Quote:^^In my area of the country, this is very much the case. Although my area is not technically a rural place, it's far from being a metropolitan type of area (meaning bigger cities like Jax, Baton Rouge, Minn, etc.).


The problem here is not stemming from racial issue,, it's an economic issue. Only 5% of the Portsmouth/Ashland/Huntington area population is college educated (5%!). There is not much REAL economic opportunity for the majority of the population. So, the result is a major portion of our population are severely under-educated, poor, and literally ignorant (the vast majority being white).


No opportunity = severe problems with drugs, theft, prostitution,, and we have all of that. Police pull over hundreds of vehicles every single day here, and expect to find contraband, or at least some kind of "criminal" activity going on. And, that's exactly what they find. Our local news is littered EVERY SINGLE DAY of traffic stops resulting in arrests for all sorts of things. Police really ramp up these stops, knowing they will most likely come across something. Personally, I've been stopped a couple times this year for extremely minor/silly things. I've been let go with "warnings" when the cops didn't have any profiling reason to believe they'd find anything (I didn't look/act like some "white trash, ignorant, criminal hillbilly"). But trust me, that type of profiling goes on here; and honestly there's a legitimate reason for it, as sickening as it is.


These issues are very complicated. I believe that one of the biggest problems we have is economic. There is just not enough opportunity for education/satisfying employment for everyone, especially in the poorest areas of the country. That leads to higher crime rates in those areas, which leads to profiling of most of the people in those areas, no matter who they are.


It's saddening, maddening, and sickening.

Dude, I'm totally with you on all of this. I get it, if I was a black dude I'd be screaming from the rooftops that black lives matter (too).


But as you point out, the de-evolution of our peace officers into an occupying military force within communities goes beyond race. It's a matter class as well.


I couldn't describe the issue better than you just did in your post

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