<p>"People of color in America, especially black people, do not need to be poor or live in the ghetto or even have done anything bad to be mistreated and killed by police. White people like prezbucky and pizzagirl may never believe this. "
Why are you dragging me into this? Where have I ever said or insinuated anything to the contrary? Of course I recognize that black people get stopped, etc for things that I as a white woman could get away with. And I won’t ever live that experience. Duh. </p>
<p>" I don’t know why they can’t be armed with non lethal weapons that will take anybody down."</p>
<p>Absolutely. I have often wondered the same thing. Am certain it would be easy to develop such a weapon. But I guess the question then becomes who gets the guns that can kill and do we create an unbalanced situation?</p>
<p>Nobody here thinks your brother-in-law being shot in the face is a good thing. It doesn’t make us feel better, and we’ll thank you not to insult us by implying otherwise.</p>
<p>Haven’t those weapons already been developed? Tasers. “Don’t taze me, bro,” comes to mind. But, it’s not lethal.</p>
<p>Busdriver, that’s awful. </p>
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<p>That is very sad. Does this mean that you see every police officer as your adversary? That if you needed help you would not ever expect a police officer to help you? Would you never assist the police force if you had information that would help solve a crime? Help me understand how far this goes for you.</p>
<p>Busdriver, that was a massive insult to anyone with a brain. Get a freakin clue.</p>
<p>A nearby city hires a lot of police officers because a lot of cops in that town get killed. There are plenty of openings. Some people don’t seem to see cops as people, either. They are usually dads.</p>
<p>I think with a taser you have to be within a certain distance of the person you are looking to incapacitate. I envision something with the range and power of a gun but it doesn’t kill just incapacitates. But you could not have a situation where the police had non-lethal weapons and everyone else had guns that kill.</p>
<p>cobrat,</p>
<p>I tutored/taught in some of those South Boston and Dorchester schools during the Boston school busing crisis. The kids I tried to help were pawns and received a mediocre education at best. Perhaps their children were better off?</p>
<p>The surest way for me to start an argument back then was to say I believed we needed to desegregate the schools.</p>
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<p>I can’t believe you would even suggest such a thing. I honestly have no words.</p>
<p>Sometimes I just don’t think the police can win. If the police pull back from African American neighborhoods because they are so disliked, the people complain that the police are discriminating against them and protecting only white neighborhoods. If the police try to do their jobs in African American neighborhoods the parents are having discussions with their children about how horrible and dangerous the police are. It’s difficult for police departments to hire African American police because you have to have a clean background, want to be a police officer, and willing to risk your life for others. If you are perceived as the enemy why would anyone want to join the enemy.</p>
<p>Are you saying AAs don’t have clean backgrounds and don’t want to risk their lives for others?</p>
<p>Bean bag rounds.
<a href=“Less-lethal force — 'Super Sock' among safer weapons used by police”>Less-lethal force — 'Super Sock' among safer weapons used by police;
<p>" I can’t believe you would even suggest such a thing. I honestly have no words."</p>
<p>I can suggest a few. How about, “How awful.” “I’m sorry that happened to him, what a tragedy.” Or, “I certainly don’t feel that way.” </p>
<p>Instead of, “I can’t believe you would even suggest such a thing,” or “that was a massive insult to anyone with a brain. Get a freakin clue.” </p>
<p>There is such vitriol in this thread against law enforcement officers, I really don’t know what to think. Absolute hatred. In fact, I believe it was cf, of the “Nobody here thinks your brother-in-law being shot in the face is a good thing. It doesn’t make us feel better, and we’ll thank you not to insult us by implying otherwise,” was the one who said she thought the police officer might of had a fight with his wife that day and had complete intent to kill a black man. If I’m quoting the wrong person, I apologize.</p>
<p>But when I read so many vicious things about how awful the police are, what, exactly, should I think?</p>
<p>I grew up seeing a completely different side of law enforcement and how bad cops treated innocent individuals. I am from the city of “stop and frisk”. I have had a police pull me over for speeding, I wasn’t (had my cruise control set to the speed limit) and give me a ticket for going 11 miles over the speed limit. My attorney told me that I should be happy that is all that was done to me. I have also been held at gunpoint because I was “breaking into my own home”. So, why would I ever trust that law enforcers would treat my idealistic child any differently in the deep South?? Especially in light of the recent events. So, my daughter will know her rights and have an attorney just in case she needs it. If she doesn’t, then consider it a donation.</p>
<p>I googled “Ferguson, what would help,” and this was the very first hit:</p>
<p>[Here’s</a> How You Can Help Kids In Ferguson Who Don’t Have Food Now That School’s Closed](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>Here's How You Can Help Kids In Ferguson Who Don't Have Food Now That School's Closed | HuffPost Impact)</p>
<p>I was shocked. Has anybody here ever had to rely on the schools to get their child a decent meal? Our comfortable middle class white lives are so different, it’s like we live in different universes.</p>
<p>Addressing the wealth and income disparity in this country would go a long way toward solving our racial problems. IMO</p>
<p>That can’t be done because people will blame the poor for their situations.</p>
<p>@LasMa: I have had to rely on the school, through a NY state program for breakfast, lunch, and bus fare for at least 7 years growing up. My immigrant single mother worked 3 jobs and just didn’t have the income. That’s just the facts of life for probably several hundred thousands of children.</p>
<p>" I have had a police pull me over for speeding, I wasn’t (had my cruise control set to the speed limit) and give me a ticket for going 11 miles over the speed limit. My attorney told me that I should be happy that is all that was done to me. I have also been held at gunpoint because I was “breaking into my own home”."</p>
<p>My white son was given a $350 speeding ticket for speeding in a school zone. He wasn’t. I was there, and I know exactly where the school zone is. My white husband was just given a $124 ticket for running a stop sign, that he didn’t run, but apparently just didn’t stop long enough. It was a newly installed stop sign, and the cop was just sitting there, writing out ticket after ticket to mostly white people who didn’t stop for what he deemed long enough.</p>
<p>Would you want the police to stop someone from breaking into your home and make them prove they lived there, or would you want to let them just do it?</p>
<p>@busdriver11: I don’t want the police to assume the house is being broken to because a car is parked in the driveway. That was the scenario. Sure, if a person is breaking in (causing damage to enter the house) of course stop them. But not when the only evidence they found was a car parked in the driveway and NO signs of break in. The issue was that I was a person they didn’t expect to live in the area.</p>
<p>My point, and you supported it, is that you can’t always trust the police because some of them will lie. And thus, I have every reason to teach my daughter her rights and have an attorney for her just in case she runs into a crooked cop.</p>