4 ms·

It's not government that's the real problem here, it's racism.

by eevilspock 10y ago

teddyh 10y ago
If they weren’t bandits, their racism would be less of a problem.
rbanffy 10y ago
And corruption/
AnthonyMouse 10y ago
> It's not government that's the real problem here, it's racism. Is it though, or is that just the hook being used to drive traffic? They found a correlation between the size of the African American population and the percentage of government revenue from fines, but what evidence is there that the cause is actually racism? The article essentially explains the cause -- African Americans tend to live in higher crime areas, which leads to more police presence in those areas and thus more fines. In other words, the real problem is that the cops can fine anybody for no real reason (and some municipalities use this for revenue generation), and that problem disproportionately affects African Americans because they have more proximity to more cops. The problem with framing it as racism is that support for a cause is generally motivated primarily by self-interest, and if you paint it as "this is a problem for black people" then the majority of voters hear that as "this is not a problem for you" when in actual fact it is a problem that affects everyone.
smilingtom 10y ago
It's not racism. It's never been about race. It's always been about money. The people who have it and the people who don't.
- Domenic_S 10y ago
  I don't disagree. But it seems to me that if you're trying to generate revenue quickly, you ticket the people who are most likely to pay quickly. Why would they write more tickets on a population that doesn't respond to them (context: according to TFA some already have fines for "missed court dates" etc)? If you want to generate revenue, wouldn't you go hard on writing tickets in a middle-class neighborhood, where the population makes enough money to pay the fines but not enough to have the time/resources to fight?
  - FilterSweep 10y ago
    Michael Wood, an ex-marine and ex-Baltimore Police Sgt explained this.... the logic goes that if you were to stop random people in a middle/upper-middle class neighborhood, it's significantly more likely you were to grab the son or daughter of your judge or your doctor.[0] [0] please Google the name - information is readily available, but the links are too politically charged for this particular discussion.

It's not government that's the real problem here, it's racism.

teddyh 10y ago

If they weren’t bandits, their racism would be less of a problem.

rbanffy 10y ago

And corruption/

AnthonyMouse 10y ago

> It's not government that's the real problem here, it's racism. Is it though, or is that just the hook being used to drive traffic? They found a correlation between the size of the African American population and the percentage of government revenue from fines, but what evidence is there that the cause is actually racism? The article essentially explains the cause -- African Americans tend to live in higher crime areas, which leads to more police presence in those areas and thus more fines. In other words, the real problem is that the cops can fine anybody for no real reason (and some municipalities use this for revenue generation), and that problem disproportionately affects African Americans because they have more proximity to more cops. The problem with framing it as racism is that support for a cause is generally motivated primarily by self-interest, and if you paint it as "this is a problem for black people" then the majority of voters hear that as "this is not a problem for you" when in actual fact it is a problem that affects everyone.

smilingtom 10y ago

It's not racism. It's never been about race. It's always been about money. The people who have it and the people who don't.

Domenic_S 10y ago
I don't disagree. But it seems to me that if you're trying to generate revenue quickly, you ticket the people who are most likely to pay quickly. Why would they write more tickets on a population that doesn't respond to them (context: according to TFA some already have fines for "missed court dates" etc)? If you want to generate revenue, wouldn't you go hard on writing tickets in a middle-class neighborhood, where the population makes enough money to pay the fines but not enough to have the time/resources to fight?
- FilterSweep 10y ago
  Michael Wood, an ex-marine and ex-Baltimore Police Sgt explained this.... the logic goes that if you were to stop random people in a middle/upper-middle class neighborhood, it's significantly more likely you were to grab the son or daughter of your judge or your doctor.[0] [0] please Google the name - information is readily available, but the links are too politically charged for this particular discussion.