06-09-2020, 12:13 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-09-2020, 12:16 PM by Eric the Green.)
(06-09-2020, 02:00 AM)Warren Dew Wrote:(06-08-2020, 10:28 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: It is easy to think that the answer to cities that are riddled with crime is more police.
The opposite of "inadequate policing" is "adequate policing", not "more police". It might or might not involve more police in some areas. It would involve community policing - police who develop social ties to the communities they police. We need to move away from police that view civilians primarily as potential criminals, and toward police that view civilians as people they protect from crime. That's true irrespective of the race of the community.
Quote:"Black Lives Matter too" would be fine, but the 3 words is a more compelling slogan in this case.
I challenge you to carry a sign saying "Black Lives Matter Too" to one of these protests. You personally might actually be idealistic enough to want to improve things, but the people that organize to ensure this issue comes up only in election years don't.
This issue does indeed need to come up all the time, but no I don't think I will carry that sign. But I agree with your first point. To really create a police force that views the people as people to protect, the police need to be retrained, and firing them all and then starting over might be a good idea at least in some places. It won't happen though, unless social programs and investment in communities is brought back, and that might mean shifting some funding priorities, and getting rid of Reaganomics philosophy as the dominant governing ideology so that social funding can be returned. And it means equalizing funding for education and youth programs, so that young people in poor communities can be taught the virtue of learning skills for success instead of by-default the skills for crime.