5 ms·

I am curious if you are non-white, because I am not and I can’t agree with this. All my interactions with the police have been curtious and professional on thei

I am curious if you are non-white, because I am not and I can’t agree with this. All my interactions with the police have been curtious and professional on their behalf even if I am clearly in the wrong, even if I am discourteous. I can’t think of a single person of color that I know, and I know many that has had a poor interaction with the police. America isn’t a bastion of racial equality, but by and large the police are okay. I used to have the same feelings as you did from watching the media, but it’s like the medias portrayal is not representative. Just look at their coverage on violent crime, if you watch it you’d believe that everyone is at risk all the time but my county hasn’t had a single assault in the past 5 years. IMO people are better served looking at these problems as local issues to which the aegis of greater government can help.

bruceb 8y ago
If you are on HN then you probably are White/Asian/Indian and middle class or above now, or in upbringing. You are less likely to mix with who have bad interactions with the police. I agree broad statements like minorities can't trust the police are ridiculous. Very rarely do you hear Asian man shot by police. Clearly black Americans(mostly men)have a problematic history in interactions with police , with some great abuse by some departments. Unfortunately, bad cops get protected, so abuse doesn't lead to punishment....BUT also CNN and clickbait media/Twitter outrage manufacturers turn every white cop/black citizen encounter in to a racial episode when it isn't, which further makes black men/boys feel under siege. Even though that isn't the case most of the time. When actual abuse does happen, the well is poisoned already by the clickbait, and (some) of their fellow citizens are not as empathetic.
- dang 8y ago
  Please don't post generalizations like the ones in your first paragraph. They're frequently wrong, and it sucks to be misassessed that way.
- AlexTWithBeard 8y ago
  you probably ... middle class or above now, or in upbringing So now suddenly it's a matter of class not race. Sounds like a black guy in a suit will have much less problems with the police than a whitie white with a thick gold chain and pants half way down to proudly demonstrate his underwear.
- true_religion 8y ago
  > If you are on HN then you probably are White/Asian/Indian and middle class or above now, or in upbringing. You are less likely to mix with who have bad interactions with the police. I'm actually a black man. Those friends I was mentioning who have gone their entire lives without a poor interaction with the police? Also black men. Worse yet, some of them are immigrant black men with accents. Racism exists. Police corruption exists. It's a known issue, but its not so systemic that it affects all jurisdictions equally. As I said, I believe its much better to look at your current locality and ask "can I trust my police?" rather than think about the situation as a national problem. Now, you might say that I'm lucky, or that I have never broken the law so its a non-issue. Let me tell you a story. Once, I and two of my friends were in a car smoking marijuana. The police, having heard recent burglaries in the area, were on the look out, and thought it particularly sketchy for a poorly maintained looking car to be parked inside such a good neighborhood. As they turned on their lights, one of my friends gets the bright idea that he should run---yes run from the police. He doesn't get very far, and we're all gathered together and the story comes out in torrid detail. We're sure we'll all go to prison, but the worst that happens is that we are driven to our parents' houses and given an unofficial warning. That's it. No writes ups, no tickets. The worst part of that night (for me) was that our stash was confiscated. This is the kind of story you'd expect to only happen to a white guy? Perhaps even a rich white guy, right? Nope, it happened to 3 black guys who ended up going to university on scholarships. This stuff isn't rare. Lot's of time, the police are reasonable but people's bias colors their view of it. One of my friends, who was in the car with me, used to say (when we were younger) that this night was an example of the cops unfairly brutalizing us because we were frisked and he was handcuffed initially---he's the one that ran. Yet if you look at it from another angle, we were the criminals caught in possession of drugs who got a slap on the wrist.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
djakjxnanjak 8y ago
Well I don’t know what county you’re in, but I’m not surprised a place with no assaults in 5 years has nice cops. I doubt the experience of a person of color there matches the experience where police shootings happen.
funkaster 8y ago
> I can’t think of a single person of color that I know, and I know many that has had a poor interaction with the police. Consider yourself lucky. Here's more anecdata: few years ago, I was biking back home (Upper Haight) and missed a stop sign. For context, I'm latino, south american especifically, but look kindof european. The police officer stopped me, really courteous asked for my papers and before looking at them explained really calmed that I had missed a stop sign. I gave him my chilean driver's license (I had not applied for my CA license at that time) and then he immediately changed the tone. He tooked my papers to his car and then came back telling a story how much I liked to ignore rules and I had a "pretty long record" (I have not, that was first ticket in the US). It didn't matter what I said, he became more agitated and violent and only because I kept my cool and basically said yes to everything (frisking and lots of very inappropriate questions), he gave me a ticket and left. I'm sorry, but in here I just avoid cops, I don't trust professionals that have poor training, are poorly paid and can't control themselves when there is some danger, which is the thing they should excel at. I'm obviously generalazing here, but this is also reflected in the linked article and, IMO the core of the Nieto murder.

bruceb 8y ago

If you are on HN then you probably are White/Asian/Indian and middle class or above now, or in upbringing. You are less likely to mix with who have bad interactions with the police. I agree broad statements like minorities can't trust the police are ridiculous. Very rarely do you hear Asian man shot by police. Clearly black Americans(mostly men)have a problematic history in interactions with police , with some great abuse by some departments. Unfortunately, bad cops get protected, so abuse doesn't lead to punishment....BUT also CNN and clickbait media/Twitter outrage manufacturers turn every white cop/black citizen encounter in to a racial episode when it isn't, which further makes black men/boys feel under siege. Even though that isn't the case most of the time. When actual abuse does happen, the well is poisoned already by the clickbait, and (some) of their fellow citizens are not as empathetic.

dang 8y ago
Please don't post generalizations like the ones in your first paragraph. They're frequently wrong, and it sucks to be misassessed that way.
AlexTWithBeard 8y ago
you probably ... middle class or above now, or in upbringing So now suddenly it's a matter of class not race. Sounds like a black guy in a suit will have much less problems with the police than a whitie white with a thick gold chain and pants half way down to proudly demonstrate his underwear.
true_religion 8y ago
> If you are on HN then you probably are White/Asian/Indian and middle class or above now, or in upbringing. You are less likely to mix with who have bad interactions with the police. I'm actually a black man. Those friends I was mentioning who have gone their entire lives without a poor interaction with the police? Also black men. Worse yet, some of them are immigrant black men with accents. Racism exists. Police corruption exists. It's a known issue, but its not so systemic that it affects all jurisdictions equally. As I said, I believe its much better to look at your current locality and ask "can I trust my police?" rather than think about the situation as a national problem. Now, you might say that I'm lucky, or that I have never broken the law so its a non-issue. Let me tell you a story. Once, I and two of my friends were in a car smoking marijuana. The police, having heard recent burglaries in the area, were on the look out, and thought it particularly sketchy for a poorly maintained looking car to be parked inside such a good neighborhood. As they turned on their lights, one of my friends gets the bright idea that he should run---yes run from the police. He doesn't get very far, and we're all gathered together and the story comes out in torrid detail. We're sure we'll all go to prison, but the worst that happens is that we are driven to our parents' houses and given an unofficial warning. That's it. No writes ups, no tickets. The worst part of that night (for me) was that our stash was confiscated. This is the kind of story you'd expect to only happen to a white guy? Perhaps even a rich white guy, right? Nope, it happened to 3 black guys who ended up going to university on scholarships. This stuff isn't rare. Lot's of time, the police are reasonable but people's bias colors their view of it. One of my friends, who was in the car with me, used to say (when we were younger) that this night was an example of the cops unfairly brutalizing us because we were frisked and he was handcuffed initially---he's the one that ran. Yet if you look at it from another angle, we were the criminals caught in possession of drugs who got a slap on the wrist.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

djakjxnanjak 8y ago

Well I don’t know what county you’re in, but I’m not surprised a place with no assaults in 5 years has nice cops. I doubt the experience of a person of color there matches the experience where police shootings happen.

funkaster 8y ago

> I can’t think of a single person of color that I know, and I know many that has had a poor interaction with the police. Consider yourself lucky. Here's more anecdata: few years ago, I was biking back home (Upper Haight) and missed a stop sign. For context, I'm latino, south american especifically, but look kindof european. The police officer stopped me, really courteous asked for my papers and before looking at them explained really calmed that I had missed a stop sign. I gave him my chilean driver's license (I had not applied for my CA license at that time) and then he immediately changed the tone. He tooked my papers to his car and then came back telling a story how much I liked to ignore rules and I had a "pretty long record" (I have not, that was first ticket in the US). It didn't matter what I said, he became more agitated and violent and only because I kept my cool and basically said yes to everything (frisking and lots of very inappropriate questions), he gave me a ticket and left. I'm sorry, but in here I just avoid cops, I don't trust professionals that have poor training, are poorly paid and can't control themselves when there is some danger, which is the thing they should excel at. I'm obviously generalazing here, but this is also reflected in the linked article and, IMO the core of the Nieto murder.