[TrashMan]

This is what's currently missing, however. So you are in agreement with Janos and myself, then?

What's missing?

I don't think he was acting racist, I think he was acting in a way motivated by racism.

Forgive me if  I fail to see any real difference. Both are the result of flawed perception, both "accuse" a specific group of some wrongdoings.

[Snail]

He probably had one hell of a day. Forgot his keys (I assume), probably tired as **** and just wanted to get into his god damned house to have some rest. Then some police guys come and accuse him of being a burglar. I'm sure anyone, white, black or whatever, would have gotten pissed off at this point, and I can understand that.

Then he accuses the officers of racial discrimination, which is where IMO he goes into the wrong...

[Flipside]

As I hinted at earlier, I'd be pleased if the Police stopped me whilst breaking into my own house, it sure beats 'There's probably nothing we can do, Sir' which accompanies most burglaries.

Thing is, regardless of colour of skin, if two men are reported shunting open a door of a house, then the Police are obligated to respond, it's their job to respond, when that person then refuses to give identification, that is also going to set alarm bells ringing.

I can't understand why he mentioned his colour first of all, at least, according to the Police report, that, to me, suggests defensiveness for no reason whatsoever, and would have also made me concerned as a Police Officer.

[Herra Tohtori]

...A Challenger Appears.




EDIT: To infuse this post with a message, here goes my 0.02 monetary units.

Having not been present at the incident, I can't be sure but it certainly smells like all racial profiling was happening between the alleged victim's ears.

Most people are just doing their work. Checking up the break-in report is the police officers' job. Even if it might be an annoyance being accosted at your own home, it would be perfectly understandable to me that this would happen when you break your way into a house, even your own.

With some foresight, this character could easily have informed his neighbors of the situation he was in and the whole incident could have been avoided. Or is he so alien to his neighbors that they would not have recognized him?

If you follow law enforcement officers and shout at them, it is highly likely that they will arrest you regardless of your pigmentation density.

[Janos]

As long as all have equal rights and can apply to any position and reach it, then it's all good. Period.

HMMMM

[Nuke]

this is going nowhere fast

...A Challenger Appears.

[Nuke]

after actually reading this and realizing it wasnt a total troll fest, i unlocked it

[General Battuta]

EDIT: After re-reading the article more closely...I don't know. I think maybe he did have reason to be angry like that. I can understand his feelings.

Help me understand how he had an excuse to act that way...?  

If anything he was "could" be upset with the fact that his neighbor called the police because of a "break in." Which he presumed was based on discrimination, could of been I don't know.  

But the police was respectful from what I read unless I missed something?
He acted irresponsible, irrational, and didn't control his anger.  There is no excuse for such behavior.

I can empathize with why he acted the way he did. He's old, he was tired, frustrated, and unhappy - all this combined with a life spent studying the kind of crap that Black individuals deal with. There was apparently a history of racial profiling in the area, and he was right to think that police would respond differently to a report of a Black individual attempting a breakin than a White individual, if only on the mental (rather than the operational) level. So, with all that, he got a bit out of hand. *shrug* I still think it was wrong, but I understand why it happened.

Empathy is important, even when you disagree with someone.

[jdjtcagle]

Okay I understand and I agree - empathy is important.

But as we can both agree it is not a ticket to be a jerk towards the man doing his job and to say that the police did have a biased approach to the situation is a generalization towards the police officer.  

I think your right that he probably expected the worse from the police because of his personal connection to the topic of racism.

If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate. ~Elbert Hubbard

One of my favorite quotes as of recently.  

[NGTM-1R]

Empathy is important, even when you disagree with someone.

Yet the law cannot be empathic; it must be blind to that and to race.

[General Battuta]

There was no legal question raised here, simply one of personal morality and understanding.

I would not in any way assert that the officers did anything wrong.

[Scotty]

There was apparently a history of racial profiling in the area, and he was right to think that police would respond differently to a report of a Black individual attempting a breakin than a White individual, if only on the mental (rather than the operational) level.

This is not correct.  He was completely in error to think that police would respond differently.  Only if they do respond differently at the scene is there reason at all.  Thinking that they would respond differently with the only basis being an area-wide history of racial profiling is, in and of itself racial profiling.

In short:  He was in error.

[General Battuta]

It's funny that you quoted my post and yet apparently didn't read it.

Let me highlight the relevant bit for you:

if only on the mental (rather than the operational) level

He was probably pissed off because he knew that, mentally, most people will react differently to a statement like 'a black man is hammering on your house door' than 'a white man is hammering on your house door.' In fact, I'm doing research on the topic right now, and I can pull up data that shows how police officers respond differently on the cognitive level even though their actions remain the same.

Lastly, I stated that he was in error with respect to his conduct, and I have consistently maintained that he was in error throughout my posts in spite of my attempts to empathize with him, so to have you step in and 'correct' me with the statement 'he was in error' is rather unnecessary, don't you think?

If you're going to make an argument at least take the time to ensure that you're disagreeing with the person you're arguing with.

[Scotty]

I see.  I misunderstood your position when you stated that he was right to think that way.  I apologize.

[iamzack]

Oh, also, since it hasn't been pointed out yet, racism against whites is not "reverse discrimination." It's just plain ole discrimination.

[Kosh]

This is something that always annoyed me about political correctness, it pushes us to focus on WHAT we are instead of WHO we are, not to mention the proliferation of stereotypes.

Part of the other problem is too many of them think it is their race that is holding them down, and so they use it as an excuse to justify their failures. "I don't have a good job because I'm black because I'm discriminated against all the time so why do I bother?" That kind of attitude is what is holding them down, not their skin color. Where are the black engineers? I've never seen one, not even seen any of them studying to become one, even though the majority of university scholarships are race or gender motivated. 

Take for example, one of the things this guy said, a reformed felon who (at the time) was studying engineering in university

my question is who in the world is going to hire me as an engineer? I'm an african american and a convicted felon that's a double whammy! I excell in school and i'm always among the top students in any class that i've taken. but i cant help but envy the squeaky clean white guys that are barely passing but when it comes time for a job i'll be overlooked for them. I'm expecting to graduate with above a 3.5 average but with my record i don't think that that wil make much of a difference to most employers.

[iamzack]

Well, where do you think he got the idea that he'd have a damn near impossible time finding a job as a black felon?

You can't say stereotypes come from reality and then say he totally pulled this bit out of his ass.

The "why bother trying, I'll only fail because of discrimination" line of thought is pretty common in all people, though. Just replace "discrimination" with your excuse of choice.

[Scotty]

Even if he were white (and I use particularly ugly phrase sparingly), being a convicted felon would put him behind everyone else in the field. 

It has less to do with the fact that he's black than it has to do with the fact that he was convicted for a major crime.

[General Battuta]

Technically untrue. There's a phenomenon called...damn it, it's slipping my mind, but it's related to something called 'intersectional invisibility.'

Because being a convict is a stereotype-congruent trait for Black individuals, it's going to do more damage to a Black person than to a White individual. In a sense, it'll 'activate' all the other negative stereotypes about Black people.

On a similar note, you should check out the research about successful black executives. Most of them are baby-faced, i.e. nonthreatening and 'young'. White male executives, on the other hand, tend to have stern, mature features, which appear more dominant.

[Liberator]

So let me understand, it's stereotyping of me to deduce that there are more Black felons, not because they are inherently criminals from being black, but that instead, segments of the population that are black have fewer fathers per capita that actually do the responsible thing and help raise they're child(ren).