A few observations:
1. Police officers in America, of all races, are overwhelmingly from working class backgrounds, unlike New York Times journalists, elite university professors, and assorted major media pundits.
2. Some police officers are racist and some are sadistic, but there is no evidence that most are either.
3. Police in America are charged with policing the most economically stratified nation in the "rich" world.
4. Police in America are charged with policing the most heavily armed populace in the "rich" world.
5. Police are, perhaps, a bit paranoid given #3 and #4.
6. Poor people are disproportionately involved in criminal misconduct in America (as elsewhere--no surprise there).
7. African-Americans are disproportionately poor given the history of systematic, institutional racism in America and its legacy.
8. African-Americans suffer disproportionately at the hands of the police compared to other racial demographic groups in America, related to #6 and #7.
The vilification of police that now seems to be common among privileged "liberal" white folks strikes me as a classic example of how ignorance of or indifference to class dynamics deforms serious discussion. If tens of milliions of people did not live in poverty--many of them African-American--and if the country were not armed to the teeth, then police killings of particular demographic groups would not happen as often. Does anyone really doubt this?
But instead of discussing economic inequality and lack of gun control, we are discussing superficial phenomena, which bodes ill for a humane solution.
Recent Comments