Agreed on police brutality and criminal justice being a mess.I will say this (file under FWIW).......there's not many things I despise more than police brutality.
I already have an aversion to authority.
When I see law enforcement acting like thugs - it really ticks me off.
And that's using polite language.
I don't care what race either party is....there's just TOO much of it happening...period.
I also have an opinion that to some degree when you start interjecting race - things get polarized and the thrust of the situation gets lost a bit.
I'm all for law enforcement but the irony is nowadays just because someone is wearing a badge doesn't mean they can be trusted.
I made a comment once that the criminal justice system was a mess. An attorney replied back and said that's just because I didn't understand it. I've never been able to accept his response as justification for the atrocities I see every day in our country.
Sad and infuriating at the same time.
But about injecting race...
This is an excuse, plain and simple. It's a diversionary tactic whether you are doing it intentionally or falling for it - and I mean no offense in saying it.
Because it was about race from the beginning. No one had to inject race into the matter.
Does police brutality exist independent of race? Absolutely.
Does police brutality tied to race exist in both present day and long-time historical contexts? You bet your hiney it does and has.
So no one had to inject race.
But too many would prefer to ignore race.
And when you ignore race and when you ignore the historical context and how it ties to the present day then it is you (the royal ubiquitous you) that is part of the problem, if I may be so bold.
We don't want to face our racist past, much less our racist present.