‘Remember, we only kill black people,’ -Georgia police officer | Hacker News Reader

‘Remember, we only kill black people,’ -Georgia police officer

washingtonpost.com

12 pointsryanlol20 comments

What I picked up was a sarcastic comment that would undoubtedly get your ass fired in any other position with a PR aspect. Is the officer overtly racist in his work? Maybe, maybe not, but we don't accept much short of perfect when it comes to policing. There's never a time for snark as a cop, especially when you add hot-button issues to the picture.

it may very well have been a "joke" but it really speaks volumes about the mindset and culture of the officer when he even considered it as a response let alone manages to let it slip past his internal filters to actually say it.

People get fired for saying that type of crap at office jobs, I don't see why he shouldn't be fired for saying that at an actual applicable job. I don't want to be pessimistic, but I can already foresee a "paid suspension" in the works...

That was a pretty stupid remark for him to make, but can we please stop firing people for their comments and opinions?

Firing people for their thoughts (as opposed to the value of their work) doesn't fix anything. It just creates a culture where people say one thing and believe another.

It's sort of like the idea of kicking Trump off of Twitter. Doing so wouldn't make him a better president, it would just reduce the visibility of his grotesque thought process.

I agree with your overall sentiment. It's better to know what people truly believe.

But this guy is in a position of power, that has a history of murdering innocent black civilians at an alarmingly high rate. That's the last person who should be making a snarky remark about it. It's not just having an opinion it's making light of murders committed by your co-workers.

You can speak freely on your own time, on the job you should be able to be professional and respectful or find yourself a new job.

Do you believe this would have been reported differently if the police office turned out to have been off-duty when he said this ?

Because we both know it wouldn't have been.

Humans unlike machines are never 100% professional. You can show kindness and sympathy and at the same time it can get you killed.

This is the most dishonest argument I've seen in a while.

Paid suspension is what you'd get for killing an unarmed black person. He'll probably get a pat on the back.

Even when an officer blatantly admits to his racism, he's still probably going to be kept on the force. No, he's not racist. He only thinks about killing people that are black, but somehow this admittance is not racist. Give me a break. How can people defend this scumbag? There's even suggestions that it's the passenger who has racist misconceptions that the cop is playing to. Are you kidding me? The mental gymnastics to pull this one off as not racist are incredible.

His words seems to be have been said with not a small degree of (inappropriate) sarcasm.

I don't think so at all. It seems to me that people are defending a racist by pretending he's being sarcastic. No wonder we have such a problem with police shootings. I mean the cop literally says he's a racist and implies his colleagues are, but no, he must be sarcastic. The lengths people go to defend cops are incomprehensible and honestly, disgusting.

To me it seems very strange to describe this statement as "racist".

>“But you’re not black,” he interrupted. “Remember, we only kill black people. Yeah, we only kill black people, right? All the videos you’ve seen, have you seen black people get killed? You have.”

It sounds more like a criticism of the police or a bit dark joke rather than a racist statement.

I agree that it's not overtly racist, but it is a very dark joke. The thing that makes it particularly offensive is the fact that it's a dark joke about a real situation and real people from a public servant who has power over in said situation.

His statement does not sound like a criticism of the police. It sounds like a criticism of her opinion of the police.

Her ridiculous, unreasonable fear that police kills her, even if she isn't black. I don't think she felt very reassured.

Yeah, you're right. After unblocking and watching the video that seems pretty clear. Still, hardly racist.

He was "racist". Yes he should not have ever made such a comment but god i guess he just used plain old sarcasm to calm down the driver.

A ridiculous statement on its face. Heck, just look at the history of recently-pardoned Sheriff Arpaio.

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