242.2 - Racism is alive and well

Racism is alive and well

By the way, do you still need proof that racism is alive and well in US society? If you do, then consider this:

Public Policy Polling did exit polling of GOPper voters in the South Carolina primary and found that 10% of them agreed that whites are "a superior race" and 11% more were unsure. So 21% of them believe that whites are or could be superior to people of color. Now yes, it was a (1)GOPper (2)primary in (3)South Carolina, but even so, the idea that nearly a quarter of them hold such racist views is disturbing - and revealing.

Want something more specific? Since we were just talking about Tamir Rice, how about the fact that in February, Jamie Marquardt a captain in Cleveland's Emergency Medical Services, posted on his Facebook page that "Tamir Rice should have been shot and I am glad he is dead. I wish I was in the park that day.... I am upset I did not get the chance to kill the little criminal (expletive)."

After an investigation, he was fired, which is good - but does not deny that he had felt free to say it in the first place, that he felt free to be so overtly racist.

More? Here's one showing the difference in the treatment of whites and blacks in all its glory.

In Cincinnati on February 16, police responded to a call of assault at a private home. When they got there, 26-year-old Christopher Laugle pulled a gun out and pointed it at police, who later said they "felt threatened" and did not know the gun was a fake. They thought it was real. He was arrested, charged only with "menacing," and freed on bond of just $2000.

The next day, February 17, Cincinnati police responded to a 911 call. Paul Gaston, 37, had crashed his pickup into a telephone poll. He stumbled out and police found him 650 feet away. They ordered him to the ground, and video shows him on his knees, hands in the air, surrounded by cops with their guns drawn and pointed. After lying on the ground for a moment, he comes back to his knees - and is immediately shot down in a hail of bullets. Cops said he appeared to reach for a gun in his waistband.

So on Tuesday, Christopher Laugle actually points a gun at cops who believe it to be real. He is arrested and is free on bond. On Wednesday, in the same city, Paul Gaston is on his knees and "appears to reach" for a gun - and is instantly killed.

Both men, Christopher Laugle and Paul Gaston, are pictured here. And if you have any doubt as to which is which, you simply have not been paying attention to the world around you.

Sources cited in links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/25/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-supporters-for-intolerance.html?rref=upshot&smid=tw-upshotnyt&smtyp=cur
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/cleveland-ems-captain-fired-tamir-rice-facebook-post-article-1.2569853
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-cincinnati-cops-reveal-double-standards-black-men-face-article-1.2537271