dadudemon
This thread is to discuss past events of racism (if new news events come up, probably start a new thread).
One case that comes to mind is the Rodney King case of 1992.
Wikipedia gives a decent break-down of events:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King#Incident
Robtard asked a question regarding that incident:
Originally posted by Robtard
Why is RK a not great example, may not be the best example, but?
But it's not a great example. There are much better examples out there. Fortunately, some of the situation was caught on video. Unlike the NBC spin, which cut off a significant portion of the video, the whole video showed it was police reacting with far too much force. He didn't die, thankfully, because someone on the scene supposedly directed them to holster their guns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King#Incident
I think the Michael Brown shooting was worse than the King incident because there's too much controversy on whether or not Brown charged and Brown ended up dead. Thankfully, King still walks the earth. The only thing about the King incident that I find disgusting is the continued beating of Rodney King. It should have stopped shortly after the second tasering and a few hits with the batons (he seems to give up, at that point). Had it stopped there, I don't think we would have had anything called a "Rodney King Incident."
I agree with you that the video showed Police were acting like criminals. It went from a well-handled situation where police used proper training and tactics to police tunring into gang-members laying a beat-down on someone they viewed as violating their gang-rules. I think they should have gotten an assault and battery charge. I can say that they probably did not intend to kill him: just beat the shit out of him and humiliate him into submission.
But his actions before the beat-down got out of hand make that situation not a great one for showing police racism. Also, the lead prosecutor against the police was black (in the first trial). Also, the federal case convicted Laurence Powell and Sergeant Stacey Koon (2 of the 4 officers). They were sentenced 32 months...which is pretty harsh since I would not get that long of a sentence for beating someone without the intent to kill. So I do not think the Rodney King case makes a great example since it was quite a long time ago and at least 2 of the 4 officers were convicted.
The Huffington Post (generally, a liberally biased news site but I still consider them good) lists 14 good reasons why the criminal justice system and law enforcement are anywhere from moderately to ridiculously racist:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/fourteen-examples-of-raci_b_658947.html
I think the Algiers 7 makes a better case for clear racism in law enforcement but that was 1980 and probably doesn't make your point in the way you'd want.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/11/algiers_7_police_brutality_cas.html
Is there a more modern case than 1992 that better reflects the point both of us want to make? There was some stuff in Katrina, IIRC, that make a good example.
One case that comes to mind is the Rodney King case of 1992.
Wikipedia gives a decent break-down of events:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King#Incident
Robtard asked a question regarding that incident:
Originally posted by Robtard
Why is RK a not great example, may not be the best example, but?
But it's not a great example. There are much better examples out there. Fortunately, some of the situation was caught on video. Unlike the NBC spin, which cut off a significant portion of the video, the whole video showed it was police reacting with far too much force. He didn't die, thankfully, because someone on the scene supposedly directed them to holster their guns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King#Incident
I think the Michael Brown shooting was worse than the King incident because there's too much controversy on whether or not Brown charged and Brown ended up dead. Thankfully, King still walks the earth. The only thing about the King incident that I find disgusting is the continued beating of Rodney King. It should have stopped shortly after the second tasering and a few hits with the batons (he seems to give up, at that point). Had it stopped there, I don't think we would have had anything called a "Rodney King Incident."
I agree with you that the video showed Police were acting like criminals. It went from a well-handled situation where police used proper training and tactics to police tunring into gang-members laying a beat-down on someone they viewed as violating their gang-rules. I think they should have gotten an assault and battery charge. I can say that they probably did not intend to kill him: just beat the shit out of him and humiliate him into submission.
But his actions before the beat-down got out of hand make that situation not a great one for showing police racism. Also, the lead prosecutor against the police was black (in the first trial). Also, the federal case convicted Laurence Powell and Sergeant Stacey Koon (2 of the 4 officers). They were sentenced 32 months...which is pretty harsh since I would not get that long of a sentence for beating someone without the intent to kill. So I do not think the Rodney King case makes a great example since it was quite a long time ago and at least 2 of the 4 officers were convicted.
The Huffington Post (generally, a liberally biased news site but I still consider them good) lists 14 good reasons why the criminal justice system and law enforcement are anywhere from moderately to ridiculously racist:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-quigley/fourteen-examples-of-raci_b_658947.html
I think the Algiers 7 makes a better case for clear racism in law enforcement but that was 1980 and probably doesn't make your point in the way you'd want.
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2010/11/algiers_7_police_brutality_cas.html
Is there a more modern case than 1992 that better reflects the point both of us want to make? There was some stuff in Katrina, IIRC, that make a good example.