Black Man Led Behind Horseback Police Using Rope

[LSUmiss]

Fair enough, but my comments are more about the subject of this thread and the assumption that this was done because the white police officers are just a couple of racists.
I think there is some middle ground between- they are racist and racism doesn't exist. People just have to be willing to look for it. These police officers may just be oblivious to how this appeared, they may have just thought they were doing their job- bring a suspect in. Maybe they lack common sense or even a little intelligence. I have no idea, but IMO knowing that matters before determining they are in fact racists.
That in no way means that I don't recognize racism is alive an well, and out there.

Or...they see this person as less than & not deserving of dignity perhaps without the conscience thought that they feel this way b/c he’s a black man b/c it’s so ingrained that they aren’t even self aware.

 

[pahoben]

Racism is so ingrained & institutionalized in our country that ppl may actually tell themselves that they’re not being racists, but their actions tell a different story. I hear ppl ALL THE TIME make racists statements & they would swear

Racism is so ingrained & institutionalized in our country that ppl may actually tell themselves that they’re not being racists, but their actions tell a different story. I hear ppl ALL THE TIME make racists statements & they would swear they’re not racists b/c racism in their opinion is more egregious like burning a cross in a yard or making someone drink out of a separate water fountain.

Sometimes I am so glad I don’t live in the US when considering the widely accepted opinions of the many who find themselves especially virtuous there. But now I am also glad because you tell me it is a racist country populated by ignorant racists. I didn’t realize this in all my years growing up in the US. I thought some of the places I lived outside the US had problems (and often of this type) but they apparently pale to the obvious widespread problems that you have identified in the US.

 

[Hikergirl]

Or...they see this person as less than & not deserving of dignity perhaps without the conscience thought that they feel this way b/c he’s a black man b/c it’s so ingrained that they aren’t even self aware.

We can go on all day but you aren't going to change your mind- they are white and they are racist.
I'll stick with the less emotional reactionary approach and go with the more intellectual logical approach that they may just be a couple of white men who used poor judgment while doing their job bringing in a black criminal.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Sometimes I am so glad I don’t live in the US when considering the widely accepted opinions of the many who find themselves especially virtuous there. But now I am also glad because you tell me it is a racist country populated by ignorant racists. I didn’t realize this in all my years growing up in the US. I thought some of the places I lived outside the US had problems (and often of this type) but they apparently pale to the obvious widespread problems that you have identified in the US.

You didn't realize that the U.S. is a racist country? Do racists make up a majority of the population? I don't believe so. Do I have hope that eventually we can overcome this? Yes.

Racism is so deeply ingrained here. It is what the country was founded on. You cannot deny that. It's up to the citizens of this great country to educate themselves and each other so we can lift up out of this. People can change. It's all about how willing they are to do so.

 

[LSUmiss]

We can go on all day but you aren't going to change your mind- they are white and they are racist.
I'll stick with the less emotional reactionary approach and go with the more intellectual logical approach that they may just be a couple of white men who used poor judgment while doing their job bringing in a black criminal.

And there it is. When ppl don’t have a response now, we call ppl “emotional” vs “logical”. I actually think you’re position is a lot more emotional b/c it seems defensive.

 

[Hikergirl]

And there it is. When ppl don’t have a response now, we call ppl “emotional” vs “logical”. I actually think you’re position is a lot more emotional b/c it seems defensive.

Your response to this incident is based purely on your emotions, your feelings that racism is so ingrained in these men that they aren't even aware of it.
My response is logical and more intellectual- I know they could be racists but I also know that without evidence, or data, you can't say they are with 100% certainty. I can see beyond the shock value headlines and pictures and know there is more to the story. A large number of the population can't, and the media plays to them- the emotional, the less logical and yes, the less intellectual. They are reactionary, they are not thinking any deeper than their feelings. If I hit a nerve, well then maybe it is you that is on the defense.
Me, I'm not defensive at all, I'm participating in a discussion by stating facts.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

This seems like economic anxiety to me. Those officers were just following procedure. They didn't mean anything by it. A policy that is at best tone deaf and at worst racist is not a problem. It's pointing that out that is the real problem. People are just way too sensitive. We just all need to stop thinking emotionally and all think disinterested, indifferent, and logically detached.

 

[robinb]

Or...they see this person as less than & not deserving of dignity perhaps without the conscience thought that they feel this way b/c he’s a black man b/c it’s so ingrained that they aren’t even self aware.

Could be. Add to his his race that with he has an untreated mental illness, that he was well known by officers and already warned away from the area and it all adds up to treating him like an animal on a "line".

FWIW, I've only hear the word "line" in reference to a rope when it is used on animals. For instance, you walk or work a horse on a "line".

 

[bcla]

We can go on all day but you aren't going to change your mind- they are white and they are racist.
I'll stick with the less emotional reactionary approach and go with the more intellectual logical approach that they may just be a couple of white men who used poor judgment while doing their job bringing in a black criminal.

I thought the point that lack of judgement could have also been subconsciously shaped by subtle biases. Maybe they could claim they were "following procedure" (although the Chief said it was really designed for crowd control) but many would wonder if they've ever done this before, and especially if they'd ever had a single suspect moved this way who wasn't black.

 

[Hikergirl]

I thought the point that lack of judgement could have also been subconsciously shaped by subtle biases. Maybe they could claim they were "following procedure" (although the Chief said it was really designed for crowd control) but many would wonder if they've ever done this before, and especially if they'd ever had a single suspect moved this way who wasn't black.

Maybe it was, none of us really know and a headline, picture and an apology issued because of backlash doesn't tell us why they did what they did.
It's pretty ironic though- all this assuming based on the color of the skin of those police officers.

 

[pahoben]

You didn't realize that the U.S. is a racist country? Do racists make up a majority of the population? I don't believe so. Do I have hope that eventually we can overcome this? Yes.

Racism is so deeply ingrained here. It is what the country was founded on. You cannot deny that. It's up to the citizens of this great country to educate themselves and each other so we can lift up out of this. People can change. It's all about how willing they are to do so.

Actually it was a British colony prior and the Brits were the biggest player in the slave trade. There were about 7,000,000 slaves taken from West Africa and about 400,000 came to the US and almost all of these on British ships. The vast majority went to other British colonies in the New World.

At the time of the Civil War the South was a client state of Britain. The cotton went from the South to the British textile industry. The South requested that Britain support them but there were some bumper cotton crops prior and Britain had a huge cotton stock on hand. Britain was considering supporting the Confederacy still but after Gettysburg they thought it was a lost cause and refused troop support but provided material support with weapons etc.

The only Great Power that supported the North was Russia and the Tsar actually sent his Baltic fleet to New York. No other Great Power supported the North. A lot of blood was shed to change the situation including the blood of my ancestors.

To say the US was founded on slavery sounds like a slogan from an elementary school text book and ignores an enormous amount of history. In fact world history has much and widespread slavery including the Jews. In fact the US was an extremely minor player.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Actually it was a British colony prior and the Brits were the biggest player in the slave trade. There were about 7,000,000 slaves taken from West Africa and about 400,000 came to the US and almost all of these on British ships. The vast majority went to other British colonies in the New World.

At the time of the Civil War the South was a client state of Britain. The cotton went from the South to the British textile industry. The South requested that Britain support them but there were some bumper cotton crops prior and Britain had a huge cotton stock on hand. Britain was considering supporting the Confederacy still but after Gettysburg they thought it was a lost cause and refused troop support but provided material support with weapons etc.

The only Great Power that supported the North was Russia and the Tsar actually sent his Baltic fleet to New York. No other Great Power supported the North. A lot of blood was shed to change the situation including the blood of my ancestors.

To say the US was founded on slavery sounds like a slogan from an elementary school text book and ignores an enormous amount of history. In fact world history has much and widespread slavery including the Jews. In fact the US was an extremely minor player.

You said slavery. I did not. But thanks for the history lesson.

 

[bcla]

Maybe it was, none of us really know and a headline, picture and an apology issued because of backlash doesn't tell us why they did what they did.
It's pretty ironic though- all this assuming based on the color of the skin of those police officers.

That is the reality of public perception. It's not going to help diffuse the outrage by ignoring the optics. As it stands, they've probably got either their attorneys, the Chief, and/or the police union telling them to not says anything.

 

[Hikergirl]

@pahoben what a wonderfully logical and intellectual response to a very emotional post

 

[Hikergirl]

That is the reality of public perception. It's not going to help diffuse the outrage by ignoring the optics. As it stands, they've probably got either their attorneys, the Chief, and/or the police union telling them to not says anything.

I totally agree, in this day an age as a white police officer everything you in your daily job when interacting with a black person is going to be under a microscope. The bad apples have ruined it for the bunch, you are automatically seen as racist because there are racist cops out there. Nobody will believe you if you say otherwise, or they will just brush it off and claim it is so ingrained in you you don't even know you are.

 

[okeydokey]

Ha ha, you never disappoint. Every time, wow.

 

[bcla]

There's one for the other side of the state line from me in my metro. Recently they thought about doing away with the Mounted Patrol but there ended up being enough strong support for it that they decided to maintain it. There's not a large amount of them though (I think only 9).

Originally they were used for crowd control, crime control/deferrence and community relations but when they were going to be shut down a few months ago they decided to shift the main focus at least to be more related to reducing violent crime (not exactly sure how though) because unfortunately that area continues to have a high amount of it.

In terms of crowd control the police department here that has it states that 1 horse is the equivalent of 8-10 on foot police officers and can move people with little force.

I think they can be pretty useful when there's urban parks with a lot of paths and uneven terrain. Bikes work to some extent, but not in a place like Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. They've got a mounted patrol and mostly they use it for such areas. In Oakland they've got some too. Once I saw one officer staring me down as I looked like I was ready to jaywalk. Maybe not so ironically he was a black officer.

I remember taking my kid to Sacramento where they had horses patrolling Old Sacramento. They seemed to spend more time letting kids pet their horses than patrolling, but I guess that's the community relations you mention. The California Highway Patrol has a mounted patrol that goes around state property. I mean - they don't chase down cars, but the CHP absorbed the old California State Police that used to have that responsibility. They look like normal police wearing black, but for public events they actually dress in the standard khaki uniforms like the ones for their motorcycle officers. I saw them at the 2017 Warriors victory parade in Oakland. It was crazy too as their largest horse was a Clydesdale.

And I guess horses make a lot of sense for rural sheriff's departments that might have a lot of backcountry to patrol. The National Park Service has lots of mounted law enforcement ranger units at various parks, as well as the US Park Police. Still - the latter is really more urban park patrols.

 

[pahoben]

I totally agree, in this day an age as a white police officer everything you in your daily job when interacting with a black person is going to be under a microscope. The bad apples have ruined it for the bunch, you are automatically seen as racist because there are racist cops out there. Nobody will believe you if you say otherwise, or they will just brush it off and claim it is so ingrained in you you don't even know you are.

You need to keep your video running every second. In the last year it has saved some officer jobs and likely prosecutions in Texas. What was claimed was so clearly shown to be wrong on the video.

 

[DeniseJH]

Not everything that happens to a black person is racist because it happens to be done by a white person.

Can't argue with that.

 

[DeniseJH]

You need to keep your video running every second. In the last year it has saved some officer jobs and likely prosecutions in Texas. What was claimed was so clearly shown to be wrong on the video.

I agree that the videos need to be running every second. I know I've seen a lot of horrendous abuses by officers that could have been, and in some cases were actively tried to be, covered up. It works both ways.