Originally posted by: alchemize
Here we go!
If Nathaniel Jones had been a black bear instead of a Black man, he'd still be alive today!
Hmm or maybe if a black bear charged and attacked a police officer they would have shot it? Naah that doesn't sound as cool.
Maybe if the community got 1/10 as disturbed about rampant drug use and black-on-black violence in their community as they did this accidental heart attack, they'd do some good.
Ohio residents complain
"They talk about Skip like he was an animal," she said. "He wasn't. Skipper was just a good old, fat jolly fellow. He wasn't violent."
Except when he loaded himself up on PCP, cocaine and METHANOL?? Then he wasn't quite so jolly.
And the australian jumps in with a little sensationalism:
Officers beat black man to death
And here's Jesse!
Black civil rights leader Jesse Jackson called yesterday for state and federal authorities to investigate the beating. "Police officers have options available to immobilise citizens short of death," he said.
Maybe, but perhaps he became violent due to Police aggressiveness? Some drugs can make a person aggressive, but not necessarily. What is true is that drugs or alcohol can affect one's perception and judgement, in such a situation how the Police(or others) act can make the difference between a peaceful or violent end to the situation.
Just to answer the thread titles question: I don't think this issue/situation is racist in and of itself, however, if this community has a high incedence of these types of Police situations(don't know if it does or not) then Racism could very well be an issue. I think there needs to be a distinction as to what "racism" is and how it manifests itself.
Racism can be in many forms, the 2 most prevalent forms being 1)Sytemic Racism and 2) Racial Hatred
Systemic Racism is kinda benign, usually just holding one race as inferior in some fashion. The attitude of Racial Inferiority results in the System treating the Inferior Race in a different fashion than (an)other Race(s).
Racial Hatred is more violent, a good example being the KKK or Nazi Germany. This type of Racism seeks to eliminate the other race due to fear of some perceived weakness or defect. If Genocide is the only solution in the mind of this Racist, that is an attractive solution, for in their mind, the Race is sub-human.
Racism takes many other forms though, in fact, we all likely have some Racist tendencies. Part of the problem when the charge of "Racism" is raised is people's perception of the word itself. Many people automatically evoke thoughts of the KKK, water cooler conspiracies, or some other extreme shenanigans going on outside of the public view. Others know this isn't the case and react with the rolleyes then blame the people raising the charge for some peoples ridiculous assumptions. Despite that, the charge of "Racism" may be very well founded, only an investigation(providing a series of questionable events)can determine whether "Racism" is a factor or not.
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