Trust! What is trust? Who owes who? We keep hearing that the Blacks in Baltimore do not trust the police or the government, but what is the real problem? If someone does not trust "you" and you conduct yourself honestly and socially responsibly what else are you expected to do? Does the person who has "no" basis for their lack of trust have a responsibility to look first at themselves? I think they do.
If you look at the Black community of Baltimore and realize that over 80% of the kids are raised in single parent families, that less than 50% graduate from high school, that a very large percentage have committed serious crimes or used drugs, do you think that the Baltimore police should be spending a larger percentage of their time in the Black community? If the police did not, we would all ask, "what is going on"? Simple minded people looking at the statistics will find that a much higher percentage of Blacks are in prison and think the police are picking on the Blacks. They will also find a higher percentage of Black injured while being arrested compared to Whites. I think that is true, but what about the additional fact that a much higher percentage of Blacks resist arrest. In prior blogs, I pointed out that 100% of the Blacks injured in police custody resisted arrest. Interesting!
Back to trust. What if we gather a group of non Blacks who dropped out of high school or got knocked up out of wedlock and asked them if they trusted the police, my guess is that they would have attitudes similar to that of the Blacks in Baltimore. My conclusion is that people who do not finish high school or act socially irresponsible like committing crimes tend to have "strange" beliefs about the police and government in general. If this I is true, why would you not expect the Black community to have "strange" beliefs?
I base the above on my discussions with people who are poorly educated. Since they have a poor understanding of how the world works, they are vulnerable to all kinds of "strange" beliefs. Look at history when people believed in witches and devils. They went so far as to kill their own children because they believed them to be witches. I know that most well educated people today can not understand how anyone could ever kill their own kids believing them to be witches, but we know it happened. I think that we have a similar situation in the Black community. Look at the race baiters who prey on the Black community promoting erroneous beliefs and in this case against the police.
Historically, how did we get people to stop believing in witches? That was not so long ago. I feel that some thing like what ever happened regarding witches needs to happen in the Black community. It is the Black community who has to change and begin to trust the police. Think about the fact that at least 90% of the people in the USA trust the police and it is only Blacks who are the odd men out. Someone needs to start with calling out Blacks for not cooperating with the police during arrest situations. The Blacks also need to understand the legal process and their legal rights. The fact that so many did not complete school or do well in school is evidence that they do not understand the legal process. I have not heard anyone explaining the legal processes to the Black community. Why is that? Why doesn't Obama speak out and ask Blacks to cooperate with police when they are arrested? That would be a simple act, but Obama has been quiet on the point.
PS---Remember the story about the Boy Who Cried Wolf"? Were the police affected by others who called for a doctor when arrested when not required?
