Ron, Charles and Steel - Those are all good points. I'll address as I can. I can't speak to them as well as blitzburgh could but he doesn't seem to be chiming in. I am not a decent substitute for his well thought out discussion points.
Regarding the democratic role, one of the points that blitzburgh brought up, (and you must know this about me, as batshit crazy as I am, and as wrong as I often am, which I am willing to admit when I become aware of it, I believe very strongly in logic and A --> to B --> to C ).
So, I have to point out a couple of things to get to the "Democratic ruled vote" thing. Sorry for the lack of brevity. You all know me by now. Short is NOT my thing. Unless we're talking about the bedroom. Chastity still won't return my calls. Nonetheless I will try to be as brief as I can.
1) In low-income "hood" neighborhoods, Black Men predominantly are easy targets for police. Whether people want to admit it or not, the Police have a tax-funded job to patrol the streets and protect us. There is plenty of crime, certainly, however the tax paying public expects results so while there may not be an arrest "quota" per se for police officers everywhere, there is definitely an expectation to meet certain "expectations". Just as county road workers where I come from MUST use all of their budget each year to ensure that they get an equal or greater budget allocation next year. So, even if that means dumping rock-salt in May, you can bet your ***, they're going to dump rock salt. Likewise, if officers need some "easy arrests" there's no better place to get them than high-crime areas like "the hood". In my state, these places are trailer parks where shockingly domestic disturbance and arrest rates are MUCH higher than they are in the higher tax rate suburban areas. Why? because there's more crime and it's easier to find and arrest people there. It's common sense. Go where the easy arrests are. So - basically profiling is REAL in that, we know there is greater crime in low income, high drug use areas and whenever we need to make some arrests for whatever reason, we have a perfectly good place to get some arrests on the book.
(Note, I get that there are more arrests because there is more crime. I already pointed out there are more arrests in white low income areas as well. This is a bigger picture issue. Stick with me.)
2) Once arrested, these men have no resources to fight the legal system. They don't have the money or the resources to get charges dropped or reduced. Instead the only realistic option available is a plea deal. So for the sake of argument, let's sy you were a black man arrested and you may even be innocent. But you don't have the ability to hire O.J.s lawyers to get you off the hook. Instead you have no choice but to accept a bullshit plea deal that gets you a reduced sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. Or maybe you ARE guilty. But perhaps like that Brock kid a good lawyer and a soft-hearted judge could get you some probation instead of a felony charge for your possession case. In the end there's no denying mistakes are made and crimes are committed. And many of the men who are imprisoned undoubtedly deserve to serve time. But because they have no options and no capability to contest the legal system, on average black men from these communities serve longer sentences for first offenses than their other-colored counterparts.
And that's just their first offenses.
3) When they are released from prison, they find it difficult if not impossible to find decent work. Would you hire a "rehabilitated" felon with a possession with intent to sell record? No? Well ****. He'll keep lookin'. And while he keeps looking he may or may not continue to try to avoid falling back in to the life of crime that got him in to the mess in the first place. Now, do I defend the released criminal? Do I go all doe-eyed and weep at his plight? No, not necessarily. But I am a logical person and I see where this is ultimately going to lead if he can't get a decent job and find some help keeping himself along a decent path. And of course he's got to WANT to do that. Obviously personal accountability is part of this. I'm not a bleeding heart liberal here. I just begin to understand the depth of the problems.
4) The Democrats HAVE caused problems with their programs. They may have done so unwittingly at first. They may have thought they were helping. But ultimately it's caused such a huge, ugly mess. These low-income communities feature so many "families" with children out of wedlock. What of the fathers who are sent to prison, leaving the mothers and children alone. Many are just one-night stands or fly-by-night boyfriends who didn't intend to take responsibility, but some really DO want to be a part of their childrens lives, of their girlfriend's lives. However due to the bureaucratic nature of the aid that these women and children receive, the incarcerated and even recently released father can't have any contact with the woman and children or they'll lose their housing. This destroys any chance at a family unit. It causes the woman to look for another man to help her. More often than not she finds a poor candidate and the cycle continues. I DO blame poor welfare policies for much of this. Many people probably think these programs are helping when ultimately they are only aiding in the further destruction of the family unit.
5) All those fellows who have been arrested, jailed and eventually get released have lost their right to vote. They can't voice their opinion. They can't have a say in the governance of their neighborhood. Now, that's a consequence of committing a felony. That's the way it goes, but its' also a natural fallout of the greater picture and one of the reasons the overall outlook is so bleak.
I'm sorry I didn't do nearly as good a job as blitzburgh in conveying some of this. I know you think I sound like an apologist. That's not what I'm doing. I want you to know that's not what HE was doing. He was pointing out that there are DEEP DEEP issues that are really intrinsic and rooted not only in low-income black hoods but in all low income neighborhoods in the country. Furthermore as we've seen, there are some really ugly messy angry things bubbling down under the surface that we all need to address as a country. When I began to look at ALL the things blitzburgh pointed out as the day to day barriers to success (Barriers which can be overcome and are overcome by lots of people every day, but which trip up and stumble so many more because ultimately, only the extraordinary win medals - we all know participation medals are bullshit), I was really moved to understand why black people as a whole are so overwhelmingly upset.
I even understand why my reaction is no doubt irritating to most black people as I undoubtedly don't understand ****. But, I get that too.
Again, I'm not making any excuses for the crazy ******** who are running around shooting people or throwing bricks at police officers or perpetrating violence in any way shape or form. But I do see that the media is probably doing a lot more bullshit pot-stirring than ANY black person is right now.
I'm sorry I took your time.