Thabo Sefolosha - The Biggest Story Ever Ignored.

[elusive]

Thabo Sefolosha, a key role player on an NBA title contendor, gets his leg broken by NYPD right before the NBA playoffs. Big story? No, virtually ignored by sports media, announcers tiptoe around describing the incident during the Hawks games.
 
Now, he takes the case to trial instead of accepting a plea deal of ONE DAY of community service. He wins the case after the jury meets for 45 minutes and finds him not guilty (because it was clearly a cut-and-dry case of unwarranted police brutality). Big story? No, still virtually ignored.
 
This story ties into racism in the USA today, police brutality, civil rights, and so much more, yet it's been swept under the rug and seemingly no media outlets/reporters want to cover it in depth, aside from a few notable exceptions (Dave Zirin and Dan O'Sullivan come to mind).
 
Here's a phenomenal rant by Bomani Jones on the subject (about 2 minutes in): http://espn.go.com/espnradio/play?id=13832709

 

[elcheato]

Sports fans and media members don't like to mix serious issues with their sports. It's a sad reality. 
 
One of the problems in this is the narrative of "most cops are good". When that is said, it insinuates that these are isolated incidences, or not the norm, when in reality it is a systematic problem. The criminal justice system is biased, laws target minorities, and police officers are essentially trained to do the same. 
 
It's never going to happen, but there needs to be some type of higher education requirement nation-wide to be a police officer (which means a higher salary, which is this is impossible). This won't solve everything, but it can't hurt to make the job harder to get, with a specific set of requirements, as opposed to the current system of anyone being able to apply straight out of high school. College years are important for personal and mental development. Although I'll admit I'm not sure how this would work in lower income cities with communities that simply can't afford to send their kids to college in the current system. 

 

[elusive]

Sports fans and media members don't like to mix serious issues with their sports. It's a sad reality. 
 
One of the problems in this is the narrative of "most cops are good". When that is said, it insinuates that these are isolated incidences, or not the norm, when in reality it is a systematic problem. The criminal justice system is biased, laws target minorities, and police officers are essentially trained to do the same. 
 
It's never going to happen, but there needs to be some type of higher education requirement nation-wide to be a police officer (which means a higher salary, which is this is impossible). This won't solve everything, but it can't hurt to make the job harder to get, with a specific set of requirements, as opposed to the current system of anyone being able to apply straight out of high school. College years are important for personal and mental development. Although I'll admit I'm not sure how this would work in lower income cities with communities that simply can't afford to send their kids to college in the current system. 

Yeah, unless if its something that is almost unanimously unconstrovesial, e.g. Ray Rice incident. Everyone can pat themselves on the back with thinkpieces about how bad it is to hit women, how it's engrained in African American culture (bullshit), etc.
 
I don't think requiring higher education would solve anything to be honest. It would add a further economic divide between the police and those they are supposed to protect. There's already a problem of elitism with officers who "serve" communities they don't live in, which was highlighted with the DOJ's report on the Ferguson Police Department. The vast majority of police brutality occurs in lower income cities, I don't think requiring higher education out of officers in those police departments would do anything but make things worse. A college education doesn't necessarily mean you will become less racist if you are racist to begin with. Plus, it doesn't address the systematic racism within police departments and the badge culture which supports corrupt officers while ostracising those who try to speak out against other officers. I don't really have a solution to those issues.

 

[elcheato]

Yeah, unless if its something that is almost unanimously unconstrovesial, e.g. Ray Rice incident. Everyone can pat themselves on the back with thinkpieces about how bad it is to hit women, how it's engrained in African American culture (bullshit), etc.
 
I don't think requiring higher education would solve anything to be honest. It would add a further economic divide between the police and those they are supposed to protect. There's already a problem of elitism with officers who "serve" communities they don't live in, which was highlighted with the DOJ's report on the Ferguson Police Department. The vast majority of police brutality occurs in lower income cities, I don't think requiring higher education out of officers in those police departments would do anything but make things worse. A college education doesn't necessarily mean you will become less racist if you are racist to begin with. Plus, it doesn't address the systematic racism within police departments and the badge culture which supports corrupt officers while ostracising those who try to speak out against other officers. I don't really have a solution to those issues.

I agree that a college degree doesn't necessarily change things, but at the same time, your experience in college from ages 18-22 is going to be so much different from a recruit starting the police academy at age 18, where you are already thrown in the cycle and are experiencing modern day police culture, which is not a good thing. While you do form opinions and ideology in earlier years, I'd say college is where it goes further and really starts to form together. I've seen some numbers that indicate that college-educated police officers are less likely to use force (although it's only about 12% less). 
 
But I think the only way to get actual radical change (in terms of seeing less brutality/racism towards blacks) would be the economic gap closing, but that would probably have to involve reparations, which is something white people would never support, a higher minimum wage, some kind of government program that focuses on getting poor minorities into college, etc.. As well as eliminating various drug laws that essentially target blacks and lower income areas. 

 

[elusive]

You make a lot of good points, I especially agree with you in regards to reparations (should happen, are unreasonably written off by white people). Radical redistribution of wealth is a mandatory prerequisite to ending racism (it'd also solve a lot of other issues).
 
Glad to see this topic ignored by everyone but you, it's fitting given the subject matter.

 

[Pugz]

ive been reading it but i decided to just let you two continue to discuss it. youre doing better than i would

 

[.infamous]

You make a lot of good points, I especially agree with you in regards to reparations (should happen, are unreasonably written off by white people). Radical redistribution of wealth is a mandatory prerequisite to ending racism (it'd also solve a lot of other issues).
 
Glad to see this topic ignored by everyone but you, it's fitting given the subject matter.

Why should people get other people's wealth? They didn't earn it.

 

[elusive]

Why should people get other people's wealth? They didn't earn it.

Good question, why don't we pose that to the millions of blacks exploited through slavery, Jim Crow laws, redlining, and housing discrimination.

 

[.infamous]

The slavery and Jim Crow shit was years ago. Now a days minorities have just as good of a chance of getting a job as a white man. People with wealth now shouldn't have to give their money to people just because they are poor. You work for what you get.

 

[elusive]

The slavery and Jim Crow shit was years ago. Now a days minorities have just as good of a chance of getting a job as a white man. People with wealth now shouldn't have to give their money to people just because they are poor. You work for what you get.

I'm not going to get into a debate over this. All I will say is this article is a prerequisite to any discussion on the topic:
 
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/the-case-for-reparations/361631/