An undercover black cop in action got shot down by undercover white cops in Harlem: they thought he was a criminal. What is to be understood?
There is something called friendly fire. Soldiers know about it. Police officers know about it. It is statistical. More cops die in the line of duty than in the line of friendly fire. So was race not involved?
Things are not that black and white.
Could two black cops have shot down a white undercover cop like that? When was the last time that happened? Do white cops think criminal when they see a black face?
It is possible police officers get trained to think, you got 0.87 seconds before either you go down or the other person does. Better the other person. That is the basic survival instinct.
It is hard to dissect less than one second. But what if that less than one second is but only the tip of the iceberg? This city is 60% nonwhite but its police department is 90% white. That decision was not taken in less than one second. A decision like that gets taken over days and weeks and months and years and decades and centuries.
Of course it was racism that this black cop went down. He was doing what he was trained to do. This city's police department is going to have to become at least 50% nonwhite. We are going to have to become more racially enlightened than we are now.
The importance of the indignation over that one second is that it allows us to draw attention to the larger racial panorama of years and decades and centuries.
Unconscious mind - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaFreud divided mind into the conscious mind or Ego and two parts of the Unconscious: the Id or instincts and the Superego. He used the idea of the unconscious in order to explain certain kinds of neurotic behavior. In this theory, the unconscious refers to that part of mental functioning of which subjects make themselves unaware. Freud proposed a vertical and hierarchical architecture of human consciousness: the conscious mind, the preconscious, and the unconscious mind - each lying beneath the other. He believed that significant psychic events take place "below the surface" in the unconscious mind, like hidden messages from the unconscious - a form of intrapersonal communication out of awareness. He interpreted these events as having both symbolic and actual significance. For psychoanalysis, the unconscious does not include all that is not conscious, rather only what is actively repressed from conscious thought or what the person is averse to knowing consciously. In a sense this view places the self in relationship to their unconscious as an adversary, warring with itself to keep what is unconscious hidden.
Race is a reality somewhere between the subconscious and the unconscious, on top of it being a reality in the conscious. When Barack Obama says race matters deeply, that is what he means.
Of course you saw a criminal when you saw a black face. That fits the definition of racism.
The NYC Subway right now is too Eurocentric in its outlay. We need a multi-polar subway that better reflects the emerging multi-polar reality on the planet.
In The News
Rangel's Obama Quip Makes WavesNew York Times “This was a tragedy. Our Police Department is diverse and they train; sometimes things happen and they’re inexplicable,” the mayor said, adding, “There’s no reason to suspect this had any racial overtones.” .... the high tension and racial sensitivity surrounding the shooting of Officer Omar J. Edwards in East Harlem on Thursday night, another chapter in a history of fraternal police shootings across the color line. .... Rangel had called for a federal investigation of the shooting, saying that an independent inquiry would help assure minority New Yorkers that what happened was a mistake and that such an encounter would not happen again. Thompson Criticizes Bloomberg For Criticizing Rangel, Who ApologizesNew York Daily Newssuggesting there was perhaps a more tactful way of dealing with the dean of New York's congressional delegation..... Rangel issued a statement earlier today in which he apologized for his comments and said it was "entirely inappropriate to bring the President and his wife into the discussion during their visit to New York
NYC mayor on Rangel's Obama remarks: 'Plain wrong'The Associated Press "I have a lot of respect for Charlie Rangel, but in this case, he's just plain wrong," Bloomberg said Sunday as he marched in the Salute to Israel parade on Fifth Avenue. .... Bloomberg said he spent Saturday night with the slain officer's widow and children. ......... Officer Omar J. Edwards was shot to death Thursday on a Harlem street. He was in street clothes chasing a man and had his service weapon out when three plainclothes officers on routine patrol yelled for the two to stop, police said. One officer opened fire and hit Edwards three times, killing him, police said. It wasn't until medical workers arrived that it was determined he was a police officer. ..... there is no indication at this time that the officer who shot Edwards acted improperly. .... the chances of a police officer "of color" getting shot by a colleague were higher than for a white officer.
Police nightmare in NY: shooting fellow officerThe Associated Press the kind of mistake that haunts a department, opens it to scrutiny, and dominates headlines. While the phenomenon has happened around the country, New York is home to several cases in the past few years. ...... "The rules are pounded into these officers in training, and continued training, using their guns when other cops are around." ........ He had just finished his shift, and had his service weapon out, chasing a man who had broken into his car, police said. ....... One officer, Andrew Dunton, opened fire and hit Edwards three times as he turned toward them with his service weapon. ....... Witnesses are being re-interviewed and many questions remain, specifically whether Edwards identified himself as an officer, and whether Dunton's split-second judgment to fire was against department guidelines. ........ the responsibility on the out-of-uniform officers. They are instructed to drop their weapon, stay still and to obey all directions from the uniformed officers to defuse the tense situation. ...... "We have seen fatal police-involved shootings plummet in recent decades — even as the size of the NYPD increased — because of training and disciplined use of force" ........ "Department guidelines are neat and clean on paper, not so in the split-second reality of an armed confrontation. Our training is designed to help officers safely navigate through the hazards of the real thing." ........ about 22 officers have been killed in accidental shootings in the past decade. ...... staggeringly low given the tense and confusing circumstances officers regularly face. ....... The FBI statistics don't specify the race of the officers killed, and many community members and leaders say race is clearly the reason for the accidents. Dunton and the other two officers were white; Edwards was black. .............. In Providence, Sgt. Cornel Young Jr. was killed in 2000 while he was off duty and trying to break up a fight. He was dressed in baggy jeans, an overcoat and a baseball cap, and carrying a gun. His mother unsuccessfully sued the city. ....... In 2001, two uniformed officers shot and killed an undercover detective when he trained his gun on a suspected car thief in Oakland, Calif. ...... On Saturday in Harlem, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel joined the Rev. Al Sharpton in calling for a federal probe, while Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Kelly met with concerned community members around the city. Edwards' family mourned their son, who always wanted to be a police officer and had two small children and a wife. ........ "If you become an officer and you have a pistol and you are of color, in or out of uniform, your chances of getting shot down by a police officer are a lot heavier than if you were not of color," Rangel said. Report: Weiner Ending Bid for New York City Mayor1010 WinsThompson has been endorsed by former Mayor David Dinkins and Harlem Congressman Charlie Rangel. Rangel Endorses Thompson For MayorNY1 Rangel endorsed other Democrats, including Brooklyn Councilman Bill De Blasio in his bid for public advocate and Queens Councilman John Liu in his bid for city comptroller. On Diverse Force, Blacks Still Face Special Peril NYT a Latino officer with six years on the force acknowledges being conflicted. “Tell you the truth, I feel bad for the shooter. It happens so fast, and now he has got to live with this.” His voice trails off. ....... Its serried ranks are more diverse than ever, its training and rules on the use of force more rigorous than in the past ...... political ritual: protesters march, panels are appointed and reforms are most often accepted by police commissioners. ...... the racial assumptions of their white colleagues. ....... whether too many officers harbor too many assumptions and fire too quickly. ...... “Your greatest fear is to be shot and slain on duty, and that’s only matched by your fear of shooting another officer.” ....... “If you speak with nine out of 10 officers of color they would tell you that when they hear sirens, in their head they are thinking: ‘I hope these cops know that I’m one of the good guys.’ ” .......... 47.8 percent of the city’s officers are white, 28.7 percent Hispanic, 17.9 percent black and 5.4 percent Asian. ......... the young, off-duty officer apparently had drawn his weapon and was chasing a man who had tried to break into his car when he encountered his on-duty colleagues, who according to their initial testimony saw his gun, shouted “Police!” and fired when he turned to face them. Such actions might have been in violation of departmental protocols. ......... “The physiological impact on the officer is great. It’s very detrimental to solid judgment. Your adrenaline is pumping, and your visual skills are impaired. ........ “It’s not a situation you can replicate in a classroom.” ........ two decades ago, when the number of homicides hovered around 2,000 each year. Last year, the city recorded 516 homicides. ......... Officers, many of whom grew up in segregated neighborhoods, find themselves challenged to remember daily that their own come in every shape and color. ......... “If it was just a mistake, we would see more of these mistakes with officers of different colors” ...... Instinctual judgments about race and crime are woven into the culture of the streets. “We tend to pretend in the police force that we don’t see race, we don’t see ethnicity, but we do,” said Senator Adams ........... “One of my cops once said that if he sees a non-uniformed black man with a gun, he takes precautions for himself; if he sees a white guy with a gun, he takes precautions for both because he knows it could be a fellow cop.” ............ “Everyone carries baggage subconsciously and retraining the mind takes lots of work,” said Mr. Robinson, who lives in Florida. “There are a lot of black undercovers out there, and officers need to understand that not every black man with a gun is a criminal.”
Swine Flu Now Reported in All 50 States Atlanta Journal Constitution with the total number of people infected probably surpassing 200,000 ..... 17 deaths .... Infections with the H1N1 swine flu virus continue to be mild and recovery is fairly quick, as is the case with seasonal flu .... a vaccine for the swine flu virus could be ready in October ..... there's no way to tell now if the H1N1 virus will be more virulent when -- and if -- it returns to the Northern Hemisphere with the approach of winter. ..... 53 countries have reported 15,510 cases of H1N1 swine flu, including 99 deaths, most of them in Mexico What happened to Flight 447?Reuters GM Files Bankruptcy to Spin Off More Competitive Firm (Correct)Bloomberg The U.S. government will extend $50 billion of loans to the 100-year-old automaker and plans to convert that into a 60 percent stake in the reorganized company ....... reported debt of $172.8 billion, more than twice its assets. ..... reported debt of $172.8 billion, more than twice its assets. .... GM plans to launch a new company in 60 to 90 days, armed with vehicles from its Cadillac, Chevrolet, Buick and GMC units for the U.S. market. The court will supervise the sale or liquidation of unprofitable brands, such as Saturn and Hummer, and at least 11 unwanted factories. .... a worker health-care fund to get a 17.5 percent stake and the Canadian governments to take 11.7 percent. ....... Bondholders would be eligible for 10 percent and warrants to buy another 15 percent. ...... The company might remain private for as long as 18 months ......... GM’s North American sales were $86.2 billion in 2008, compared with $34.4 billion in Europe, $20.3 billion in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, and $17.8 billion in the Asia Pacific region ...... GM sales dropped 33 percent in April. ....... Lehman filed the biggest bankruptcy in September, listing assets of $639 billion. WorldCom collapsed in 2002 with assets of $103.9 billion. ...... The Chapter 11 proceeding will slash GM’s consolidated debt from $54.4 billion in March to only $17 billion for the new entity
Apple Releases iTunes 8.2 With iPhone 3.0 Support InformationWeek introduces a number of consumer-oriented features, including cut and paste, multimedia text capabilities, and a universal search function. Officials: Mass abduction by Taliban in PakistanWashington Post aimed at distracting the military from its offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley .... the school's principal was among those abducted ..... estimated about 400 captives were initially involved. ..... Known for its harsh terrain, reticent tribes and porous border with Afghanistan, as well as its history of limited federal government oversight, South Waziristan would likely be a tougher test for Pakistan's armed forces than Swat. The region also is the main base for Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. ...... The tribal areas also are the suspected hideouts of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri. ..... up to 3 million people displaced by the fighting. Already, large numbers of families have begun leaving South Waziristan amid rumors of an imminent operation. President hails gay pride monthUSA Today I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration." US Stocks Rally, S&P 500 Hits 7-Month High, as Bonds SlumpBloomberg reports on personal income, manufacturing and construction beat economists’ forecasts ...... The U.S. gains extended a global advance that pushed the MSCI World Index to the highest since November as manufacturing growth in China signaled the worst of the global recession may be ending. .... The rally in equities from Shanghai to Moscow and London was triggered after manufacturing in China grew for a third month in May ....... the first global economic contraction since World War II. ...... the bond market shows international demand for American financial assets is as high as ever, even as the dollar slides and the U.S. deficit expands. Google To Sell E-BooksInformationWeeka digital book ecosystem ..... it may find itself competing more directly against Amazon.com. ...... but Amazon Web Services, the company's on-demand computing infrastructure service, remains a strong contender against Google App Engine. ..... Now, after years of false starts, the era of the e-book may be about to begin in earnest. ....... Once Google starts selling e-books directly, Amazon may have to add a caveat to its claim that it "offers Earth's Biggest Selection."
As Amazon Readies Kindle DX, Homepage Ads Are Driving SalesMediapost.com the new DX model, designed for reading newspapers and magazines, would ship June 10 ...... the e-book market will grow from $323 million in 2008 to nearly $9 billion in 2013
My Third World People Don't Get To Vote In This City![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=ad2b6531-79b8-4060-a7e3-abb5498aa762)
