Audrey Watters summarizes the present crisis that grips the nation.
Uncontainable. Inconsolable. Over the past few months, we have all experienced the grotesque failures of the state, and we’ve all lost something to the pandemic — directly or indirectly from the disease. But racism and white supremacy are the scourge that have destroyed so much more, for so much longer. “America Is Giving Up on the Pandemic,” Alexis Madrigal and Robinson Meyer argue. But I don’t think that Americans are giving up on justice. We can’t. People will clench their fists and fight on.
“Black lives matter,” brands have all suddenly proclaimed. But we should know better than to take them seriously, particularly the technology companies who build tools and services that put Black lives at risk. It’s “Black Power-washing,” Chris Gilliard writes, “wherein companies issue essentially meaningless statements about their commitment to Black folks but do little to change their policies, hiring practices, or ultimately their business models, no matter how harmful to Black people these may be.” These companies speak, to borrow from the situationist Raoul Vaneigem, with corpses in their mouths. (And yes, that includes many ed-tech CEOs. Just because I’m silent on Twitter right now as I mourn my son, don’t think I don’t see you showing your whole ass with your “all lives matter” “let’s hear both sides” bullshit.)
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane When I was going through high school in Walnut Creek, California (a small town then) in the early 60’s, a group of black men (all men, if my memory serves me) walked silently in a line through the town carrying signs that read “I am a Man.”
I thought it strange at the time, and then went on with my messy white life. CBK
From the Bureau of Justice Statistics report “State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2013”:
“About half (48%) of recruits were trained by academies using a training model that was more stress than nonstress oriented in its approach. Stress-based training is based on the military model and typically involves intensive physical demands and psychological pressure.”
“Excluding field training, basic training programs lasted an average of 840 hours, or 21 weeks.”
“Major training areas included operations (an average of 213 hours per recruit); firearms, self-defense, and use of force (168 hours); self-improvement (89 hours); and legal education (86 hours).”
Training in community policing averaged 40 hours per recruit.
“Fifteen percent of . . . recruits were female.”
“70 percent of . . . recruits were white. . . . Blacks . . . accounted for 13% of recruits.”
Over 40 percent received training in neck/carotid restraint.
62 percent received training on interacting with youth.
“95% of academies (which trained 95% of recruits) provided basic traiing on terrorism-related topics.”
“Between 2006 and 2013, the average amount of instruction required per recruit increased the most for firearms skills.”
75 percent of academies had minimum years of law enforcement experience requirements for full-time instructors.
Overwhelmingly white and male. Less than two years of training, on average, and most of this on use of violent techniques. Very little training, in comparison, on community policing. Low standards for instructor quality. Teaching people to use neck restraint. No mention of racial bias screening. Clearly, things can be improved.
On Netflix now:
Bob, Thank you for those informative and dreadful stats.
Audrey Watters said: “But I don’t think that Americans are giving up on justice. We can’t. People will clench their fists and fight on.”
The people—Yes.
To Catherine, above: Not strange at all. This occurred after the awful Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike, in 1968. You can look it up on Wikipedia. Its roots are in the 1700s. I remember this well (I was 14 at the time–in 1968, that is!), & Rev. Jesse Jackson encouraged members of Operation Push, in Chicago, to use this chant–to stand up, be proud & be recognized.
What is terrible, not strange, is that black men had to declare themselves at all.
The shameful history (& present) of America.
But not in the future.
retired I was only reflecting what I felt at the time–I knew nothing about political events at the time. To me, it was a strange thing. CBK
I used to be annoyed with other unions for not standing up for teachers.
Now, all over the news – the police can’t change because of their unions. The Writer’s Guild of America, East wrote a letter to remove the police from the AFL-CIO.
The fight for schools will be impossible if we agree that change cannot happen with unions in charge.
In the next few years, things are going to be very tough economically. There will be reductions in every area of government. The tide always turns on education during this time. I believe our biggest fight against privatizing education is ahead of us.
Instead of blaming poverty and corporate America, we pit people against people. Everyone loses except the rich.
Sorry to use pop culture references to explain my point, but:
Like the Hunger Games, Katniss doesn’t focus on the bad police, she focuses on the established government that created an inhumane system.
The resistance doesn’t focus on stormtroopers, they aim for the Emperor to make real change.