This is horrible!

berserkfan · 15 Apr 2016, 18:42

I don't have time to go into my usual lengthy political talk, but this needs to be seen.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/opini ... .html?_r=0

It's really disturbing that such obvious racist practices are still around in 2016. And it's the courts, not the security forces, being indicted in this article.

This isn't 1966.

When I visited Chicago many years ago I was told all kinds of stories, but wasn't there long enough to really see racism in action. Except that I noticed it was a segregated city with very clear no go zones.

Anyone has stuff to contribute? This is a very international forum. We learn by having people say their own experiences.

fohat · 15 Apr 2016, 20:14

I think that racist backlash under the first black president was/is to be expected.

The fact that he has been a successful, popular 2-term president is reassuring to rational whites, but all the more infuriating to the crazies.

Redmaus · 15 Apr 2016, 21:12

Not sure what that article us trying paint. Cops like to arret blacks for fun? Sure.

Ray · 15 Apr 2016, 21:36

Not being from the US I might miss something here:

[Prosecutors] need to win cases to get promoted.

How does this make sense at all?

chuckdee · 15 Apr 2016, 22:18

It's not like this is anything new. You just haven't been listening. I could tell several stories, but nothing changes no matter how many times the stories are told. Even with our new era of phones being able to take video and images that no matter the situation are stark and revealing, that's not enough. So in the halls of law, where things are less clear cut as far as evidence of malfeasance, why would anything be any different?

chuckdee · 15 Apr 2016, 22:22

Redmaus wrote: ↑Not sure what that article us trying paint. Cops like to arret blacks for fun? Sure.

If you aren't getting it, then I'd guess it's some sort of bias. I could paint a non-anecdotal picture for you, but of course, there would be some reason to doubt the veracity, even though it happened to me directly.

seebart · 15 Apr 2016, 22:57

chuckdee wrote: ↑It's not like this is anything new. You just haven't been listening. I could tell several stories, but nothing changes no matter how many times the stories are told. Even with our new era of phones being able to take video and images that no matter the situation are stark and revealing, that's not enough. So in the halls of law, where things are less clear cut as far as evidence of malfeasance, why would anything be any different?

Unfortunately true from what I read. They also ran this which can't be legal:

7,000 People Were Detained at Homan Square, Chicago PD's Secretive "Black Site"

http://gawker.com/chicago-cops-brought- ... 1770705629

chuckdee · 16 Apr 2016, 00:30

And to let you know how much it doesn't matter, this isn't new news.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015 ... -thousands

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/arc ... re/385964/

http://reason.com/archives/2015/02/28/h ... in-context

On November 2, 1983, Cannon alleges he was threatened with a gun, subjected to “Russian” roulette, repeatedly electric shocked on his testicles and penis with a cattle prod, and continuously subjected to racial eptithets by Sergeant John Byrne and Detective Peter Dignan, Burge’s right hand men at Area 2 Police Headquarters . The torture was committed to elicit a confession, and this confession was subsequently used to wrongfully convict Cannon of murder. Cannon subsequently served close to 24 years in prison, 9 years at Tamms, before he was exonerated and released.

From http://chicagotorture.org/

You want to really be sick? Look at that site, the fact that these are not anecdotal stories for the most cases, but documented incidents, and the fact that accountability is slim. Jon Burge was tried, convicted, jailed... and released.

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/jon-burge-ex ... sed-prison

berserkfan · 18 Apr 2016, 04:24

I once had a conversation with a black man who claimed the Homan Square thing. We were in a Greyhound Bus.

Back then I really was not that keen on talking to this man, so I did the polite fixed smile thing and kinda shut off my brain. He may also have been exaggerating, with talk of cattle prods and what not. EG he grabbed his crotch to show where he had been hit. So now I can't remember what he told me and whether it happened to him or to someone else.

Pity. Because in retrospect, I probably treated this black man like what white people would have done - given fixed smiles and ignored him. It was MANY years before I learned that Chicago Police really tortures blacks, not just some random black dude complaining about his illusions.