General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsIf you are a person of color, "Presumption of Innocence" does not apply today.
If you speak with a non-English accent or are heard conversing in a language other than English, "Presumption of Innocence" does not apply to you in these times.
If you dress differently, it may not apply either.
If you are within 100 miles of the coastline or a border, it no longer applies.
If any of those things are true, you may well be considered a suspect in some way, both by authorities and the general population.
This is not how it is supposed to be in this country. This is what is now the case, however.
This is a sad, sad state of affairs, and needs to be corrected.
BumRushDaShow
(129,441 posts)But now we have "the internet" to show what is really going on - via access to "Facebook", "twitter", "snapchat", "youtube", and "instagram" or other online means. The print and broadcast media don't have enough hours of the day to report on these types of things.
MineralMan
(146,329 posts)Things are not going in the right direction. Not at all.
BumRushDaShow
(129,441 posts)Growing up (56 years), going to public facilities including restaurants or pools, followed around stores, just going to school with nasty racist teachers - I have been harassed by someone exerting "power". My parents were hassled, my grandparents were hassled, my great-grandparents were hassled, my great-great-grandparents were just trying to deal with escape from slavery or born free but subject to capture anyway.
It's just that these daily "indignities" are finally being exposed and at least there is some outrage when they are.
You can look back at Rodney King in 1992 and one video that essentially "went viral" (pre- "world wide web" ) that stoked riots, essentially becoming what in the past would have been considered the last straw that blew the pressure cooker. Nowadays these internet stories and videos actually help to release the pressure a tweet at a time and perhaps helps to forestall cities burning down during "long hot summers".
mythology
(9,527 posts)It astounds me that people are so willing to disregard all of the objective progress we've made.
BumRushDaShow
(129,441 posts)However more importantly, outrage at the fact that this has been going on when few not impacted by it knew about it, but are willing to call for reforms and try to do something about it.
It's going to take a long time to get this sort of thing "abolished" (although it will probably never go away because humans have "prejudices" regarding all sorts of things), but every little step helps.