Media reporting suggests that every person shot by the police is black and that it is the cops that are the problem. Yes, there are mistakes made by the cops and unfortunately, some are deadly.
But I believe many of the problems could be avoided by simply fully complying with a police order and calmly trying to explain why you think the police are wrong instead of resisting.
The following sheds some light on the statistics.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/07/18/police-shootings-and-race/
Think about this, please. You may be a cool, calm, collected, emotionally stable, intelligent and rational person (or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof). And your advice, theoretically, is soundly based in reason and it makes sense to think that indeed this could prevent many of the "problems" that occur in these police interactions with citizens (or non-citizens). But even a cool, calm, collected, emotionally stable and rational person may find themselves feeling just a bit stressed, nervous or on-edge when confronted by police: have you ever been in such a situation?
And even if you say you have (let's say a simple traffic stop): can you deny the possibility that some members of society might be treated or approached "somewhat" differently by "some" police officers than you were, even in the same or similar situation? If you are ready to assert that there is no difference, and since you like to refer to statistics, can you supply any to support this claim?
Now, please remember that many people who find themselves as being subjects of police investigations or interaction are NOT, necessarily, "Cool calm, collected, emotionally stable and rationally thinking individuals". The police themselves certainly are mindful of this all the time, though they might express it a bit differently. And naturally this is one of the reasons for the high stress levels which must be associated with the job of police officers working the streets. There are a lot of emotionally and / or mentally unstable individuals "out there": some are criminals or law-breakers, some are not; some are dangerous to themselves or others, some are not. The police clearly have a very difficult job in which they may often have to make "judgment calls" on such situations and individuals.
But the police are also supposed to be trained to deal with these issues, since it is a clear part of their job. And yes, sometimes it may be really necessary to shoot someone, with no obvious alternative.
But just because someone isn't emotionally stable enough or mentally able - or, in some cases, willing - to follow your wise advice, does that mean they deserve to die for their lack of ability or willpower? Or that police should not be held accountable for their actions, because of their function?
I have already stipulated that the issue or problem is about more than just race, and that incidents like these can and do involve interactions between individuals of all races in interactions with cops of all races.
Nevertheless, anyone who denies that people are "often" treated differently by police (as well as courts, prisons and parole boards) depending on their race and / or socio-economic status is a person hiding their head in the sand, in my opinion, and you can find an overwhelming amount of academic research and study statistic to support what I say.
I also believe that the only way progress will every be made is if people actually address the economic and educational problems of the inner cities instead of just paying lip service to the problems every election cycle.
I have always thought there was definitely some merit to this argument, as expounded by Bill Cosby, Alan Keyes and others (regardless of the former's current real or perceived status in society).
But you know what? American institutions, including law enforcement and the criminal justice system as well as the laws themselves and the very government, DO have a rather substantial "history" of treating the black race unfairly and in a negatively discriminatory (to put it mildly) way, and no matter how much truth there is in "You need to clean up your own house and stop playing the victim", it doesn't change that nor make it in any way acceptable that it (the discrimination and unlevel playing field) still goes on today ...
To edit/add
http://www.nleomf.org/facts/enforcement/
Use whatever numbers you want to pick. On a statistical basis, a law enforcement officer is more than twice as likely to be killed as any Black person.
I see this as an argument that goes nowhere and is is in a hurry to get there. Of COURSE, one would expect law enforcement officers to be more likely to be killed than ANY sector of the GENERAL PUBLIC, because of the dangerous nature of their job and the "facts of life" (guns, guns, guns) in the USA. I don't know what saying this shows. Law enforcement is a dangerous job. It may not sound nice, and I am not advocating nor cheering the violent deaths of law enforcement officers, but it does make more "sense" that cops get killed in the line of duty, at the hands of dangerous and violent people, than it does that citizens who go out to the street to sell loose cigarettes end up dead because of the actions of law enforcement officers.
(shrugs) We are both entitled to our opinions, of course, I'm simply expressing mine.
