freaking pets would recognize the fear! She was trying to fight for her safety. Not that her anger would have been good reason for the cops' actions in this case, but how can they hear those screams of terror and be so horrible? How can a living being hear her fear and act in such a reprehensible way? And yes, the pepper spray comments were the worst. And the driver. Had anyone, a duck, a drunken adult, a young girl, run into my car, I'd be calling for someone to help them. I'd be crouched down in the street trying to protect them and fuck my car. I can't be speechless anymore. Speechless doesn't help. F'ing standing up and screaming might.
Post by mrsukyankee on Sept 24, 2016 1:32:27 GMT -5
Thanks for sharing this boxertdog (I live in London so can't really just show up in the US to fight this - but I can definitely fight anything that might show racism by the police here - it just probably won't be a shooting as most of our cops don't have guns).
Thanks for sharing this boxertdog (I live in London so can't really just show up in the US to fight this - but I can definitely fight anything that might show racism by the police here - it just probably won't be a shooting as most of our cops don't have guns).
Post by KateAggie on Sept 24, 2016 14:49:14 GMT -5
This is all upsetting. But that video...that's the age of my oldest. Who is NINE. And these police officers are harassing them and laughing about it. That's probably one of their 1st interactions with police. They (the officers) are actively creating distrust and fear.
I can't even gif... I had to pause the footage halfway through because I could feel her panic and my chest was squeezing so tight I couldn't breathe. By the end of it I was crying And the people on the street who are calling out - trying to help her - but they can't get close because the asshole officers keep yelling at them to back up. </3
Fuck, the second officer saying in a calm casual voice "I can spray her if you want... I'll spray her." I feel queasy.
Me too... I felt somewhat reassured by the discharge operator asking him to repeat himself, almost like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. But then the cavalier way he said "just mark it on the sheet" made me queasy again
Post by miniroller on Sept 24, 2016 15:59:35 GMT -5
I avoided this story for the past couple days because I wasn't in the place to take it. Finally watched & I'm just as disgustedly disappointed as I feared. How can we demand change that is so obviously overdue?
I am just getting to this, and I am so fucking done with bad cops. That poor girl. I am glad her family hired a lawyer. I hope these cups get jail time and the young woman gets the support she needs from the community. Fuck those cops.
(I'm not sure if it's clear, but the person I was arguing with on my friend's page was not her. It was a former Pestie, but not a name I recognized.)
That's the same fucking bitch who told one of our friends that she "had options" on the day she euthanized her extremely aggressive dog that would attack her own husband.
(I'm not sure if it's clear, but the person I was arguing with on my friend's page was not her. It was a former Pestie, but not a name I recognized.)
That's the same fucking bitch who told one of our friends that she "had options" on the day she euthanized her extremely aggressive dog that would attack her own husband.
What? I have no idea who she is. I just figured Pestie based on our mutual friends.
(I'm not sure if it's clear, but the person I was arguing with on my friend's page was not her. It was a former Pestie, but not a name I recognized.)
That's the same fucking bitch who told one of our friends that she "had options" on the day she euthanized her extremely aggressive dog that would attack her own husband.