08-14-2018, 06:37 PM
(08-14-2018, 11:07 AM)Benton Wrote: To the 2, I agree. The overwhelming majority of officers across the country have a dangerous job and the majority of the time it gets handled without ending in violence. And I think it's more often the officer getting injured.
But to the bold, I'm not sure who is getting slapped. When you've got idiots saying 'slaves had it great' or 'racism doesn't exist' it makes it difficult to have a conversation. Likewise, it doesn't help when you have visible numbers of white supremacists in law enforcement or government offices.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article210397909.html
Some (most?) agencies get rid of those kinds of idiots whenever they're made aware their agent is in a hate group. But what gets lost in all the divisiveness is the answer to: how do we keep people in hate groups from getting into law enforcement to begin with? I don't think we can do away with racism — it's inherent to find differences in ourselves — but removing people in hate groups from positions of authority doesn't seem too lofty.
I do believe we have an issue with accountability for police in this country. Ones who are proven to have killed in cold blood should be prosecuted...and sometimes they are. "Sometimes" is a problem though. Members of hate groups should also be fired without question.
That said, I feel my first point shouldn't be ignored. For millions of encounters, we only have a very small handful of questionable incidents. Why are we pretending it's an epidemic? Also, I'm not sure what these quotes are you're referring to, but I'm not sure how that changes the fact that these players have essentially branded a nation of police officers over a small handful of incidents.
It's disingenuous, misleading, divisive and inspires unnecessary hatred and paranoia with police nationwide. If they really want to be heard, they need to come with a less hostile message, and actually go to their state legislators. 3 years into this protest, and I'm not seeing what it's accomplished. If you're being honest, you probably agree. It has done nothing outside of further divide Joe Citizen and keep us debating.
With that, I've said my piece. Unlike some (not you) I realize and respect that others have differing opinions. It'd serve the protesters well to have that same respect. Branding everyone a racist who disagrees is a big problem in this country right now. It inflames your opposition and prevents meaningful discourse.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
