Who speaks for the black community?

[Neto]

Couple of things:
(Anybody miss me?.... Our telephone lines were down since a big storm mowed down some trees - onto the power & phone lines - last Thursday. So no internet until this afternoon - a whole week.)

re: the survey results chart - I would 'vote' with the black minority on every one of those questions. Not because I want to appear to be 'woke', but that is simply my estimation of too much of the authority system in this country - in this world, actually.

re: the word 'systemic'. and the question as to whether racism is systemic in this country. I had to look the word up so that I wouldn't say something stupid - just to be sure I understand the meaning. (My guess was that it means something like 'part of the system', an integral element of something.) Not quite right. It appears to originate in the medical field, where a disease is called 'systemic' when it has spread throughout the body. So if this understanding is applied to this question as to whether racism is systemic, even though I WOULD say that there is entirely too much racism that plays a part in our society, and as to the topic here, in the authority structures or institutions in our country, I would have to say no. It is no where near a universal infestation. Any racism is a problem, and bad, just like any disease is a problem, and bad. (I guess if someone would say that "nearly every police force includes some racist individual", then I would tend to agree, although that may still be too strong. I just do not know.)

Of all of the times I was stopped by police, I only felt 'comfortable' on one of those occasions. Besides this, I personally have known only one sheriff around whom I was at ease. But that also doesn't mean that all of those other officers were acting out of prejudice. Unfortunately the first couple of encounters 'taught' me distrust. Oh, one other exception. The officer who administered my driving test the third time. (He was the same one who did it the second time, but I had to repeat the test, because someone came up behind me on a 4 lane city street and crossed the double line to pass me on the left as I was starting to turn left, as directed by the officer. He was forced to make a split second decision whether to allow an accident to possibly occur, or intervene, and thus terminate the test. He did grab the wheel and jerked us back straight, so that the other vehicle did not plow into the driver's side of my parents' car.)

[Bootstrap]

And there is no more a "black community" in this country than a "white community". There are many many different black communities that may share common opinions about some issues and differ on others.

Absolutely.

When 94% of black people all agree about what black people experience, that doesn't mean they are all the same in other ways or that they belong to the same community. It means that there is something about their shared experience that transcends the other differences.

And it doesn't mean that 100% agree.

That's why polls are useful to find out if the concerns of protesters reflect the experiences and concerns of the many communities of black people.

[Bootstrap]

This thread is racist. It identifies people because of color, not character. This saddens me.

These poll results say that black people who belong to many communities, with the same range of character as anyone else, think they are experiencing bad things as a result of their skin color. Sometimes at the hands of people who are employed to protect them.

This saddens me.

But I agree that we should not pigeonhole them just because the majority of them believe this is a problem. I think we should listen to them and let them speak for themselves.

[Bootstrap]

This thread is racist. It identifies people because of color, not character. This saddens me.

I don't think this is a fair statement...

Maybe this is splitting hairs, but isn't racism actually when people are unfairly "judged" by the color of their skin?

You mean the kinds of things that many or most black people say they experience while many white people insist that black people don't experience those things?

I wonder how these same black people feel when white people insist that they are wrong about their own experiences, that to say they experience these things makes them "leftists", to be told that they are being deluded by political extremists. I mean, don't they know what they are experiencing? Can't they think and speak for themselves?

[Bootstrap]

Does this person speak for the black community?

I think we have agreed that "the black community" does not exist. But you are asking whether most blacks support Black Lives Matter?

Let's take a look.

[Robert]

This thread is racist. It identifies people because of color, not character. This saddens me.

These poll results say that black people who belong to many communities, with the same range of character as anyone else, think they are experiencing bad things as a result of their skin color. Sometimes at the hands of people who are employed to protect them.

This saddens me.

But I agree that we should not pigeonhole them just because the majority of them believe this is a problem. I think we should listen to them and let them speak for themselves.

In 1860, many polls would show that slavery was good. We should not govern by polls. This is why we have a republic instead of a democracy.

The black community did experience these things. They are in their historical experiences, but facts show that this is not the general experience now. There are other causes for the increased experience with law enforcement, but they are ignoring that while externalizing the cause.

If 70% of crimes were being committed by red headed people, the Police would be targeting them.

[joshuabgood]

This thread is racist. It identifies people because of color, not character. This saddens me.

These poll results say that black people who belong to many communities, with the same range of character as anyone else, think they are experiencing bad things as a result of their skin color. Sometimes at the hands of people who are employed to protect them.

This saddens me.

But I agree that we should not pigeonhole them just because the majority of them believe this is a problem. I think we should listen to them and let them speak for themselves.

In 1860, many polls would show that slavery was good. We should not govern by polls. This is why we have a republic instead of a democracy.

The black community did experience these things. They are in their historical experiences, but facts show that this is not the general experience now. There are other causes for the increased experience with law enforcement, but they are ignoring that while externalizing the cause.

If 70% of crimes were being committed by red headed people, the Police would be targeting them.

Robert there is a reason black people are arrested more and convicted more and given harsher sentences. But it isn't because they are more wicked (not saying you said that).
If you wanted, I could recommend some sources besides my voice that perhaps you would trust more...

[Josh]

Men are far more likely to get targeted by the police and end up in prison, but we don’t see much focus on that.

[Robert]

there is a reason black people are arrested more and convicted more and given harsher sentences.

The only area I would say that may still have systematic racism is the judiciary in sentencing. This is not a Police issue. This is the courts and long standing court history that does need to be reevaluated.

This is not why there are 6% of the population causing 55% of the crimes. Young black males are doing this. Fatherless homes is the biggest deterrent and fix for this. This is not systematic, but cultural within the inner city culture. It exists in white, brown and black families. Most inner cities have a larger population of blacks then other ethnic groups. This makes their numbers go up above others. I see it much more cultural then racial. It happens to all colors living in the inner city. Many government programs actually keep people locked in. Those policies are not racial, but are systemic to those living in that environment. So it is not systemic racism, but systemic single parent homes that is the real issue.

[Bootstrap]

The black community did experience these things. They are in their historical experiences, but facts show that this is not the general experience now.

Of course, the vast majority of black people disagree, but you can tell them that they are wrong about their own experiences, and you can even pull up a few black people who make videos that support your views.

But how does that come across to the vast majority of black people who think this is what they are experiencing? And can other people tell you that you are wrong when you tell us what you are experiencing? Who gets to be the expert on their experiences?

There are other causes for the increased experience with law enforcement, but they are ignoring that while externalizing the cause.

If 70% of crimes were being committed by red headed people, the Police would be targeting them.

Black people are not responsible for 70% of crime ? I don't think so. Please provide a reliable source for that. If this is significantly worse than the true number, aren't you targeting black people right now?