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Sounds like you're putting the blame on black people. I recommend you read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisis Coates.

GrinningFool 10y ago
I leaned towards reading it as blaming the culture that rewards the behaviors that lead to trouble. Only "leaning" because the strongest support of it is the idea presented of moving a black child to a middle-class American family - that child will still be black, but he contends (rightly or wrongly) that the same issues would not be present. At least to me, this suggest it's perception of a culture under discussion - a culture that is concomitantly dominated by black members. Could just be I'm being to generous in my reading though :)
- ams6110 10y ago
  Exactly, it's not skin color it's culture and behavior.
  - runako 10y ago
    How does an armed police officer evaluate the culture of a person moving past in a vehicle, so that they know who comes from a bad culture and thus is okay to target?
    - flukus 10y ago
      By knowing the region they're working in.
  - natrius 10y ago
    How many unarmed black people have to be gunned down by their own government before skin color makes a difference? I am beyond despair. A society that systematically oppresses black people still thinks skin color is irrelevant. There is no hope.
- lukeschlather 10y ago
  The thing is, the data clearly show that police are using skin color as a signal in deciding who to pull over, and furthermore the data show quite clearly that skin color does not correlate with illegal behavior. So even in your "charitable reading" the premise is faulty. Black culture is no more criminal than white culture. For example, black people who are stopped and searched are less likely than white people to have drugs. (This doesn't mean that black people are less likely to have drugs, just that police are more likely to stop black people without probable cause.) [1] [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffic-stops-driving-black.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffi...

GrinningFool 10y ago

I leaned towards reading it as blaming the culture that rewards the behaviors that lead to trouble. Only "leaning" because the strongest support of it is the idea presented of moving a black child to a middle-class American family - that child will still be black, but he contends (rightly or wrongly) that the same issues would not be present. At least to me, this suggest it's perception of a culture under discussion - a culture that is concomitantly dominated by black members. Could just be I'm being to generous in my reading though :)

ams6110 10y ago
Exactly, it's not skin color it's culture and behavior.
- runako 10y ago
  How does an armed police officer evaluate the culture of a person moving past in a vehicle, so that they know who comes from a bad culture and thus is okay to target?
  - flukus 10y ago
    By knowing the region they're working in.
- natrius 10y ago
  How many unarmed black people have to be gunned down by their own government before skin color makes a difference? I am beyond despair. A society that systematically oppresses black people still thinks skin color is irrelevant. There is no hope.
lukeschlather 10y ago
The thing is, the data clearly show that police are using skin color as a signal in deciding who to pull over, and furthermore the data show quite clearly that skin color does not correlate with illegal behavior. So even in your "charitable reading" the premise is faulty. Black culture is no more criminal than white culture. For example, black people who are stopped and searched are less likely than white people to have drugs. (This doesn't mean that black people are less likely to have drugs, just that police are more likely to stop black people without probable cause.) [1] [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffic-stops-driving-black.html http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffi...