American "justice" hates blacks

[Lunar]

Just saw the police chief on the local news. Out of 72 arrests last night only 19 were from Oakland and 12 were from OUT OF STATE. The rest were from the rest of the bay area and other parts of the state. So much for the "animals" (read n***er) in Oakland rioting. The anarchists from SF are mostly to blame.

...so... the actual animals? Ahem.

Well, it's possible that another moderator coined the term "animals" here without explanation, despite a request for such

[Associate Justice PiT]

Someone charging a police officer, or a bystander in front of a police officer, with any kind of sword or knife  or lethal object could and should expect maximum force to be used to halt a potential homicide.  

Some peoples' silliness doesn't really relate to the case at hand though?  Maybe it relates to the protests.  That's just an example of how some people always are against the police, which is not a position I think I'm representing.

I'm not familiar with the NYPD either, I just moved here.  The police department I've regularly interacted with as part of my career for four years as a security guard was UCPD, and to a lesser extent, BPD [Berkely].  I could ramble a bit about some of the cases I've dealt with them, and I think I've reported some fairly serious criminals from time to time, but that'd just be rambling, as you know, I never ramble.

     I guess that what I was talking about was that I feel that taking a fair attitude towards the police is a rather fine line between arbitrarily being for them & arbitrarily being against them. It isn't as easy for somebody to put themselves in the shoes of a police officer & decide what is an appropriate action as some people think.

     Well I have never really interacted with the police much at all. I am somebody who has a great deal of difficulty trusting the police, though. It's a high stress job & I do not intend to be on the wrong side of a tension-related misunderstanding.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Just saw the police chief on the local news. Out of 72 arrests last night only 19 were from Oakland and 12 were from OUT OF STATE. The rest were from the rest of the bay area and other parts of the state. So much for the "animals" (read n***er) in Oakland rioting. The anarchists from SF are mostly to blame.

...so... the actual animals? Ahem.

Well, it's possible that another moderator coined the term "animals" here without explanation, despite a request for such

Indeed, I saw. Anyone would think that was on purpose or something.

[Lunar]

    I guess that what I was talking about was that I feel that taking a fair attitude towards the police is a rather fine line between arbitrarily being for them & arbitrarily being against them.

Why?

And why does your definition for taking a "fair attitude" preclude being "against them" ?

I don't see any fine line at all here.  I see a messy line between a possible murder and a possible manslaughter, but that's not an uncommon thing in the courts.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I guess that what I was talking about was that I feel that taking a fair attitude towards the police is a rather fine line between arbitrarily being for them & arbitrarily being against them.

Why?

And why does your definition for taking a "fair attitude" preclude being "against them" ?

I don't see any fine line at all here.  I see a messy line between a possible murder and a possible manslaughter, but that's not an uncommon thing in the courts.

     Being against them is fine, as long as one is not arbitrarily against them. While it is easy to determine that Mehserle acted wrongly here, our conversation suggests that it isn't so easy to determine the exact extent of how his bad action should be punished. In some cases (typically involving suspects who are not restrained & on the ground), it can also be difficult to determine exactly how justified the police are in acting. Until you are in a situation like that, you can't say with exactitude what it felt like for them. Part of the reason I said that it's a fine line is that it is easy for somebody to seek to paint with a broader brush, but I find that that is very much the wrong way to approach events like this.