Cincy Uprising

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 04:46 PM 4/12/01 -0400, yoshie wrote:
>1.  Gun ownership can't explain racial profiling and police 
>brutality, unless perhaps you are arguing that blacks are more likely 
>to own guns than whites & that therefore cops fear blacks more than 
>whites, but there is no evidence for this argument.

Blacks are significantly more likely (7 times as likely to be exact) as
whites to commit homicide.  They are also more likely (6x) than whites to
be a victims of homicide; see: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/htius.pdf 
pages 40-41.

That supports my argument.


>3.  The best way to decrease racial profiling, police brutality, _& 
>the number of cops killed while on the job_ is to decrease 
>unemployment, to raise the median wage, & to police less.

You miss the point I'm trying to make entirely.  I am not for arguing for
or against racial profiling.  I am trying to move away from voluntaristic
and moralistic 'explanations' of police behavior so popular among many
lefties, and try to get into organizational/structural factors.  

wojtek