What Would End The Protests?

ZHawke wrote:

Rick wrote: Would "doing their jobs" also include stories that show the main killers of young black men in this country?

Why do you even feel the "need" to post something like this? Is it because I'm a "lefty" and you're a "righty", perhaps? On this issue, I'll agree with PrintSmith in his previous post. And, in answer to your question, yes, it "should" include those kinds of stories, as well.

That comment had nothing to do with you Z. I'm just saying that the real problems in the black community are ignored by most of the media, because most of the media feels much safer always highlighting these incidents that are far more rare than the daily black on black killings. The media uses selective filters to satisfy their audiences which ends up ignoring the real problems. It did the same thing for Obama... never vetted from the start while his opponents were raked across the coals.

Rick wrote: That comment had nothing to do with you Z. I'm just saying that the real problems in the black community are ignored by most of the media, because most of the media feels much safer always highlighting these incidents that are far more rare than the daily black on black killings. The media uses selective filters to satisfy their audiences which ends up ignoring the real problems. It did the same thing for Obama... never vetted from the start while his opponents were raked across the coals.

Fair enough. It just seemed, from the way it was written, that it was addressed at me.

I agree with the media filters statement. I also believe black on black crime is covered differently depending upon where one actually lives. Local news, to me, is more reliable in that regard. Not always, but generally speaking. The 24-hour news cycles we see from the majors is a large part of the problem, in my opinion. They actively search for things to say, and their talking heads far too often say it while putting their own slants on everything.

The problem seems to stem from a logic loop. Since crime rates are higher in poor black communities, there is a higher police presence in those communities. Since there is a higher police presence, a greater percentage of crime committed within the community is seen, leading to a higher percentages of arrests coming from the demographics of that community and a higher crime rate per thousand or million residents of that community versus neighboring ones. Since there is a higher crime rate in that community, the police spend more of their resources patrolling that community.

The only way out of the loop is for poor black communities to stop visiting so much violence on each other. How to achieve that outcome is not so clear. Clearly individual subsidies haven't cured it, nor has increased policing of the communities. The public school system is failing all of our students, not just the ones from poor neighborhoods, but the public schools which are located in poor neighborhoods are arguably even more abysmal overall than the public schools are collectively.

So how do we stop black people from doing so much violence to others in their community? As long as that continues to be true I don't see a way out of the loop that they seem to be stuck in. As long as the crime rate within the black community is so high, there will be a higher police presence, which will result in more arrests, which results in more young blacks being incarcerated, which results in more distrust in the black community for police and the system in general, which results in a higher likelihood of what was witnessed last night in Ferguson, MO.

I'm responding, PrintSmith, because that last post was well-written, in my opinion.

At the end, you asked a valid question. I'm providing this link in response in order to try to help address the issues you identified:

online.wsj.com/articles/peter-bronson-le...001-riots-1408748376

Sorry Z, your link requires a subscription that I don't have in order to view.

PrintSmith wrote: Sorry Z, your link requires a subscription that I don't have in order to view.

Don't know what happened because I was able to view it. I'll look elsewhere.

Try this one (there are more - this one just came up sooner in the search:

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cincinna...9b306bbea_story.html

Just wondering, anyone care to try to explain the Grand Jury process, not only in this incident, but in others, as well? I don't understand how, if a prosecutor is supposed to pursue a case against someone being considered for formal charges being brought against them, how they can basically state, and expect people to accept the statement, that they pretty much remained neutral in the Grand Jury proceedings in the Darrin Wilson investigation. I believe I heard the DA during his press conference last night give the impression the prosecution presented all the evidence, nothing more. To me, that's a potential firestorm waiting to happen, both figuratively and, in this case unfortunately, realistically.

Thoughts?

blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2014/11/2...-facts-why-no-trial/

Found a few interesting paragraphs in the link, among them this one:

In Over-the-Rhine, attitudes toward the police blend with resentments and insecurity engendered by rapid economic change. The neighborhood feels safer, but longtime residents and patrol officers agree that has happened as much because of the shift in demographics as because of reformed police practices.

Which means that the area is being "gentrified", with the low income people being slowly pushed out as the buildings are bought by folks looking to build half million dollar lofts and trendy new eateries in the area once filled with drug dealers and prostitutes.

I do, however, agree with the idea of beat patrols where the officers get out of their cars and interact with the neighborhood people and they all get to know each other on a personal basis. That, after all, is the way most parents raise their children, right? They care, they listen, but cross the line and you'll still find yourself in trouble with them. The downside of that is that you generally find the same people causing the trouble time after time and so it gets harder to not suspect them of doing something else wrong when you roll up on the scene and find them there in the middle of the trouble, which is an entire area of profiling all on its own.

Which, in the end, boils down to "nothing is perfect", but I still believe lessons can, and should, be learned and those lessons should be used wherever and whenever possible.