No, It's Not "No"

Twitter is where stupidity goes to thrive and proliferate. The same is true for much of social media but I'm on Twitter, so following the most recent shooting (fatal in this case) of a black man by police, there is this:

My son just now: Is it safe for me to walk my dog?

He’s 15. He’s Black.

I hate that he has to ask this question.

I hate that my answer is “no”.

— Bryce Tache (@brycetache) April 13, 2021

 

Mr. Tache's self-description is "My family is LGBTQ, Black, Latinx, white, immigrant, indigenous." Thus, even though his son is black, Tache himself may not be. Nonetheless, I'll assume, as he probably wishes readers do, that he is black. This eliminates that one obvious question but leaves several others, asked in no particular order, including:

 

• What neighborhood does this individual live in?  Sate, dangerous, or not clearly either? Is it close-knit, one in which residents regularly communicate with each other?
• Is the neighborhood well-patrolled or ignored by police?
• What is the individual's standing in the neighborhood? (He might be well-respected, secretly despised, a newcomer thus slightly more at-risk, or none of the above.)
• How old and big is the fellow? (Age and size might affect his degree of vulnerability.)
• What kind of dog will he be walking? (If I were intent on assaulting an individual and see him walking a Doberman Pinscher, well, I'll take a pass.)
• What time of day (or night) would he be walking the dog? Similarly, what is the weather like and will the street be deserted, filled with other respectable individuals, or filled with disreputable individuals? 

If Mr. Tache is concerned only with the possibility of attack by police, then: congratulations! He lives in a safe neighborhood. If this is his only concern about walking the dog, then he should- won't, but should- be interested in recognizing the response to protests in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota which

began Sunday, the day 20-year-old Daunte Wright was killed in what the police chief described as an accidental shooting following a traffic stop. The officer who shot Wright, identified by authorities as Kim Potter, has been with the Brooklyn Center Police Department for 26 years, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. She has been placed on administrative leave.

Police fired tear gas and stun guns to disperse Monday night's demonstrators who were defying a curfew, while protesters threw "bottles, fireworks, bricks and other projectiles at public safety officials," according to a tweet from Operation Safety Net. The operation is a joint effort of local agencies to ensure public safety during the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer facing charges in the death of George Floyd, being held around 10 miles away.

Defying a curfew, the demonstrators were subject to arrest. Some reportedly threw bottles, fireworks, bricks and other projectiles at law enforcement personnel. They were calling for the head- figuratively, I think- of a police officer, who is the colleague, and in a few cases the friend, of those same law enforcement personnel.

Although a few in the crowd may have been attacked in some way by police, we know of none for now. And as far we know, the number of protestors, many of them black, who were injured or even hurt by police, appears to be a number less than 1. Mr. Tache has his answer.

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