Discipline at home

The hot topic in the news this week is the video of the police taking down a black man for selling illegal cigarettes and his subsequent death. It has sparked a well needed discussion about police tactics and a lot of talk about training police to deal with blacks. If additional training helps then it should be done along with police wearing cameras. The basic idea is that police approach black males differently than other groups and the question is why. Why do they see black males differently? Some say it is institutional prejudice by police but I propose that may not be the main reason. For example 2/3rds of male students expelled from school are black even though they represent only 13% of the population. Does this mean that teachers as well as police have a built in prejudice against young black males? I offer another possibility for both situations. Young children are supposed to learn some basic lessons from their parents that will help them get along in society and one of these is respect for authority. When a young man learns that important lesson at home he will be more likely to respect the teachers, coaches, supervisors, police officers and other authority figures. Understand that when I say respect teachers I do not mean the person but the respect is for the position of teacher. To respect the teacher as a person they must get to know the person and then make up their mind. It is like the military where you salute the uniform not the man or where you respect the office of the presidency. Have police figured out that they are treated differently by young black men and then they respond in kind? If that is the case perhaps that is a good starting point by changing the ways all parties react.