[zarathustreal]

Racial bias is absolutely disgusting. Nothing about the color of a person's skin or their family lineage could ever give indication of the actions they're likely to take. Culture on the other hand, which by definition includes behavior, can be a pretty good indicator. Either way, the room for error grows as the time taken to make a judgement decreases and unfortunately in the situations police find themselves in they have very little time for consideration.

[likeclockwork]

Why should they shift that risk onto the public? Why are they lauded as heroes when they err on the side of killing innocents? Why shouldn't they be the ones to die instead of the people they've miscategorized as threats? Why are their lives worth more?

[zepto]

The problem is that police often determine people’s ‘culture’ by the color of their skin.

[missedthecue]

Is there a better way to determine it before making verbal contact?

[zepto]

I don’t know, but determining it by the color of someone’s skin is clearly racism by anyone’s definition.

[missedthecue]

right. I was just wondering if there are actually other options available. I don't think there are.

[zepto]

Seems like one option would be to discard the notion that we should attempt to categorize someone’s ‘culture’ without speaking to them, especially if you are assessing whether or not to use violence against them.

[CathedralBorrow]

That just sounds like racism with extra steps.