Why not Detroit? [Ferguson Aftermath Demonstrations]

[Wesley Mouch]

What do you specifically want to happen in Detroit? I don't get it. Why would Detroit be "front and center"?

Some people, unhappy with the decision, are protesting. Others aren't.

B'ham. I would have expected Detroit to be 'front and center' because from what I hear on this forum, racism is alive and well -- and thus requires action to remedy.

But clearly I don't understand the protesters. Its often said that we need a dialog on race. I want to hear why Detroit is not the center of protests wanting to convict Mr. Wilson. That's how we learn. Ask. Listen.

Our President has said...The fact is, in too many parts of this country, a deep distrust exists between law enforcement and communities of color. Some of this is the result of the legacy of racial discrimination in this country. And this is tragic, because nobody needs good policing more than poor communities with higher crime rates. Is this really true? Does most of the community feel this way? Or is this an impression imposed by activists onto this community? I wonder if you could ask black Ferguson residents by secret ballot what they thought, if the majority wouldn't say that Mr. Brown brought this on himself. Do most black Detroiters distrust law enforcement? Is our 'community of color' of one mind on this?

[animatedmartian]

Actually, DPD has a pretty good connection with the community. At least as evidenced by Charlie LeDuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MappUyWPY5M

I've noticed this that even compared to other big cities, the residents of Detroit have a pretty well-off relationship with the police force. Possibly due to the fact that the city almost came to barely having a police force. So perhaps tasting a sense of anarchy it what makes Detroiters almost need a good relationship with the police, because the other option is pretty much irrational in every way. And the police themselves are very aware of this because essentially they are under-manned and outgunned in most cases.

One case I can think of is that case were the police raided that home and killed that little girl. People were certainly upset, but it hasn't exactly generated a city-wide protest or anything. And that's when the police screwed-up, raided the wrong house, and killed and innocent person. The office who fired the shot got involuntary manslaughter [[prior to the mistrial declaration), but again, it doesn't seem like a city-wide issue. So, and I've wondered this from the start, why does Ferguson seem different?

Being impartial to whether or not the officer was justified in shooting, many people who are upset seem to think the officer or the police force in general actively seeks out blacks. In Detroit, that's kind of an impossibility because there's simply not enough people of other races to make that claim. Maybe regionally that argument could be made, but being an African American in the suburbs, I don't feel as though that is true. Then again, I also don't dress up with saggy pants and speak like I didn't go school. That in itself is a big internal problem within the African American community that continually perpetrates stereotypes and makes separating between the innocent and the guilty much harder. But then are those young black kids acting like thugs guilty of their circumstances or guilty of their choices?

In the end, I just don't feel as if all black communities are equal and shouldn't be treated as such. Detroit is not Ferguson or St. Louis. Although histories are similar, they are not the same. Although conditions may also be similar, there are hugely different variables. As a young black man, I don't feel as if I have anything in common with Mike Brown other than racial description and I wouldn't expect a white guy in the suburbs of Detroit to have the same thought patterns as Darrell Wilson. In my personal experience, it's just not healthy to put so many people under the same umbrella on so few similarities and it's pointless to talk about racism if everyone already assumes that everyone of everyone other race fits a narrow pre-determined description. People have to actually remove themselves from race before talking about racism, I think.

[313WX]

Actually, DPD has a pretty good connection with the community. At least as evidenced by Charlie LeDuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MappUyWPY5M

I've noticed this that even compared to other big cities, the residents of Detroit have a pretty well-off relationship with the police force. Possibly due to the fact that the city almost came to barely having a police force. So perhaps tasting a sense of anarchy it what makes Detroiters almost need a good relationship with the police, because the other option is pretty much irrational in every way. And the police themselves are very aware of this because essentially they are under-manned and outgunned in most cases.

There's also the fact that Detroit essentially has a mostly black police force serving a mostly black city...

This wasn't hardly the case when the 1967 riots happened.

[animatedmartian]

There's also the fact that Detroit essentially has a mostly black police force serving a mostly black city...

This wasn't hardly the case when the 1967 riots happened.

Yes, it was a mostly white city with a mostly white police force. Racial inequality was also more pronounced with the overt restriction of blacks being able to move into certain neighborhoods/suburbs.

Yet, despite Detroit's current majority black residents, I still see a great number of whites both in the police force and fire department. I would think with 80+% black residents, the police force would be close to 80+% black, but as of the year 2000 it was only 63%. 14 years later, I'm not how much that's changed, but it doesn't seem like it's any wider of a majority. It's not like a 'black police force' so much as is it a police force that happens to have more blacks than other cities, if that makes sense.

So even with a good third of the police force made up of whites, Detroit residents still seem to have a pretty good relationship with them.