You need to be a special kind of stupid to say this crap in front of a camera. Dumb enough to mean it, I'd say.
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"We only kill black people"
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You need to be a special kind of stupid to say this crap in front of a camera. Dumb enough to mean it, I'd say.
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This is Georgia and outside of Atlanta many of them have a klan mentality. I hope more are as arrogant as this guy
and speak their truth. You should not be a public servant with these types of feelings.
This is not a defense of the officer. However, I think he was speaking about the videos the woman spoke of.
Sort of a, "we didn't kill any white people in those videos, right?"
Not any better. Just slightly different meaning showing the same bald racism.
Sort of a, "we didn't kill any white people in those videos, right?"
Not any better. Just slightly different meaning showing the same bald racism.
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I said in the other thread about this that saying something like this sarcastically does not make him racist. It shows incredibly poor judgment, especially for a supervisor. But absent other information about the officer, I'm less inclined to villify him for one stupid comment. Cops have odd senses of humor (I used to be one). I can totally see even the most non-racist cop you could imagine being so frustrated over recent events that they'd think of saying something like this. Most of them would stop themselves from saying it out loud though, at least to a member of the public during a stop.
I'm pretty sure he meant it as a joke.
But you don't even joke about this stuff. Full stop. This is the sort of thing he SHOULD catch hell for.
But you don't even joke about this stuff. Full stop. This is the sort of thing he SHOULD catch hell for.
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This is pretty much my thought too. It's very possible he was making a (very unfunny and poorly thought out) joke.
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Let's get some context in here. This "joke" came four days after Philando Castile was shot and killed by a police officer. Five days after Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police. There was public outrage and protests all over the country in the days following those two shootings. There were even protests the very night Officer Abbott joked about killing black people.
I listened to him say those words and don't hear the joke. I'd love to ask him his opinion of Black Lives Matter, because I suspect it was on his mind when he said those words.
I listened to him say those words and don't hear the joke. I'd love to ask him his opinion of Black Lives Matter, because I suspect it was on his mind when he said those words.
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It's possible he wasn't joking, but I was thinking he might have been trying to cover up the awkwardness of that woman's fear with a bad joke. Of course, it being an attempt at a joke doesn't mean the guy also isn't racist. Sometimes jokes attempt to cover that kind of thing up too.
I too would like to know his opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement and on the prevalence of police brutality towards black people overall.
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I think he was being sarcastic/making a wry joke, too. But I also agree with the importance of Lyv's context and think this is a case - like so many - of casual racism. The words he spoke and the way he said them will be chalked up to sarcasm/a joke, and I bet he even intended it to be that way when he said them, because lots of white people disguise their racism even to themselves. His racism isn't exposed by the words he said, they're exposed by the fact that the reality of people dying was not on his radar in any substantive way. His resentments mattered more to him than their lives. It looks like he exercised poor judgment, but in fact he exercised no judgment, because it's not even a consideration to him that he should care.
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Absolutely. Just because it was a joke (if it was indeed meant to be) doesn't mean it's not racism.
And there is a kind of "humor" where people say outrageous, offensive things, then quickly backpedal when they get a bad reaction. "I was only kidding! Jeez, can't you take a joke?" But this can be a deliberate ruse.
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There's having an odd sense of humor and there's being a dick. Lt. Abbott was being a dick. A flippant and dismissive DICK.
If cops are frustrated over recent events imagine how Black people feel. You want me to shrug this off as, "Cops being cops and kidding around. It was a joke. It wasn't meant to be serious so don't take it so serious."
Tell you what. You go to Cleveland and tell Tamir Rice's family it's only a joke.
Then you go to Ferguson and tell Michael Brown's family it's only a joke.
Then you go to Chicago and tell Laquan McDonald's family it's only a joke.
Then you go to N. Charleston and tell Walter Scott's family it's only a joke. T
Then you go to Cincinnati and tell Sam DuBose's family it's only a joke.
Then you go to Detroit and tell the family of 10-yr-old Aiyana Jones it's only a joke.
Then you go to Oakland and tell the family of Oscar Grant its only a joke.
Then you go to Minneapolis and tell the family of Jamar Clark its only a joke.
Then you go to Charlotte and tell the family of Keith Lamont Scott its only a joke.
Then you go to Beavercreek, OH and tell the family of John Crawford III it's only a joke.
Then you go to New York and tell the families of Ramarley Graham, Sean Bell, Patrick Dorismond, Eleanor Bumphers, and Amadou Diallo its only a joke.
Then you go to Falcon Heights, MN and tell the family of Philando Castile it's only a joke.
Then after you've racked up all those air and car miles, stay right here in Columbus, OH and tell the family of Henry Green its only a joke.
Then come back here and tell me how all that works out for you and if they all get the joke.
I agree with you, and have said the same thing. Like...I get what he was going for...I don't think it was malicious, but you just cannot say those things in that position. And I'm the type of person who thinks almost no jokes are off limits.