(06-04-2020 08:26 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  Your final comment is why I, and others, identify this as a systemic issue.

Notice how I didn’t say it was a conservative/Republican issue? Or that it was a liberal/Democratic issue?

The fact that 'you' haven't said it doesn't mean that it isn't said quite regularly by the left... blaming the right... and I think you know it. When they can't blame the right in the local area, they blame the Federal 'system' (if it works for them)

I also think you're missing the other point...

If it's a systemic issue 'that can be solved', then why hasn't anyone fixed the system? Especially those who are in office, talking about the broken system, likely elected at least in part based on this argument... and now are in a position to do so?

Too often, we get this generic description of a 'systemic problem'... and that we need to 'vote this person out and that person in' to fix it, but the problem remains no matter how we vote. As some have mentioned, we can have a minority President, Governor, Mayor, Police Chief, Police Force (percentage, not total), DA and we STILL end up with police abuses.

My beliefs on this subject are pretty involved and detailed.... but they center around the ideas that people who suffer from chronic opression (like chronic depression)

and if anyone indignantly asks if I just compared racism to a 'disease', you are exhibiting what is often referred to as 'white privilege'. Chronic depression is a reality for many people, just like chronic (systemic) oppression. It's not a perfect example, but it's similar enough in that some people just don't understand why other people feel something so often, and they can't recognize most of the triggers... and although they certainly recognize the obvious drivers like perhaps a death, that simply isn't enough/the reality for many others.

But the challenge is... and the cause of 'systemic racism' seems to me to be that our system of law protects the accused, even when the accused is a state actor...

If you can't tell, I'm a big advocate for mental health and have some personal and professional experience here... and I therefore see a lot of similarities. I see systems that tell the chronically depressed to simply 'buck up'... and I see people suffering from anxiety attacks being treated differently from someone who isn't. It's not the fact that one is a diagnosed 'disease' and the other is not... that to me is relatively unimportant... neither was someone's choice, and both are people's realities.... and even lots of 'good' people, simply can't understand/appreciate/see what these people face every day.... and bullying them just discourages them from being 'good people'. I also see some mental health advocates (and maybe I'm one of them?) who act like those who 'rescue dogs' as if that makes them better people... when they're still bad dog owners.