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Jacob Blake: Systemic Racism and Militias
There are a few things to be said about this. We do not know all the details. However, there is a pattern. At this point, it is beyond deniable. We have a problem. Police are doing things in the field that reveal issues with training, but chiefly our dominant culture. It is exacerbated within police ranks because they have us v them mentality, where everybody not inside the police force is perceived as the enemy. If you think this is ok, or all right, you are part of the problem and are justifying abuses that are beyond clear by law enforcement.
First, there were obvious problems with scene safety in that chaotic scene. Second, only one of the officers chose to use lethal force in a situation that seemed to not need it. It looked like a classic case of contempt of cop. We knew what the report says before it was released. “I feared for my life and likely Mr. Blake was reaching for a gun.” How can we know this? It’s the same every time. Whether this is justified or not at this point is immaterial. The reason for this statement is that police are more likely to use deadly force if the person they are contacting is black. A little less if they are brown, and definitely less if they are white.
This is where implicit bias and matters of race come in. As a nation, we have been talking across each other when it comes to this. Racism is a problem in the…