Running from the Police (while brown)

[Sandpiper]

In light of the Menezes tragedy in London, I've heard the argument put forward that "you should just obey the police and do what they say."

Now, on the surface I find this to be rather police state-ish and servile.

But looking beyond that, I think it only fair to ask why might a person of color living in a predominantly white nation want to run from police officers? Considering the history of police abuse of brown-skinned people in predominantly white nations, maybe they don't think that police have their best interests at heart.

Maybe they're running because they think no good will come of talking to the police. Maybe they're running because they feel they'll be harassed at minimum and brutalized at worst.

Or, in the case of Mr. Menezes, maybe the natural instinct of any person would be to run like hell when being chased by band of armed men in plain clothes.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

1. Would you run from a bunch of men brandinshing guns in plain clothes?

I know i fucking would.

[noiretextatique]

2. all of the above

but especially your last sentence. there are a few defendersofauthoritynomatterwhat types here, and they seem to think police abuse/overkill ended 30 years ago :eyes:
in this case, as i mentioned in another thread, the police had ample opportunities to stop the man (they didn't because they thought he would lead them to "others"), and they had him subdued when they shot him in the head 7 times.

[Kraklen]

3. .