How are we not more outraged about these shootings?

[rickybobby]

The question is whether it happens disproportionately to African Americans, or whether 2 white people have ever been killed in 2 days by police shooting without adequate justification. Which is not to imply any answers; just lets get the questions right instead of muddying the issue with assertions that, even if true (and they probably are), miss the point.

Sometimes, this proportion of people getting arrested is a farce. Not politically correct, I know, but I say the ratio of black Americans in prison is most likely due to the proportion of that race committing crimes to include gun violence. Therefore, they are more likely looked upon as a possible perpetrator, so more likely to be suspected.
I know many of you will flame, and call racism, but this is a fact, plain and simple.
For comparison reasons, I will also say this. Black Americans overall are better basketball players than are White, Asian and Hispanic Americans, and are thus more proportionate to be in the NBA than their overall population of America. Again, a fact.

 

[MickeySP]

So are you outraged still?!?!

 

[rickybobby]

Remember that police officers protect and save lives every single day but they are also armed. If you think it's worse for a police officer to shoot someone maybe you should advocate that police officer not carry guns. That should turn out well for all involved.

Obviously in any organization you are going to have a few bad apples and some who never should be on the job in the first place. Listening to the media spin and becoming outraged even before the facts have been laid bare is very irresponsible. Most police officers retire without ever shooting their guns anywhere but a shooting range.

wow, you and I don't agree much, but this time, agreed.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

wow, you and I don't agree much, but this time, agreed.

Hmmm. This is confusing, disturbing and a bit frightening.

(ha)

 

[GaryDis]

Sometimes, this proportion of people getting arrested is a farce. Not politically correct, I know, but I say the ratio of black Americans in prison is most likely due to the proportion of that race committing crimes to include gun violence. Therefore, they are more likely looked upon as a possible perpetrator, so more likely to be suspected.
I know many of you will flame, and call racism, but this is a fact, plain and simple.
For comparison reasons, I will also say this. Black Americans overall are better basketball players than are White, Asian and Hispanic Americans, and are thus more proportionate to be in the NBA than their overall population of America. Again, a fact.

Surely you're not suggesting that either of those points is justification for police being quicker to erroneously shoot a black person than a white person? Or are you?

 

[MariMama]

I've never been asked to get out of my vehicle.

Me neither, both times I've been stopped.

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

On every episode of Cops I've watched, any time a person starts to get out of their car during a traffic stop the officer immediately instructs them to remain in their car. It seems they want people to stay in their car until instructed to get out. Can't say I blame them because traffic stops seems to be where most of the shootings occur.

 

[lizabu]

Remember that police officers protect and save lives every single day but they are also armed. If you think it's worse for a police officer to shoot someone maybe you should advocate that police officer not carry guns. That should turn out well for all involved.

Obviously in any organization you are going to have a few bad apples and some who never should be on the job in the first place. Listening to the media spin and becoming outraged even before the facts have been laid bare is very irresponsible. Most police officers retire without ever shooting their guns anywhere but a shooting range.

Perhaps "worse" was the wrong word to use. The expectation is that a police officer is not going to shoot me and kill me while I'm minding my own business. I don't have the same expectation of a criminal. When a police officer shoots and kills a person who did nothing to provoke it that action is unexpected and more shocking than if you hear that a criminal shot and killed a person. That's what we are talking about. The poster I was replying to was in essence saying that a clerk being shot by a criminal during a robbery is equal to a police officer shooting a person for no apparent reason. I don't think the two are equal and I feel that the police shooting is more shocking and outrageous because it is unexpected and because we have the expectation that police officers are the good guys and that they aren't going to murder us while it would be unrealistic to put the same expectation on a criminal in the act of committing a crime.

 

[taitai]

The local MN news is reporting that Castile was cited 31 times for simple traffic violations since 2002 so roughly two times a year. KARE11 (the local NBC station) is also posting some of the audio police scanner tape and it has the officers mentioning that they are going to pull over Castile and his girlfriend as "they look like people who just committed a robbery" and the driver looked like a suspect because of his "broad set nose."

I know people who send their kids to the school in which Castile worked. They are heartbroken. He was a beloved member of the school community. The PTO is helping with a gofundme page for the family and they have counselors for the kids.

 

[Geoff_M]

The Internet Outrage Culture just keeps paying more and more dividends...

 

[cabanafrau]

The Internet Outrage Culture just keeps paying more and more dividends...

Could you possibly explain the point you're trying to make? This statement is so ambiguous it could mean many different things.

 

[ols386]

I've never been instructed to get out of my vehicle but my XH and SO have. My SO was asked to get out of his vehicle over an expired registration while he had my daughter in the car.

I got stopped earlier this year because the tags on my license plate were out of date. I put the new tags on when I got them. The officer said that in a city near me, people were taking (stealing) tags off of plates, and that's probably what had happened. He asked to see my registration and proof of insurance and drivers license, and didn't ticket me, and I wasn't asked to get out of the vehicle.

 

[andiraye]

I've read bits and pieces of this thread. I've been too heartsick the last few days to tune into much social media and am just catching up. But here is what I want to say....

This is not about being on a side. A horrifying number of innocent people were killed over the last few days and none of their deaths were good or justified. Their killings all are symptoms of the fear, mistrust and anger we are roiling with as a nation. It is the same fear, mistrust and anger that has been driving the entire presidential election and all the recent mass shootings.

Please, please, everyone, let us stop screaming at each other and try to listen instead. There are lots of real things -- the economy, security, the environment, lack of opportunity, scarcity of resources and racism, to name a few -- to be afraid of and angry about. But acting out of fear and in anger is not going to help.

Let us please try to put our fear and anger aside just enough to hear each other and talk to each other. If we can work together, we will all be a little less afraid and a little less angry. We are all in this together, like it or not, so we have to find a way to work together.

Benjamin Franklin said, "We must all hang together, or surely we will all hang separately." That is true more now than ever.