Black Men Buying Body Armor

[Joanne98]

Black men hoping to not be killed by trigger-happy cops are snapping up the latest in body armor.

(OAKLAND) As an African American, Danny Thompson isn’t sure when it will happen, but he knows it will: a cop is going to shoot him while he’s defenseless.

Hoping to avoid the death that often accompanies a point-blank shooting of an unarmed person by someone who has been trained in weaponry, Thompson has bought five flak jackets—one each for him and his four sons.

“As a black man, you know the cops will eventually get around to shooting you, so you can’t be too careful,” Thompson, 42, told The Peoples News Tuesday as he left Dr. Jay’s Urban Clothing in Oakland, with the jackets from Rocawear’s new Body Armor line.

Thompson said he had considered buying the jackets even before the New Year’s Eve shooting of Oscar Grant. The 22-year-old man was laying prone in front of a kneeling BART cop when another officer, Johannes Mehserle, stood up and shot him.

News reports have speculated the Mehserle—who resigned from the force after the murder—was reaching for his taser but accidentally grabbed his gun and fired before realizing bullets don’t come out of a taser.

“So he is not only a bad cop, he’s a moron,” said Jacqueline Chalmers, secretary of defense for the New and Improved Black Panthers Party. “I mean, did he write out his officer’s test with crayons?”

http://thepeoplesnews.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/special-report-police-shootings-launch-new-fashion-trend/

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. So many bad apples in police forces

The power and ability to use weapons attracts a certain element that should never be wearing a badge. And yes, they love to hassle folks they view as weak. Thompson is wise in getting the body armor.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. It's satire. n/t

[Joanne98]

3. Hey, you're right. They fooled me...

The story, as you may have guessed, was satire (its origin, a comedy site called the Peoples News). It succeeded, though, in duping many of its readers, some of whom wrote in to say they agreed with at least the sentiment behind the judge's decision. The matter had "gotten out of control," wrote one. We need to address mothers' mental health, wrote another. The comments reveal that many people indeed believe that distinctive black names are deserving of not merely ridicule but also regulation.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/08/25/creative_black_names/

Although it's not a bad idea! lol

[originalpckelly]

4. I think they're all bad apples, after all, they're all human beings.

When we presume that one group of humans are better than the other, we will surely be disappointed by that false notion.