How to avoid teens getting shot by police.

Was I surprised by that the police officer wasn't indicted? I wouldn't be surprised if he was acquitted or given a light sentence. But then on reflection, how many police officers are indicted for shooting someone? Probably not that many.
Are black teens more likely to be shot? Probably. Are you sage because you are white or not black? I wouldn't count on it. Are you safe because you are rich and white? In certain instances yes.

There is some talk that Michael Brown may have been charging at the police officer, and there is other talk that he was running away.

It might hurt people's feelings, but I'm going to assume (for the sake of a thought experiment) that the officer was actually shooting in self defense. (I'm not saying that's what happened. I don't know what happened. It's just what the Grand Jury seems to have said happened, for whatever reason. Corrupt or sound.)

Now I'm going to transpose a scenario I had with Campus police while in College. I was practicing Kung Fu n a parking lot where (unknown to me) there had been damaged cars by "kids."

Here are two ways I was approached on different occasions.
 One was by an old Campus Police officer. He approached slowly and stayed in his car. I thought while he was talking politely with me that perhaps he had already pulled his gun. I would never charge him because he seemed calm and unthreatening, while simultaneously being in a superior martial position. He asked me questions as a human being and we talked and then he left, assessing that I was in fact doing Kung Fu. In fact he never let it be known that he suspected me of anything. He talked to me as someone simply interested in Martial arts. I saw this technique by Boston Police when I was on Crime Watch, and they explained that although they suspected the person they were talking to, it was better to be friendly and to eventually catch them some other time.

The second time the two officers rushed in like they were playing grand theft auto, driving recklessly. They jumped out of the cars and then came so close to me on foot that they were within my striking distance if I simply stepped forward a few stances, which I am still very fast at. The short woman had her hand on a weapon. The taller man had his arms folded and was exposed. They commanded me to get my hands out of my pockets and proceeded to accuse me of destroying property and claimed to have video. I was nervous that the small woman would pull what I thought was a gun and shoot me by accident. They were obviously inexperienced and stupid, and I didn't want to die because some untrained rent a cop put her hand on the trigger instead of the "break."

But I was a criminal Justice Major planning to be a police officer so I knew how to get out of the situation. However, if she had drawn (in turns out all she probably had was pepper spray. I later applied for that same job and learned that Campus police officers were not supposed to carry weapons.) Anyway I would have charged.

My point is, even if Michael Brown was charging, he could have still been charging in self defense. It is possible that the police officer meant well, but was just over confident and stupid.


So how to avoid this situation?

One way is to send your kids to a boarding school where if they are put in a situation where if they are put in such an encounter, the night watchman, or whatever will not be armed, or less likely to care. Maybe that's why rich people do that. In retrospect, that's one of the reasons my mother wanted me to go to Boarding school, where I would be safe. Though she was probably more concerned with me being shot by a civilian than police.

Or they try to move into neighborhoods where the police department is small and they know them and can ingratiate them.

My point is rich whites have some protection from being rich and white, but they are not completely immune to this situation. So their parents use their money to take extra precautions.

This is of course a race problem. But what is there to be done about it?

Elections? Revolution?

Just because racism is part of the problem, doesn't mean it has to have anything to do with the solution. Parents of rich white kids would also feel safer if the police patrolling the streets were more like the night watchman at boarding school.

Instead of militarized police, what if we had community policing the way they do in Japan. Ever coupld of blocks they have a guy living in a little kiosk. He is unarmed and part of his job is to politely knock on everyone's door and ask them what they want him to do to make him a better police officer and to help the community. So he knows everyone by face and name. That's part of his job.
Because he knows them, they probably respect him more. At least they know what he's about. He's not a "fucking cop." He's whatever san, who they see everyday. If he comes up to you and takes cigarettes away from you and lectures you, you respect that, because he knows your parents and you also know him.

That society isn't particularly friendly toward non ethnic Japanese. You can't even become a citizen if you are a third generation Chinese person living in Japan. In other words, you would be virtually indistinguishable, and yet you are a different race and unable to be a citizen. Basically that society has huge race problems.
But I never heard of anyone being gunned down by police in Japan either. Not only that, but people generally respect the unarmed police there. Something to think about.