Whenever there's a tragedy politicians rush to "do something" about it, and that "something" is generally to change some obscure policy in a way that will cause more problems than it solves. That's what the LAPD is doing in the wake of the killing of a 13-year-old joy-rider by an officer. The cop shot the kid driving the car when the kid -- apparently -- tried to run him over, and the black community is up in arms (although there's no evidence that the killing had anything to do with race). Now the mayor is scrambling to "do something" in the run-up to the election.
A day after saying that a new policy to limit police shootings into moving vehicles would take up to 45 more days to complete, Police Chief William J. Bratton abruptly promised, amid growing protests Tuesday, to release the policy next week.Bratton had first called for a policy change a year ago. His decision to move faster came as he, Mayor James K. Hahn and other city officials struggled to respond to protests over the fatal shooting of Devin Brown.
Protests? White politicians constantly walk on glass around blacks because they don't want to be labeled as "racists", but the vast majority of the time race is only an issue because the "crazy black" constituency brings it up. Newsflash: there aren't many racists left in Los Angeles, and just because something bad happens to a black person doesn't mean they were specially targeted because of their race.
"People are tired of our children being gunned down like dogs. They could have pointed a flashlight on him," said the Rev. Ozell Clifford Brazil, associate minister of Bethel AME Church, host of Tuesday night's forum. ..."The community, unlike police, view these incidents collectively. They view it that nothing has changed," Councilman Bernard C. Parks, the former police chief who is running against Hahn for mayor, said at the vigil near the shooting scene.
"That's why you get the anger. At some point, it boils. And if you're not there right now, you're getting close," he said.
Let's be honest. If a white kid were shot this way, no one would care. Why? Because everyone knows that white suburbanites aren't going to riot, because they don't harbor paranoid delusions of discrimination. Some blacks need to get a grip and realize that they are fully equal members of society, and they should learn to play fair rather than being so quick to make themselves into victims. There are other ways to be influential.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles' cops are likely to be burdened with yet another stupid restriction. What's the new policy going to be? If someone tries to run you over, don't shoot at them? The mayor and chief can write all the policies they want as offerings to the crazy blacks, begging for votes, but it just makes them look foolish to everyone else who pays attention (average blacks included). And it's the cops who pay the price. How about a policy that prevents 13-year-olds from stealing cars and attacking the police? By, like, I dunno, keeping them at home doing homework or something? Maybe the parents bear some responsibility for Devin Brown's death.
(I won't call him 'reverend') Ozell Clifford sounds like a real-life 'Reverend' Reginald Bacon, a ficticious race hustler from the book 'The Bonfire of the Vanities'. Why people listen to these types is beyond me. And the knee-jerk p.c. response by the politicians is pathetic. How on earth is a flashlight going to defend you against an oncoming car?
I disagree that there aren't many racists left in Los Angeles. When I was in 7th grade my parents moved to the LA area and I went to school in the LAUSD. In my previous home I had always been able to look people of every race in the eye, but in LA I quickly learned that you can't look people of a certain race in the eye, or you'll risk being beat up (I was very nearly beat up for looking someone in the eye in a friendly manner). I was instructed that when these people pass by, you are supposed to look down, look away, look anywhere but at them.
By the way, the people I was nearly beat up for looking in the eye were black.
Admittedly this was some years ago, but as far as I know the situation hasn't changed much.
O.K., let's supposed the cop did "shine a flash light on the driver" as the person suggests in the article excerpt. And let's supposed the 13yr. old black kid ran over and killed the white officer.
Would there have been accusations of a racial motive by the black teen to kill the white officer? Would the black community have been up in arms that police officers are being run over like "dogs" (which, i don't know about your community, but i see more dogs getting "run over" than dogs getting "gunned down")?
And what if the officer that fired that fatal shot would have been black? What then? Would there still be an outrage?
Perhaps we should consider arming our soldiers with flashlights to fight the "insurgents".
Maybe Isreal should consider using flashlights, scratch that, how bout a big spot light, to shine on the suicide bombers and other militant attackers.
Not only was he stealing cars and attacking police, he was running red lights, running from the police, crashing into fences all at 4 in the morning.
As far as Hahn's response he's getting real close to Maxine Waters territory of inciting riots and burning the city down (see 1992).
My solution: screw them. Pull the cops out of south central and let them police themselves under the guidance of Waters and the others who say cops kill blacks wholesale. Just let the gangbanger and criminals run the towen. Don't like the cops, fine put them somewhere where people apprciate the service they provide. My feeling is they won't hate the cops for long.
It might also be worth stating the other kid who was 14 in the car, tried to run away and was not trying to kill the cops. He was arrested.
To me, this is racist: They assume the cop is racist because he's white. There is no possibility that he was right in his actions because of his skin color and the skin color of the victim. But if the races were reversed, the kid killed would have been racist for trying to run down a black cop.
The "Crazy Blacks" are in fact what they claim the cop is: Racist.
It's racist if cops wouldn't shoot a white kid in similar circumstances. It does seem to me that cops may be more likely to pull the trigger against minorities in situations where they would hestitate if the person were white.
Racism or the lack thereof is irrelevant to this incident. The officer was defending his own life. Under those circumstances, you shoot to kill, regardless of the age, race, sex, creed, or underwear preferences of the threat.
If you take race out of it, it's still a question of excessive force. A 13-year-old in a stolen car was shot 10 TIMES IN THE BACK by a police officer AFTER he backed into the police car. That's an entire clip the officer emptied into the car. I'm a gun owner- if you have time to shoot 10 times, you have time to get out of the way, if the officer was even in mortal danger, as the initial police investigation indicates he wasn't. If you want to put race bank into it: I live in L.A. and am white. I work in the entertainment industry, with black people, and can tell you from many first hand experiences, the LAPD treat white suspects very different from black suspects. I don't believe ALL LAPD officers are racist, but I can't deny what I've seen with my own eyes numerous times. (See also the recent news about the LAPD Miller case)
Actually its not necessarly the entire clip, depends on the type of gun, the magazine on a 9mm hand gun typically has 15 rounds. So he would of still had 5 rounds, but being a gun owner you'd know that. Plus its most likely no to be a .45 because a standard model 1911 doesn't hold 10 rounds.
Of course he shot the back of the car, because it was backing up at him. Nowhere that I have seen states how many times Devin was hit, I would be very surpised if he was hit 10 times. Also its unlikely considering the 9mm can bounce of glass if it hits it at the right angle.
According to the police investigation time line the whole thing happened in about 6 seconds.
But if it was racial, why didn't they shoot the other black kid?
But if you want to play ifs; if he hadn't been out at 4 am, if he hadn't stole a car, if he hadn't run a red light, if he hadn't run from the cops, if he hadn't tried to run a cop over with the car, he'd still be alive.
Even if the cop is racist, he did the right thing. His life was on the line, and he defended himself. Whether or not he is racist, alcholic, Mormon, Jew, Democrat, or a father of 3 - none of this is relevant to his actions at that moment.
"Let's be honest. If a white kid were shot this way, no one would care. Why? Because everyone knows that white suburbanites aren't going to riot, because they don't harbor paranoid delusions of discrimination. Some blacks need to get a grip and realize that they are fully equal members of society…”
Well they don’t have to riot b/c it doesn’t happen to little white boys. One name, Emmett Till! I thanked the lord when I saw your picture. Now I can write you off as an ignorant, privileged, racist white boy. Yes, if you are still benefiting off of slave labor that means you are privileged. How can you make the comment that black people are "equals"? We’ve been “free” for of a quarter of the time we’ve been enslaved. “Paranoid delusions” you get pulled over by police for Driving While Being White and tell me you wouldn’t be paranoid.
Why is it you never see whites posting about how white children deserve to get get killed by police? Williams, you're an idiot. What white politician do you see walking around on glass for fear of upsetting black people? When Diallo was shot 40 something times by police for absolutely nothing, whites defended them. Whites have a history of brutality, rape, murder, lying, stealing and etc so I'm not at all suprised when they support the murder of black people by white police.
free: I never said the kid "deserved" to be killed; however, his own behavior certainly contributed directly to his death. What white politicians walk on glass for fear of offending blacks? Uh, just about every one you can think of. Being labeled as "racist" is just about the worst thing that can happen to a politician. Racism is bad, but not every cry of "wolf!" is genuine.
I'm not sure what you mean about whites having a "history of brutality, rape, murder, lying, stealing and etc". I prefer to deal with people as individuals rather than as groups defined by skin color.