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Don't know if it's part of police training today, but at least one institution are being proactive about this:
https://trib.al/VxJ9Tf3
https://trib.al/VxJ9Tf3
The 2020 George Floyd/BLM/Police Brutality Protests Discussion Thread
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- Dennisch
Students starting this fall at the University of Pittsburgh this fall will have one more course added to their curriculum: a mandatory one-credit class designed to churn out anti-racists.
The new course, “Anti-Black Racism: History, Ideology, and Resistance,” is required for incoming freshman and open to “any other interested learners,” the university said in a statement Thursday.
The goal is “to allow students to gain an understanding of the country’s long struggle with anti-Black racism,” the school said.
“The course is designed to inform us all about Black history and culture, about the multiple forms of anti-Black racism, and about how we can be anti-racist,” said provost and senior vice chancellor Ann Cudd in the university’s statement.
Pitt faculty and activists are perfectly positioned to introduce students to the “long tradition of scholarly activism,” especially as it relates to the Black experience and Black cultural expression, the school said, given that many among their number are world-renowned experts.
The course will cover every angle of anti-Black racism, even delving into the “development, spread and forms of anti-Black racism in the United States and around the world,” the school said.
Yolanda Covington-Ward, chair of the Department of Africana Studies in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, led a 12-member committee of faculty and students to develop the course.
“A talented committee of faculty experts came together from across the University to create this innovative course in response to the persistent challenges around anti-Black racism that drive social divisions and limit opportunities and equity for people of African descent,” said Covington-Ward. “We wanted to make sure that the course provided some historical context, while also looking at ideologies of race and contemporary struggles against anti-Black racism locally in Pittsburgh, nationally and globally as well. We also wanted to focus on the humanity of Black people in creating a course that emanates from their own perspectives, experiences and agency.”
Studying the roots, ideology and resistance, the semester will tie the origins of anti-Black racism to African history and the history of slavery. It will get into pre-colonial African history; race, policing and mass incarceration; and include health disparities, racial capitalism, formal schooling and anti-Blackness, and culminate in teaching students how to be an anti-racist.
The move is one of several the university has announced to improve racial equity, WTAE-TV reported. That includes hiring John Wallace, David E. Epperson Chair and Professor, Center on Race and Social Problems Senior Fellow for Research and Community Engagement, as the new vice provost for faculty diversity and development. The role entails envisioning and overseeing Black faculty diversity and development, as well as launching an Anti-racism, Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Action Plan for the university, school chancellor Patrick Gallagher said in a message to the community obtained by WTAE.
The new course is a cornerstone of this plan.
“We hope that this course is a first step in helping students to recognize and challenge anti-Black policies and practices when they encounter them, and to develop strategies to be anti-racist in their everyday lives,” said Covington-Ward, who also chaired the committee that developed the course. The committee members were from the departments of history, music, Africana studies, sociology, anthropology, politics and other disciplines, a dynamic that will be reflected in the course itself.
“Significantly, the course employs an intersectional analysis — taking into account how race is interwoven into other categories including ethnicity, gender, class, sexuality and nationality,” the course description says. “We will use a variety of scholarly disciplines spanning the Humanities, Social Sciences, the Arts, Science and Public Health to explore these themes to help students understand how anti-Black racism functions in U.S. society.”
“Moving forward, we must tirelessly recognize and address racist attitudes, behaviors and policies,” Gallagher said, according to WTAE. “We must take a closer look at every area within our university — including how we approach teaching, research, financial decisions, policing, recruiting, hiring and contracting. We must do better.”
Theresa Braine
New York Daily News
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UKMikey
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I could see it being the case that if one were a police officer that agreed with the need for change, one could also see that the current systems don't allow that and that maybe the system needs to be crippled by the absence of as many officers as possible in order to make that happen.
Kind of like striking, but permanently. If you don't believe in the system any more and you're eligible for retirement, why not walk out and introduce yet more pressure for a major rethink.
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Yes. Who is this self-important man? Why should I trust his ability to know from a few moments of fuzzy video what that is in George Floyd's mouth? (If indeed there is anything at all.) How does he know what dose it is? Why should I take his word when it runs counter to the ME's report?
UKMikey
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Do you mean the mayor? Or is every Democrat voter contributing to the riots?
BobK
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What do you think the pluralized "democrats" means? The mayor is more than one person?
UKMikey
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I'd prefer less grammar policing, and more of a substantial answer to my second question, please.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/...iolence-democratic-politics-reach/3248102001/
BobK
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Not so much grammar policing as pointing out an obvious reading comprehension failure. That's why I replied to you and not @Chrunch Houston.
UKMikey
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So no answers to the link I posted in response to his post (no reading comprehension failure there), and more nitpicking, then.
Thanks for your contribution but it doesn't mean that Democrats aren't to blame for the violence just because people in big cities vote for them more. I'm pretty sure this has been covered on this thread before.
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Joey D
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I'm not sure Democrats are solely to blame. Politicians in both parties have repeatedly ignored calls to do something about police abusing their power. People are getting fed up with it and protesting and the police response to it isn't exactly helping either.
Personally, I have little respect for cops. Every time I've needed them, they don't do anything. My wife's car was broken into a couple of weeks ago and the cops didn't even bother to come out and told us to fill out a form online. Glad my tax dollars pay for that crap. Back when I lived in Michigan, someone tried to break into my house while posing as a lawn cutting crew. My wife was home and almost shot them with my hunting rifle. It took the cops hours to even come out and investigate. And despite actively finding the people at another house, they told us there was nothing they could do because they didn't get into the house. Cops are useless in my opinion and more or less serve as revenue generators through citations.
I've resulted in protecting myself and my family through other means since I can't rely on the police to do anything other than giving me a ticket for asinine things like mudflap size (when I had my pick-up).
Now firemen, those are some true badasses that deserve all the praise they get.
Personally, I have little respect for cops. Every time I've needed them, they don't do anything. My wife's car was broken into a couple of weeks ago and the cops didn't even bother to come out and told us to fill out a form online. Glad my tax dollars pay for that crap. Back when I lived in Michigan, someone tried to break into my house while posing as a lawn cutting crew. My wife was home and almost shot them with my hunting rifle. It took the cops hours to even come out and investigate. And despite actively finding the people at another house, they told us there was nothing they could do because they didn't get into the house. Cops are useless in my opinion and more or less serve as revenue generators through citations.
I've resulted in protecting myself and my family through other means since I can't rely on the police to do anything other than giving me a ticket for asinine things like mudflap size (when I had my pick-up).
Now firemen, those are some true badasses that deserve all the praise they get.
BobK
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Of course not. You posted a link with no context whatsoever.
If you can't be bothered to give at least a little hint why people should read it, I don't see why anyone should be bothered to click on it. I believe this has been covered before in this forum.
As for answering your second question, given that the question wasn't addressed to me, I fail to see how I am under any obligation to answer it.
UKMikey
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It addressed the body of the text it was posted in. That's the context. Did you think it was about macrame pot holders or something?
Good to know that you had no intention of posting constructively and on the topic of the thread but are just here to nitpick about some ephemeral issue even after I posted context in a subsequent reply. Seems like zero value posting to me.
Anyone actually interested in the thread topic is welcome to address what the link and the rest of my post actually talked about as @Joey D has done above.
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BobK
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Was it too much trouble to post something like that? Or were we supposed to magically read your mind or something?
As for being about macrame or whatever, I hadn't a clue. Could have been anything, really.
Lol, you harped on the font in a post and you're accusing others of nitpicking?
UKMikey
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To be fair, it was a really crappy font. But this is just empty, meaningless conversation. Next, please.Was it too much trouble to post something like that? Or were we supposed to magically read your mind or something?
As for being about macrame or whatever, I hadn't a clue. Could have been anything, really.
Lol, you harped on the font in a post and you're accusing others of nitpicking?
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Joey D
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At first glance and after seeing the video clip of the shooting, I'm not entirely sure why Blake was shot. It appears that he was going to check on his kids. And even if he wasn't, it's not like he was running or even appeared arm. The cops could've easily taken him to the ground or tazered him before he reached the door of his vehicle. Honestly, from what's currently being shown, it looks like the cop who fired was trigger happy.
*Actually, I just read that he was apparently trying to break up a fight and didn't want to talk to police. He supposedly hurried his kids into the vehicle and wanted to drive away. If this is true, not only was he not committing a crime, but he was actively trying to stop one.
I get not wanting to talk to the police either. Although, I wager that could be constituted as obstruction.
DesertPenguin
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He definitely didn't need to be shot seven times. In front of his wife and kids. They should have just tazed him if they were gonna do anything. But here we go again...
I watched the live streams from Kenosha last night. Unfortunately they weren't very organized and there were more people wanting to break things for no reason than actually protest. The city didn't look to have nearly enough officers or fire fighters to properly address the situation and rioters took full advantage of that. Setting fire to dump trucks that were placed to block areas (not sure what that's about in the first place) but also random cars. Even a church was close to getting consumed by flames. This is not what should be done. I get that the people are angry but this only fuels the other side more. Hopefully they come back this week more organized and prepared.
I watched the live streams from Kenosha last night. Unfortunately they weren't very organized and there were more people wanting to break things for no reason than actually protest. The city didn't look to have nearly enough officers or fire fighters to properly address the situation and rioters took full advantage of that. Setting fire to dump trucks that were placed to block areas (not sure what that's about in the first place) but also random cars. Even a church was close to getting consumed by flames. This is not what should be done. I get that the people are angry but this only fuels the other side more. Hopefully they come back this week more organized and prepared.
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- eran0004
It looks like a mob killing. Walk up to a guy and shoot him in the back seven times at point blank range. Hard to see how that isn't first degree attempted murder.
Joey D
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DesertPenguin
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One shot, maybe two or three (due to reflex) can be seen as an instinctive reaction. Seven clearly shows intent. I know how fast you can pull those triggers. Seven shots is still enough time to think and not fire seven shots. There were also 19 seconds before he got shot where they had every opportunity to de-escalate the situation.
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"after police officers formed unions—generally between the 1950s and the 1980s—there was a “substantial” increase in police killings of Black and Brown people in the United States."
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/08/police-unions-minneapolis/
"“There is nothing more debilitating to a chief, from an employment matter perspective,” than being unable to fire an officer for misconduct."
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2020/08/police-unions-minneapolis/
"“There is nothing more debilitating to a chief, from an employment matter perspective,” than being unable to fire an officer for misconduct."
Keef
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Unpopular opinion: Government employees at all levels should not be allowed to unionize. They already work for the ultimate union, the government, which is the same organization that actually creates the rules that labor unions have to follow.
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