Dear Editor,
The recent unrest in the US city of Baltimore is another in a series of protests by African-Americans who are demanding an end to what they see as police brutality that is specifically directed towards them. However, I cannot help but wonder if these African-Americans think that they should not be targeted, just because they are black.
I think one of the problems that Americans are having to come to grips with police excesses is the fact that there is really no accurate picture of just how widespread the problem of police excesses is. For starters, there is not complete accounting in the US of just how many people are killed, much less of their profiles.
While the police don't have the right to kill or abuse any American, African descent or otherwise, we have to be realistic and understand that there will always be a wayward police officer who will act contrary to the expected norm.
Where am I going with this here? According to the best data that is available, it would seem that there are at least hundreds of instances where American police officers take the law into their hands and kill people 'unnecessarily'. Many white people are also unnecessarily killed. Some of these deviant officers target homeless people, irrespective of their race. Other deviant officers kill because they think they can get away with it. Most of these people are not black.
We still don't have a clear picture of the complete circumstances as to why some of those African-Americans were killed. So I am still not sure why, in recent times, some African-Americans believe that whenever one of their own is shot by a white police officer, justified or not, they must protest "racism" and "oppression" by burning their cities.
I don't see poor whites burning their towns when police kill one of their own. I don't see Latinos doing this or other immigrants or any other identifiable American group, so why do African-Americans think they have the right to burn things down?
I still believe too many African-Americans continue to play the victim card and believe that Jim Crow is still dominant. Those that think this way need to grow up and start finding better ways to help the American authorities to find real solutions to all police excesses, including those that may be targeted at African-Americans. Burning down their towns and cities isn't a solution.
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com
African-Americans don't have special rights
-->
The recent unrest in the US city of Baltimore is another in a series of protests by African-Americans who are demanding an end to what they see as police brutality that is specifically directed towards them. However, I cannot help but wonder if these African-Americans think that they should not be targeted, just because they are black.
I think one of the problems that Americans are having to come to grips with police excesses is the fact that there is really no accurate picture of just how widespread the problem of police excesses is. For starters, there is not complete accounting in the US of just how many people are killed, much less of their profiles.
While the police don't have the right to kill or abuse any American, African descent or otherwise, we have to be realistic and understand that there will always be a wayward police officer who will act contrary to the expected norm.
Where am I going with this here? According to the best data that is available, it would seem that there are at least hundreds of instances where American police officers take the law into their hands and kill people 'unnecessarily'. Many white people are also unnecessarily killed. Some of these deviant officers target homeless people, irrespective of their race. Other deviant officers kill because they think they can get away with it. Most of these people are not black.
We still don't have a clear picture of the complete circumstances as to why some of those African-Americans were killed. So I am still not sure why, in recent times, some African-Americans believe that whenever one of their own is shot by a white police officer, justified or not, they must protest "racism" and "oppression" by burning their cities.
I don't see poor whites burning their towns when police kill one of their own. I don't see Latinos doing this or other immigrants or any other identifiable American group, so why do African-Americans think they have the right to burn things down?
I still believe too many African-Americans continue to play the victim card and believe that Jim Crow is still dominant. Those that think this way need to grow up and start finding better ways to help the American authorities to find real solutions to all police excesses, including those that may be targeted at African-Americans. Burning down their towns and cities isn't a solution.
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com
African-Americans don't have special rights
-->