Minn. cop fatally shoots black man during traffic stop (Minneapolis: appointed, crime)

[Cleverfield]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...t-on-facebook/

I came on this page disappointed to see that there was no thread started yet to discuss this story. This is not something to sweep under the rug. How are Minnesotans dealing with this? Or are you just ignoring it? Social justice for minorities in Minnesota needs to be addressed. I read that the black to white imprisonment rate in Minnesota is among the highest in the nation. How are these problems being addressed? My guess is it's the typical Minnesota "ignore it and it doesn't exist" mentality.

[stan4]

I am not from Minnesota, but from everything I've read, there was a huge protest within a few hours of this happening.

How is that ignoring anything?

[Cleverfield]

Originally Posted by stan4

I am not from Minnesota, but from everything I've read, there was a huge protest within a few hours of this happening.

How is that ignoring anything?

If protests happen among minorities and activists, but nobody in the mainstream talks about it, no changes are going to take place.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

If protests happen among minorities and activists, but nobody in the mainstream talks about it, no changes are going to take place.

It's all over my Facebook, and I have and even split of Democrat and Republican friends, gun loving and gun hating friends, several cop family and cop friends, a couple of black friends, mostly white friends, and everyone is pretty cheesed off.

[Cleverfield]

Originally Posted by stan4

It's all over my Facebook, and I have and even split of Democrat and Republican friends, gun loving and gun hating friends, several cop family and cop friends, a couple of black friends, mostly white friends, and everyone is pretty cheesed off.

As you said, you're not from Minnesota.

[gg]

Originally Posted by stan4

It's all over my Facebook, and I have and even split of Democrat and Republican friends, gun loving and gun hating friends, several cop family and cop friends, a couple of black friends, mostly white friends, and everyone is pretty cheesed off.

It is all over my Facebook as well. I just assumed it would be discussed here a little. I have never been to this forum, but it seems nice. Never been to Minneapolis, but we will go there someday.

Anyway, all we see is an aftermath, so I would hate to be too quick to pass judgement. I think people love to rally around something before all the facts are in. It does look pretty horrible though.

I hate that it is happening around the country, but I feel I know why it is happening and the problem isn't as simple as "racism" or police overstepping their authority. You have to look deeper into it all than that. The police shootings are a byproduct of a hyped up media. I am old enough to remember different times. Years ago there was a 1/2 hour for local news and 1/2 hour for world news. It was actually mandated by the FCC as a "public service". TV channels didn't want to even show news because it was lost revenue for them, but guess what happened. TV/media found a way to make money from views by hyping up everything and showing the most rare stories. Sadly a lot of the hyped up stuff shows black predators. That is going to have an effect on the human brain. Add smartphones to the mix to get a 24 hour news feed and you have what we have today. Cops fearing for their lives every time they encounter a black person. Do you blame cops? We are only human, so their brains are going to absorb things on media and the pounding with shows like cops and police wildest whatever, to youtube violence and more, I think we have reached a tipping point. The problem is, who is actually figuring this out? Best to ask why is this happening and forget simple answers like, "racism". It isn't that easy folks.

[RbccL]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...t-on-facebook/

I came on this page disappointed to see that there was no thread started yet to discuss this story.... How are these problems being addressed? My guess is it's the typical Minnesota "ignore it and it doesn't exist" mentality.

Ignore it? Please google BLM MN. You will see how many events Black Lives Matter are involved in MN. Marching down freeways, blocking traffic, shutting down the Mall of America, all things done in the name of "bringing attention" to the problem.

You apparently have "typical MN" confused with "MN nice" which is for another thread. People are people whichever state you live in.

[Googol]

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...t-on-facebook/

I came on this page disappointed to see that there was no thread started yet to discuss this story. This is not something to sweep under the rug. How are Minnesotans dealing with this? Or are you just ignoring it? Social justice for minorities in Minnesota needs to be addressed....

@Cleverfield Thanks for creating this thread. This is a very very tragic event. I hope and trust that the cop and any other individual involved/culpable in this event will get justice served out to them by the due process. However, I think you using the lack of a discussion on this forum as a sign of Minnesotans/people ignoring this is very misguided. This forum represents probably 0.01% (or less) of the Minnesota population. It is a forum that gets relatively low traffic for discussions about social issues.

Originally Posted by Cleverfield

.... I read that the black to white imprisonment rate in Minnesota is among the highest in the nation. How are these problems being addressed? My guess is it's the typical Minnesota "ignore it and it doesn't exist" mentality.

I guess by not doing the crime which will result in not doing the time?

[Unsettomati]

The man had a concealed carry permit. The man told the officer that he had a conceal carry permit and that he was carrying.

Now, let's stop and think for a moment. If the busted-taillight 'criminal' (yes, that's what this was all about) was going to start shooting at police, would he have announced to the officer that he was carrying? Think real hard.

Anyway, he was shot and killed. Why? Because the officer decided that it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that this guy might pose a threat. And therein lies the problem. You don't actually have to be a threat. The standard is little more than this: if the officer isn't 100% convinced that there is no possibility you can do him any harm, he gets to kill you. No harm, no foul. Well, not exactly - you get harmed to death, but the officer just gets a few days paid time off and they probably issue him a citation for killing you with commendable efficiency.

And that is monumentally screwed up. The use of lethal force must be justified by the presence of a credible threat. The life of an officer isn't somehow more special than the life of you or of I or of any random person driving down the street (even a 'real bad guy' with a broken taillight... ).

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In related news, the guy in the story below was pointing a a shotgun at passing motorists. When a deputy sheriff arrived, the man pointed the shotgun at the deputy. The deputy grabbed the shotgun, so the man pulled out a pistol and tried to shoot the deputy but missed. They took him down. But they didn't kill the man. They didn't shoot him. They didn't even harm him.

Want to guess why?

Sheriff: Man pointed shotgun at drivers, fired at Wake deputy :: WRAL.com

[Cleverfield]

Usually when national news stories come up, there is at least some discussion of them in the subforum of the city where it happened. For example, the Tamir Rice story generated 14 pages of comments on the Cleveland forum https://www.city-data.com/forum/cleve...ations-14.html. By the way, I do worry about racial tensions in my city. Look who started that thread.