Quote:
Originally Posted by Verbiage
Let me play devil's advocate here, since that seems to be the name of the game in this thread.
What's to say that those individuals who serve as law enforcement are not operating with preconceived notions and underlying stereotypes? For example, how is a man who hates black people going to be identified after becoming a police officer (other than the hearsay surrounding the circumstances of him killing one, in self-defense or otherwise)? Or, does his hatred for a specific race bar him from entering the profession, because of opportunities that may cure an insatiable appetite for destruction?
Again, purely devil's advocacy. My point is, labels cannot be given to a group of individuals solely based on the premise of their role in society. Much of the time, it is irrelevant.
|
Complicated. We can't see into peoples hearts and minds to make these determinations. We can ask questions and make judgments based on their answers but we still don't know how they arrived at their answers.
For instance, you could ask... Do you think that black males ages 16-24 are more likely to commit a violent crime than white males of the same age.
A man with no exposure to black culture and little exposure to black people has a very limited amount of information at his disposal to base his answer on. Maybe he remembers incarceration statistics and draws a conclusion that since a higher percentage of the black male population is incarcerated than white males of the same age, the answer is yes. In my eyes, that doesn't make him a racist. If the man thought, well, one group is black and one group is white and white people are better than black people, so the answer is yes. That man is clearly racist.
But how do we know what they were thinking when they answered?
Complicated.
In my opinion, self governance within the ranks of the police force should be prevalent. If an officer shows racist tendencies, try some rehabilitation tactics on him. If that doesn't work termination.
I'm all for letting people think and say what they want. But there is no room for racism in the judicial system. Top or bottom.