Charlotte Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Last night on the news there was a feature about gun crime. It cut to an interview with 'Britain's top black policeman'. I mean, literally, that was what he was introduced as. Now, I'm seriously baffled by this. Is there a top Chinese policeman, what is Britain's top white policeman like? Is this a bit silly or is it just me - why is the police now broken down into colour categories? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Wilson Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 It's called positive discrimination, and long term will prove to be even more divisive then "negative" discrimination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juanchan Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Surely positive discrimination would have them labelled as "policepeople" instead of "policemen"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlotte Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 Surely positive discrimination would have them labelled as "policepeople" instead of "policemen"? Ooo I forgot women can work. Seriously though, I think it's a very negative approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Surely positive discrimination would have them labelled as "policepeople" instead of "policemen"? errr, no. You've clearly misunderstood the term. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogmaw Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Having black policemen and specifically portraying them as such shows people - especially black people who fear persecution or have suffered at the hands of the police - that the police are not 'all white' and therefore engenders confidence within black areas of our society who otherwise may just assume (wrongly) that all police are racist white bullies. Let's face it, would black people in this country trust the police if they were ALL white? No, so you have to go out there and make a point that some of them are black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike B Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 they should just introduce him as a policeman, dummies... the brighter ones amongst us may identify that he's black.... but perhaps some people won't realise he's black and therefore need to be told. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Having black policemen and specifically portraying them as such shows people that the police are not 'all white' and therefore engenders confidence within black areas of our society who otherwise may just assume (wrongly) that all police are racist white bullies. But surely the 'top black policeman' implies that there aren't that many? Maybe half a dozen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJI Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Let's face it, would black people in this country trust the police if they were ALL white? No, so you have to go out there and make a point that some of them are black. That could well be a true statement, and shows that racism is on both sides of the equation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyP Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Positive and "negative" discrimination are both as bad as each other. They're two sides of the same coin. Positive discrimination for one section of society is surely negative discrimination for another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 True, but there's no such thing as discrimination against white people is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoboblio Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 True, but there's no such thing as discrimination against white people is there. The same laws apply to all, no? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoff Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Its just wrong. Being singled out for colour, whether good intentions or not is surely still discriminating? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoboblio Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 I'd feel insulted if it was me, effectively saying "you're a good worker considering you're not white....." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fri3ndly Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 'top black policeman' Is it me or does that make it sound like there are some much better white policmen? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbourner Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 The same laws apply to all, no? Apparently not. Where are the MOWO awards? There seem to be a lot of segregations in the police, aren't there groups for female officers and jewish officers and all sorts? But no 'white police' groups! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedM Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 He's the head of the black police association and therefore the description of Britains top black policeman is accurate, if a little clunky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eve Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 The same laws apply to all, no? Apparently not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supragal Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Police OFFICER. LOL at this thread though, literally. I heard that on the radio. I was like "errrrrr" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogmaw Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Of course there aren't any 'white' police groups, they're in the majority! They don't need a special group to represent themselves, because there are enough of them already. If we have -ve discrimination, which we do ie racism etc, then we need +ve discrimination to counterbalance it and put things back to something resembling a level playing field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scoboblio Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Apparently not. Where are the MOWO awards? That's not a law, it's an award. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoff Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Of course there aren't any 'white' police groups, they're in the majority! They don't need a special group to represent themselves, because there are enough of them already. If we have -ve discrimination, which we do ie racism etc, then we need +ve discrimination to counterbalance it and put things back to something resembling a level playing field. Fair point actually. But it can be taken the wrong way and annoy people which would have -ve effect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevie_b Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Of course there aren't any 'white' police groups, they're in the majority! They don't need a special group to represent themselves, because there are enough of them already. If we have -ve discrimination, which we do ie racism etc, then we need +ve discrimination to counterbalance it and put things back to something resembling a level playing field. I hear what you're saying, but I disagree. 2 wrongs don't make a right. Any positive discrimination put in place almost never provides re-balance for those who the negative discrimination originally affected. e.g. if you negatively discriminated against me, it might leave me feeling angry and frustrated. If I then had positive discrimination applied in my favour, the "victim" of the positive discrimination would be extremely unlikely to be you. It'll be someone else in a completely different part of my life, who will then feel angry and frustrated. So the +ve discrimination has introduced more people to the disease that is discrimination. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoff Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 Totally agree. Discimination is discrimination, you cant go changing the rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juanchan Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 errr, no. You've clearly misunderstood the term. I'm not entirely sure what you mean. At work we're encouraged to not use titles such as "chairman" which imply that the person in that role can only be male. By the same reasoning, using the term "policeman" implies that only men are in the police. What's to stop a woman being titled as "Britain's Top Black Police Officer"? I must admit, that even having such a title must be a kick in the teeth to other black officers around the country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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