So here's another figure - in a city with so few Black people, the SJPD Use of Force dashboard (click "Subjects & Crimes Charged" tab, then go down to the "Subject Race" pie chart) shows the proportion of instances they have used "force" (I put that in quotes because "force" includes pushing, pepper spraying, and dog bites, just to name a few) on people, broken down by age, gender, race, and even whether they are local or not. Remember how Black people make up just 2% of the population in San Jose? Well, the SJPD has used force on Black people in 14% of cases. Small number, in a vacuum. Think about it, though - that's a factor of seven times their population proportion.
Let's pause and acknowledge - it is probable that different races commit crime at different rates. For example (& I'll freely admit this is crazy bias of me), I have a tough time seeing Asians committing violent crime at the same rates as other races. Sue me, I guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. But even if that were true (that races do not commit crimes in equal proportions), what could the disparity in crime rates be? 5%? 10%? Heck, a 20% different in crime rate across race sounds like a stretch to me. We might be different, but that different? That's a stretch.
For a group to be over-represented by a factor of seven times their population proportion? I'm no statistician, but that figure just screams that there's something wrong going on at the San Jose Police Department. Open your eyes and do some snooping and some reflection. Could it be that those tasked with serving and protecting us harbor disgustingly vile views on race? Of course not! With that to set the stage, I would like to try and add some nuance to a few notions you've probably come across in the past few weeks. Hopefully, it helps you make sense of things.
- The BLM movement seeks to defund (or abolish, depending on who/where you ask) the police.
This is a "glass half full vs. glass half empty" type of situation. The people calling for this are saying that they want other things to take precedence. It's pointing to the disparity in national and local priorities when local police departments can suppress their own citizens with riot gear while healthcare professionals go without sufficient PPE, teachers have a limited (or nonexistent) budget for supplies, and homelessness still abounds where there is an immense concentration of wealth. "BuT wHat aBoUt CrIme?!!!?" Look, you dope - people commit crimes for a reason, some of them astonishingly easy to understand: they have mental health issues. They don't see any opportunity around them. They've given up on grinding it out because minimum wage is ass when it was originally meant to be so much more substantial than it currently is. So why don't we fix the root problems instead of beating and punishing people when they exhibit criminality? - The BLM movement wants to destroy American history in the form of removing Confederate statues and renaming buildings named after notable Confederate figures.
Honestly? The Confederates were losers - by definition. I don't really know why a significant chunk of the American populace continues to glamorize a group that was roundly defeated and rightfully scorned. Seriously. For people who are so obsessed with WINNING, why do you people (yes, "you people") cling so hard to losers who thought slavery was a good thing?! Get rid of the loser statues. They're a shameful and embarrassing relic of American racism. Did I mention? THEY ARE LOSERS!! Maybe we should erect a statue of Ho Chi Minh next for whooping that American ass. At least he won his conflict against America ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. - "Black Lives Matter" (More Than Mine?!)
For those who don't "get" the movement, you probably insert the parenthetical whenever you see the slogan "Black Lives Matter." Let's be honest - you've got it rough, too. Income inequality is God awful right now. In a time when all we've been doing is automating + making absolute leaps in tech for the last 2-3 decades, minimum wage should be higher (anywhere from $12 to $19/hour, depending on who you ask). It's currently $7.25 (yikes!).
A rising tide lifts all boats, by the way - even if you don't make minimum wage, you should have a vested interest in raising the minimum wage.This isn't a zero-sum game in the sense that you and the minimum wage laborer are competing for the same slices of the economic pie - as is, there's a huge slice of pie that goes to shareholders (dividends or stock buybacks) or the executive board (bloated salaries and golden parachutes). If you campaign for minimum wage laborers to get their rightful raise (last raised to just $7.25 in 2009 - that's strikingly pathetic for the "greatest country on Earth"), you don't think that gives you some leverage? Society will collectively have this conversation: "Hey, grocery baggers start off making $40,000 year (that's a $20 minimum wage) - I think (insert profession here) should make at least (insert amount here) to reflect their fair labor value." Also, notice I haven't said anything about Black people in this paragraph. That's not an accident.
Viet Thanh Nguyen said it best: "If you think America is in trouble, blame shareholders, not immigrants; look at CEOs, not foreigners; resent corporations, not minorities; yell at politicians of both parties, not the weak, who have little in the way of power or wealth to share."
If you take a dismissive approach to the movement, you are eating up the bait that the upper classes are setting out for you instead of realizing that defending each other's status based on race (which may feel exclusive if you are anything but Black right now) is just a hop and a skip away from realizing our shared economic status as a unifying force. Let's face it - if you didn't have empathy for the movement before, you probably needed a reason besides, y'know, humanity and civil rights (ya selfish prick). - Police simply need reform. Alternatively, when something is broken, you need more money to fix it, not less!
Honestly, this is just a really drastic case of the sunk cost fallacy. Let me give you an analogy that is comparable: you might have a family member or friend that is... drifting. They are not really sure what they want to do. In this day and age, what's a good bet? Invest in yourself... get an education! (I know not everybody thinks this, and that's fine, but some - scratch that, many people - still do) So, they start taking classes at De Anza. They'll transfer to some CSU or UC in a couple years- maybe 3, since it can be tough getting the classes you need. They muddle along, forgoing meeting with the counselor. After all, they got through high school - how hard could this be?
Well, fast forward and it's been.... *drum roll* ... 6 years. They're still at it. They've taken classes on/off, but work or "life" just seems to keep getting in the way - and that AA degree? Still not in hand. Transferring? Still out of the question. And so. What should they do? Power on and hope they can muster up the requisite focus to clear requirements at De Anza and then do it for a couple more years in a university setting?
With the benefit of hindsight, isn't it obvious that some people just aren't cut out for school (as is currently structured)? Don't get me wrong - there are people who have went through that situation (or similar) and come out on the other side happy and better for it. However, let me remind you that I'm really referring to SJPD - an institution that:
- Has been around for more than 170 years (was formed in 1849)
- Has enough money to spend on riot gear that hardly ever gets used
- Said it was under deadly assault from rocks and full water bottles during recent protests while in said riot gear (I'm not joking - Captain Jason Dwyer said that in a Council meeting. & no, you aren't making a fool out of yourself at all, dear Captain)
- also, if it were actually deadly assault... how come no officers died...? I'll tell you why - it's because the people are expressing anger and discontent, not a desire to kill. Even at their angriest, thousands of protesters can still hold it together better than some (many?) of the officers on the force. Embarrassing.
- Has killed people having mental health crises (the first 2 cases totaled $4+ million awarded by juries to the families, in case you're wondering how much a cop's mistake costs us taxpayers)
- Shot their own bias trainer, potentially rendering him sterile for life
- Hasn't even come out and admitted that it shot at people who didn't deserve it - because doing so would require honesty and admitting liability, two traits it is... lacking
There's a slew of things I haven't written about that are relevant: white privilege, the perpetuation of a wealth gap that persists across generations, how Jane Elliott can prove that a staggering majority of white people just implicitly accept that a condition of America is that minorities get treated poorly. The list, honestly, goes on. This post is a start, though. Hopefully you understand, at least a little more than you previously did, why Black Lives Matter.
