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Comment by kuzimoto | Hacker News Reader

> Only after a police station was burned down.

I feel like that's more coincidence than anything

> This happens all over America, all the time. Thread is full of links or a quick hop on google will serve you in this regard

I bet there is tons of anecdotal data to support any claim. There needs to be aggregated data that shows it's happening in high enough rates to be a "systemic" issue.

> Would you merely "lose your job" if you watched your buddy murder a guy and stood there throughout the whole thing?

In most countries bystanders are not obligated to assist. So nothing would happen to you?

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> There needs to be aggregated data that shows it's happening in high enough rates to be a "systemic" issue.

We have aggregated data. We in fact have been building the aggregated data over years. Black people are disproportionately killed by police.0,1.

0. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/polic...

1. https://policeviolencereport.org/

ah, yes, we’ll use the data collected by the same institutions doing the extra judicial murders. surely they’ve been keeping great notes. and then finally we’ll be able to prove that racism is real to some commenter on hacker news.

I'm not saying there can't be police that are racist or even that racism isn't real. But if anyone claims systemic racism exists, they will have to provide more than anecdotal data to support that.

> In most countries bystanders are not obligated to assist. So nothing would happen to you?

Ooooor you'd be an accessory to murder.

It would have to be proven that you assisted in some way.

Preventing others from interfering should count, no? So our most recent case is 1 murderer and 3 accessories to, at the very least.

> Preventing others from interfering should count, no?

Sure, but that's not what you asked.

I believe the other three will be charged and convicted. At least that what I hope will happen.

I admire your optimism. As evidence against it: the doctor that performed the autopsy claims there's no evidence that Floyd died of choking, instead blaming "possible narcotics" in his blood stream. No explanation for how the doc knew there were possibly narcotics in his blood stream without knowing exactly what those narcotics were.

It appears toxicology reports can take a long time, as long as several weeks.

Floyd used a $20 note that the store owner thought was counterfeit, called the cops, the cops didn't even check to see that if it was a real $20 note before killing him. It was real...

> the cops didn't even check to see that if it was a real $20 note before killing him. It was real...

Do you have any sources for that? I can't seem to find any references for that. According to some reports on the incident, the police at one point went into the store not sure what they did there though.

Quick note: according to the owner, it was a 17 y/o employee that called the cops, and the store's policy is to only call the cops in response to violence. The employee was fired, and the other employees received additional training.

>> I believe the other three will be charged and convicted. At least that what I hope will happen.

Sadly, "belief and hope" hasn't worked for entire swaths of the population. If "belief and hope" worked, we could just "hope" there wont be riots and everything would be merry.

In reality, every two months something horrible happens happens and gets on the news. It probably happens much more than that and isn't on the news. And if it wasn't on video -- it is like it didn't happen.

It is rare to have video. It is even more rare for a charge. Even more for a conviction. I dont think looting is the answer here, but i seriously question the judgement of people who actually think there is no problem of police violence.

Even if you think that police violence is rare, there is the added problem of no consequence. I grew up with case after case, the most memoriable wones were https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Amadou_Diallo and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodney_King#Beating

Given the total number of interactions with police every year (tens of millions), the number resulting in death is low (roughly 1000 a year). The number of deaths as an accident or unjust is a fraction of that.

Any time a person is killed or treated wrongly is terrible and police should be held accountable. But I believe it is more to do with rotten people than it is a rotten system.

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