The epiphany I had is that for these young urban *protestors* <---insert more appropriate descriptor of your preference>, there is no interaction of any kind with a police officer that they would feel is appropriate or positive. These individuals do not "fear" LEOs-- they HATE and REVILE and RESENT the authority of the LEO, even moreso than they hate and revile authority figures in general. The very existence of any LEO's, black, white, Asian, or Hispanic, or any color or ethnicity rubs them the wrong way. An officer standing in a convenience store could say "Hello" or "Good morning" or wish them "Happy Holidays", and they would react by feeling picked on, resentful, singled out, and angry-- and then use that as an excuse to act out and commit crimes in the name of "protesting" some nebulous thing they can't quite articulate. They are stuck in a perpetual state of oppositional defiant adolescence, IMO.
There is no way to "fix" this attitude in this subgroup of sociopathic misfits, IMO. There is no "national discussion" that will make any of this any better for the perpetually aggrieved, antisocial, and criminally inclined populations-- that is a complete joke. Education won't fix it, "sensitivity training" won't fix it-- nothing, IMO. It's a lost cause. It is too deeply ingrained in their subculture, from cradle to grave. All we can do as a civilized population is continue to call out the behavior, protect the innocent where we can, and punish through the criminal justice system whenever possible. I really don't care at all what any of these "protestors" think anymore. IMO, whatever it is that they are trying to say or communicate by rioting and shooting police and burning stuff down, isn't valid at all. It's domestic terrorism, and they belong in prison for decades, IMO. Every last one of them.
If you pull a gun on a cop, or go for the cop's weapon, or refuse to show your hands, or reach in your waistband or glove box during an encounter without announcing your intentions and asking, you are going to get shot, and probably killed. I don't care who you are, how old you are, or what color you are. It's a very, very simple concept. LEOs have a job to do, and they DESERVE to be able to go home alive at the end of their shift. They are not required to DIE at the hands of an impulsive, antisocial, criminal in order to make some perpetually aggrieved misfit group feel "validated". IMO.
