conversation between a white man and a black man
Answers
JUSTIN ALBERS: My thoughts are: I think the media and Barack Obama are as much to blame for the divide that we now have and the police shootings as anybody else. Are there bad cops? No question. There’s no question that African Americans get pulled over for reasons such as they’re driving a nice car. The latest police shootings of young black men are troubling. But I don’t believe the percentage of bad or racist cops is any higher than the percentage of bad or racist employees in any field. There are bad doctors, bad teachers, bad CEOs, etc. The percentage in each field is small, and it’s easy to forget that the overwhelming majority of cops are good, hard-working people whose job it is to protect us.
Why do I blame the media and Obama? Because they’ve both been premature and irresponsible in their responses to questionable police shootings. Obama has condemned such shootings before all of the facts are available and before the the case has been decided by the criminal justice system. In many cases in the past, Obama has condemned shootings that were later proven to be justified in court. The media covers such shootings to such a degree that it exaggerates the issue. That is to say, they make Americans believe that there are many more bad cops than there actually are, and it creates a public distrust and outrage of police.
These are such issues because the vast majority of Americans are mostly uneducated when it comes to this issue, these cases, and the facts that go with them. Most people only see a headline on their Facebook page or see a video posted to social media that often shows only part of the incident in question and thus should not be used to come to a conclusion because the full context is unknown. But people see these headlines and they see these videos, and they form a strong opinion based off only that and never take the time to listen to the facts of the case.
If the courts find a shooting to be justified, these headline readers riot when, in some cases, their stance would be very different if they watched the case and listened to the facts. The jumping to conclusions is a bad idea and a divisive one, and our media and President often compound the issue. For instance, the Michael Brown case in Ferguson. It was proven in court that the “Hands up, don’t shoot!” was a fabricated story and Brown, in fact, was reaching for the officer’s gun. Yet when you see some Black Lives Movement protests today, there are still people chanting “Hands up, don’t shoot!”
TERRANCE TURNER: Good start! You make some good points and you have reasoning behind the points you were making.
My thoughts: There’s no one person or entity to blame. To me, this is a systematic problem. But with that said, systematically speaking, our justice system is, at times, broken and simply unjust. Police officers have an abundance of power and as I agree that a majority of officers are fair and just, there are certainly some bad apples. There’s also a long history of police officers, stemming from the 40’s and 50’s, being utilized as aggressive authoritative figures used to protect white citizens and keep divide between the two races. I say that our justice system is unjust and unfair at times simply because the “rules” and laws seem to morph depending on your socioeconomic background.
For example, if there’s an individual that lives in an impoverished area, and you are in possession of “crack”, there’s a chance you could be facing an extensive amount of time in prison. You are left with limited amount of options (lawyers, etc.) due to your lack of money and now you are left with two options: hope that the court-appointed lawyer represents you in your best interest and/or take a plea deal–either way, both have a high chance of landing you in jail or on probation.
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