Police shoot dead 13yr old boy with BB gun in Ohio...

[Ammi]

Police in Ohio shot dead a 13-year-old boy who they said brandished a firearm which turned out to be a BB gun.
Teenager Tyree King was taken to hospital in Columbus where he died just after 8pm on Wednesday evening.
Police were responding to a call about an armed robbery in Columbus involving multiple suspects.
They said when they arrived on the scene, the victim told them that they had been approached by a group of people wanting money and one of them had a gun.
Police officers found three men matching the suspects’ description, two of whom fled on foot.
“Officers followed the males to the alley ... and attempted to take them into custody when one suspect pulled a gun from his waistband,” police said in a statement, as reported by the Associated Press.

“One officer shot and struck the suspect multiple times.” Police said what they thought was a gun being drawn from the child's waistband was actually a BB gun - a type of air gun that shoots steel pellets - with an attached laser sight.
None of the officers was injured. Officers spoke with one of the male suspects who was with King. They interviewed him and released him pending further investigation. He was not injured.
The Columbus police division said, as with all police-related shootings, the officers will receive “mandated psychological support counselling and will have the chance to “take leave time to assist in recovery from a traumatic experience”.
NBC reported that the officer who fired the gun worked for the force for nine years and had only recently been transferred to that neighbourhood.
As reported by WBNS-TV, police said they spoke with witnesses to the robbery and the shooting, and were still searching for the third suspect.
The shooting is still under investigation. The killing comes almost two years after police in Cleveland, Ohio, shot dead 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was holding a pellet gun.
Police shot him within seconds of arriving on the scene. His death sparked protests across the country. The two officers involved were not indicted last December and Tamir's family received $6 million in a civil rights lawsuit settlement in April.

http://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/tyree-king-killing-police-shoot-dead-13-year-old-boy-in-ohio/ar-BBwbFv3

http://www.inquisitr.com/3512522/tyree-king-13-year-old-ohio-boy-with-bb-gun-shot-and-killed-by-police-video-tyree-king-columbus-ohio-facebook-twitter-instagram-video-police-shooting-13-year-old-boy/
**

[Jack_]

I'm sure he was a threat! Where's the evidence he was an innocent little boy?! The police were well within their rights here!

etc etc

[Niamh.]

I'm sure he was a threat! Where's the evidence he was an innocent little boy?! The police were well within their rights here!

etc etc

If I'm reading that article right though, this 13 year old and two men tried to rob someone and the Police chased them and the two men fled and the boy went to pull the gun from his pants and that's when he was shot, am i reading that right? If that's the case then it does sound justified tbf

[arista]

Ammi
USA is the land of the Gun.

No kid must ever play with any
Gun or Toy Gun in front of the Police
is that so hard to understand?

[Northern Monkey]

Silly kid.You'd think they would've learned by now not to pull out firearms near police.The thing had a laser sight on it ffs.Sounds like the cop had no other choice and he has to live with that forever.

[Ithinkiloveyoutoo]

Too sad. RIP

Meanwhile

Here Are 7 White People Who Pointed Guns at Cops and Didn’t Get Killed
http://usuncut.com/black-lives-matter/armed-white-people-survive-cops/
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/8-white-people-who-pointed-guns-police-officers-and-managed-not-get-killed
And there are more of white kids with BB guns. They lived. Two in particular last year were made to write an essay on Tamir Rice as a result.

I love how they always push the agenda that white kids complied PEACEFULLY while the black ones raised hell. How do we get some of this favoritism? Can we get in on it too please. sir? :joker:

[Crimson Dynamo]

:facepalm:

[Niamh.]

Too sad. RIP

Meanwhile

Here Are 7 White People Who Pointed Guns at Cops and Didn’t Get Killed
http://usuncut.com/black-lives-matter/armed-white-people-survive-cops/
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/8-white-people-who-pointed-guns-police-officers-and-managed-not-get-killed
And there are more of white kids with BB guns. They lived. Two in particular last year were made to write an essay on Tamir Rice as a result.

I love how they always push the agenda that white kids complied PEACEFULLY while the black ones raised hell. How do we get some of this favoritism? Can we get in on it too please. sir? :joker:

tbf though last year (according to this article) more white people were shot dead by police than black people, almost double the amount in fact


https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/fatal-police-shootings-in-2015-approaching-400-nationwide/2015/05/30/d322256a-058e-11e5-a428-c984eb077d4e_story.html

ETA although having read through it properly I see the unarmed ones were mostly black/Hispanic :think: so I get your point

[Ithinkiloveyoutoo]

tbf though last year (according to this article) more white people were shot dead by police than black people, almost double the amount in fact

t


IF this is true (you just can't trust the government and what they release to media outlets to push their agenda), it would make sense as whites make 63% of the population and giving that blacks are only 13% a large amount are still being killed. However it would be foolish to act like racial profiling is not a thing.

[Ithinkiloveyoutoo]

^^'https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/31/the-counted-police-killings-2015-young-black-men

''Despite making up only 2% of the total US population, African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 comprised more than 15% of all deaths logged this year by an ongoing investigation into the use of deadly force by police. Their rate of police-involved deaths was five times higher than for white men of the same age.''

[Niamh.]

IF this is true (you just can't trust the government and what they release to media outlets to push their agenda), it would make sense as whites make 63% of the population and giving that blacks are only 13% a large amount are still being killed. However it would be foolish to act like racial profiling is not a thing.

No I agree and It does say on that article that the vast majority of unarmed shootings are towards black/hispanic people. Racial profiling does nothing but cause the Police to fear black people more I think which leads to stories like we've seen a lot of lately where unarmed kids are being shot. I think for a start the Police training needs a massive over haul

[armand.kay]

I think the boy was incredibly stupid but the police need to 1 stop being so trigger happy and 2 if they are going to use their guns not shoot to kill.

[armand.kay]

No I agree and It does say on that article that the vast majority of unarmed shootings are towards black/hispanic people. Racial profiling does nothing but cause the Police to fear black people more I think which leads to stories like we've seen a lot of lately where unarmed kids are being shot. I think for a start the Police training needs a massive over haul

Yeah I agree American police seem to rely to heavily on their guns it makes me wonder if they have any training at all or if they're just given a gun and a badge and sent out into the world.

[Niamh.]

Yeah I agree American police seem to rely to heavily on their guns it makes me wonder if they have any training at all or if they're just given a gun and a badge and sent out into the world.

mmm also the fact their gun laws are ridiculous too so no doubt they're more jumpy when approaching people, literally anyone could be armed.

[Ithinkiloveyoutoo]

I think the boy was incredibly stupid but the police need to 1 stop being so triage happy and 2 if they are going to use their guns not shoot to kill.

I think they need to stop allowing guns if this is going to be the result.

Like Niamh said, police should also be trained better to not shoot first or if they must shoot not shoot to kill, especially not with kids. Too many times the gun is a bb gun.

[Niamh.]

I think they need to stop allowing guns if this is going to be the result.

Like Niamh said, police should also be trained better to not shoot first or if they must shoot not shoot to kill, especially not with kids. Too many times the gun is a bb gun.

Well the colour here is green unfortunately and that's why none of the governments can do a thing about it. You could tell Obama would have loved to do something about gun laws but in reality the President doesn't really run that country.

[Ithinkiloveyoutoo]

Well the colour here is green unfortunately and that's why none of the governments can do a thing about it. You could tell Obama would have loved to do something about gun laws but in reality the President doesn't really run that country.


Truth.

[Mystic Mock]

If I'm reading that article right though, this 13 year old and two men tried to rob someone and the Police chased them and the two men fled and the boy went to pull the gun from his pants and that's when he was shot, am i reading that right? If that's the case then it does sound justified tbf

It's more understandable than some of the other cases imo, because what if it had've turned out that this 13 year old had a real gun? A Police officer would've died all because he didn't take the chance and save his own life.

However I still feel that the American Police force should be trying to train their Officers to shoot in the leg.

[Tom4784]

I can't wait to see how people try to blame the black child for his own murder while vindicating the presumably white killers.

It's obviously the child's fault for being killed for having a perfectly legal toy gun and not the presumably white officers' for not being competent enough to assess the situation properly before going trigger happy on the child.

[Tom4784]

^^'https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/31/the-counted-police-killings-2015-young-black-men

''Despite making up only 2% of the total US population, African American males between the ages of 15 and 34 comprised more than 15% of all deaths logged this year by an ongoing investigation into the use of deadly force by police. Their rate of police-involved deaths was five times higher than for white men of the same age.''

Look at that shooting a year or two ago with the white boy who opened fire on a gospel church. The police made the effort of taking him alive yet they'll pull off driveby's on innocent black kids like Tamir Rice.

Hell, Tamir Rice got a rougher time in the press afterwards with all the character assassination when he was innocent then that white kid did for opening fire on a church full of black people. I'm pretty sure most of the stories about him followed the typical 'misunderstood loner that could have been saved if only someone noticed' bull**** that most white shooters get in America.

[Northern Monkey]

It's more understandable than some of the other cases imo, because what if it had've turned out that this 13 year old had a real gun? A Police officer would've died all because he didn't take the chance and save his own life.

However I still feel that the American Police force should be trying to train their Officers to shoot in the leg.

Shooting someone in the leg isn't going to stop them shooting you.The cops have to take away the ability of the guy with the gun to shoot them.It's not like in the movies where you can shoot the gun out of the hand.They have to aim for the biggest target.The torso

[Northern Monkey]

I can't wait to see how people try to blame the black child for his own murder while vindicating the presumably white killers.

It's obviously the child's fault for being killed for having a perfectly legal toy gun and not the presumably white officers' for not being competent enough to assess the situation properly before going trigger happy on the child.

:joker:He pulled a firearm with laser sight on an armed cop.What's the cop meant to do?wait until he's pulled it out fully and pointed it at him and possibly be killed?It takes a second to pull the trigger.

[Crimson Dynamo]

I think the boy was incredibly stupid but the police need to 1 stop being so trigger happy and 2 if they are going to use their guns not shoot to kill.

Not shoot to kill? :joker:

Are you for real?


This isn't the A Team

[Crimson Dynamo]

:joker:He pulled a firearm with laser sight on an armed cop.What's the cop meant to do?wait until he's pulled it out fully and pointed it at him and possibly be killed?It takes a second to pull the trigger.

Don't rise to it. Smh

[Marsh.]

Not shoot to kill? :joker:

Are you for real?


This isn't the A Team

Shoot the kid's kneecaps off. :fist:

[jaxie]

I can't wait to see how people try to blame the black child for his own murder while vindicating the presumably white killers.

It's obviously the child's fault for being killed for having a perfectly legal toy gun and not the presumably white officers' for not being competent enough to assess the situation properly before going trigger happy on the child.

I think it must be very difficult to police in a country where guns are so easily accessible and it's easy to point fingers at the establishment. When it comes down to it and someone pulls a gun it's probably a split second decision and it's them or you in your head. I very much doubt it has much to do with being 'trigger happy. Not all of these incidents are deliberate or premeditated and I can't imagine there is much time to see how old the person who appears to pull the gun is, or indeed if it's a real gun. The real problem is the NFA and the US gun laws.

[Gstar]

#BLM

[Tom4784]

I think it must be very difficult to police in a country where guns are so easily accessible and it's easy to point fingers at the establishment. When it comes down to it and someone pulls a gun it's probably a split second decision and it's them or you in your head. I very much doubt it has much to do with being 'trigger happy. Not all of these incidents are deliberate or premeditated and I can't imagine there is much time to see how old the person who appears to pull the gun is, or indeed if it's a real gun. The real problem is the NFA and the US gun laws.

My sympathy lies with the child whose life was ended before it truly began. I don't give the slightest **** about these officers. It was their incompetence that stole this child's life.

I lost sympathy for the police when incidents like this became a regular occurrence, it happens every other ****ing week so I think it's more than fair to blame the establishment because something is very wrong in the US when it comes to the police and far too many people are content with sticking their heads into the sand because it's black people who are the victims. If these officers shot a white child then they'd be hung out to dry and the people who think BLM is a joke and that there isn't an issue would be screaming out for blood and demanding a change.

Gun laws don't change the fact that these officers are at best, incompetent or what worst, racist and incompetent. Either way, they are incompetent and shouldn't have a badge and a gun if they shoot first and ask questions later. Guns are a last resort for officers to defend themselves or others, it's not an introduction. Pretty much all of these incidents have been a result of these moron officers thinking they are Dirty Harry and the system protects them.

[Mystic Mock]

My sympathy lies with the child whose life was ended before it truly began. I don't give the slightest **** about these officers. It was their incompetence that stole this child's life.

I lost sympathy for the police when incidents like this became a regular occurrence, it happens every other ****ing week so I think it's more than fair to blame the establishment because something is very wrong in the US when it comes to the police and far too many people are content with sticking their heads into the sand because it's black people who are the victims. If these officers shot a white child then they'd be hung out to dry and the people who think BLM is a joke and that there isn't an issue would be screaming out for blood and demanding a change.

Gun laws don't change the fact that these officers are at best, incompetent or what worst, racist and incompetent. Either way, they are incompetent and shouldn't have a badge and a gun if they shoot first and ask questions later. Guns are a last resort for officers to defend themselves or others, it's not an introduction. Pretty much all of these incidents have been a result of these moron officers thinking they are Dirty Harry and the system protects them.

I understand what you're saying Dezzy, and I've normally agreed with you on the other cases of black kids being killed by Police, but this kid shouldn't be robbing and then holding out a Toy Gun with a lazer being pointed out at The Police, no wonder they thought he had a real Gun with the lazer coming out of it.

[Tom4784]

I understand what you're saying Dezzy, and I've normally agreed with you on the other cases of black kids being killed by Police, but this kid shouldn't be robbing and then holding out a Toy Gun with a lazer being pointed out at The Police, no wonder they thought he had a real Gun with the lazer coming out of it.

Please point out the part where it says that these kids were responsible for the robbery.

[Mystic Mock]

Please point out the part where it says that these kids were responsible for the robbery.

I thought I read that The Police was chasing him so I was assuming that a kid at his age might've been robbing.

[jaxie]

My sympathy lies with the child whose life was ended before it truly began. I don't give the slightest **** about these officers. It was their incompetence that stole this child's life.

I lost sympathy for the police when incidents like this became a regular occurrence, it happens every other ****ing week so I think it's more than fair to blame the establishment because something is very wrong in the US when it comes to the police and far too many people are content with sticking their heads into the sand because it's black people who are the victims. If these officers shot a white child then they'd be hung out to dry and the people who think BLM is a joke and that there isn't an issue would be screaming out for blood and demanding a change.

Gun laws don't change the fact that these officers are at best, incompetent or what worst, racist and incompetent. Either way, they are incompetent and shouldn't have a badge and a gun if they shoot first and ask questions later. Guns are a last resort for officers to defend themselves or others, it's not an introduction. Pretty much all of these incidents have been a result of these moron officers thinking they are Dirty Harry and the system protects them.

So you think the officer should just wait and let someone shoot him? What's he supposed to do when someone pulls a gun? :shrug:. What about his family and his kids? You talk as if there is an hour for them to evaluate a situation. It's seconds. We are lucky we don't live in country where every potential crime has guns involved.

It's always a tragedy when someone dies but every case isn't the same and the person who is shot isn't always doing the right thing. If they had tasers instead of guns chances are everyone lives to see another day.

[Tom4784]

So you think the officer should just wait and let someone shoot him? What's he supposed to do when someone pulls a gun? :shrug:

Preferably not shoot a child as a first response. Preferably they'd assess the situation before they decide they want to have a target practice session with a live target. Preferably they'd do their ****ing jobs competently but that seems way too much to ask.

Police Officers should calm situations down, not incite them. If these officers weren't woefully incompetent at their jobs then they could have ended this situation peacefully without violence but, as usual with these ****ing terrible muderous officers that give the rest of the force a bad name, they went in all guns blazing.

[jaxie]

I thought I read that The Police was chasing him so I was assuming that a kid at his age might've been robbing.

It said in the article 3 guys had been trying to rob with a gun, the police found 3 fitting the description, 2 ran, one pulled a gun. :shrug:

[jaxie]

Preferably not shoot a child as a first response. Preferably they'd assess the situation before they decide they want to have a target practice session with a live target. Preferably they'd do their ****ing jobs competently but that seems way too much to ask.

Police Officers should calm situations down, not incite them. If these officers weren't woefully incompetent at their jobs then they could have ended this situation peacefully without violence but, as usual with these ****ing terrible muderous officers that give the rest of the force a bad name, they went in all guns blazing.

Where does all this assessment time come from when a guy pulls a gun on you? It might be dark, he might be tall, how can you tell he's a child? It's a realistic looking weapon do you have time to wonder is it real or fake? I don't think you are considering the reality of those kinds or situations. It's far from clear cut and the colour of his skin is probably the last thing on the officers mind, he's probably looking down the barrel of that gun.

[Tom4784]

I'd personally would not corner someone if I believed they had a gun since that would trigger a fight or flight response. Surely the better action would have been to call for backup if they believed the suspect was armed.

Given that they released the survivor, it's likely that they were both innocent and made to feel like they had no choice but to run. This situation likely came about because the officers inflamed the situation.

[Ammi]

...I think that there is something basically and extremely wrong with a police system where a suspect in a robbery/or attempted robbery is shot dead as an apparent first course of action...but that's not the thing for me because I can see how it was a difficult call for the police officer in this case.../a weapon was being pulled etc so I don't think racial profiling...but I can still understand 'black lives matter' with this because who is Tyree King..?...he was a 13yr old child who was just shot dead but I've struggled to find anything about him...where are the photographs in his school uniform/with his childhood friends/with his family/a birthday photograph of him..?...who is he...?...it seems maybe just 'some black kid with a BB gun who should have known better'...I just can't help but feel that if he was white, there wouldn't be a struggle in finding things about him/childhood photographs about him etc...whatever happened, where did it all go wrong/this is Tyree with his family/type thing..?....so I do really strongly feel that race is very much to play in these things with the media...black does not seem to matter as much as white, black does not get the same back stories, black does not get the same understandings, black does not the same analysis and etc etc....

..just off topic quite a bit but it's something that really struck me at the time...when Harambe was shot, there was so much on the family of that child...how the father had been a drug addict/a petty criminal etc in days gone by and how that seemed relevant to report.../how much the parenting of the family was questionable and immediately investigated as opposed to a short time later when the child was taken by an alligator at the Disney resort.../also alligators were killed as Harambe was but not the same negative interest in the family and the parenting of the child from the media..?...it was much more sensitive...I just think it's foolish to not question why these things are..yes, all lives matter so why are the losses of some reported so differently....

[Ammi]

..I'm struggling to find one single photograph of Kyree...:sad:...and his death is tragic and not an 'every day' thing in the circumstances....

[Niamh.]

Please point out the part where it says that these kids were responsible for the robbery.

yeah that part is a bit unclear as to whether the police were actually chasing these guys because they were the ones who mugged the person or not?

[Niamh.]

...I think that there is something basically and extremely wrong with a police system where a suspect in a robbery/or attempted robbery is shot dead as an apparent first course of action...but that's not the thing for me because I can see how it was a difficult call for the police officer in this case.../a weapon was being pulled etc so I don't think racial profiling...but I can still understand 'black lives matter' with this because who is Tyree King..?...he was a 13yr old child who was just shot dead but I've struggled to find anything about him...where are the photographs in his school uniform/with his childhood friends/with his family/a birthday photograph of him..?...who is he...?...it seems maybe just 'some black kid with a BB gun who should have known better'...I just can't help but feel that if he was white, there wouldn't be a struggle in finding things about him/childhood photographs about him etc...whatever happened, where did it all go wrong/this is Tyree with his family/type thing..?....so I do really strongly feel that race is very much to play in these things with the media...black does not seem to matter as much as white, black does not get the same back stories, black does not get the same understandings, black does not the same analysis and etc etc....

..just off topic quite a bit but it's something that really struck me at the time...when Harambe was shot, there was so much on the family of that child...how the father had been a drug addict/a petty criminal etc in days gone by and how that seemed relevant to report.../how much the parenting of the family was questionable and immediately investigated as opposed to a short time later when the child was taken by an alligator at the Disney resort.../also alligators were killed as Harambe was but not the same negative interest in the family and the parenting of the child from the media..?...it was much more sensitive...I just think it's foolish to not question why these things are..yes, all lives matter so why are the losses of some reported so differently....

Great point Ammi

[bots]

What i find "interesting" is that America is very vocal at criticising other country's and their regimes for human rights issues and lack of respect for human life. Yet here we are, day after day, where people are killed because they may be a threat. No proof, no evidence. Shoot first and ask the questions later.

Its not about individual cases of shooting's and their circumstances. The American regime does not respect and value human life or respect the role of justice backed by fair trial. It is deplorable.

[jaxie]

What i find "interesting" is that America is very vocal at criticising other country's and their regimes for human rights issues and lack of respect for human life. Yet here we are, day after day, where people are killed because they may be a threat. No proof, no evidence. Shoot first and ask the questions later.

Its not about individual cases of shooting's and their circumstances. The American regime does not respect and value human life or respect the role of justice backed by fair trial. It is deplorable.

It's the gun culture.

[lostalex]

have you guys seen a picture of the type of "BB gun" that the kid had?

[lostalex]

What i find "interesting" is that America is very vocal at criticising other country's and their regimes for human rights issues and lack of respect for human life. Yet here we are, day after day, where people are killed because they may be a threat. No proof, no evidence. Shoot first and ask the questions later.

Its not about individual cases of shooting's and their circumstances. The American regime does not respect and value human life or respect the role of justice backed by fair trial. It is deplorable.

That's a load of crap, most americans don't talk about other countries at all, we don't care at all about other countries. America is the most self-criticizing country in the world.

Compare the number of stories about America on the BBC front page to the number of UK stories on the front page of CNN.

[bots]

That's a load of crap, most americans don't talk about other countries at all, we don't care at all about other countries. America is the most self-criticizing country in the world.

Compare the number of stories about America on the BBC front page to the number of UK stories on the front page of CNN.

i disagree. America is always preaching how other countries should behave

[Northern Monkey]

What i find "interesting" is that America is very vocal at criticising other country's and their regimes for human rights issues and lack of respect for human life. Yet here we are, day after day, where people are killed because they may be a threat. No proof, no evidence. Shoot first and ask the questions later.

Its not about individual cases of shooting's and their circumstances. The American regime does not respect and value human life or respect the role of justice backed by fair trial. It is deplorable.I think that is just an inevitable symptom of having guns freely available to the public.The cops want to go home to their families at the end if their shift.They will always be twitchy while they know that anywhere they go at anytime somebody may pull a gun on them.I think the whole culture and system is to blame.This won't end until guns are outlawed which will never happen as their would be civil war.

[lostalex]

i disagree. America is always preaching how other countries should behave

How long have you lived in America? American leaders give opinions about world issues just like every other country's leaders do. but Americans do not spend much time worrying about or preaching to other countries.

[Crimson Dynamo]

http://bluelivesmatter.blue/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/fake-bb-gun-looks-real.jpg

Silly policeman, its obvious which is the real gun

:rolleyes:

[Maru]

Gun homicides steady after decline in ’90s; suicide rate edges up
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/21/gun-homicides-steady-after-decline-in-90s-suicide-rate-edges-up/

We’ve had a massive decline in gun violence in the United States. Here’s why.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/03/weve-had-a-massive-decline-in-gun-violence-in-the-united-states-heres-why/

https://img.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2015/12/FT_15.10.13_gunViolence.png

I think too many people in this section buy too much into the media narrative(s). Remember that they're trying to sell their story for ratings. You'll never be close to any version of the truth this way.

1. More police officers on the beat

Additional manpower helps police departments respond to and prevent violence. In 1994, President Bill Clinton signed a major crime bill that set aside enough federal funding for law enforcement agencies nationally to add 100,000 officers, though the ranks of the country's police forces had already been expanding as local governments dedicated more resources to their departments to control increasing rates of crime.

In New York City, the recruitment of more officers was a crucial reason that the decline in crime was larger and more sustained than in other cities, according to Franklin Zimring, a criminologist at the University of California at Berkeley. The economist Steven Levitt estimates that larger police forces reduced crime by 5 percent to 6 percent. Gun violence, presumably, declined along with crime in general.

Depending on how you shake it, this can have a bad or good effect on the African American demographics. On one hand, they are safer, on another... there's more chances for **** to go awry when the policing is based on pro-efficiency. The African American community is anti-police, pro-racial paranoia... so obviously there is going to be more culture clash there. That's not really a full blown narrative as much as it's simply a matter of statistics. Though I believe there is an issue with racial profiling with regards to policing that needs to be corrected/improved upon. Anyway, we're living in the new rage culture that feeds off faux narratives... so hard to see where the truth and the lies begin, even for me who is in a law enforcement family. I ask my husband a lot of questions, and I'm probably critical at times, but I'm curious where this line begins and ends... where exactly the statistics stop and the truth unfolds. Unfortunately it appears to be much greyer than some people prefer.

What i find "interesting" is that America is very vocal at criticising other country's and their regimes for human rights issues and lack of respect for human life. Yet here we are, day after day, where people are killed because they may be a threat. No proof, no evidence. Shoot first and ask the questions later.

Its not about individual cases of shooting's and their circumstances. The American regime does not respect and value human life or respect the role of justice backed by fair trial. It is deplorable.

I find that funny considering most of our media doesn't usually acknowledge the rest of the world exists until a terror story is involved or it's about amazing things we're doing (like blowing that **** up). We are very self-absorbed and yet so self-hating in this respect... we're too busy tearing our own culture to pieces in the local media to have time to disseminate someone elses failings. People bring up China and the middle east, but it's just a distraction. We love our culture and politics so much, we are taking a big knife to it and giving it the slow painful death it deserves on social media. Mainstream media is no different and to find the blame for it, well, it's in our mainstream culture... it all preaches self-hate... hate your own skin, hate your own politics, hate your own history, hate this, hate that... don't like that ethnic music? Water it down. Add autotune... so yeah... it's pro-comfort zone, not pro-self-awarenesss... so yeah beat it all dead with a big stick. The media runs in like vermin to pick up after the scraps and sensationalizes the process of it all.

Meanwhile, our national identity is becoming very unclear (if it were relative to the media)... much less our international one. We're in the midst of our own culture war right now and our apparent reflection in the international community right now is the least of our concerns. The only people who care are some portions of the extreme right which bathe daily in the fuels of ethnocentrism and extreme nationalism.

P.S. I have no idea why African Americans care about being unanimously heralded in our wonderful paradise called mainstream anything that celebrates mediocrity. It's all mediocre watered down crap. Anything you put in that is culturally rich is stripped of it's core. Everybody hates it, we just haven't acknowledged it yet. Even white people. Want to succeed? Pro tip... Be a leader. Not a follower. The majority voice, majority anything is dwindling and pretty soon there will be no majority... and it's never been more fair game. Well, unless you're contending with your own movements that seek to self-victimize your group(s)... it's ok the Hispanics are growing in numbers and pretty soon the demographic will be so mixed it won't matter anyway. There are very few "white communities"/homogenous cultures in America anymore... maybe in a high priced subdivision or if you're in the boonies or among the rich and elite (which I often would argue points to a class issue, not a race war)... but go to most metro/high density communities... it's very well mixed, which is a great thing. My city is minority majority so this focus on whites this and that is null and void... we're already living the new mixed multi-voiced America. And I'm digging it.

As far as the US diplomatic policies with regards to working other regions... I wholeheartedly agree... I think it's time we get the hell out and just let whatever happen happen... they don't need us right? ... uhhh... wait no, that's a bad idea. :laugh: