Comments by "oolong2" (@oolong2) on "Caller Describes Minneapolis" video.

First off I really don't get the sentiment of not wanting police to participate in the protests or speak in favor of the movement. In my mind it only gives the cause more moral legitimacy if there are cops acknowledging that there is problem. In fact it caused a Republican I know to support the protestors when they saw that. It's the same mentality of not wanting men to support women's issues or white people to support minority issues. You need EVERYONE and it's ok to take "yes" for an answer. Secondly saying we should "cut the police budgets" is just as silly as Republicans saying we should "cut government". Cut what exactly? Their salaries? Amount of people patrolling? Equipment? In many cases police crack down on poor people more just to make up budget shortfalls with tickets, car impounding, etc. I don't think blanket cuts is the answer when the problem is a regulatory one. You may end up changing the budget to demilitarize the police while at the same time ramping up psychological evaluation and community oversight. There are plenty of communities that could use MORE cops, so just cutting budgets is not an answer.
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Dan Morris. If we treat all police like a monolith then we’re no different than the police who treat all black people the same... Not all police think the same way. That’s a dangerous mentality to have when we’re trying to change a system, because you’re already coming from a place where people and systems cannot change.
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@bengallup9321 Again, dehumanizing people and treating them as if they are all the same is the very thing we're supposed to be fighting against... MLK always preached that this is a human problem not "us vs them". He wanted to save the racist from their own toxic mentality. We need to save the cops from their own toxic mentality not pretend every good gesture has evil intent or pretend that all cops are bad..
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@Damacles9 Exactly it's a regulatory problem not a budgetary one. I honestly don't know of any governmental problem that is solved by just mindlessly adding or removing money.... You figure out what needs to be done and then change the budgets accordingly. I doubt taking away money from police departments is going to magically make them nicer to minorities and less brutal. Even without their riot toys they still have clubs and guns.... In fact taking away their non-violent toys might even make them more deadly.
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