Fantastic, let's start talking about this.
OK, let's.
What I'd like to do is propose that we dispense with the liberal application of unproven and overused stereotypes and cut straight to bone in terms of trying to understand this situation.
Sounds good.
As far as I see it; there was some reason that this 18 y/o was detained by the cops.... According to what has been released, there was some form of altercation between the 2... A weapon was drawn and discharged for some supporting reason resulting in this kid receiving a fatal wound... Riots followed the event the following day.
That is my very general take on the overall event.
Shall we start the discussion from here? I'd recommend that we first consider the event between the cop and the 18 y/o before we jump into assessing the riot that followed the next day.
This sound like a plan?
Do you think I've missed some important element(s) on the aforementioned starting point?
Yes. I think "some form of altercation" is insufficient. What the form of the altercation was is key to deciding whether or not this was a justified shooting.
What would you add to generate a more thorough understanding of this?
A couple of things. First, there was ONE riot, with credibly testimony that the cops may have been a significant factor in starting said riot. That was Sunday. There have been demonstrations every day since, and no riots. But, speaking of stereotypes. . .
Second, there's this. Non-white people in the United States generally have a view of the authorities, particularly the police, that involves much more suspicion and distrust than the view of white people in the United States. Now, that's a generality, or perhaps you could call it a trend. Call it a stereotype if you choose. The label doesn't change the fact that it's there.
Further, there are reams of evidence that non-whites generally are stopped more often, searched more often, arrested more often, and face harsher sentences than whites. A classic example is drug possession. Statistics show that drug use in the black and white communities is almost exactly the same, yet the incarceration rate for blacks, for simple possession, not other crimes, is four times that of whites. So the trend, generality, stereotype, whatever does have a certain factual basis. And that's in addition to the memories of the days when police forces all over the U.S., not just the South, were blatantly and unapologetically racist.
That stuff gets passed down. I have no doubt that your parents, schools, coaches, leaders of youth activities like Boy Scouts, whatever, gave you an impression that Canada is a good country, with a high general level of fairness and freedom. They probably also taught you when you were a kid that if you were in trouble, you could ask a police officer for help, and that if you got yourself into trouble, the police would be fair with you.
Not my experience. I was always taught to avoid the police at all costs, never to speak to them, and if arrested, to be completely submissive, demand nothing, and say nothing. Not because of my rights, but because they would kill me. That didn't come from Indian radicals, that came from the most upstanding, law-abiding citizens in the community. And they were right. I have lost count of the times I was stopped, harassed, and shoved around by cops. I haven't lost count of the times I was beaten by cops. Three, in case you were wondering. I ran away from school when I was 13, and got my early education at the public library. The librarians and the regulars liked me, and were happy to teach me. But there were at least a dozen occasions when cops came into the library and threw me out, even over the protests of the librarians and the regulars.
I'm 54 now. Short hair. Could stand to lose 20 pounds or so. Dress well. Drive a nice car. You know something? I carry my driver's license, passport, and bar ID at all times. And I do mean all times. I won't leave my condo to go out to my car to get something I left there without all my IDs. Because I've learned the hard way. Even at 54, short hair, overweight, dressed well, and in a nice car, I still get pulled over. Here in the East, it's mostly for being brown. In the West, it's mostly for being an Indian. In the Southwest, it's for looking like I might be from below the border (that, specifically, is why I carry my passport, to prove my citizenship).
So, yeah, from personal experience, family and community teaching, and tens of thousands of pages of studies, I'm well aware that you have a higher probability of unjust and harsh treatement from the cops if you're not white. That leads to lack of faith, and it leads to anger. And lack of faith and anger, put into an unorganized group and fueled by confrontation, leads to violence.
As I said before, I don't condone the riot. Most of the people hurt by riots are of the same groups as the rioters. But I understand the riot. It's born of anger at injustice, and the feeling that the authorities will not deliver justice. And that feeling, while not necessarily accurate, and while certainly exaggerated, is not without foundation in culture, and more importantly, in objective fact.
May I interject... Isn't that exactly what you're doing?
Can't get one past you.
Charles Adler @charlesadler 
