As to this issue of respect, #1 you should review the history of policing in this country as it pertains to black people. Do a little research. the fact is that modern day police forces are the offspring of systems developed to maintain control of enslaved black people. They are steeped in a history of abuse. So frankly, if communities of color do not assume the good faith of law enforcement, that judgment is actually grounded in history and present day behavior and is reinforced every time those communities see police unequivocally support an unconstitutional and unjust police killing. But this is really a non issue. black folk respect police just fine. What they don't respect is injustice and tyranny in the use of law enforcement powers in their community. Those behaviors are regarded with contempt as well they would be by a community with a history of having survived enslavement for 300+ years. When we observe that behavior, respect is neither earned or required.

As an American citizen, I'm not required to kowtow to overbearing police nor suffer unjust behavior and the problem is that what are supposed to be the mechanisms for redress against bad behavior and abuse of power too often simply cosign it. So it's not a response to tell black folk to respect police, take the abuse and register a complaint later. The system does not enforce accountability. And any system that permits and facilitates tyranny corrodes any respect for its authority

I'm good with your first message that cops should not cover for bad policing by other cops. I disagree with your 2nd message idea because I reject the underlying premise. All people of color? So your assumption is that people of color have a problem showing disrespect to police and that this is an equal contributor to the problem of unjustified killings? Backing into it, if a shooting is unjustified, that means it was not required based on what was happening. So even if there was an issue of people of color having no respect for law enforcement, that isn't justification for the unconstitutional extra judicial killing of a citizen. You can't premise the freedom of black citizens from murder by police on whether or not they were respectful enough. That's tyranny, it's not law and or order or justice.

The common denominator in all the cases is not non compliance of victims, its the poor judgement and unconstitutional behavior of the police. As far as proportions go, who cares? Thats what you roll out as though it negates the FACT that whites commit majority of crimes, which you tried to say was a black issue and its not.

With regard to edgy cops in high crime areas, you clearly don't pay any attention and make a lot of assumptions. Most of the cases that garner serious protest from black folk start from routine shit, like traffic stops or other police interactions that should not have ended up in death.

Police killing more white people every year is irrelevant. You are not arguing that police unjustly gunned down white people are you? If you are, are you cool with that? If you aren't saying they are unjustified then that's not relevant. we are talking about unjustified killings. As for studies showing shootings to be justified, lets accept that stat as accurate. Black folk protest a small number of police shootings or actions where we think the facts show its bad policing. We don't protest all of them.

And the fact that its racial is pretty evident. Why? because it doesn't happy to white people.

Jesus. I get so tired of this lame ass response. And it is lame as fuck. I'll just give you the main reason why its really stupid logic. Well, two. First, MOST crime is intra racial, okay? That means most crime against black folks is by other black folk. MOST crime against white folk is by other white folk. But it's only racialized when we talk about black people. You do know that the white on white murder rate is about 84% don't you. Check DOJ stats for yourself. 84% of white folk get murdered by other white folk. Sounds like a white on white crime epidemic to me. So that should be proof to you right there, that is racialized bullshit to use that terminology, because you don't label the same behavior that way when its done by whites.

First off, lets have clarity about some facts that you have completely wrong. The majority of crimes in the United States are committed by white Americans, not blacks. You can look up DOJ stats for yourself. I'm accurate. Furthermore, the vast majority of violent crimes in the US are committed by white Americans. So just to be clear, blacks do not commit the majority of crimes in US. Whites do.

As far as profiling goes, if what you are saying is that you think its fine and okay for police authorities to profile people based solely on their race without reliance on any evidence of wrongdoing, well, that's not America. What you are saying is that you are okay with police using the fact that I'm black as probable cause that crime is being committed. That's the world of a white supremacist. It ain't the world that constitution respecting people want to live in.

On the issue of compliance with police authorities, I think you're probably a serious hypocrite. When the feds went to enforce the law on that white rancher Bundy, he and his friends all got strapped and gave every indication to authorities that a shooting war would erupt if the feds tried to enforce the law. People brandished weapons at the feds. Nobody got shot.

In contrast, unarmed black people are killed by police under circumstances that are often unnecessary. Black people don't protest every encounter with police. The ones that make the news are the egregious ones, where the conduct is so ridiculous, it can't go without being questioned.

This country was founded on resistance to injustice and tyranny. Police authority is being eroded by the lack of accountability. It is simply not acceptable that police can be permitted to kill unarmed people without good cause and not be held accountable in any way. And when that happens over and over, police authority is rightfully eroded away.

I wish it bothered you more that police kill people without just cause and are not held accountable, more than it apparently does that black people subject to such police behavior become reluctant to yield to police authority.

As for the pregnant woman, she was in a dispute over a parking space with a white woman. The police arrived, didn't listen to her side of the story and began to physically attempt to restrain her. She told them she was pregnant as they attempted to force her to the ground on her stomach. She's 8 months and feared for the life of her baby, so of course she resisted. In my opinion, unless the officers story is that she attacked them, they were unprofessional and incompetent in being unable to deescalate a simple ass argument between two women over a parking space in a store parking lot without resorting to force.

That's what ought to bother you.

Interesting take, but I actually think Jamilah, like many black voters are indeed open to giving conservative views a hearing. She was not even a part of a direct conversation with Raffi. She responded to a tweet chain Raffi was on that she got sucked into about some new conservative media play. Raffi looked at who she was and decided to engage her with a critical tweet about her not being open to diversity of thought. That's what she responded to with her comment.

The way Raffi approached her is typical of the way the party approaches communication with black voters. You cannot open a dialogue with voters when you start with assumptions about what they think and taking the position that they are not only wrong, but foolish to think as they do in the first place. It will never work.

The fact that the GOP keeps doing it that way reveals that the true intent isn't having actual dialogue with black voters, it's just trying to look as though they are. There is a real conversation to be had, and black voters are game to have it, but the GOP can't insult their way into a conversation with black voters.

Well, her jeopardy is significantly increased now, because if she loses on retrial she will have to serve her sentences consecutively, so we are talking 60 years in prison, a completely absurd result.

I respected JC Watts and it would not surprise me to hear him say that part of the reason he was a republican was that he wanted to provide momentum for the party to compete for black voters. I know thats part of what I think is important. It does not serve our interests to vote as we do currently.

I never liked Steele from Day 1. Search my blog, you will find some choice posts on him. I agree with you that the bigots and reactionaries have come to the dominate the right wing agenda as they desperately fight the browning of America and the power shifts that will come with it.

Well, if this post was a help to you, you're welcome and your comment makes me think that I should actually put some resources in here for white parents of black children who may come across the post and need help. That sounds like it was not your situation, but it might be someone else's.

The plantation is a poor description in my view. It's a pejorative way of referring to the relationship between the democratic party and black voters, a party whose ideas you don't agree with. It's a way to demonize the liberal viewpoint and far from doing anything particularly positive for the political uplift of black people, I think this is destructive rhetoric of little value.

What this phrase has done is to cement in the minds of the republican party's members the idea that blacks are a voting bloc of unthinking, victimized people who are essentially too stupid to make judgments of whats in their best interest. And the party acts accordingly. How on earth you think this rhetoric is of any value when it produces such effects I don't understand. Much of the republican party holds blacks in disdain and this metaphor merely gives that disdain more credence .