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> I don’t see this distinction in the big city where I live and each of my neighbors are black.

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.




I think it may depend on the socioeconomic class of the neighborhood - I'm a white dude, but I used to drive beater cars, and when I was a field engineer driving my own car, it was amazing, because like clockwork whenever I was in a we'll to do area I'd get pulled over for (what I presume was) looking "out of place".

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".


My wife has asked them about it. I have not myself as I have been away on military service since the beginning of May. I think the reasoning for most people in the area is that police interventions motivated by systemic racism are not a visible concern in my area of the city but that they could be a concern, which is fairly distant. Perhaps if this were any other year such concerns could really stand on their own, but this year they are pretty minor with concern for the changes imposed from Covid.

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.


You could also ask the people you serve with. I believe a chomsky approach to our lives is very important. Its useful to have a diverse set of friends and colleagues because through multiple view points you have a chance at understanding more of the world.


Military people have had stories about police interactions for years and a large number of reservists and national guardsmen work for civilian police departments.

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.




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