This piece by David French, helped me understand a bit where @Nesrie is coming from.
David French, used to be a columnist for National Review. He is a white, conservative Never-Trumper. he is a lawyer, religious, and an Iraq veteran.
But principally, David French is the father of Naomi, a ~12-year old black girl they adopted from Ethiopia.
In my mea culpa moment, I knew all the stuff about David French I just wrote without having to Google. The fact that all the stuff in the first sentence was top mind for me, but I had completely forgotten about his black daughter is a good example of systemic racism, that clearly I’ve been influenced by without being aware.
In his column, David talk about how much being the father of Naomi changed where he sits, and that in turn changes how stands.
Many passages resonated with me.
For example, if you’re a conservative, you’re likely quite aware that the Obama Department of Justice decisively debunked the “hands-up, don’t-shoot” narrative of the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri. You’re less likely to remember that there was a second Ferguson report, one that found Ferguson’s police department was focused on raising revenue more than increasing public safety, and it used its poor, disproportionately black citizens as virtual ATMs, raising money through traffic stops, citations, and even arrest warrants. It painted a shocking picture of abuse of power.
@Timex mentioned this recently, and sure enough, I certainly knew that hands-up, don’t shoot was debunked, and had completely forgotten the rest of the Ferguson story.
The whole column is worth reading https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/
In a world, where data is far less important than emotions, which are so often manipulated, I’ll continue to push the use of hard numbers to make decisions. But I will concede the eliminating the fear Nesrie describes is incredibly important even if it is really hard to quantify. I’ll apologize for being too Vulcan like on the subject.
