[zeveb]

> So here is a guess: you are white, you have a standard hairstyle, you wear standard clothes.

One can't help one's colour, but one can help one's hairstyle and clothes. How one presents oneself is one aspect of one's communication with others, to include the police. If one broadcasts the message, 'I am likely to be a petty criminal' to the police, one should expect to be harassed.

[wkimeria]

Sorry, but this is such a dumb argument. I'm black, I dress conservatively, similar to my white friends, we share the same socio-economic background, but yet the treatment we get from the police is vastly different (random 'dwb' stops, harrasment, and in one case a very pissed off white cop who hated the fact that my wife is white). Oh, and about 70% of my friends have smoked weed at some point in their life. I've never done so (but guess who has been stopped multiple times and searched, both while driving and having committed no crime, and a couple of times when walking)

[Bouncingsoul1]

(1) All persons shall be equal before the law. (2) Except the person looks like a petty criminal

[Consultant32452]

If I walk up to a police officer and tell them I'm a threat to them I expect to get extra attention I probably won't like. Pretending like body language and other forms of communication don't send the same message is disingenuous.

[vkou]

So, having darker skin makes someone a threat?

[Consultant32452]

Darker skin does not equal threatening body language.

[wkimeria]

So what body language was James Blake showing when he was tackled by police, or Amadou Diallo when he was shot 41 times by plainclothes cops. It's amazing to me the lengths people will go to justify racism.

[Consultant32452]

I'm completely unfamiliar with both of those names but based on the way you phrased it I'm happy to accept your implication that police officers involved behaved inappropriately and probably illegally. I don't see what that has to do with what I said. If you're a white dude wearing a biker gang jacket and generally acting the fool I expect you to be harassed the same way I expect a black person wearing gang colors and reeking of pot to be harassed. This isn't rocket science.

[pstuart]

Like this "thug"?

http://crooksandliars.com/2014/08/walking-while-black-beverl...

Let me guess, you're white?

[sfk]

Another this-is-how-the-world-works apologist on HN.

[TeMPOraL]

Well, you get to ignore reality at your own peril.

[xtrumanx]

That sounds very similar to the "what was she wearing when she got harassed" mentality which I believe was frowned upon around here.

[Nadya]

Reality is not idealism. It would be ideal if people didn't have to care what they were wearing and I don't think people disagree with "that would be a better world".

The keywords are "that would be a better world" compared to "this is the world we live in".

You don't see people going into a ghetto at night wearing a Rolex watch, a 20kt gold chain, a money clip in their suit pocket, and another wad of cash sticking out of their back pocket.

Those sort of people, the kind ignorant of reality, end up being mugged or robbed. While nobody thinks "they deserve to be robbed" people will say "what the fuck was he doing walking into a ghetto wearing $25,000 in jewelry? Of course he was going to get robbed."

Recognizing reality for what it is instead of what people wish it to be is different than victim blaming. People will try to conflate the former for the latter though.

[TeMPOraL]

Yes. My opinion on both issues is similar (one party may be to blame for an act, but the other can still be considered as behaving irresponsibly), and I am surprised that my comment has not yet been downvoted to the lowest circle of hell.