I do agree that police should be held to a high standard. I also believe that they are human beings. They do have families they live and just want to go home to those families safely. Should they go into a dangerous area with guns a blazing? Of course not. But they do have to go with a certain awareness of the danger. (None of this is said to defend the officer in the situation in the op).
The neighborhood I am talking about is designed in such a way that there is one way in and one way out. It’s just not a drive on through situation. Paramedics have been shot at for trying to get to a sick or injured person and as such the requirement of having the police (if they have ever had to literally wait, I don’t think so. Police patrol that area regularly and are usually close by). Pretty sure the deliveries came about from them being robbed.
Racism is so much more than the extremes. But that doesn’t mean it’s a part of every incident either simply because the individuals are two different races. And sometimes reality is just reality.
One of our neighboring community colleges recently had to put almost half of one of their programs out of school. They had drugs on campus and were caught. Their instructor reported to campus police. From what I was told, about 2/3 of those students were black. And racism has been the accusation. But the reality is, they were breaking the law and the college policies. They were students that just happen to be black, not the other way around.
Neighborhoods are just that neighborhoods. Some are primarily black, some primarily white. Some are dangerous areas, some are not. But they are neighborhoods that happen to be primarily one race and is dangerous. Not dangerous because they are primarily black or white. But saying a neighborhood is dangerous is not racist. It’s the reality of that neighborhood.
School situations are the fault of the state or county or district. If one school is failing, it’s because the leaders of that school have failed it not because of the race of the students. Nor should they or their graduates be held accountable for that failing. And judgement on someone because one “assumes” they attended or may have attended a failing school is wrong but otoh, it’s understandable that an employer would be concerned about the education a prospective employee received. Again the failing is with the administration of the failing schools and the media needs to bring attention to it so that perhaps change will come and these higher ups will be held accountable. If some interviewer gives less consideration to someone because their name may imply to that person that the interviewee attended a failing school then yes, that is on that one person and is racist. But without the attention the media gives these schools, change will never come.
