I've noticed a lot of people around here (and elsewhere) framing this issue in a way which would seem to indicate that they think accusations (and a reality) of police racism is really sort of an American thing, or at the very least a far larger problem in America than the rest of the developed world. It's a similar narrative to what we hear about gun violence.
With regard to gun violence, there's an argument out there that the greater amount of it in the U.S. than in many other first world nations is a result of a large and diverse population. Assuming anyone grants that notion any credence, could such arguments hold some explanatory power with regard to the police racism (or general societal racism) issue as well?
Let's look at some examples of similar accusations of systemic police bias/racism and entire societies being racist to their core, from around the western world (all of these were very easily and quickly found, with plenty more to have chosen from in most cases.):
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Canada - Inside the Thin Blue Line: Policing Canada in 2015 (National Post)
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Australia - Police abuse of Aboriginal man shows racism still rife (The Guardian)
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New Zealand - Racist Queenstown police officer resigns (Stuff.co.nz)
New Zealand - Police Perceptions of Maori (rethinking.org.nz pdf file 1998)
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France - Police officers in black face at party, eating bananas, etc. (Daily Mail)
France - Black community organisations in France slammed the decision by prosecutors on Thursday to drop charges against a police officer caught on video beating a black woman with a baton, and spraying tear gas in her face during an arrest in central France. (TheLocal.fr)
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United Kingdom - It's not just the police - the whole of British society is institutionally racist, claims Britain's top officer (Daily Mail)
United Kingdom - Met police officers used racist Facebook group (The Guardian)
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Germany - German police routinely ignore racist attacks (Telegraph)
Germany - German state, police have hidden racist methods (World Bulletin)
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Sweden - Swedish Police, Racism and Resistance (CounterPunch)
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Italy - Immigrants Forced To Margins Of Italian Society (NPR)
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Luxembourg - Police Attacking Refugees in Luxembourg (Revolution-News.com)
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Ireland - Racism is a fact of life for all minorities in Ireland (The Journal)
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Russia - Racism in Russia laid bare: more than 100 incidents in just two seasons (The Guardian)
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So, I should mention that I was inspired to make this thread by someone telling me that I was ignorant of other nations because I made the assertion that interracial policing doesn't seem to really work and that white police officers don't really seem, on the whole, to be capable of fairly policing nonwhites and vice versa.
I was told that I should really look at other countries before making such an ignorant statement. The person who said that to me clearly seemed to be indicating that he thought this racist police thing was a problem fairly unique to America, or at least much worse here than in the EU, NZ, etc.
It may indeed be a bigger issue in the U.S. just as gun violence is, but again... is it a potentially valid hypothesis to say that a greater level of diversity and population density may help explain that? Also, not all diversity is created equal. When people talk about how diverse Canada is, it should be pointed out that a lot of their diversity comes in the form of East Asians, who seem to integrate better and rarely have stories of white police targeting them in racist ways (at least that I've seen.)
So my question would be... will these other western nations approach America levels of these issues as they become more diverse through ongoing immigration from the third world?
More to the point, can anyone tell me what majority white nation diversity is working in? Tell me a majority white nation where nonwhites are not routinely complaining about police racism and societal racism toward them?
I think this is at least worth discussing.
With regard to gun violence, there's an argument out there that the greater amount of it in the U.S. than in many other first world nations is a result of a large and diverse population. Assuming anyone grants that notion any credence, could such arguments hold some explanatory power with regard to the police racism (or general societal racism) issue as well?
Let's look at some examples of similar accusations of systemic police bias/racism and entire societies being racist to their core, from around the western world (all of these were very easily and quickly found, with plenty more to have chosen from in most cases.):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Canada - Inside the Thin Blue Line: Policing Canada in 2015 (National Post)
Quote:
|
"And yet cops themselves face unprecedented scrutiny over everything from the practice of carding to their handling of people with mental illness to the mishandling of missing and murdered aboriginal women. ... Every police officer in Canada should engage in ongoing anti-racism and anti-oppression training, and toss out the current euphemistic regime of ‘bias-free’ training,” he said in an email. “Police should have to take courses about the history and present reality of systemic racism in Canada, particularly towards indigenous and black individuals." |
Australia - Police abuse of Aboriginal man shows racism still rife (The Guardian)
Quote:
|
"An incident in which a South Australian police officer abused an Aboriginal man and threatened to strangle him and set him on fire shows how much more needs to be done to stamp out racism, Warren Mundine has said. ... “I just cannot believe this behaviour goes on in the 21st century,” he said. “It just shows how much more we’ve got to do.” ... The race discrimination commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, told Guardian Australia it was unacceptable for police officers to use racist language or threaten people with violence." |
New Zealand - Racist Queenstown police officer resigns (Stuff.co.nz)
New Zealand - Police Perceptions of Maori (rethinking.org.nz pdf file 1998)
Quote:
|
"...nearly half reported that police officers generally were more likely to query vehicle registration when a Maori was seen driving a ‘flash’ car. ... At least two thirds reported that they had heard colleagues using racist language about suspects or offenders. ... The data also suggest that, on average, almost one in four police officers have negative attitudes to Maori. A similar proportion of police officers were seen as having negative attitudes to Pacific Islanders and Asians." |
France - Police officers in black face at party, eating bananas, etc. (Daily Mail)
France - Black community organisations in France slammed the decision by prosecutors on Thursday to drop charges against a police officer caught on video beating a black woman with a baton, and spraying tear gas in her face during an arrest in central France. (TheLocal.fr)
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United Kingdom - It's not just the police - the whole of British society is institutionally racist, claims Britain's top officer (Daily Mail)
Quote:
|
"And the Scotland Yard boss admitted that there is ‘some justification' for people to think of his London force as a racist organisation." |
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Germany - German police routinely ignore racist attacks (Telegraph)
Quote:
|
"Police in eastern Germany routinely ignore racially motivated attacks, according to local politicians. They have also been accused of manipulating statistics to hide the soaring number of incidents involving neo-Nazis. The chief of police in the state of Saxony-Anhalt was forced to resign yesterday after it emerged that he had instructed officers not to classify incidents as hate crimes unless the perpetrators were caught." |
Quote:
|
"The German Human Rights Institute has indicated that racism is present in the actions of the state and police, and not simply in individual beliefs." |
Sweden - Swedish Police, Racism and Resistance (CounterPunch)
Quote:
|
"Sweden is often depicted in the international media as a bastion of pluralism, tolerance and progress. This image stands in stark contrast to the lived realities of marginalized people in Sweden who face an increasingly violent and desperate state. ... overwhelming evidence that police are engaging in large scale registration on grounds of ethnicity ... Again and again, the police face allegations of racism, brutality and misconduct." |
Italy - Immigrants Forced To Margins Of Italian Society (NPR)
Quote:
|
"The European Network Against Racism says Italian police are the second-largest group — after citizens — that commits racist crimes in Italy. And Amnesty International has accused Italian politicians of legitimizing the use of racist language." |
Luxembourg - Police Attacking Refugees in Luxembourg (Revolution-News.com)
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Ireland - Racism is a fact of life for all minorities in Ireland (The Journal)
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Russia - Racism in Russia laid bare: more than 100 incidents in just two seasons (The Guardian)
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So, I should mention that I was inspired to make this thread by someone telling me that I was ignorant of other nations because I made the assertion that interracial policing doesn't seem to really work and that white police officers don't really seem, on the whole, to be capable of fairly policing nonwhites and vice versa.
I was told that I should really look at other countries before making such an ignorant statement. The person who said that to me clearly seemed to be indicating that he thought this racist police thing was a problem fairly unique to America, or at least much worse here than in the EU, NZ, etc.
It may indeed be a bigger issue in the U.S. just as gun violence is, but again... is it a potentially valid hypothesis to say that a greater level of diversity and population density may help explain that? Also, not all diversity is created equal. When people talk about how diverse Canada is, it should be pointed out that a lot of their diversity comes in the form of East Asians, who seem to integrate better and rarely have stories of white police targeting them in racist ways (at least that I've seen.)
So my question would be... will these other western nations approach America levels of these issues as they become more diverse through ongoing immigration from the third world?
More to the point, can anyone tell me what majority white nation diversity is working in? Tell me a majority white nation where nonwhites are not routinely complaining about police racism and societal racism toward them?
I think this is at least worth discussing.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1TuTSdD
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