Black lives matter

[detbuch]

Originally Posted by spence

I get what he's saying, and I agree, my point was that most people don't really care about gang violence unless they're personally impacted.

I suppose, not sure, that the distinction you're making is that most black people perceive white police killing blacks as a racist danger to ALL black people, so most feel personally threatened. Even though white cops killing blacks is rare compared to gangs of blacks killing blacks, the latter is localized and the motivation is not racial so not seen by most blacks as a personal threat.

On the face of it, the huge disparity in numbers alone, without getting into sociology babble, is enough to make that view silly. A reality check would see the clear and present danger of black on black crime as a far more personal threat than white cop on black. I assume that's why most black neighborhoods have an abundance of houses with iron bars on doors and windows. I don't think those bars are there to keep white cops out. Or to keep out marauding whites from the suburbs.

I don't think the propositions (a)that most black people "don't really care about [relatively large numbers of] gang violence unless they're personally impacted," or (b)that white cops killing blacks in relatively small numbers is a threat to all blacks, are inherent concepts in the minds of most black people.

Most concepts are formed by experience or are taught. If the vast, vast majority of blacks do not die at the hands of white cops, and if far more die at the hands of other blacks, experience would rationally either render the above propositions (a) and (b) as irrational, or would even reverse which was the more of a personal threat.

On the other hand, one can be taught or influenced to believe those propositions. As in the media, activists, and government (all the way to the top) attention and bias weighing in heavily on the support of one concept and a relative lack of attention to the other.


A lot of people do spend time trying to focus on the violence, but the reality is many don't want to hear about root cause drivers that don't fit their agenda.

If that's so, my opinion is that it would be true of all "sides." I certainly don't see a lack of willing to discuss that stuff on this forum. Some of us have been doing that. From our perspective. Maybe you can enlighten us about yours.

Why do we incarcerate so many people and especially so many black men? It's not a discussion people want to have, nor is it a trick question.

Tell us. Discuss it.