racism and the force

[thepixies]

i always new lost of the police were racist but i was watching this programme a few days ago, abotu this reporter who joined the force. and i was really disturbed about how racist the police are; it could only have been this force or could be every police force i dont know but i was saddening to see them saying "the next paki i see im gonna fucking nut the bastard!" and giving a £200 ticket to an asian student on a scooter for no reason and laughing when they saw tears in hius eyes.

[thepixies]

oh and that meant to say in between the racism and the force

[ShrOomie]

i odnt think it's all police but just some that let the whole system down

[Peace]

sometimes, you gotta hate america. :(

[ShrOomie]

well its england to not just america well i suppose all around the world basicly

[thepixies]

it was in england

[Peace-Phoenix]

I've moved this thread to the UK Forum. ThePixies, why don't you come and join us over there, we have a wonderful little community, very close and friendly....

[Peace-Phoenix]

There is a lot of institutionalised racism within the police force. This is evident and well documented. In protest ethnic minority officers have called for a boycott of the MET by other ethnic minority recruits. I think this would be counter-productive though. We need to tackle institutionalised racism within the police force on all fronts, from the ground up. The administration should make moves to crack down on it, and more ethnic minorities should join up....

[porkstock41]

thepixes, didn't you used to be like 18? now it says you're 13.

[WayfaringStranger]

at first i thought you meant that the Jedi's were racist, and i got really confused.:o

[Paul]

The Metropolitan Police recently announced that they would be 'fast tracking' people from ethnic groups to join the police to try and balance the shortage.

But is 'positive discrimination' not racist too?

Is it really fair that favouritism should be given to someone because of the colour of their skin regardless of how well they do the job?

Can you beat racism with more racism or will this just breed contempt?

[Enonemouse]

Amen Paul

There is so much of the man trying not to look racist that they are going too far the other way now. If you are a white hetrosexual English male in this country you haven't got a snowballs chance in hell of getting most jobs. Now on the other hand. An Asian lesbian woman with a handicap of some sort can have any job they want. Hell they fill in sooooo many of the little ticky boxes. I think all jobs should be given on the grounds of ability and qualifications held that are required not sexual prefrence, colour or race. I am waiting for the day someone gets sued for not hiring a blind taxi driver because they have been discriminated against. I know it sounds silly but thats the way I see things going.

Police officers should be police officers because they can do the job correctly and will be good officers not because there is a short fall of Asians in the force.

I agree the officers in question should all be given the sack and taken to court for what they have done. No one should be given a ticket for being Asian or white or black or what ever there should be a real reason behind it. I do know of forces where they are not allowed to arrest unless they are 100% sure they will get a conviction anyone who is Asian because of this, which again brings me back to the start. Everyone should be treated equal no one should be treated special just because they are of a certain race.

The world needs equality not elitism!!!!!!!

Love & Opinions
EnonEmouse

*Gets off soap box now and slowly backs away*

[stardust]

its not just rasicm though, there is a lot of predudice in the police towards gays, travellers and any other minority groups you care to think of. anyone who's not straight white and middle class is fair game to them.

and it sucks.

peace and love
stardust
xxx

[Paul]

its not just rasicm though, there is a lot of predudice in the police towards gays, travellers and any other minority groups you care to think of. anyone who's not straight white and middle class is fair game to them.

and it sucks.

peace and love
stardust
xxxSometimes the police won't like you just because of the car you drive or the clothes you wear. The unfortunate thing is that the police are a necessary evil, it also happens to attract a lot of people who are the least suited to the job.

I love this quote from the Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy, sort of relevent:

"Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job "

[Peace-Phoenix]

Enonemouse, I don't think that's quite true. Hiring is still based on qualifications, they would only pick an ethnic minority in the case that two individuals were equal in order to readdress the balance. If these checks weren't in place, then you would only end up excentuating the existing racism within society. Aferall, white people are more likely to have received better educational qualifications. I don't think there's much cause to feel discriminated against for being a white male in this country. I don't think that any kind of discrimination is good. But at the moment things are very unbalanced against ethnic minorities, and positive discrimination may be the only way to readdress the balance....

[DoktorAtomik]

Reluctantly, I have to agree that positive discrimination is a bad thing. When you apply for a job, it should be on an equal footing.

Yes, there is an imbalance in terms of representation of minorities, but this needs to be redressed by making sure that applicants are treated fairly - not by implementing inverse prejudice.

Also, it's misleading to suggest that positive discrimination is just about giving preference when there's a choice between two equally qualified people. A lot of positive discrimination revolves around targets, and how can targets be achieved if there are not an appropriate number of ethnic applicants? By definition, the jobs may well go to less qualified applicants.

I approve of the goal of positive discrimination, but I think it's an unfair way of trying to achieve that goal.

[Peace-Phoenix]

That's probably a more sobre assessment Dok. It just upsets me when white people complain about being racially discriminated against in this country, when most have never experienced racism in the same way that I have. It's very hurtful....

[DoktorAtomik]

That's probably a more sobre assessment Dok. It just upsets me when white people complain about being racially discriminated against in this country, when most have never experienced racism in the same way that I have. It's very hurtful....

Yeah, with you all the way on that one dude. It's very easy for white people to lack any real understanding of what racism actually involves. Hell, you know my opinions on that front. Think I've been pretty outspoken!

I'm all for redressing the balance though - I just think there's better ways of doing it.

[Paul]

That's probably a more sobre assessment Dok. It just upsets me when white people complain about being racially discriminated against in this country, when most have never experienced racism in the same way that I have. It's very hurtful....While I sympathise with that statement I'd like to recount the experience of a friend a few years back. He was walking through a park near me and attacked by a gang of Asian youths. They beat him and robbed him, called him a white shit and other words to that effect. I recounted the story to an Asian bloke I was at college with at the time and his words were "Serves him right for going into an Asian park then doesn't it?"

[Peace-Phoenix]

It does happen, and it's just as wrong as when it's in the reverse. I would never argue otherwise. I hate all forms of discrimination. But I'm not talking about on a personal basis. I'm talking about discrimination ingrained into society from the top down and perpetuated by the institutions of state and by the market....

[Paul]

It does happen, and it's just as wrong as when it's in the reverse. I would never argue otherwise. I hate all forms of discrimination. But I'm not talking about on a personal basis. I'm talking about discrimination ingrained into society from the top down and perpetuated by the institutions of state and by the market....point taken, and discrimination isn't right ...

However I do think that institutional racism is not just a phenomenon that is exclusive to white people. Maybe in in this country it is, but other parts of the world have it just as bad.

I personally don't have an answer for it, people try to find a way and whatever solution that is put forward always upsets one faction of society or another. It seems that the whole human race is in a pretty sick condition at the moment.

[Peace-Phoenix]

Yeah, institutionalised racism against white people does happen too in many countries. Zimbabwe is a recent case in point. It happens for different reasons in different parts of the globe, but it should be resisted where ever it's found. I can quite agree, the state of people today is rather fucked....

[DoktorAtomik]

However I do think that institutional racism is not just a phenomenon that is exclusive to white people
Yeah, but nobody's arguing that white people are evil! Any group of people are likely to abuse power while they're in a position to do so. In this country, that's white anglo-saxons.

[Alomiakoda]

Ooooh!

Finally something I can argue about :P

We did about institutional racism in the policeforce in Humanities...I think it's pretty fucked up that nobody realised nothing was going on till the Stephen Lawrence case...and nothing's changed in 10 years :(

[Acid_Rain]

racism is everywhere, and it doesn't matter if you put the name of a country in front of it....and by saying the police are racist, it's like stereotyping, because i doubt all of them are, even though a large chunk might be

[Peace-Phoenix]

racism is everywhere, and it doesn't matter if you put the name of a country in front of it....and by saying the police are racist, it's like stereotyping, because i doubt all of them are, even though a large chunk might be
That's not the point we're making, we're saying that the police force is institutionally racist. Of course you are right to say not all police officers are racist, I wouldn't even argue that a majority are. But by institutionalised racism we mean that the very structures of the police force itself are discriminatory. It is harder for ethnic minorities to make it to the top. The very top down approach of the force itself leads to cover-ups and mishandlings of race cases where ethnic minorities in society are discriminated against etc etc etc....

[Maon]

its not just rasicm though, there is a lot of predudice in the police towards gays, travellers and any other minority groups you care to think of. anyone who's not straight white and middle class is fair game to them.

and it sucks.

peace and love
stardust
xxx

this is so true .. and i have had first hand experience of most forms of this .. on an individual face to face basis for a long time. there are good coppers .. but i do believe that the overall attitude is one of minorities are fair game to the coppers .. and even good coppers are affected by being immersed in this culture in the force as a whole.

Many coppers are ex-military. that makes us types a target straight off.

oh but you call them when you need them i hear you say .. shite argument .. would you put up with a pyromaniacal fire deptment .. (does that analogy work??????????????? .. damn my confusion!)






love and peace

Maon

[Valis_77]

Man,. when I was a kid my parents were really open about everything and pretty liberal. So I didn't see any problems in the world. But then at about 16 I went to work as an electrician for awhile (in the UK) and everybody was soooo racist. I couldn't believe it. I didn't think people like that really existed.

As I've got older (27 now argh!!!!) I've realised it's everywhere. Everyone at my local village pub is racist. I can't stand it. They're all homophobic too. It really brings me down. These are people I went to school with. How can there opinions be so different from mine?? I don't get it!!!

Don't they all realise we came from the same place??

How can we stop this?? I haven't found an answer so far!!

[Enonemouse]

Sal:

I wasn't complaining as you know I am not of British origin I know what it is like to be in the minority however I have held enough high end jobs to know that jobs are given to people to fill the ticky boxes even when they are not as well qualified as the other person. I actually think I have gotten a couple jobs over other people because of it and I do not feel good about it but have a gut feeling it has happened before. I have seen it as higher management says you are not employing enough minorities so they hire someone who fills as many of the boxes as they can. It doesn't matter that the same person gets you the tick in the female box, the gay box and the asian box as long as you have ticks in these boxes management is happy. This is why there is so much anger in the non minority population as you hear it everywhere. (a quote not my words so please don't jump on me for this one) " Yeah those fucking pakies come to my fucking country take the jobs from me and wonder why I fucking hate them" I have heard those exact words spoken in a pub one night. So I think a part of it is the fact that if two guys go for a job and one is white and one is black or asian or what ever the white guy knows he has less of a chance to get the job then the others. It is a known fact within management and many places I have been in manangement or have known management they will admit it freely to you if you ask. Not when your applying for a job but if in conversation you are talking about it they will admit higher management pushes those buttons. I know that the minorities have been shit on forever and a day however I feel equality is the answer then no one will be able to bitch!!!!!

Cops can be nasty to you for what ever their reasons. They don't like your cloths or you hair or what ever I have had some serious run ins with the cops over my son because he has long hair, listens to heavey metal rock and is a goth. I cannot tell you how many times he has been picked up for questioning because of it. they even went to far as to arrest him because there where upside down crosses and 666 on the wall of one of the houses that had been broken into and they said it had to have been him and his crowd because of it. In the end they had no eveidence and had to drop those charges and they found out it was a townie (I think that is what they are called now) that had done it. But because he wears the cloths and listens to the music he is automaticly the bad guy so it isn't just a race thing it is a nasty cop thing. However I don't think all cops just some who again make the whole force look bad.


Love & More Soap box
EnonEmouse

[Merlin]

So what do you think is the answer to the problem, Enonemouse?

[Enonemouse]

Everyone needs to be treated the same! I know easier said then done but that would stop everyone from moaning. If everyone had the same treatment they wouldn't have any reason to be upset and then everyone would be happy. Now I will walk on water and feed a million with one fish. I know it is a big dream but.........On the serious side. i know I live in a dream world but if everyone was treated equal life would be better.

EQUALITY FOR EVERYONE IS THE ANSWER!!!!!!!!!


Love & Sadness
EnonEmouse

[borut16]

racism is everywhere, and it doesn't matter if you put the name of a country in front of it....and by saying the police are racist, it's like stereotyping, because i doubt all of them are, even though a large chunk might bei'll quote one of my favourite bands:

'Fuck The police,
Comin straight from the underground.
Young nigga got it bad cuz I'm brown,
And not the other color so police think,
They have the authority to kill a minority.

Fuck that shit, cuz I ain't tha one,
For a punk mutha fucka with a badge and a gun,
To be beatin on, and throwin in jail.
We could go toe to toe in the middle of a cell.

Fuckin with me cuz I'm a teenager,
With a little bit of gold and a pager.
Searchin my car, lookin for the product.
Thinkin every nigga is sellin narcotics.'
I'm not saying it's everywhere like that, but it's like that in too many places. I can feel the racism here(anti-bosnians) too good...but I don't think police is like that here, but then i haven't explored much of the world...

[thepixies]

thepixes, didn't you used to be like 18? now it says you're 13.
nope ive always been thirteen except for when i started

[lalalamort]

//llllllllllll

[Paul]

I have no idea why this thread got bumped to the top ... but through my university placement I'm starting to see racism within the new 'community support officer' system too ... Not so much against members of the public, but within their own ranks. After we made a complaint about an incident we witnessed we were given the reaction "I'm not surprised, the vetting and joining criteria is very low".

There really is no place for it anywhere and I guess it happens with all jobs ... but on something like policing you would think they'd make more effort.

[BlackGuardXIII]

w.m.a by pearl jam

He won the lottery when he was born
Took his mothers white breast to his tongue
Trained like dogs, color and smell
Walks by me to get to him Police man (2x)

He won the lottery by being born
Big hand slapped a white male 'merican
Do no wrong, so clean cut...
Dirty his hands, it comes right off
Police man (2x)
Police stopped my brother again (3x)
Police man (2x)

Jesus greets me...looks just like me...

Do no wrong, so clean cut
Dirty his hands, it comes right off
Police man (3x)
Police stopped my brother again (3x)
Police man (2x)

Police stopped my brother again (3x)
Police man (3x)

All my pieces set me free...human devices set me free...
All my pieces set me free... (2x) } (2x)
Human devices set me free... (2x) }

[ponie]

hmm after readeing this, igotta say it give me a new perspettettive (sp?) on filosify, on human bieings there interacshins, am maybe going to look for a infermatian make a statamante, maybe you inspired me too become a workeing male forceman is this a possabilitie yes........unsuel YES.......but u no wat im sayin :D

[lalalamort]

rofl to old threads

[spejemelujai]

I grew up in the same part of town as my mate ben. I'm half scotts half irish, he's half irish half indian. One day about 10 yrs ago he said in conversation "You know when you get picked up by the police?" I said i'd been luck enough to have never had the experience. He couldn't believe it, said he'd often been picked up twice in a week just on suspicion, it was a bit of an eye opener.
since everyone's quoting music:
"searching my body for fucking what?
my gun's just for fun and my knife don't cut,
How can i make suckers understand
I get ill on a posse with my god damn hands"- chuck D

Hey lalalamort, is that a pic of you? You look a little older than 17, must have had a hard life. Nice medalion. bling
x

[onelovemission]

Its absolutely true. My brother is in the police and I think they train them to be like that using subconscious tactics. There's a lot of mind programming packed into the initial training period. Some of it subtle, some not so subtle.

[Anaconda man]

I'm white, and I grew up on a very tough council estate. I was pulled over and stopped and searched just as much as black people because we all caused trouble together (I'm completely law abiding now). The police are just anti-trouble rather than against certain ethnic minorities. They see a certain group causing trouble and they don't like it, that's the way I see it.

[onelovemission]

It might be to do with where everyone lives aswell. I think in London the police are generally a bit more up to date and more 'switched on'.

In yorkshire its a totally different story they don't even have the decency to try try to hide it. Maybe its because Yorkshire in general is quite a racist place.? Maybe the police are just a reflection of the people they are working with (public)?

I moved away for a few years and when I moved back and started working locally I could not believe the amount of racism I came across every day among people I worked with. Ive had several jobs in the 5 years i've been back here and it's got no better, I can't stand it.

[brothwood]

yeah i think it is totally where you are from.
when i lived in birmingham i hardly would come across much (open anyway) racist remarks or behaviour. although i did here stories from friends who believed the police were racist and had singled them out before because of their skin colour.

since i have moved to a small town in wales, there is a lot of racism, i have noticed, and i am still shocked by and still get very offended.

[spejemelujai]

Yeah, I'm from Bradford, and it's very divided. I guess it's about half and half asian and white, and mostly the two groups hate one another. It's like two towns of half the size.
It's a sad situation. I find it much more tollerant in big towns with many different ethnic groups.
peace x