WTF kind of training are these cops getting that they shoot people when they are trying to follow instructions and reach for their ID? Why do tazers and handcuffs and tackling come before talking? How do we begin to fix this?

Yeah, exactly. Ugh so sad and mad this morning.

Yeah.

Even acknowledging that most interactions between most cops and most civilians do go right. This American Life this weekend had an old story about a black guy getting hassled by the cops, and that was all just talking, but still so wrong.

"I asked for recommendations for a back doctor, not a spinal specialist. Can anyone recommend a back doctor to me???"

She basically sounds like an idiot, but I can see thinking the problem wasn't in the spine itself? Of course, when I have muscular back issues, I see a massage therapist for that.

Congrats on the award, Suela!

I have come to the conclusion that my current problem child team member has terrible instincts, and I'm not sure how to help with that. It's literally every single thing. This morning's example was, she was trying to send a fax and couldn't figure it out (new office/new equipment), so asked me if I knew how and then said she was going to ask IT. I asked her if it was work related, and of course she said no (I don't remember the last time I sent a fax for work). I was like, Under no circumstances should you ask IT about this. They are too busy to get my computer playing sound! Which I need to make calls! You can ask the office manager if she knows anything, but then you have to figure out for yourself how to send a fax to your pediatrician's office. Sheesh.

That poor guy in Minnesota, I can't even fathom what his family must be going through.

Jesus, another one?

I was thinking this morning on the drive to work. If you accept that blacks (or even black men) are killed by police at a disproportionately high rate, then there are two explanations. Either black people behave in a way that pose a real threat to police and cause these fatal shootings, or the police are more likely to use force, including fatal force, against black people.

Which seems obvious, but I cannot believe how many people come to the first conclusion. It's nauseating.

Jesus, the news is just awful. That poor guy in Minnesota, I can't even fathom what his family must be going through.

I read this post and was so confused, because I thought "Wait, wasn't that in Baton Rouge?" But no, it's a whole separate other incidence of LEOs murdering a black man.

I'm really beginning to think seriously about just never calling the cops now. I don't want someone to get shot because I'm bothered by property crime...

Seriously, we call the cops whenever we see a drug deal going down, but I don't want the dealers to get killed; I just want them to be arrested.

And every time LEOs kill a black person, I realize all over again how unbelievably privileged I am, because interacting with the police doesn't faze me. Our next-door neighbor is a black woman with 2 kids, and I have seen those kids stop playing and go inside when a police cruiser drives down the street. Our houses are separated by a driveway, but in this case, it might as well be a separate country, and it makes me sick.

WTF kind of training are these cops getting that they shoot people when they are trying to follow instructions and reach for their ID? Why do tazers and handcuffs and tackling come before talking? How do we begin to fix this?

Unfortunately that is precisely the training they receive. There's a "psychologist" going around teaching them to do exactly that [link] They should use deadly force if they feel threatened, and unfortunately people of color seem significantly more threatening and less innocent to our whole society. This plays out in preschoolers getting suspended for acting like children and in adults getting killed for complying with police orders. Look at how the media portray POC who have been killed by police... the "s/he was no angel" storyline.

Ugh, news.

Yesterday I got an email message for someone with my same name from her mother. I replied that she had the wrong person, and that her (highly personal) email hadn't reached her daughter as intended. This morning, the mother wrote me back that she absolutely had the correct address and I should stop this right now because she was my mother. Nope.

This morning, the mother wrote me back that she absolutely had the correct address and I should stop this right now because she was my mother.

Ahahahahaha! I can see my mom doing that, because she would totally believe that kind of response would actually be me trying to be a smartass.

Husband just got a call for a job not only in this area, but in the specific suburb we live in. I told him that if he ends up getting a job 10 minutes away, after all of this, I might snap.

Man, my reply would get Not!Sparky the cold shoulder at family gatherings for years to come.

Speaking of privilege, my non-white, non-citizen coworker said to me the other day, "Aren't you always nervous to talk to immigration?" Yeah, no.

This morning, the mother wrote me back that she absolutely had the correct address and I should stop this right now because she was my mother. Nope.

Ha! Classic mother.

Husband just got a call for a job not only in this area, but in the specific suburb we live in. I told him that if he ends up getting a job 10 minutes away, after all of this, I might snap.

But at least you wouldn't have to move?