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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 interact

by 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.

by bruceb 8y ago

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.