The Police Brutality Thread

[Flystripper]

A $1M PR move? I don't think so.

Yeah. Assuming he gives a million dollars as he said, it isn't a PR move. He believes in his cause, even if he is not all that great at articulating it.

[myboynoah]

The awkwardness of this whole thing will be very evident soon. I mean, when will his protest end? At what point will he then stand for the national anthem? Without stating a specific request or timeline for the protest, he really can't ever stand for the anthem because then people will think whatever he wanted happened. It's just weird.

There is that, but I suspect Now Japanese is correct. People will get bored, and probably already are, of the whole spectacle, and they'll simply quit watching and caring.

But yes, it is awkward and weird (oh look, they decided to kneel this time around).

Oh and by the way, the members of our military are awesome while our police are bad.

[taekwondave]

It is such a heavy burden you bear. Thank you so much for being patient and suffering with us. We are all made so much better by your condescension.

Fart noise.

[taekwondave]

Funny, I think a lot of people would say the same thing about you Dave!

WOULD say it? DO say it. Every damn chance they get. I guess we're all assholes.

[creekster]

Fart noise.

The maturity veneer is very thin.

[Shaka]

SIMPLY a PR move? Uh...he's not Michael Jordan. He's isn't worth a billion dollars. He's giving away almost a tenth of his contract value and this is the only good paying contract he's had so far in his career. But ok..

I dont' know why I try. Nothing is good enough for those who have made up their minds. They'll cite 5 problems, you resolve those problems, they'll come up with 5 more. When I see that I know what I'm dealing with.

Of course it was. His agent and probably his family read him the riot act and told him that a vast majority of Americans now think less of him than the already did. More importantly he needs to have better optics when another team considers signing him after he's cut by SF. Easy solution is donate a bunch of cash because a paltry sum will not cut it. Now he can sit, take a knee, or whatever else his handlers think he should do so that he saves some face and appears that he will put his money where his mouth is.

[falafel]

Of course it was. His agent and probably his family read him the riot act and told him that a vast majority of Americans now think less of him than the already did. More importantly he needs to have better optics when another team considers signing him after he's cut by SF. Easy solution is donate a bunch of cash because a paltry sum will not cut it. Now he can sit, take a knee, or whatever else his handlers think he should do so that he saves some face and appears that he will put his money where his mouth is.

1. Since when do pro athletes' families and friends do anything but tell them they walk on water? Especially if/when the athlete is taking care of the whole family. Even if they did, how often to athletes actually listen? Not often.

2. I don't think donating $1M should ever be called an "easy" solution.

[Shaka]

1. Since when do pro athletes' families and friends do anything but tell them they walk on water? Especially if/when the athlete is taking care of the whole family. Even if they did, how often to athletes actually listen? Not often.

2. I don't think donating $1M should ever be called an "easy" solution.

From what I've read his family doesn't need his cash. Also you left out the agent and probably several other handlers. A million bucks is a sound investment if the next contract you sign is worth several million, especially considering that without some image rehab he may not ever get offered another contract.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I think Kaep got caught up in the SJW movement and the whole thing just blew up. I doubt there is any long-term strategy or game plan going on here.

[falafel]

I think Kaep got caught up in the SJW movement and the whole thing just blew up. I doubt there is any long-term strategy or game plan going on here.

Agreed.

[Shaka]

I think Kaep got caught up in the SJW movement and the whole thing just blew up. I doubt there is any long-term strategy or game plan going on here.

The reason he knelt last is because a veteran who's consulting with him told him that was better than just sitting on the bench. There's too much money at stake to just let him go off and do whatever he wants. They are doing damage control.

[creekster]

1. Since when do pro athletes' families and friends do anything but tell them they walk on water? Especially if/when the athlete is taking care of the whole family. Even if they did, how often to athletes actually listen? Not often.

2. I don't think donating $1M should ever be called an "easy" solution.

There is no reason the donation can't be both a PR stunt (given its timing I cant believe this isn't at least PART of the motivation) and a genuine act. Like most things everyone does, it likely has mixed motives.

But before we are too quick to judge, I think we need to wait and see what he actually does. It's one thing to promise to pay, its another to actually make the donation . Ask PBS what their return is on pledge week promises if you don't believe me. The statement I saw from him about the million dollars said that he is pledging to give the funds to an as yet unidentified variety of groups over time. He will start deciding to whom he will donate in the future. This will allow him to take full advantage of that big shiny good-will inducing round figure of a million dollars now while parsing out the donations over time to also give him beneficial tax deductions etc., as he needs them, and possibly to support pet projects, etc. I am not saying that it isn't a good thing or that he shouldn't be applauded for the act of giving, but I am saying that it is premature to evaluate it becasue talk is cheap.

I also heard that he has said he isn't sure how long he will maintain the protest; that it might be over soon or that he might move on to some other form of symbolic protest. IOW he is already starting to waffle a bit. That makes me agree with JL that he likely did this without thinking through the possible impact over the long term.

Bottom line? His protest isn't worth even as much time as we have spent on it here. As a result, I will try to do my best to avoid posting so I can reduce the burden on TKD by not making him explain to me, yet again, why my posts are wrong, signifying only fart noises.

[wuapinmon]

I dont' know why I try. Nothing is good enough for those who have made up their minds. They'll cite 5 problems, you resolve those problems, they'll come up with 5 more. When I see that I know what I'm dealing with.

[cowboy]

I certainly would never argue it is the only cause. Primary cause? I believe so. Significant cause? Absolutely.
... You admit there are downstream effects, then argue against the narrow explanation, which I never intended to make. How can you ignore downstream effects?

I respect your opinion, but I guess I just disagree. My opinion is based on 1) the relatively small percentage of single parent black children with fathers in prison, and 2) That the rate of increase in children born to single mothers is not greater among black children (roughly 75% increase from around 40% to 70%) than white children (over 200% increase, from around 10% to 28%) from 1970 to now.

The largest increase in black children born to single parents was in the '70's, before the war on drugs. While I agree that there are downstream effects to incarceration, it is this statistic that leads me to believe the war on drugs is not a substantial causal factor for the increase in black, single parent households. In fact, looking at the data graphed below, it appears that this is a societal phenomenon.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I respect your opinion, but I guess I just disagree. My opinion is based on 1) the relatively small percentage of single parent black children with fathers in prison, and 2) That the rate of increase in children born to single mothers is not greater among black children (roughly 75% increase from around 40% to 70%) than white children (over 200% increase, from around 10% to 28%) from 1970 to now.

The largest increase in black children born to single parents was in the '70's, before the war on drugs. While I agree that there are downstream effects to incarceration, it is this statistic that leads me to believe the war on drugs is not a substantial causal factor for the increase in black, single parent households. In fact, looking at the data graphed below, it appears that this is a societal phenomenon.

The chart is birth out of wedlock. That is not the same as absentee fathers.

If you are going to insist on focusing only on that one narrow stat and willfully ignoring secondary impacts, then yes I doubt you will ever change your mind.

Plenty of experts believe otherwise, including University of Chicago economists.

The disappearance of these men has far-reaching implications. Their absence disrupts family formation, leading both to lower marriage rates and higher rates of childbirth outside marriage, as research by Kerwin Charles, an economist at the University of Chicago, with Ming-Ching Luoh, has shown.

The black women left behind find that potential partners of the same race are scarce, while men, who face an abundant supply of potential mates, don’t need to compete as hard to find one. As a result, Mr. Charles said, “men seem less likely to commit to romantic relationships, or to work hard to maintain them.”


The imbalance has also forced women to rely on themselves — often alone — to support a household. In those states hit hardest by the high incarceration rates, African-American women have become more likely to work and more likely to pursue their education further than they are elsewhere.


The missing-men phenomenon began growing in the middle decades of the 20th century, and each government census over the past 50 years has recorded at least 120 prime-age black women outside of jail for every 100 black men. But the nature of the gap has changed in recent years.


Since the 1990s, death rates for young black men have dropped more than rates for other groups, notes Robert N. Anderson, the chief of mortality statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both homicides and H.I.V.-related deaths, which disproportionately afflict black men, have dropped. Yet the prison population has soared since 1980. In many communities, rising numbers of black men spared an early death have been offset by rising numbers behind bars.