I'm horrified by Sonya Massey's murder, and yes, African American and Hispanic people have a much higher incidence of being killed or seriously injured in a police encounter, especially in the last few years, while the number of white people has stayed fairly constant. I believe there are factors other than overt racism, however, in how these tragedies occur. I believe that policemen are being encouraged to use firearms and deadly force a lot more than they used to, when it's not really necessary for a situation like this. Police seem to shoot first and rationalize/explain later. They also may not be adequately trained to deal with mental illness, alcoholism, drug addiction, or even people who are verbally abusive. The blame also rests on police departments who keep people like Sean Grayson or Derek Chauvin in their organizations, especially when a policeman has a history of excessive force, has improperly fired their weapon or has been let go from other jobs for misconduct. These homicidal poliecemen, and probably many others, were already problematic, yet they were kept on, maybe because cops are in short supply these days. As much as I try to respect all police, I believe some of them are bigots, some of them are paranoid of being injured, some have PTSD, or they could just be on a power trip, using their authority to mete out their own kind of frontier justice. Fortunately, we still have many good cops who do their job admirably and fairly, putting their lives on the line and saving others. Police departments should be held accountable for finding the red flags in personnel files and for weeding out bad cops. Their partners also have a responsibility for doing the right thing and for stopping a bad cop from doing harm.
I don’t think the lack of vocal response reflects a lack of moral outrage.
My son and I spoke of this despairingly recently. We haven’t joined any online outrage group, and we don’t publish remarks on Facebook, but the gravity of this event nonetheless impressed us.
Again, these are such complex issues that people try to solve with soundbites. It is difficult to be a law-enforcement officer. As someone recently noted, in Europe, the training is over a year whereas in the United States it may be substantially shorter. We have a very different culture about guns and we an underlying white supremacy culture. Just as our troops returning from Vietnam, experienced derision from the American public, so have our law-enforcement officers, and that includes those whose career choice was to protect the citizens they serve.
The issue of mental health is another complicated issue that is poorly understood and even less well funded. While our legislators in Texas feel the issue is no, unlimited access to guns but rather psychological problems, they don’t fund mental health care nor pay the professionals for their life, saving skill set so we are chronically understaffed.
I hear your outrage and I feel it as well as I am sure many do. We will hopefully enable significant change by voting for Kamala.
This country was founded on white supremacy. The native peoples were nearly exterminated because they were "savages." When Obama was elected, I had hope we had finally turned a corner and could just be people. I was wrong. C
Hey Jenn, people whose worth is based on being superior to others are really challenged by these ideas. However, as Steve Inskeep in "Differ We Must" reiterates Lincoln's repetitive value that we are founded on "all men are created equal" and even Washington understood that the blacks should not be oppressed as slaves. But, fiscal solvency demanded it. In her post today, Heather Cox Richardson mentioned the swings from the edge of autocracy back to democracy and quotes how these things happen by referencing Ernest Hemmingway's response when he was asked about how he went bankrupt (especially after the resounding success of his novel "The Sun Also Rises." He said: It happened in two ways. first, gradually, then suddenly. Her contention is that we have been gradually sliding towards a resurgence of democracy and now (hopefully) it will be suddenly with the election of Kamala.
Retired teacher here that believes it's time to make it simple enough for a first grader to understand: Let's just call people good or bad...Good cop or bad cop? Good preacher or bad preacher? Good parent or bad parent? Good gun owner or bad gun owner? Good politician or bad politician? Good country or bad country? YES WE KAM! My new favorite:) Peace Out!
Watching the footage on the news was utterly horrifying to say the least. I feel like even describing it that way is severely lacking. We've got a lot of work to do to dismantle racism.
Sonya Massey should be rejoicing in Kamala Harris run for president . But because of another deranged individual (White Cop) she will not live to see her kids grow up.
When someone is discharged from the military with these obvious mental disturbances why is there not a warning that would register with a potentially hiring Police Department.
I swear I receive constant correspondence from representatives for the police , highlighting how poorly treated police officers are .
And they’re looking for donations .
I would like to respond that maybe if they stopped killing people of color for little reason or none , they be in a position to complain . But sorry they’re not a group that’s earned that support.
A day doesn’t go by. That we don’t hear of another heinous killing at the hands of some pretty self righteous individuals. ( police)
I’m sorry , not true for everyone but man, the list grows .
So no , I’m not giving them money for body armor because they are much less in need of armor then the people of this country that they attack relentlessly , and yes most of their victims are people of color .
It’s gone on too long .
It has to stop.
And when it stops for a good while I’ll donate , not for body armor though, for diversity education and more complete vetting of candidates for police training , which is much more extensive in police forces all over the world .
It’s time for the government to to stop cutting corners in areas of choice of public servants .
And perhaps we’ll become more careful about some criminals we’ve allowed to run for office . DJ T .
I'm horrified by Sonya Massey's murder, and yes, African American and Hispanic people have a much higher incidence of being killed or seriously injured in a police encounter, especially in the last few years, while the number of white people has stayed fairly constant. I believe there are factors other than overt racism, however, in how these tragedies occur. I believe that policemen are being encouraged to use firearms and deadly force a lot more than they used to, when it's not really necessary for a situation like this. Police seem to shoot first and rationalize/explain later. They also may not be adequately trained to deal with mental illness, alcoholism, drug addiction, or even people who are verbally abusive. The blame also rests on police departments who keep people like Sean Grayson or Derek Chauvin in their organizations, especially when a policeman has a history of excessive force, has improperly fired their weapon or has been let go from other jobs for misconduct. These homicidal poliecemen, and probably many others, were already problematic, yet they were kept on, maybe because cops are in short supply these days. As much as I try to respect all police, I believe some of them are bigots, some of them are paranoid of being injured, some have PTSD, or they could just be on a power trip, using their authority to mete out their own kind of frontier justice. Fortunately, we still have many good cops who do their job admirably and fairly, putting their lives on the line and saving others. Police departments should be held accountable for finding the red flags in personnel files and for weeding out bad cops. Their partners also have a responsibility for doing the right thing and for stopping a bad cop from doing harm.
I hear you on this.
I don’t think the lack of vocal response reflects a lack of moral outrage.
My son and I spoke of this despairingly recently. We haven’t joined any online outrage group, and we don’t publish remarks on Facebook, but the gravity of this event nonetheless impressed us.
Again, these are such complex issues that people try to solve with soundbites. It is difficult to be a law-enforcement officer. As someone recently noted, in Europe, the training is over a year whereas in the United States it may be substantially shorter. We have a very different culture about guns and we an underlying white supremacy culture. Just as our troops returning from Vietnam, experienced derision from the American public, so have our law-enforcement officers, and that includes those whose career choice was to protect the citizens they serve.
The issue of mental health is another complicated issue that is poorly understood and even less well funded. While our legislators in Texas feel the issue is no, unlimited access to guns but rather psychological problems, they don’t fund mental health care nor pay the professionals for their life, saving skill set so we are chronically understaffed.
I hear your outrage and I feel it as well as I am sure many do. We will hopefully enable significant change by voting for Kamala.
This country was founded on white supremacy. The native peoples were nearly exterminated because they were "savages." When Obama was elected, I had hope we had finally turned a corner and could just be people. I was wrong. C
Hey Jenn, people whose worth is based on being superior to others are really challenged by these ideas. However, as Steve Inskeep in "Differ We Must" reiterates Lincoln's repetitive value that we are founded on "all men are created equal" and even Washington understood that the blacks should not be oppressed as slaves. But, fiscal solvency demanded it. In her post today, Heather Cox Richardson mentioned the swings from the edge of autocracy back to democracy and quotes how these things happen by referencing Ernest Hemmingway's response when he was asked about how he went bankrupt (especially after the resounding success of his novel "The Sun Also Rises." He said: It happened in two ways. first, gradually, then suddenly. Her contention is that we have been gradually sliding towards a resurgence of democracy and now (hopefully) it will be suddenly with the election of Kamala.
In the face of racism, white people never do enough. Including me.
I feel the same way.
Retired teacher here that believes it's time to make it simple enough for a first grader to understand: Let's just call people good or bad...Good cop or bad cop? Good preacher or bad preacher? Good parent or bad parent? Good gun owner or bad gun owner? Good politician or bad politician? Good country or bad country? YES WE KAM! My new favorite:) Peace Out!
Watching the footage on the news was utterly horrifying to say the least. I feel like even describing it that way is severely lacking. We've got a lot of work to do to dismantle racism.
The sorrow that I feel for Sonya is palpable. It’s time for humanity to realize that We.Are.One.
Charleena Lyles all over again.
Sonya Massey should be rejoicing in Kamala Harris run for president . But because of another deranged individual (White Cop) she will not live to see her kids grow up.
When someone is discharged from the military with these obvious mental disturbances why is there not a warning that would register with a potentially hiring Police Department.
I swear I receive constant correspondence from representatives for the police , highlighting how poorly treated police officers are .
And they’re looking for donations .
I would like to respond that maybe if they stopped killing people of color for little reason or none , they be in a position to complain . But sorry they’re not a group that’s earned that support.
A day doesn’t go by. That we don’t hear of another heinous killing at the hands of some pretty self righteous individuals. ( police)
I’m sorry , not true for everyone but man, the list grows .
So no , I’m not giving them money for body armor because they are much less in need of armor then the people of this country that they attack relentlessly , and yes most of their victims are people of color .
It’s gone on too long .
It has to stop.
And when it stops for a good while I’ll donate , not for body armor though, for diversity education and more complete vetting of candidates for police training , which is much more extensive in police forces all over the world .
It’s time for the government to to stop cutting corners in areas of choice of public servants .
And perhaps we’ll become more careful about some criminals we’ve allowed to run for office . DJ T .