Welcome back. A story about a conversation you had recently we cant wait to hear it. The thing is that, you know, i dont want to tar all Police Officers with the same brush or anything, but there is a segment of human beings that when they get a little power, they want to, you know, show it off. Once i was driving here in washington and somebody cut me off. I had to hit the brake, i almost hit them. I really just gave my horn. Well, seconds later all of a sudden a siren goes off on this car that cut me mead over and it was police. They would not tell me what ive done. Clearly he was just angry that, you know, i had been objected to the way he drove and i had no idea it was a Police Officer. This guy kept me sitting on a street for half an hour. Theres certain people that they like the feeling of power. He didnt stop you because of your race. No, exact lea. Yes, theres big racial element about power. But if kimberly had been stopped she would assume, in a small way, that race was a factor. Her experience is telling us its about Law Enforcement, about power, about control. I think its about all those things. I dont know for certain that if we had both been in that sim position if it would have played out exact threa same way. That you would have been shot . I dont know if i would have been shot. What are you saying . Based on the perception of police t was walking my dog recently in the park, uh, in suburban washington and a police car came into the park at high speed, clearly in pursuit of someone. And it was a rainy day. I had on a hood. And i for a moment had to figure out what do i do to make it clear that the thing thats in my hand is a retractible dog leash and not a weapon. This is something that black people cross the country think about every day. Ive never committed a crime in i think thats the difference. You know, the officer who shot scott in charlotte happened to be black. Its not as if the officer had been white it would have been a big part of the media story. Its u maying to me, i read about for example what happen in tulsa. Shes a white woman. Right. Woman shot a black man. I read about what happened to charlotte and it just says a Police Officer shot not mentioning at all that that officer was black. Thats an indictment of the media. I agree, and because they want to play out a certain narrative. Now, in doing so i think theyre missing part of the story. Yes, race is certainly an essential element of what is going on with the community and law ns enforcement but its not the ors only thing. By ignoring that and saying sh times weve got a trigger happy black cop that will shoot a black man, we are ignoring the with certain Law Enforcement and power and authority. That is a debate we need to be having as much as a debate about race. Also think it is about race. When you say we have a police system, a systemic problem not just about individual cops, its about a systemic problem that involves training, it involves the perception of threat from the top to the bottom. When officers are a part of that system whether theyre black or white, i dont think that theyre not affected by it. Are you um, that the officer in charlotte if his, um, the culprit had been white and not black he would have shot and killed him . I dont know. Youre saying something much deeper here. Does that play a role in an officer firing a gun . I think that plays a role in the training that the officers get and the system that theyre in. I dont want to speak i of that officer, but i do know if there is a systemic problem, every officer of every race who is a part of it can be affect by it. Kelly jane, let me take this deeper. Listen. In the moment of a crime when youre in that hostile situation, the adrenaline is flowing, do you believe that a Law Enforcement officer has time to look at the assailants, their skin and make a judgment whether to shoot or not. That is the point. Thats part of the point and also not just whether to shoot, but where to shoot. Ive watch ad lot of cop show on tv, i thought the idea was you shoot to disarm. Nowak you shoot theyre trained to kill. Thats what what amazes me. To me the idea that eve b if you perceive a threat that mean you need to kill that person rather than disable them. But. They do have it is true a fire arm they do so with the expectation that that person will die, but there are other tools at their disposal as well. There are tasers, other things that can be it deployed in situations that are short of lethal force if youre trying to stop or disable someone. That goes to the heart of the training; right . And to your point about do they make a judgment when they see someone saying hey, thats a black guy. Thats not whats being alleged here. Its about inherent dangerousness of black people, particularly black men, that i think we all have. Anybody who has crossed the street before passing someone at night. Anyone who has grabbed closer hold of their purse when someone sits next to them on the subway understands these are inherent things we have inside of us. When you are a Police Officer and you have a weapon that you can use, this is something that specifically has to be addressed in training. I think this. Wrong. I think what gets the most coverage is when it involves race. I think there are people out there in all walks of life responding to this. Saying i get stopped, i was drugged, i was beaten, ive seen people who are white abused bide Police Officers. I think Law Enforcement does it to everybody. I actually think that it trivializes to make its exclusively black. Dwhring overall i hear so men people tell the same story who dont happen to look like this. There are lot of stories that dont get media attention. Robert smith, one of the big benefactors of the new African American museum. He says he gets stopped half a dozen times a year on the way to the airport before he fly away on his private plane. Hold that. Topic, so complex. But yet, ritz really finding our way in our head lines every we welcome back kelly jane and kimberly atkinson, the boston herald. What how much of this burden goes to the community. This is one of the problems i think that were seeing the communitys reaction to whats going on is in some cases changing the way Law Enforcement i think i mentioned earlier in some cases a push back effect where police are scared to go into certain neighborhoods or theyre nervous and worried about what, you know, mist rakes might be made. So theyre actually doing less policing. That is also a big problem. So so we need i mean both sides need to work this out not something were going to be able to fix overnight. Kimberly, this is a tough, tough question about im about to lay on you. How is this possible so repeated when you have the First American president who happens to be black . How does this what is this psychology of this . And what would be happening now f president were not black and happened to be white, what would look, i think that the election of the first black president of the United States both showed, uh, the best of what this country could be, buty could be. We saw leading up to president obamas election and since a lot of people who cant believe hes a citizen. I think this is something, the racial tension in this country is something that isnt new, certainly wasnt start bide barack obama, but i think that people who are angry but its also the political discourse in this country has also heightened it. I dont think its the cause, but i think it heightened it. A lot of people may have thought that tha election of the first black president of the United States mebt we are a postracial nation. I think a lot of people of color never thought that. I think it may surprise people this is happening under a first magician. But kelly and i know im going to get tarred and feathered for this, but do they feel emboldened when they riot . Do they feel a sense of bravado. Am i over stating this . You mentioned the l. A. Riots earlier. And then you have people who are going to take advantage of it for whatever reason. The first night in shar t was fine then you get people who see whats lr going on and like hey, this might be a time for me to do some damage. Youve got to sort of separate but you cant because its all part of a complex thing. Separate out how much of the anger and what is going on is directly related to the event and whats going on in the to resolve and put this behind us forever . Can we . It will be difficult if it is possible. For this to be resolved we need all stake holders at the table, public officials, police, Community Members coming to the table and figuring out a way to reinstore restore the trust between communities and police. Right now we have a situation where we talked about people in the community not trusting the police and the police also not community. Talking about this ferguson affect where Police Officers may feel afraid to do the sort of patrolling and policing that they have. They all have to come to the table with equal stake in finding a solution to this issue. Explt more that this, uh, discourse around it becomes cops versus black people, this us versus them mentality, its not helpful to anyone. Were going to come back with some final thoughts with our does this change the possibility of mrs. Clinton winning North Carolina . So kelly minnesota new jersey new york, the riots and the vandalism and charlotte North Carolina, oklahoma, how tuz this impact . Its huge. If americans are asking the question in november do i feel safe, and if that is one of the most important things to them its going to help donald trump because when law and order becomes an issue in an election it awl moist always helps the republican. No matter what in this case especially because trump has, you know, he actually was sort of taking a bit from nixons 68 he kind of stepped back on that rhetoric. He goes back to it, he can do very well. This is the one issue i think that safety, terrorism, law and order, thats the one issue that can help donald trump win. It may be possibly the only issue. I think that the two issues when it comes to terror youre absolutely right. People feel scared about attacks and will go to the more law and order candidate there. Talking about this issue of police violence. Not just people of color but lots of people are very did he finally condemn it. He did condemn it, but this came months and months after. They hold him to a different bar. And weeks of him insistently and repeatedly categorizing black people in a stereotypical way that wasnt just offensive to black people but a offensive to a lot of other people too. In that sense im not sure those particularly in the community who want more accountability for police will be on his side. One issue i to trust him on is law and order. Listen, you gotta be inclusive of everyone. Thank you for joining us. Good day, armstrngwilliams dot . . Im marty stauffer. Even as a kid, growing up in rural arkansas, i was interested in photography. To me, it was some sort of magic. A parent encouraged us to take turns with the family equipment, but i have to admit back then it was nothing very special. I started taking still photos
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