Perhaps that distinction is more pronounced in some locations than others. I don’t see this distinction in the big city where I live and each of my neighbors are black. We have regular police patrols where I live and almost no police interventions. We also have several police officers that live in the neighborhood. My city has greater than 900,000 people, is about 60% white, and has doubled in size over the last thirty years.
Not sure if anyone can feel anyone else's pain. If millions of people are complaining about a problem, why try to say the problem does not exist?
My experiences are nothing compared to the terrible stories I've heard from PoC, but I'll give you an example. I'm Muslim. In 2004, I ended up on the restricted fly list, effectively ending my Management Consulting career. My co-workers kept telling me, "just take your shoes off, get thru security, and stop complaining". None bothered to hear my real issue -- i could not fly. Forget security, I could not get a boarding pass issued. It would happen randomly, about 50% of the time. Once, I was stuck in Europe, unable to get back home (FYI: as a US born Citizen.) Many times, i'd get half a boarding pass and be stuck at some random airport (ATL, ORD, etc.) Once I had to take a train back from Washington DC because I couldnt get on a flight.
Co-worker opinion mattered, because it affected my ability to get on local projects (where I could avoid flights.) Eventually, I had to leave the consulting firm despite an imminent promotion.
It is so easy to dismiss people, but seriously -- if millions are complaining -- just accept there is probably something there.
Millions of people complaining about "Muslim terrorism" led to you being inappropriately placed on a no-fly list. Millions of people complaining about "the Jew" led to significant and severe atrocities (plural...).
Millions voted for Trump. Millions voted for Clinton. Millions voted for Bernie. And millions will vote for the next Stalin, Hitler, or Mao.
I don't disagree that there is a problem with policing but I can't conceive of a more evil world where millions of people are just listened to without question.
Not to put too fine a point on it and with all due respect, but are you black? Have you asked your black neighbors about it?
I am half-black and was raised in California. I have lived in SF for the last 10 years.
While I have not directly been troubled by police in SF, I put myself on notice every. Single. Time. I go outside.
Similarly I've been pulled out of cell sites at gunpoint and bent over the hood of my car, and patted down several times also for "looking out of place".
Part of it is also social effect. When multiple people encounter a similar problem they have a shared experience they can talk about and that social experience can seem to magnify the importance of the problem. When nobody is having the problem and almost nobody is talking about it the concern is much lower.
Police are generally highly biased in favor of military personnel regardless of their skin color outside of military base communities. For example if a person is pulled over, regardless of the validity of the stop or whether racial profiling is at play, the person is likely to drive away with only a warning if the officer happens to see a military ID and the person remains calm and polite. Military people have been sharing these stories for years.
Until I started working at the big bank the military is by far the most diverse group I have ever worked with.