Was Sandra Bland guilty of "driving while black"?

[Happy Monkey]

There will, however, be the same story again, with different people.

Plus, with the poorly edited video, and the botched autopsy, this story may have more than a week left to it.

[Undertoad]

Not just different people but an entirely different story where we can apply the same narrative. This will definitely come up again. The narrative may not even apply right away but we will get a hammer.

If "poorly edited" is a fact in your bubble, it may certainly remain a story in your bubble. In my bubble that one was debunked but perhaps I am wrong. I know there is now a bubble where she was supposed to be dead in her mug shot. Apply whichever beliefs you find most appealing.

[gvidas]

Sure, the same basic narrative -- white supremacy kills again -- will bubble up in the news. Probably real soon.

In my experience, the more that I pay attention to that narrative, the more I realize how omnipresent it is. It's like picking at peeling paint in an old, old house. The roots of white supremacy run deep in the USA; the effects are everywhere; and the current forms are sometimes subtle but always close at hand.

Focusing on the delivery of the narrative -- say, that our news media is reactionary, hot-take heavy, fickle, and just in it for the $$$ -- serves to undermine the point without addressing it. I see it as very similar to the confederate flag issue getting diverted into one about free speech.

I think the biggest obstacle to dismantling white supremacy in the US is that essentially every white person in the country benefits. Some more than others, but usually the benefit is proportional to ones social or political standing. Why should anyone vote or otherwise mobilize against their own self interest?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Hey now, don't disparage our long proud tradition of shooting ourselves in the foot.

[footfootfoot]

Watch where you point that gun, buster.

She may not have been guilty of driving while black, but she was certainly convicted of it.

(Unsure of the veracity of the suicide claim.)

[Sundae]

I read this and made my own mind up.
I am a rule follower, in general. Maybe if I've had some of the old dizzy water I might be obstreperous, but I'll feel awful after. And NEVER to someone with the power to actually arrest me.

So I figured this lady was trouble.
She should have just STFU and got her warning, and gone on to have a lovely day.

Then I watched the video.
I don't understand American traffic violations. Everyone seems to agree she did something wrong, so fair enough.
But bloody hell. How did this escalate? I'm not even talking about the suicide - awful though that is. But to me, at the start, she was talking in a reasonable tone of voice, at a reasonable volume, not swearing...

On the flip side, it cannot be her skin colour. Really? This policeman doesn't see/ talk to people with black skin every day?

It's all very sad anyway.

[infinite monkey]

We white Americans are intolerant. It's an epidemic. Or so they would have you believe.

I see more white americans who are in trouble with the law in my daily doings in the PD office, than I see other populations. It isn't a percentage thing, because all populations are represented, in this community, and I don't see a predisposition to arresting black people for disobeying the law.

I had a conversation the other day with a guy who was convinced that men get arrested for domestic violence disproportionately. That is simply not true. I see it every day. Women don't get to play innocent victim anymore, when they've had a strong hand in the violence.

Everything undertoad said was on the nose.

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by Sundae

... I don't understand American traffic violations. Everyone seems to agree she did something wrong, so fair enough. But bloody hell. How did this escalate? ...

... On the flip side, it cannot be her skin colour. Really? This policeman doesn't see/ talk to people with black skin every day? ...

I can imagine the cop's testimony:

Ahh, but the lane change that's...that's where I had her. She mockingly said she broke the law for me but I deduced beyond the shadow of a doubt...with geometric logic...that she deliberately didn't signal because I am WHITE, and I'd have demonstrated that bigotry if they hadn't deprived me of a black partner. I, I, I know now she was only trying to project solidarity with victims of profiling...