Yesterday I woke up and watched the video of the Alton Sterling shooting. I don’t believe for a second that shooting him was remotely justified.
A little little more than 12 hours later, I watched the Facebook live video of the immediate aftermath of a cop shooting Philando Castile–still sitting in his car during a traffic stop for a broken tail light.
His girlfriend says, repeatedly and consistently, that he told police he had a licensed firearm, and he was only getting his license and registration, and the cop shot him.
Even if you want to believe he was somehow threatening (I don’t), they leave the guy sitting there bleeding out when he couldn’t possibly be a threat.
“Why would she open up her phone and start videoing something like that? Why wouldn’t she be more upset?”
I don’t know, maybe she understood that her phone was her only viable defense against men with guns and badges. Maybe she realized that being “emotional” might get her shot, too. There’s no “maybe” about the fact that she had more courage and stronger nerves than the cop who just shot her boyfriend.
This has to stop. This had to stop a long, long time ago.
When people say “save the rainforests,” nobody interprets that to mean, “screw the redwoods.” Yet people get upset when they hear Black Lives Matter and want to argue about the message.
I’m so sick of living under words like “all men are created equal” and “liberty and justice for all” when the reality is that doesn’t really apply to everyone.
Black Lives Matter.
EDIT: As usual, I absolutely will delete inflammatory or racist comments.
I am a moderately well off fat white guy. I generally wear a suit.
The last time I interacted with police was when I (Checking my GPS like a moron) blew through a red light,and totaled a police car,
I was not even ticketed.
The police were concerned for my well being.
We live in a world where race, appearance, and perceived social status dominate interactions with law enforcement.
Yep.
Last time I was stopped by a cop, I was driving a housemate’s car. He stopped me because the headlights weren’t on. I didn’t know where the registration was, certainly wasn’t insured for that particular car, and was almost certainly speeding. The cop smiled, implied that his only real concern was to check and make sure I was sober, and then sent me on my way.
And the thing is, I’m not saying he should’ve treated me differently. I was doing nothing wrong and I was respectful. The problem is there’s no reason to believe I’d have gotten the same treatment for exactly the same actions if I was black.
Take some good advice, sell books, don’t get political on a commercial blog. Best case scenario you’re going to end up alienating half your potential customer base.
I’m not really sure how anyone reads one of my books and could then be surprised at my political views.
But I’m gonna have to pass on this advice.
You are far from the worst offender when it comes to forcing your views into your books, although you’re nowhere close to innocent of that charge either. When the story is as good as the PMF series is, I’m happy to deal with a bit of heavy handed preaching.
It wasn’t at all a surprise to find out what your views were when I first started checking this blog every once in a while. It wasn’t even a surprise to discover that you, like pretty much everyone else who writes things like this on personal blogs, are hilariously self-righteous about it either.
But it doesn’t have to surprise me to annoy me. I rarely pay for the books I read in general, because there is no way I could sustain the amount of reading I do on my income if I did – but even if I had disposable income sufficient to not even care about blowing 10 dollars on a book every week, I wouldn’t buy yours – and that is a position motivated entirely by the preachiness on this blog.
Meanwhile I’m buying hardcopies of every one of his books, so I can force my friends to read Kay’s stories as well.
If ya weren’t paying for them anyway then why does he care about your opinion again?
As someone who DOES pay for them, I think you are full of it. 🙂
FFS!
You are an author, albeit one who’s views on prejudice come through in the books that you write.
Why when you put your views front and centre is it an issue? It’s not like you’ve been choosing to market your books as white supremacist here off fodder!
There is a simple statement that covers this, every life matters! No one knows who will discover; the cure for cancer, the secret of eternal youth, the secret of faster than light travel or how Donald Trump keeps his hair so luxurious! What matters is that the person with the answer could be anyone of the earth’s billions and only a total knob head thinks that the colour of your skin is relevant!
Keep on crusading!
Here is auto spell for jerk 🙁
Jerk off fodder
Thank you, but the language matters. It really does.
Nobody needs to be told all lives matter or every life matters. That’s a given. Everyone understands that.
The problem in America is that there’s an unspoken exception to that when it comes to people of color, and black people in particular.
If the rainforests vs redwoods note doesn’t work for you, try the lead post here (I make no endorsements of comments, as who knows what’ll turn up in comments): https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/3du1qm/eli5_why_is_it_so_controversial_when_someone_says/
I was going to ignore this newest fuckery by the fucking police as it really pisses me and i really don’t have enough time in a day to getting pissed off 🙁
But i think there is a disconnect here that people ignore, life as we grow up learn that is sacred, most beautiful thing in fucked up universe, in my opinion adults are full of shit. Life is cheap and we are living in a planet were 150k people die each day so most people especially when there are hard times and we are having hard times since we rose from the seas fear the “other” and fear is what has been motivating humanity since forever. So this things will continue to happen and people are failing to understand that unless things change for the better for more than 100 guys in the planet nothing is changing.
Now talking about myself i don’t care if you are yellow, green purple or orange but for people that have fear perpetuated on themselves, that everything different is not us and never will be, saying black lives matter and getting upset when two guys getting shot for being black it wont lead to anything. Unless we decide life is not cheap this things will keep happening so i suggest mate move on and be happy its not happening to you.
PS. I know i sound cruel and cynical and probably the most egotistical!@$$ that has posted here but life i think is about the small joys for yourself and those close to you. Until people decide they want to change and that change means pain to everything that is familiar to you then shit will keep on happening.
I would be OK with the black lives matter movement if there wasn’t so much stupidity attached to it. Some of their members condone violence against police officers and then congratulate people that follow through with it, some of the political things they’ve done like cutting off Bernie Sanders during his speech or blocking traffic on highways. There needs to be a leader of the blm movement and that person needs to advocate peace and change through peaceful protest and political influence.
I think there needs to be change in the police force. Body cameras should be mandatory, cops should have the integrity to turn in other corrupt police officers, and any policeman that shoots an unarmed civilian should immediately be fired no questions asked. I do however, believe that the great majority of cops are good people trying to make communities safe.
I live close to where the Castille shooting was. A nice calm suburban area. Not a barrio or ghetto, not a gang infested area. There was no reason for the officer to panic and shoot, then as is traditional deny care to the person shot. Whether or not they are guilty, they should receive care, not be left to bleed out.
ALL-Lives-Matter! But we shouldn’t HAVE to say that so often. We should just expect full and fair treatment in the eyes of the law. But instead there is a horrible bias, Make enough money, are popular enough, are a major sports star, and you can get away with almost anything.
– Years ago, Football Randy Moss was in a rush and drove down a traffic cop, carried her on the hood of his car for a block. A Joe Normal would be in prison for years, he just slapped down a few thousand dollars and walked away.
Now we get the other side; police ambushed in Dallas, Missouri, Tennessee, and Georgia.
The problem is that what they should be saying is: All Lives Matter. Black, White, Red, Yellow, Brown, All of them.
I’m sorry, no. That completely ignores the fact that it’s black Americans who suffer disproportionately from police brutality and abuse of power.
There are a mountain of places I can refer you to that explain better than I can why it is important to say Black Lives Matter, and why “All Lives Matter” is a distraction and a dodge. I’m happy to point you toward them if you’re interested in learning.
The statement “Black Lives Matter” is meant to emphasize the emotional turmoil caused by the fact a person feels they must remind people of that specific fact. “All Lives Matter” is a more accurate truth but less accurately describes the perceived plight. The counter argument of angrily insisting that instead of saying “Black Lives Matter” saying ” All Lives Matter” also can be perceived in this circumstance as saying “Black Lives By Themselves Don’t Matter”, while a more accurate account would be “Black Lives Matter When Including All Other Ethnicities” ; either of which sentiments is a little insulting given the circumstances.
-rehcra
During a traffic stop you are dealing with a man with a gun! You’d probably be safer facing an armed intruder in a home breaking ar robbery. At least then your head is accurately assessing the danger of the situation.
They should be putting out info and video explicitly explaining what is appropriate behavior and what is not.
For all that they wear the uniform of law enforcement, one has no idea of their personality, previous training , experience – on the job and military, what their perception of the dangers in that area are, …
For all that they are “trained”. These are amateurs! They are not professional killers! In some respects that is not a good thing! 30 years ago when out deer hunting one remembers quite clearly the”buck fever” of adrenalin surging and shaking hands and breath. Killing anything isn’t easy! ( ok not mosquitos).
…Be excessively respectful and polite! Ask permission to move And Wait Till it is given!. Have info in hand.
There’s bound to be other skillfully appropriate behaviors .
And have your phone on! Recording and live streaming the situation Before the driver’s door is approached. Like a sunshine law. Perhaps call 911…
Publicizing the experience may lead to a positive editing of behavior.
There’s a niche market for an app!
Remember these people chose a dangerous job and carrying a gun. Perhaps Every encounter is Russian roulette to them,
This is putting the burden of safety on the person being stopped, rather than on the person who is an armed agent of the state. We have countless cases of people who have been roughed up, even killed, when they were not disrespectful at all, let alone violent. Philando Castile is only one example. The arrest of DeRay McKesson in Baton Rouge — on video — is another. He was unarmed, following instructions (proven by the video), yet he was tackled to the ground from behind.
The entire problem here is on the part of the police in this country. Nothing gets better by expecting the general public to accommodate their behavior.
Agree.
EDIT: As usual, I absolutely will delete inflammatory or racist comments.
I cut an paste that directly from your opening comment. Now I’d like to call your attention to this.
“The entire problem here is on the part of the police in this country. Nothing gets better by expecting the general public to accommodate their behavior.”
Elliott Kay
I know that’s not racist, but it sure is bigotry. Just in case, here’s the definition. : a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc. : a bigoted person; especially : a person who hates or refuses to accept the members of a particular group.
Now before you jump up and down and scream that you’re not a bigot that hates all cops try this. (I am not saying this! I’m just trying to make a point.) Replace ‘police’ with ‘blacks’ in that statement. Whoa, kind of makes your sphincter pucker, doesn’t it. Did mine. How about you Mr. Kay?
It kind of reminds me of those “incontrovertible c—bags” that jammed their big, fat fingers at returning Vietnam vets, spit in their faces and called them baby killers. Like how I used a Rachellism there? Couldn’t help myself. Read all of your books and she’s my favorite character.
Anyway, that couldn’t be you. You’re far too young. Hummm? Are you one of those people that blames every Muslim for terrorism? Do you jab your big fat finger in the face of every Jew you see and tell them they’re responsible for the crucifixion of Christ? You tell a lot of dumb Pollock jokes, Mr. Kay?
Let me explain why your comments bothers me so much. I’m a cop. Have been for almost thirty years. Now I know you’re not going to believe this but I’m not a racist. Really, it’s true! Not only is racism stupid, it would make me an “incontrovertible c—bag”. I try hard not to be one of those. Not only would I swear to that on a stack of bibles while hooked to a polygraph standing in the Supreme Court. I would swear that I never knowingly worked with a cop that treated people differently simply for the color of their skin. For one thing, I wouldn’t stand for it. For another, who wants to give an “incontrovertible c—bag” a gun?
Now what happens? After almost 30 years of public service, and it is public service. If you don’t believe me I have the paystubs to prove it. A writer I respect for his outstanding work jabs his big fat finger in my face and calls me an “incontrovertible c—bag” racist, or at least a cop that looks the other way, which would make me just as bad. Not cool.
Here’s another Rachellism for ya. “Some are chickens–t, some are f—ups and some are a–holes.” In general that first description doesn’t apply to cops. They don’t last very long. Hazards of the job. The second one? Well, that depends on your definition. Everyone screws up once in a while. Add in a high stress situation where your life is on the line and you have microsecond to make a decision only aggravates that. Until the government replaces us with robots, I’m afraid you’re going to have to accept that cops are only human.
Now for the third one. Hmmm? Well, I guess I’ll have to admit it. I’m a bit of an a–hole. Another hazard of working the job for 28 years. But am I an a–hole to people simply because of the color of their skin. No. Not only is that stupid, anyone that does that is an “incontrovertible c—bag”! Did I say that earlier? Anyway, I try hard not to be one of those. I’m just an a–hole. Probably why I like Rachelle so much. Even you have to admit she’s a bit of an a–hole sometimes, only in a good way.
Here’s a novel idea. Why don’t we treat cops like they’re real people. You know, individuals, each with their own human flaws. Given that there are approximately 700,000 law enforcement officers in the country, I’m forced to admit there has to be at least a few “incontrovertible c—bag” bigots amongst us. Hell, you probably know a few writers that fit the definition. Then what we do is look at situations on a case by case basis. You know, at least act like cops are American citizens with the right to due process.
Now, for due process, what should we do? Hmmm? How about we have a District Attorney personally investigate those cases. They’re the pros, right? He or she can collect all the evidence and closely examine it before rendering a decision. Then, if they’re found guilty, we can jab our big fat fingers at that individual and call them an “incontrovertible c—bag” racist in good conscience.
Wait a second. Isn’t that what we do? Holy cow! Aren’t District Attorneys lawyers? Darn it! There’s your problem. Everyone knows all lawyers are crooks. Maybe you should be jabbing your big fat finger at them?
But wait. We don’t need to get lawyers involved at all. Just ask Elliott Kay. Not only is he ready to render judgment after seeing a partial recording of the event on YouTube. He’s ready to jab his big fat finger at me and 700,000 other individuals and call every one of us an “incontrovertible c—bag” racists simply for our chosen occupation. Well, at least he’s not calling us “baby killers” or blaming us for the Christ’s death. Still not very happy about it though.
In closing I’d like to say I enjoy your work immensely, Mr. Kay. I bought everything you’ve written, both on Kindle and Audible. Although I do have the turn the volume way down when listening to Good Intentions, even while doing my business checks in the wee hours of the morning. I’ll also say I’m going to continue purchasing your books. They’re just too damn good to allow the writers bigotry to stop me. Unfortunately, knowing you think I’m an “incontrovertible c—bag” simply for my chosen occupation is bound to detract from my enjoyment of them. Thanks for that, Mr. Kay.
Bravo. Just bravo.
Wow.
It funny as i read this i can tell so few of you are black become if you where you would understand. After the age of 8 you find yourself subject to instant profiling but cops and other around you. I was by myself walking down the street at 15 i the middle of the day mind you and i had a group of white people 3 females and two males and they still crossed the street on me (i black if you have not pit that toghter) the real problem i the way that people think and there action. You don’t understand you can say that you support all life but the black life’s matter is not just for the way the cop act with us but the way civil servants think of us as well the badly-run the school district’s not enough money for the park district and other after school programs things that are commonplace in your neighborhood is as about as rear as finding gold at the end of the rainbow. So when you see BLM it not just the killing of ouer young man
You may want to review your skewed view of how white folks grow up. Now, I admit, I had it good. When I was a kid, we had no tv or air conditioning. We had a heater in one room.
Now, my children have a lot, they are spoiled. I got a decent job and take care of them. But, there school is under funded and rated a 3 on a scale of one to 10. There are no after school programs. Living within 2 miles of the school is considered too close to be aloud on a school bus. There is no public transportation. They walk home and let themselves into an empty house because both parents work full time. My job keeps me working too much so I only see my wife and kids on days off, sometimes once a week. I tell my kids to make good grades and get a scholarship, I couldn’t afford to send myself to college, much less them. This is the United States of America. There are bigots everywhere of every race and every creed. If you think all whites are the problem, that makes you a bigot. I am not blaming you for that, but many in the BLM movement are. And to say that “unless you are black, you wouldn’t understand” is ignorant. That is the equivalent of a woman saying, “you’re a man you wouldn’t understand”. The point is, are the odds against many blacks? Yes, but some whites, reds, and yellows have the same problem. Try being the only white kid in school sometime. I been there. The only way to fix things, for you, is to take individual responsibility for yourself, and rise above this foolishness. If your community sux, move. I understand, that ain’t easy. To get out of my situation, as a kid, I eventually joined the Navy. Unfortunately, my time there was similar to Tanner Malone’s first command. I hope things get better for you.
As for Mr. Kay, keep the books coming. I may not agree with your opinions or beliefs, but I would serve again for your right to have them.
The main problem being not the color of the skin, but the attitude of the police officers from their training. The Us vs Them siege mentality combined with a growing (since the bogus Rodney King crap, if you ever see the entire video, he was repeatedly told to stay down, but was so hopped up that he kept charging the police, there were issues there, but not the common one of “white cops beat black man for fun”) emphasis on training for the officer to escalate quickly to end the situation with someone in custody….so that no video that can be edited for effect (the common Rodney King video seen) that only shows behaviors that can be questioned or appear outright wrong.
Clearing the first thing up: Yes, the shooting was unjustified and the officer should be prosecuted…at least as harshly as soldiers serving overseas are these days. No, even if prosecuted and convicted, he will not get the term his crime mandates, because he is a cop. Also, damages for wrongful death are limited by law in the case of deaths caused by law enforcement officers. Several issues here I disagree with, but this isn’t a simple issue based on one case. Remember something else, when “everyone knows X”, then X is almost always wrong.
A lot of these misconceptions can be cured by increasing the level of societal trust in our culture…which means discarding the “salad” view of Americans with the “melting pot” view again, but that would help defuse the appearance of class warfare that a certain political party has engendered to keep people “on the plantation” voting for them. The issue is more complex than one incident and as for one group being disproportionately “abused by the system”…there are some reasons for that, social and economic that have little to do with skin color, except for the “class warfare” meme being shoved down everyone’s throat.
While the trivial fact of “BLM” really is self evident, if a bit limited in scope, as soon as “BLM” began preaching hate whitey and kill the cops…the entire movement discredited itself as anything valid for discussion. The usual charge would be “issuing terrorist threats”. Regardless of your stance on the right, wrong or “correctness” of the issues, at that point the line has been crossed.
One of the more amusing things I’ve seen in my life, was a crowd of soldiers & NCOs being briefed on soldiers not being allowed to show support for “hate groups” by advertising their membership in the armed forces at “hate group” public appearances by a junior NCO (female, of color, specifically black, which is the most common gender/race selection for that kind of job in govt & industry) specially trained on this subject and obviously trained to deal with objections by “whitey” about the rights being trampled on (since the definition of hate group = not liking the “salad” mentality). The sight of two senior NCOs, both of color, specifically black, asking her questions and chewing her out about how the policy was unenforceable because it was in effect during the “Million Man March”, which featured a number of people of color, specifically black, marching in uniform, but not one of them were charged under this regulation and none were planned…the problem being, the “Million Man March” was sponsored by the Nation of Islam, which fits the criteria of being a “hate group” as well, if not better than most of the versions usually publicized as “hate groups”. During this session, it became publicly obvious (as it was to anyone with the ability to add simple integers) that there was one and only one reason why there would be no prosecution under this regulation despite slam dunk evidence.
This doesn’t help the cause you are espousing, because it is fairly common and the actual worst racism around. Like having any level of blood alcohol makes you guilty in any traffic accident, being of a certain color, in this case white, makes you automatically guilty of being racist and a potential “hater” if you disagree with the meme.
So, whether or not anyone agrees with you at all on whether or not black lives matter, I would suggest you avoid the violence advocating organization/movement “Black Lives Matter” like the plague.
Hi Elliot,
I googled you after watching your interview on the Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast. During the entire interview – I kept thinking – I like this guy. Especially when you expressed your views on bi-inclusion and diversity in scifi. So I just had to find out more.
Now to my point. Saying “All Lives Matter” is simply telling black people to shut up. It’s the equivalent of sticking your fingers in your ears and screaming “I don’t hear you”. Which is fine , as I have no interest in wasting effort on anyone who has that worldview.
All lives quite frankly don’t matter, especially the lives of black men in the U.S. They never have. Black bodies have been disposable commodities in the U.S. since the very beginning. When a black person is killed by the police, the automatic assumption is they deserved it. Even if video and witnesses prove differently. Black people are considered dangerous and wild-animals. And such animals are put down without mercy.
That’s it.. I’m not replying or bothering to argue. As anyone who’d argue over this point is blind to history and current events. That’s the sort of person that wants black people to just shut-up and accept how things are.
Now I’m going to back to my reading – my favorite activity. One that I’m now going to enjoy with a brand new author (at least to me) Elliot Kay.
Elliot you gained a reader by speaking out.
A good science fiction author can simultaneously write a successful or unsuccessful society based on the same specific political ideal. We should understand that technology or morals can lead to a stable or unstable society independent of each other. Science fiction should lead to open mindedness not closed. Elliott Kay’s ideals will come through in his writing but do not dictate his skills as a writer or story teller; and a person’s choice to continue or stop reading a good story because of ideals depicted within them says more about the Reader than the Author. At least that’s my opinion. Of-course that’s easier to say here in my position of mostly agreeing with said Author . ?
-rehcra
800,000 police in this country, making tens of millions of public contacts per year and every year we have less then a handful of controversial shootings. I wish niether of these men were shot and killed. But anyone who looks at the video of the Alton Sterling shooting and presumes to know what was or was not justified at this point is just a conclusion jumping ass hat. A suspect in a violent crime, with a felonious history, armed with a gun, who chooses to violently resist arrest or a lawful terry type stop, who continues to fight after being told to stop struggling once police become aware of his firearm. Snap out of it. America has never been more free, our criminal justice system has never been as impartial and full of so many levels of oversight, never have we had as much opportunity and social mobility and political forces are thowing all our progress out the window and convincing communities of a wide reaching conspiracy to victimize them based on their race. Bullshit.
Is it possible that Sterling was doing something dangerous? Sure.
Yet I don’t see it. I don’t believe he’d have been shot if he were white. We see time and again how police react differently when suspects are white–even suspects with guns. And we see this happen time and time again. I would be willing to give the police in the Alton Sterling shooting far more of a benefit of a doubt if we didn’t have this story happening over and over again.
It’s not a conspiracy. There’s no mastermind. This is the result of history, culture, a misplaced “warrior mindset” training ethic and a sharp lack of accountability, and it comes down hardest on African Americans.
Thanks for your reply. At least I feel better for having expressed my thoughts on the subject. I have been in the police business for over twenty years, and during that time I have seen much more hesitation or reluctance on the part of most officers to use force then egarness to do so. Believe me there is no lack of accountability in this business we are accountable to each other our supervisors, administrators, the courts, and ultimately the community. Historically policing has never been so ethical, professional, or accountable as it is presently in our society. There will always be abuses but despite perception they are the exception not the rule and a function of numbers. With almost a million police across a nation you are bound to have occasional incidents with tragic results. If not a “warrior mindset” because it doesn’t really matter what you call it how do you train people to overcome sudden unexpected life threatening violence. Voluntary compliance is always the goal but we commonly face people who offer every type of behavior from passive noncomplaince to active violence and sometimes murderous intent. In the face of that violence we train people to fight for themselves, their loved ones, and their co-workers. To never give up, to prevail at all costs, because not to do so is to die or suffer grave injury. I’ve been to about six police funerals in my state over the years, we have had several more I didn’t attend. We are warriors, we fight for peace, to stop violence, to protect people, to hold people accountable for criminal behavior. Before subjects can be broght before a court they have to be arrested and when unde the influence of drugs, alcohol, or rage things can get messy. It is human nature and we see the worst of it in its natural setting. It is never going to be a pretty business. Unfortunately there is no reason why anybody with a brain would enter this profession in today’s climate and that is going to be a hardship for society. Less good people will come and less with stay long term.
Sure. I have no problem conceding that the vast majority of cops are “good” cops (although I really agree with this former officer on a 15/15/70 split between solidly good/plain bad/go-with-the-flow, because that fits human nature). And I’ve never once talked to a cop who couldn’t concede that yes, there are people in uniform and carrying badges who flat-out shouldn’t be.
Here’s the thing: if the abuses were occurring equally across society, we’d have far more attention to abuses and probably more efforts to curtail them. The fact is those abuses disproportionately hit black people in America (and other people of color–last I checked, Native Americans were even more likely to suffer abuse). If white Americans suffered this as much as black Americans, this country would be out of its mind over the whole issue. We’re not seeing enough transparency on efforts to curtail this. We see far too often how cops close ranks to defend even obvious abuses of authority rather than turn on the abusers. It’s not hard to find positive stories about police (hell, I’ve never had a bad interaction with Seattle police…but I’m a white dude w/some minor LE experience myself). It’s really hard to find enough stories about police departments curtailing abuses within their ranks to make the public feel better.
I don’t have the answers, but I’m not an expert. We have experts out there, with and without badges. If police departments across the country were more transparent about efforts to curtail abuses, we’d have less protests and less distrust of the police.
In the immortal words of Jim Butcher after a fan asked about his political beliefs, “if I answer that I alienate half my audience.” You sir should have stuck with writing. It is now more important than ever to vote with my wallet. The recent videos have already been discredited and the MSM and social media continues to allow a false narrative to be pushed. Good day, enjoy the loss of income.
990 people were killed by the police in 2015 per the Washington Post. 258 of those were black. The post examined those shootings and determined that 95% of those were justified beyond question. 250000 people die (are killed) each year in the US due to medical errors. It would appear that doctors are a greater threat to us then the police are by a very wide margin. Maybe we should put the focus on doctors first and then deal with the much lower threat. I think some of the other posters nailed it. This is mostly media driven. The facts just don’t back up the hype.
I enjoy the books you write Mr. Kay. Each one has been a great escape from all the terrible things going on in our world. I look forward to your next one.
I’m not seeing your 95%.
I do, however, see more analysis and nuance In this WaPo article.
As far as malpractice and other dangers to life and limb in the US, it’s possible and even totally fair to be upset about more than one thing at a time.
Thanks for reading, and I hope to have the next book out very soon.
How about this, I agree with the shootings were unjustified and very wrong. While I totally understand not liking alllivesmatter, it’s kind of backlash that’s too be expected of the real issue tribalism.
I have long been watching and paying attention to police brutality, it’s bad but painting it all as DON’T BE RACIST and #blacklivesmatter isn’t going to solve the issue what it is doing is setting up a us vs them mentality that’s digging people further and further into camps, and is actually going to increase racism not reduce it. Plus it forms the looping effect of black people are far more likely to resist arrest(fact)>escalation of force by police>things going badly. #blacklivesmatter isn’t arguing for anything that I can tell just stop doing bad thing, that’s not a policy, that’s not a change, stop being bad is never going to work. You want to require cops to have more training and nationally enforce a RoE that is less risk adverse for the cops, well I agree with that, but you should fight for a goal, not for #blacklivesmatter okay we got it, but do you know what a lot of people see, they see a person who was resisting arresting and fighting with the police get shot and die, they might go wow the police shouldn’t of stepped it up that far or they might not, what they also see is themselves not resisting arrest and fighting the police so they don’t see it as an event happening to them or their loved ones.
The fact that everyone wasn’t appalled at the Castile shooting and the Dallas shooting(which like 1/2 my facebook is convinced is a false flag attack consipired to let cops murder more black people), is proof of how tribalistic this has become. It doesn’t help that the media(both sides) just fans the flames like they always do.
I also find the reaction of some of the posters here to be more proof of that tribalism aspect. Also don’t worry about it Correia gets leagues of people saying how they will never read/buy him again and he still does well and keeps going up in sales. As long as it doesn’t make your writing boring and preachy, which your books are basically the opposite of, the fans will stay.
President George W. Bush “Too often, we judge other groups by their worst examples while judging ourselves by our best intentions.”
Black lives DON’T matter, White lives DON’T matter, Latino lives DON’T matter, Chinese lives DON’T matter, etc ,etc,etc , ALL LIVES MATTER, the human race needs to stop putting things into boxes, when I see a person I don’t see race, colour, religion, disability, sexuality (not going to put gender as I do see that) I see a person that is as much part the human race as I am, we are all part of the the same family the human family. It is time to put this petty matters behind us but we won’t as we are to much like a virus than anything else.
Have you seen anyone in BLM claim that any of these lives should matter more than others?
Have you seen them claim anyone’s lives shouldn’t matter?
The statement “Black Lives Matter” doesn’t mean “Only.” It’s stated to point out that to a lot of people in this country, they don’t matter as much as the rest. That’s the problem.
I am not a BLM supporter, but I honestly don’t really mind nor care that much about the private thoughts of my favorite authors. No offence, but I don’t follow mr. Kay for his political statements, but for his books. They are awesome, and as long as they remain that way and he doesn’t get overly preachy in those books, he may state whatever he wants, especially here on his BLOG. This is a space made for him to speak his mind, so I don’t get why people are so up in arms about what he writes here.
BLM seems a worthy cause. I don’t disagree. I would, however, like to see a cops need a brain organization. Are cops really that afraid that someone is going to shoot them, stab them or somehow kill them? If so then we need new cops. These stupid shootings and excessive force videos we see have to end somehow. It’s not always about Blacks though. Mostly, true but there are other minorities being abused as well. I saw one video not too long ago where the cops stripped searched a female minor celebrity and forced her to stay naked overnight. What kind of law enforcement officers are we allowing. Every cop needs a camera recording for their entire shift, evrything they do and say, If a cop can’t perform under those circumstances they don’t need to be a cop. I was an ATC specialist for over 20 years and everything I said on a phone or into a microphone was recorded and went over by my supervisors. I’m willing to net most incidents sited by BLM have a root in police abuse. Of course Black Lives Matter. But let’s get to the root of why we need to even say so.
Well, I have to say that if you work in Baltimore or Chicago, and you’re LEO, it’s reasonable to be very worried about being shot on the job. I don’t think new officers is the solution, though it could help.
Cops do do stupid things, and the up side of public awareness is that they now have to be extremely careful. …and so the pendulum swings in the direction of everyday people. Eventually, it’ll swing back toward the police.
Many of the comments post here are an interesting read, and well thought out. In fact, I agree in some manner with most of them.
About 25 years ago I had just gotten out of the USAF. One night I was driving to my new apartment with a car load of stuff that I was moving from my folks place. I was speeding down a steep hill and my radar detector went off (75 in a 50 -hosed-). I noted that the officer was parked in-between a few wrecked vehicles in an automotive repair shop, and I mentally gave him a golf clap as I pondered what losing my license was going to be like.
Being a somewhat smart person, I opted not to prolong the agony and just pulled over. I knew the evening was going to suck, but when the officer started looking over the car with a fine tooth comb, I knew something was wrong. When he noticed a knife in the open top tool box on the rear passengers seat, and called over the radio “I’ve got a guy with a weapon here!,” I knew I was screwed.
It was a case of mistaken identity; he thought I was the drug felon there was an APB / BOLO for. However, that didn’t matter much. I was speeding. I had a knife in my tool box (and a razor knife, and a box cutter, and screw drivers, etc. etc.), which is a crime in New Jersey.
I also didn’t know my rights. I did not know how to properly handle a police officer. Sure, I was polite, I answered all of his questions, and when it got court “I was polite to a fault.” I was not, however, shot because I made the officer nervous. Nor did I do anything to make the 8 (that’s right eight) police officers that responded see me as a potential threat. Nor did I have a record that showed me as potentially dangerous….
In the bulk of the situations we’ve seen in the news, there is something else in play, and it’s usually a combination of factors. Many of the people involved have prior records, and only a few do not. Some have an attitude, which I fully understand. Drugs or alcohol are frequently involved.
Ultimately, I was to blame for getting pulled over, even if the officer couldn’t tell the difference between a Ford Escort and Ford Mustang. That the officer lied on the stand was par for the course that I’d setup.
I’m not going to say that anyone deserves to be shot. However, I’m not going to say no one deserves to be shot.. I do think that while BLM, there are more moving pieces to this issue than just to parts we are seeing on the news, or that we’re hearing from opportunist who seek to incite us for their own reasons and agendas.