Posted on 02/12/2016 9:27:13 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called for an end of "over-policing" in black neighborhoods during the PBS Democratic presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wis., on Thursday night.
"What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates," Sanders said. "The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations."
An undecided voter via Facebook wrote: "Wisconsin is number one in African-American male incarceration, according to a University of Wisconsin study. They found that Wisconsin's incarceration rate for black men, which is at 13 percent, was nearly double the country's rate. What can we do across the nation to address this?"
"This is one of the great tragedies in our country today, and we can no longer continue to sweep it under the rug. It has to be dealt with. Today a male African-American baby born today stands a one-in-four chance of ending up in jail. That is beyond unspeakable," he said. "So what we have to do is the radical reform of a broken criminal justice system.
"What we have to do is end over-policing in African-American neighborhoods. The reality is that both the African-American community and the white community do marijuana at about equal rates. The reality is four times as many blacks get arrested for marijuana. Truth is that far more blacks get stopped for traffic violations," Sanders said.
"The truth is that sentencing for blacks is higher than for whites. We need fundamental police reform, clearly, clearly, when we talk about a criminal justice system. I would hope that we could all agree that we are sick and tired of seeing videos on television of unarmed people, often African-Americans, shot by police officers," Sanders said.
"What we have got to do is make it clear that any police officer who breaks the law will, in fact, be held accountable," he added.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she agreed with Sanders, noting that the first speech she gave during her campaign last April was about criminal justice reform and ending mass incarceration.
"The statistics from Wisconsin are particularly troubling, because it is the highest rate of incarceration for African-Americans in our nation, twice the national average, and we know of the tragic, terrible event that lead to the death of Dontre Hamilton right here in Milwaukee, a young man unarmed, who should still be with us," Clinton said. "His family certainly believes that, and so do I. So we have work to do.
"There have been some good recommendations about what needs to happen. President Obama's policing commission came out with some. I have fully endorsed those, but we have to restore policing that will actually protect the communities that police officers are sworn to protect," she said.
"And, then we have to go after sentencing, and that's one of the problems here in Wisconsin because so much of what happened in the criminal justice system doesn't happen at the federal level, it happens at the state and local level, but I would also add this," said Clinton.
"There are other racial discrepancies, really systemic racism in this state, as in others, education, in employment, in the kinds of factors that too often lead from a position where young people, particularly young men, are pushed out of school early, are denied employment opportunities. So, when we talk about criminal justice reform, and ending the era of mass incarceration, we also have to talk about jobs, education, housing, and other ways of helping communities," she added.
Sanders called for more diversity in police departments, saying they should "look like the communities they serve in their diversity."
"And, where we are failing abysmally is in the very high rate of recidivism we see. People are being released from jail without the education, without the job training, without the resources that they need to get their lives together, then they end up - we're shocked that they end up back in jail again. So, we have a lot of work to do," he said.
"But, here is a pledge I've made throughout this campaign, and it's really not a very radical pledge. When we have more people in jail, disproportionately African American and Latino, than China does, a communist authoritarian society four times our size," Sanders said.
"Here's my promise, at the end of my first term as president we will not have more people in jail than any other country. We will invest in education, and jobs for our kids, not incarceration and more jails," he added.
White people are horrible. We are just too difficult and racist to live around. We should just find a spot of land somewhere and exile ourselves there. Wall it off so that we can never be a threat to anyone again. ( then we can colonize Mars, cure cancer and live out our days in peace like a giant Disneyland)
the criminals will appreciate that Bernie.
They are already calling for the cops to be pulled out of policing housing projects here in New York city after a cop accidentally shot a guy running down the stairs (for which the cop was convicted of 1st degree manslaughter the other day). What was ironic, the same day he was convicted one cop was released from the hospital after being shot by a thug in a housing project. Actually it was two cops shot, so gee, I can’t understand why that other cop who was convicted of manslaughter would be so nervous about walking into a dark stairwell only to be bumrushed. So what is going to happen is the cops will pull out, the thugs, drug dealers, gangstas will take over the housing projects and then all the tenants will once again scream for police protection and make claims of racism why they aren’t getting it, and then we go in a circle again. Cops risk their lives because the tenants refuse to take control of their buildings, the cops will again get shot and/or killed, or a rookie cop who is scared will shoot another innocent running down the stairs and will go to jail longer that the multiple felons who are arrested and released the same day like the one multiple felon from the projects last year who decided to stomp to death a 68 year old Asian man. Out on the street was this felon with convictions for armed robbery, car theft and drugs and he was only 22 years old which means he probably did about as much time in prison as someone who drove with a suspended license.
And don’t foget—according to a Keystone state demo-critter, it’s not “sporting” to carry a semi-auto for self defense.
Here’s the evil racist cops delivering Christmas toys to poor black kids in New York city, something our MSM will never publicize..........
https://www.nycpba.org/gallery/brownsville-2015/Default.aspx
Agreed. Let’s put Bernie’s ideas into action. No more police in minority areas. But please understand that those grocery stores won’t be there either.
This brings to mind my most paranoid thought: that the true objective of the Dems is Blue Helmets patrolling American neighborhoods.
The Bern needs to ride shotgun in a few patrol cars.
Pick any city.
There aren’t enough soldiers in the entire world to subjugate 300 million armed civilians.
The cops I know would be glad if you told them they don’t have to go in the war-zone neighborhoods here in Chicago.
They should get combat pay.
Build a wall around these neighborhoods and put a DMZ around them and let the N Guard patrol the DMZ.
I hope with all my heart you are correct. But what if they are invited in “Legally” by a Democrat president who hates America, and who backed the play with law enforcement and ultimately U.S. military? Would these elements of our nation comply with a traitorous but duly elected leadership; or, would they side with The People?
Invited from where? China? It would take every airliner and passenger ship years to get enough of them here, meanwhile giving the armed populace time to form up, elect officers, gather supplies and make plans.
What Good Can a Handgun Do Against an Army.....?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2312894/posts
I know this is shocking but the truth is I have yet to meet an innocent man in the prison system. The vast majority have committed multiple crimes - White or Black.
If Bern’s idea were implemented, those ‘hoods would quickly become more dangerous than ISIS-controlled territory. Some of the sharper residents might even put one and one together and learn a lesson.
You said a mouthful.
The concept of “over-policing” simply means that certain people are unwilling or unable to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law and, therefore, should be given a pass because of their membership in a protected class. In the present instance, it is tantamount to saying that a disproportionate number of Blacks still have poor self-control even after vast sums of money have been spent on various enrichment programs and other types of social engineering. Since those programs have been minimally effective, it is said that the time has come to redefine criminal behavior so that fewer Blacks are identified as criminals. This signifies not only a coarsening of society but also a more dangerous society for decent people who take responsibility for their behavior and do not seek to blame others for their shortcomings. If Blacks wish to be contacted less frequently by police, they should place greater emphasis on teaching their children how to live as civilized human beings rather than seeking immediate gratification of their base impulses at the expense of others.
Bernie needs to get back to Vermont and stay there.
This is like saying Bernie wants a lot of Black people murdered by gangs.
I.e., we will force states and cities to empty their prisons and jails, and to stop arresting people (of color) just because they commit crimes.
Hey, Bernie. How about undoing the welfare state, removing the monetary incentives for families to split up?
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