Donna wrote:Are you denying that black communities are over-policed? If so, you're a straight up racist arguing in bad faith. If not, then you must logically accept that over-policing will result in more blacks than whites being arrested for similar offences.
I don't know if they're over-policed or not. You made the claim, and I'm asking for evidence. Maybe they are. Maybe they aren't. Let's look at the data.
I've heard two theories: The first claims black communities are over-policed because cops hate blacks, and so blacks go to jail more often than white people, and this destroys black communities. The 2nd theory claims black communities are under-policed because cops hate blacks & don't give a crap about them, so crime is unchecked, and murder/gangs/drugs increases, and this destroys black communities. Is either of these correct? If so, let's see the data.
The problem is structural racism, of which over-policing is an aspect of.
I'm sure racism is a factor in black-on-black murder. I think racism in the past and present has left black people poorer than white people, and the conditions of poverty perpetuate crime. And i'd be naive to think cops and courts treat black people exactly the same as whites.
The problem with your argument and others who share the same ideology is that it works on a victim/oppressor dynamic where the victim is always felt sorry for and not deemed responsible for their own actions. The oppressor (in this case, whites) is always to blame. So while I acknowledge black people have been victimized, they also have to take responsibly for their own actions that also perpetuate their own poverty & high rates of crime.
For instance, there's been a big rise in single motherhood and teenage pregnancy among the black community since the 60's. White people aren't forcing black people to have sex with each other out of wedlock without proper birth control. White people also aren't forcing black people to pick up guns to shoot other black people, or forcing them to use & deal drugs, or to drop out of high school, or to join gangs.
So while I acknowledge that white racists are responsible for creating much of the poverty that creates conditions for some of these things more likely to occur, black people also have to own their actions too. Otherwise any time a black person commits a crime we can just throw up our hands and excuse it because well it's not their fault, it's whitey's. And that won't help the problem.
While black activists are asking young black people to protest racism and these bastard cops (which is great), black activists should also be telling young poor black people to use birth control & not get knocked up, to stop buying guns and shooting each other, stop doing & dealing drugs, stop joining criminal gangs, & stay in school & study hard. Because at the end of the day even if the US achieves perfect racial harmony poor black people aren't going to escape poverty and stay out of prison without doing those things too. I have friends who are racial minorities who grew up poor, but their parents made them study hard and stay out of trouble, & they went to college and got 6 figure jobs. What's their excuse?
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All of a sudden these pro-Palestinian campus protestors gladly support illegally occupying land that doesn't belong to them, and enforcing checkpoints, blockades, and ethnic apartheid. Some of them even openly support genocide.