If I'm making racially loaded comments I want to know about it. I think of myself as not raciest, that's all I know. If I am it's unconscious, which I think is the case for alot of people. I'll work on how I word things, come across, and think about things. How was my response to you racially loaded? Angela said basically the same thing as me, but i guess in a more articulate way. There's racism in Police towards minorities, but there isn't much evidence in the Brown murder. Also, the way African-American society operates is more so the cause of so many in prison than racism in law enforcement is.
Fire Haired,
I've read the Grand Jury report, or most of it, anyway, and there was no racism in the killing of Michael Brown. Numerous witnesses came forward who substantiated the police officer's account.The forensics evidence was also unambiguous. The Attorney General's later report came to the same conclusion. There was no "Hands up, don't shoot." That was a lie, although most news outlets have yet to admit it and apologize for their coverage. What happened is that a young man pushed around a store owner, stole from him, and when a police officer who had heard a report of the incident saw him walking down the center of the road with the cigars in his hands and asked him to halt so he could speak to him, the young man walked to the police car, reached in, attacked the officer, and tried to take the policeman's gun. When he ran off, the policeman followed, as is standard procedure. Instead of halting when called, the young man charged the officer. I can tell you that shooting a suspect in that kind of situation is normally handled within the police department and with the prosecutor's office overseeing it, and is never normally even brought before a grand jury. The only reason it ever went to a grand jury in the first place is because of street agitation. Politicians and "community" leaders then gave that community hope that there would be an indictment. That's what caused the riots. As far as I'm concerned, the Attorney General bears some responsibility for that.
As to why there are so many more blacks than whites incarcerated in our prisons, there are many factors. Higher poverty in the African American community is one factor, and so is the break up of the family, with too many young people being raised by single mothers who may have drug issues themselves. Michael Brown's mother has been arrested subsequently for theft, intimidation and assault. His step-father, who was inciting the riot, has a long rap sheet. Is it any wonder her son reacted to law enforcement in the way he did? My son isn't black, but I can assure you I drummed it into his head that when approached by the police you say yes sir, and no sir, and you don't make any threatening moves. If you think there was something amiss in the encounter you handle it later in the appropriate way. Does rap music help the situation? No, in my opinion it doesn't; it reinforces it.
However, if you are a well to do middle class white kid who gets caught committing a crime, and your parents hire a good attorney, and get you into therapy or a drug rehabilitation program, and witnesses come forward as to what a great young man you've always been, and what a good student you are, the outcome will be very different than if you are a kid from the projects with a legal aid lawyer on his first case, no father, a single mother who can't even get to your court appearances, and no one who knows how to ask the right questions, or who can even figure out how the system works.There have been numerous studies that show, for example, that even when the crimes are very similar, black defendants wind up on death row much more often than white defendants. It's just the way it is, but it's not the way that it should be.
Oh, that's one of the reasons I am against the death penalty, btw.