Comments

2

"They need training in philosophy, sociology, anthropology."

Everyone fucking does. Yet I would also bet that if there was such a thing, Portland Intersectionalists would just spend all their time arguing over the curriculum "centering on european cultural hegemonies and implicit semiotic structures of oppression thru empirical hermenutics" or some other regressive anti-enlightenment bullshit.

3

Most cops are not good cops. The fact that cops allow fellow cops to murder people and not insist those murderers among them be held accountable is the proof. There can be no good cops when cops cover for each other, lie for each other, and treat entire portions of society as not human. Are there decent individuals who work as police officers? Maybe. They are the exception, not the rule. Law enforcement was created to police black people. It hasn't changed. Cops are government sanctioned, taxpayer funded murderers. The fact that cops in this country can be disqualified from being a cop if they are too smart says everything. Mid-range level IQ people are much easier to manipulate and convince to participate in group think mentality and behavior.

4

@Christina Rae Two questions for you:

If you were awakened in the middle of the night by someone breaking into your house... who would you call?
Can you provide a link that supports your claim that, "Law enforcement was created to police black people."?

6

44 officer involved shootings from 2000 to 2009. 22 of those were fatal. 75% of all OIS were white suspects. 39 of the 44 were armed and dangerous.

Meanwhile, 27 homicides have taken place in the last year (Feb. 18 to Feb 19), not to mention an additional 58,000 assaults. You are 550% more likely to be murdered by a citizen than a police officer in this city.

In 2018 police killed 1,165 people. Seems like a lot, but that's 50 states and approximately 19,000 cities and towns. In the same year, nearly 50,000 people were killed by a handgun by a civilian. That's almost a 4,300% increase from the officer involved fatalities for the year. And for funsies, that same year we had 323 mass shootings (according to the definition) resulting in 387 people killed and 1,274 people injured - the majority of them on the East Coast and Midwest.

I'm not cop lover, but everyone has a hustle. I believe in survival, if someone wants to hurt me or my family my options are hurt them first or call the police. Ironically, most people who are passive and unable or unwilling to defend themselves in this city are also the most critical of our police. Enjoy living in fear, but just so you know it's nice on the other side.

7

correction: 2010 to 2019.

10

@pglegmmy, you sarcastically say you love posts like mine, yet all you focus on is my statement about survival and liken it to at-home risks of gun ownership. You've completely sidestepped, like most people, my statement about the police which is the focal point here.

The lost point on my statement is that people need policing and people need protection. That comes from two places. Either an agency of individuals who are entrusted to do so, or a citizen class empowered to protect themselves. We have both. Yet it seems everyone is against both options.

Returning to the points on the police, especially here on the Mercury where everyone seems convinced that our trigger happy cops are killing black people, how do you or anyone else reading this answer to the numbers. 44 OIS, 10 of them black, 33 of them white, 1 of them Hispanic. Of the 10 black OIS, 6 of them were fatal. That's 6 fatal shooting of a black person in 9 years. Portland is in the bottom bracket for white on black shootings in the United States, yet you all act like our cops are uneducated, untrained, and trigger happy. It's silly honestly.

12

@4 There is this amazing thing called the internet that provides reams of information all you have to do is type in a few words about any subject and you can find information, but since you can't do it yourself, here's ONE link of millions for you. Educate your self. Facts matter.

https://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/brief-history-slavery-and-origins-american-policing

As for your other question I would not call the police. Have I called the police in the past? Yes, on white people behaving badly (beating another human being, using a public space as a toilet, etc.) and basically guess what THEY DO NOTHING. I would rather call the fire department and say there is a fire in my home or the EMTs and say there is a medical emergency than call the police. I do not like cops, I do not trust cops, I do not want cops in my home, and I know for a fact if there is a black person anywhere in the vicinity of the cops showing up when they've been called that black person will be murdered. So fuck no, I would not call the cops, even if my life depended on it.

Last night I saw Michelle Obama at the MODA center and there were tons of PPD there and my only thought was if anyone is going to murder Michelle Obama, it is going to be one of those fucking cops.

13

@Doomtown, citing OIS statistics isn't biased? I mean you are parroting statistics provided by the people who did the shooting and killing.

https://theconversation.com/police-kill-about-3-men-per-day-in-the-us-according-to-new-study-100567

If you think PPD isn't racist and one of the more violent agencies in this country, you are not paying attention. Do you read the real, true news? Do you know the investigations past and present into the PPD (by the feds, DOJ, etc.)?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v.Cityof_Portland

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-opens-investigation-portland-oregon-police-bureau

https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2012/09/federal_findings_on_portland_p.html

https://www.theroot.com/portland-police-sergeant-to-cops-if-you-come-across-a-1832233738

https://www.thenation.com/article/why-cant-one-americas-most-progressive-cities-reform-its-police-force/

https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2011/06/portland-police-doj/

https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-portland-oregon-police-2017-story.html

And as far as the country at large goes, cops killing black people is the norm, not the exception, when they use their weapon and a black person is involved. Perhaps you should examine other sources of information. There is literally so much actual, factual information available it seems incredible that you can't see it and don't believe it. Like I told @4, look it up, educate yourself, facts matter.

Police killed 1,147 people in 2017. Black people were 25% of those killed despite being only 13% of the population.

http://theconversation.com/a-new-look-at-racial-disparities-in-police-use-of-deadly-force-98681

https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/

https://www.vox.com/identities/2016/8/13/17938186/police-shootings-killings-racism-racial-disparities

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/police-killings-hit-people-color-hardest-study-finds-n872086

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/05/the-57375-years-of-life-lost-to-police-violence/559835/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/inside-100-million-police-traffic-stops-new-evidence-racial-bias-n980556

14

@Christina Rae - I did look online for facts to back up that "law enforcement was created to police black people" and found NOTHING.

Also, so you're basically saying that you would not call police if someone was breaking into your home... but only if that someone was black. Right? So you would rather die at the hands of a black person than call police? You'd rather file a false report to the fire department and put EMT's at risk of assault or even death rather than call the police on someone who is breaking into your home and even threatening your life?

Your white guilt is blinding you to all logic and reason! WOW.

16

@15: Just saying I found nothing, like my comment stated but apparently you failed to understand. She was saying I can do a search and, voila! “Millions” of articles on the topic. I didn’t find one, much less “millions.”

Did you find “millions”?

Who would you call if someone was breaking into your home? Do you also generalize HUGE swaths of people?

Would you also be willingly murdered at the hands of a black person simply because they’re black? Yes or no?

18

@Douglas Banter I would not call the cops if someone were breaking into my home, ever. I explained what I would do. And you clearly didn't look up anything since there are literally reams of information out there. If you need to be spoon fed information like a baby, that's your issue. People's refusal to educate themselves, understand history, and acknowledge reality are three huge reasons we are in the shit show we are in right now. Keep on keeping on, dude. I want nothing to do with the likes of you. Drink some more kool aid.

19

A little training on 1) dealing with the mentally ill and 2) only using lethal force as a last resort could go a long way.

20

@17: The earliest history of the police that I found was in ancient China. So both you and Christina are saying that the ancient Chinese created law enforcement to police black people? Hmm. Could you possibly provide a few million links that support this claim?

Also, why didn't you answer my other questions?

@Christina Rae: The fact that you wouldn't call the police on a black person breaking into your home (you brought race into this scenario, I didn't) and that you would willingly let a black person murder you (again, you brought race into this scenario) is, in and of itself, racist.

As a white liberal, you are giving a certain race of people a pass... which is a racist mentality. Why? Because you area assuming that black people cannot take responsibility for their own actions and it is your duty, as a white person, to forgive them for simply being black. It's that whole "white savior" thing.

How is this mindset not racist?

22

@Douglas Banter I said no such thing. Your delusions are outrageous. I said I would not call the police at all, under any scenario. this is about cops, not who might be committing the crime. please do try to keep up. and again, as for how and why law enforcement was created in THIS country, there is plenty of information available regarding how it was created in response to slavery. keep on denying, keep on deflecting, keep on pretending i am the racist in this conversation. refusal to acknowledge facts does not make them cease to exist. double down and double down again, not going to change the facts and this is not about me it is about the cops. @21 said it, too, we are talking about cops in this country, try to stay on topic.

23

@22: Are you saying that you’re incapable of being racist? Aren’t all white people racist according to the left? (I’m not white, by the way)

Your own words: “I know for a fact if there is a black person anywhere in the vicinity of the cops showing up when they've been called that black person will be murdered. So fuck no, I would not call the cops, even if my life depended on it.”

So you did, in fact, say that you would willingly be murdered instead of calling the police, but only if it was a black person. Well, isn’t that mighty white of you!

@21: Christna Rae made the claim that “Law enforcements was created to police black people.” Not US law enforcement, but law enforcement in general. Your reading comprehension skills ain’t the best, is they?

And you didn’t answer my other questions because you can’t. Nice attempt at deflecting though.

Now that I’ve likely triggered both of you, go ahead and flag my comment for removal... like a certain someone in this thread has done in the past because I bruised their delicate sensibilities.

I make it a point to push back on political extremists, whether they’re left or right wing. They base their “arguments” strictly on emotion and with the slightest scratching of their e surface, it falls apart.

25

“We answered both your questions.”

Hmm... maybe I missed your answer to the question of who would you call if your house was being broken into in the middle of the night? Christina Rae said she’d welcome burglars and murderers into her home, but only is “a black person was anywhere in the area.” How she would know this in the middle of the nigh is beyond me, but whatever.

Can you point me to the comment where you answered that question?

Another question for both of you: Do you believe we should have laws at all?

26

Douglas Ranter: So the choice is between substandard cops who don't know how to do their jobs correctly, and nothing? It's not rare for people in other jobs to get fired when they fuck up, but apparently cops can do anything and all the other cops (and the DA's office) will make excuses for them. As they say, one (or several) rotten apples spoils the barrel.


Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.