Visual aid, reinforcing the learning process.

If that would have been a black man you know what would have happened. Shit kicked out of him at the very least, more like shot dead right where he stood

an everyday kind of privilege. Some folk get to walk blissfully ignorant, some have to walk warily suspicious.

White folk get to walk without fear.

Truly a privilege some other folk never have.

Get it?

and you are right some don't even know what we're/you're talking about

White folks being treated with kid gloves. It's part of the everyday white experience: cops giving you a lecture or taking you home for violations and even misdemeanor offenses which would land a black person in cuffs. This is especially true in the teenage years, where little violations end up determining the course of your life: a cop takes you home for a misdemeanor, there are few long-term consequences, to jail, and there are far more - even life-limiting consequences. Far more white folks have a story of "And the cop said X and let us go..." than black folks.

Oh my Gawd, for the "Well I'm white and..." crowd, obviously, white kids get arrested, too, and biased policing affects the poor and the white as well, sheesh. OBVIOUSLY. (It's a shame that we have to make these little qualifiers for sniffy white folks who still can't fathom systemic racism).

That guy in the toy aisle at Walmart was near a gun, a plastic toy guy, but still.

I realize there are some criminals where blowing them away is probably necessary. But in cases like Michael Brown, shooting appears to have been the only option considered.

Yes they most assuredly need to confront a person in this situation ... and they need to handle themselves in this manner with all similar incidents ... regardless of race, gender, etc

In the incident you link to the guy actually charged the police with a pistol. It was a fake pistol, but police had no way to know that because the orange tip had been taken off the gun. In addition, the guy in the article had already been convicted of and served prison time for offenses with children. The police were at his apartment to arrest him on suspicion of kidnapping and sexual assault. Even with all that when the guy first charged the police they retreated. After the retreat he continued to charge at them. At that point they gave multiple commands for him to stop and drop the weapon. They only shot him after he continued to charge. That seems very different from the Michael Brown case.

I'm not trying to make any comparison to Brown and Ferguson. However, when your department has already been involved in one shooting, it probably changes how you're going to handle other incidents after that. The background you give speaks to that. It's probably why the guy in the OP didn't get shot within minutes. Imagine if that was a toy too?