So a couple issues here with this incident specifically, then I'll go onto the wider police issue afterwards.
@Welsh Exile - It wasn't a random traffic stop - it was a stop for a busted break light - which, if they ran the plates, would have come up as being linked to someone with an arrest warrant out for him, with a link to having a gun and using it threateningly. The stop itself was entirely justified, and using a tazer on a suspect trying to get back into a car (where one should assume they have a weapon, because America) and running away.
@The Alpha Bro - surely this is the prime case where incompetence is a very valid reason, because it is an isolated incident? If we are talking statistically, the number of unarmed, cooperating black people fatally shot by police is minimal (9 unarmed black people in comparison to 19 unarmed white people in 2019). If any person with a warrant out for a violent crime and who, it would not be unreasonable to assume had a gun, jumped into their car and tried to run away, then the use of a tazer should be expected. Unfortunately the police officer was clearly not competent enough to do that properly.
So the wider police issue then - my general opinion is that the issues that you see in regards to prison population, arrest numbers and crime rates etc are not an issue in regards to the police force being systemically racist, but that is rather the manifestation of decades of poor social policy in those vulnerable communities that has led to a high crime rate. For example, black men between14-24 commit homicide at 37 times the rate of the rest of the population (obama admin report from 2011). In 2018, 13% of the population commited 53% of the murders and 60% of the robberies. The percieved issues in the police are the result of a deeper issue. Blaming it on the police is papering over the cracks and a classic case of rhetoric over meaningful action.
Obviosuly, the african-american community in the US has a much much higher crime rate than any other demographic (I'll get on to why I think that is in a mo). If you take that as the starting point, it is entirely reasonable that, purely by virtue of a numbers game, there would be a higher AA prison populus, they would get pulled over more, and police would be more likely to be more careful and suspicious of them - it's a numbers game rather than a racial one. It obviously isn't something that we should just accpet, but again, it is the manifestation of a deeper issue - if you want to mitigate it, changing police practices broadly isn't going to help combat crime - but changing social policy may. Just as a personal aspect to this, I'm mixed race and have a very clearly Arabic surname as well as being in my 20s. It is a rarity for me not to run into some sort of hiccup at airports, whether that be more questioning than people I am flying with or, almost every time, going through more scrupoulous searches. However, I understand that it's not because the staff are racist and hate me or my ethnicity - it is purely a numbers game and that is absolutely understandable. To that end - it is worth noting that when they police do encounter a suspect, white police officers show no difference in regards to the use of force whatever
the race of the suspect.
How then does one balance the numbers? Adress issues like poverty, education etc - but acknowledge that one of the biggest the impactors on crime rate is single motherhood, which it is thus unsurprising, is far more prevelant among African Americans. Encourage two parent household families, and you will almost certainly see a reduction in the crime rate - and then you will see that trickle through to the police numbers. The prison system in the US is ****** regardless of race and they are all too keen to lock up violent offenders at the first oppertunity.
@Reiser99 - I fully understand what systemic/structural racism is. We can have this debate whilst also being civil and without condescension. What we disagree on what is racism and what is use of statistics and probability. Typically, systemic racism neccessitates that actual practices are designed to negativly impact a particular racial group - the reality is that this, broadly, isn't the case in regards to policing. Law enforcement will always reflect crime statistics, and with that, other socio-economic issues - be that poverty, lack of social responsibility or single motherhood etc. It's not racist in itself, but reflective of wider societal issues that reflect decades of **** policy making, that again, largely isn't racist (any more), more just a case of rhetoric over substance and awful long term planning yet again.
Overall, what I'm getting at is that the police and crime statistics are simply the window through which deeper socio-economic issues with poverty in the US manifest themselves. If you want to change that, looking at the police is, once again, a case of rhetoric over action. It is an easy thing to point at, cut funding and demonsise all whilst patting yourself on the back for being an "ally", but in reality it has achieved little to nothing, often causing more harm than good. If the legislators and activists want to do something to combat the disproportionate black crime rate and thus prison populus, they need to adress the grassroots issues such as single motherhood, which they won't do because it's more effort and doesn't look as good.
