4 ms·

So it sounds like the entire national narrative about racism and law enforcement we've been having for years now is built on sand.

colanderman 7y ago
No, because that narrative has focused on systemic racism, which has nothing to do with the race of the individual officers, but rather with policing policies. e.g. "Black Lives Matter (BLM) […] campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people." From [1]; emphasis mine. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter
- alfromspace 7y ago
  Statistical disparities aren't evidence of racism. And let's not pretend we haven't been talking about a supposed epidemic of white cops shooting innocent black people for no reason for years and years now.
  - colanderman 7y ago
    I don't understand the point of this comment. It does not bolster your comment I replied to, nor does it argue against my own. Are you starting a new, different argument, and now claiming that systemic racism doesn't exist, and that large bodies of research about it are unfounded, and supporting your claim with a single pithy statement about statistics? If so, sorry, I don't feel like being dragged into an off-topic argument about whether the concept of systemic racism is valid.
    - alfromspace 7y ago
      Absolutely I am. The "bodies of research" about it do little more than point out things like prison population statistics and sentencing disparities that have almost nothing to do with racism, and everything to do with crime rates and priors. I equally don't feel like being dragged into pseudo-scientific political formulations that cast unequal distributions of resources and outcomes in life as forms of systemic discrimination.
      - tzakrajs 7y ago
        @dang This is flame bait.
        alfromspace 7y ago
        Wow, just wow. Did you really just say that? Can you just not. I can't even.
    - imtringued 7y ago
      If there is systemic racism then it would exist through the approval of laws that disproportionately affect minorities, not through the actions of individuals who are merely guided by the system. Because the solutions are obvious but unacceptable (even to those who are discriminated against) I don't think we will make any progress on this front.
  - justforyou 7y ago
    >> And let's not pretend we haven't been talking about a supposed epidemic of white cops shooting innocent black people for no reason for years and years now Double negatives and sarcastoc political signaling of a POV that ignores statistics in the same statement? A successful broadcast of talking points and your agenda, but not really participation in a discussion.
    - alfromspace 7y ago
      What statistics am I ignoring? I'm talking about the ones from the OP's post.
dang 7y ago
Please don't take HN threads on generic ideological tangents or further into ideological flamewar. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

colanderman 7y ago

No, because that narrative has focused on systemic racism, which has nothing to do with the race of the individual officers, but rather with policing policies. e.g. "Black Lives Matter (BLM) […] campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people." From [1]; emphasis mine. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter

alfromspace 7y ago
Statistical disparities aren't evidence of racism. And let's not pretend we haven't been talking about a supposed epidemic of white cops shooting innocent black people for no reason for years and years now.
- colanderman 7y ago
  I don't understand the point of this comment. It does not bolster your comment I replied to, nor does it argue against my own. Are you starting a new, different argument, and now claiming that systemic racism doesn't exist, and that large bodies of research about it are unfounded, and supporting your claim with a single pithy statement about statistics? If so, sorry, I don't feel like being dragged into an off-topic argument about whether the concept of systemic racism is valid.
  - alfromspace 7y ago
    Absolutely I am. The "bodies of research" about it do little more than point out things like prison population statistics and sentencing disparities that have almost nothing to do with racism, and everything to do with crime rates and priors. I equally don't feel like being dragged into pseudo-scientific political formulations that cast unequal distributions of resources and outcomes in life as forms of systemic discrimination.
    - tzakrajs 7y ago
      @dang This is flame bait.
      - alfromspace 7y ago
        Wow, just wow. Did you really just say that? Can you just not. I can't even.
  - imtringued 7y ago
    If there is systemic racism then it would exist through the approval of laws that disproportionately affect minorities, not through the actions of individuals who are merely guided by the system. Because the solutions are obvious but unacceptable (even to those who are discriminated against) I don't think we will make any progress on this front.
- justforyou 7y ago
  >> And let's not pretend we haven't been talking about a supposed epidemic of white cops shooting innocent black people for no reason for years and years now Double negatives and sarcastoc political signaling of a POV that ignores statistics in the same statement? A successful broadcast of talking points and your agenda, but not really participation in a discussion.
  - alfromspace 7y ago
    What statistics am I ignoring? I'm talking about the ones from the OP's post.

dang 7y ago

Please don't take HN threads on generic ideological tangents or further into ideological flamewar. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]