Racism in a Classist America

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So I presume you took the matter to an attorney? When I was practicing in the mid '70’s it was allowed. It just took an attorney with enough brass and enough knowledge to do so.
 
No we didn’t.He was told he couldn’t sue.We are in Colorado and the law has since changed
 
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I have an acquaintance that that is exactly what happens to him all the time! He drives a late model Mercedes and so obviously he must have stolen it! 😱 He is the first one I ever heard making the comment about driving while black being so dangerous. He’s not giving up his Mercedes,however…he loves that car!
 
Public entities are almost always immunized from lawsuits, including for mis-delivery of government services.
Courts (including court clerks) are almost always immunized under the doctrine of “judicial immunity.” As well they should be: The reverse is to make taxpayers foot the bill every time an aggrieved litigant wants to sue a judge for ruling against that litigant (which happens all the time as it is; those suits invariably and mercifully get dismissed early on before significant taxpayer resources are spent defending them).
 
Sorry if this is harsh.

Your husband was “treated like a criminal” because in the eyes of the law, he WAS a criminal.

He just “forgot” to register his car - and there was a bench warrant out for his arrest. Lack of registration is usually accompanied (these days anyway) by lack of insurance since you can’t/don’t insure an unregistered vehicle. And the police clearly acted reasonably by arresting a person with an open warrant outstanding.

Now, as to the whole “court error” thing:
Accidents happen. Yes, that would be traumatic if it occurred exactly as you relate. But that doesn’t mean the incident was anything that would justify, for example, a civil rights lawsuit (an administrative mistake is not a civil rights violation). Further, jails are full of folks who always seem to minimize their own role in things - sorry but his registration was expired. Do you think the law would be as forgiving if, while unregistered and maybe uninsured, he’d hit a pedestrian?
 
You are missing the point.An upstanding responsible tax paying ,self employed citizen, tak g out his summer vechile for the first time that season forgets his plates have expired. He is considered a criminal?🤨 The one size fits all response was over the top. His original ticket that was paid but never recorded wasn’t for speeding. New toll booths on the highway,he missed the first booth,paid all the other stations however.It was a minor incident,yet the county bungled it up and he paid the price.
 
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I’m disabled and never though being called disabled was an insult, and the same goes for the many disabled people that I know. I’m not defined by my disabilities.
 
No, the “one size fits all justice system” is in fact an absolute necessity - no more, no less.

Again: everyone in jail says they’re upstanding. I have no doubt your husband is precisely that. But if a poor person driving a junker would get arrested under similar circumstances (and that is precisely what would happen) the golfer in the convertible should get the exact same treatment - anything else is the “classist” system some are decrying.

Lady justice is portrayed as being blind - but that works both ways. Justice isn’t supposed to go hard for the poor because they’re poor, any more than it’s not supposed to go easy on the rich because they pay taxes.
 
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Actually those in junkers are generally overlooked by the cops.They know who is liable to pay.Those with skin in the game.Which leads to another farce.The who,e emissions testing malarkey.Why are cars of a certain age exempt ,many of which are junkers that I dare say emit more garbage than a newer car.Answer: Money honey!🤨
 
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You’re making this up as you go, because your husband got arrested and you’re still upset years (decades?) later.

Sorry, you’re moving the goal posts.

The punishment for breaking the same law should be equal for rich or poor, black or white. Anything else and justice isn’t blind.

And junkers in fact get pulled over constantly, because they have “observed equipment violations” that are almost impossible to dispute. Your taillight works or it doesn’t.
 
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I’m not making anything up as I go.I also contend that had my husband resisted arrest,tried to run away the outcome would have been very different but not any different that’s these recent incidents. Following your line of reasoning you will have to agree. It’s not a color thing.Its the behavior of the individuals involved.
 
The problem with discussions like this is they create anxiety, and the person or persons feeling the most anxiety will respond with the most disruption, anger, and offense. I support you discussing it. Unfortunately, right now America isn’t willing to discuss class issues; there is too much unnecessary cultural shame in both admitting there are poor and that there are poor Americans. You certainly never see poverty on tv or movies, much less books or music.

Again, I’m lower middle class. Wealth doesn’t attract me or motivate me nor is it a cause of envy much less shame. I’m very well aware not everyone thinks that way, especially not materialist secularist who embrace ideas of Social Darwinism. The direction I would take is for more Americans to embrace the social liberation ideology of Christianity. I can go further but I’ll just see if anything I have written has helped you.
 
No, because you’re descibing his behavior as something unrelated to the actions that got him arrested: he’s supposed to get a pass in your eyes because he’s “self employed” and a taxpayer.

He should get the same treatment the poor guy in the junker should get - as I keep saying, if he gets a break, he’s getting it because he’s well off and a taxpayer, and now justice isn’t blind.
 
@catholicray, I’m on board with your general argument. Many years ago, I saw an op-ed piece during a similar time of racial strife titled ‘Class, Not Race’ that posited a similar argument. Ever since then, I’ve been finding that most (but not all) of the conflicts identified as racism clashes are actually class divisions. I think that a class analysis of the problems would lead to actually addressing the true underlying root problems, whereas over-applying a race analysis to everything doesn’t move us forward as a society.

I understood your argument right away from your original post. I’m not surprised that this is an unpopular and misunderstood stance here. But rest assured, I got your definition of class right away and I perfectly understood why you brought up the governor 😀
 
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I’m resentful? Ma’am, you’re the one who griped out of the clear blue sky about an incident that occurred decades ago.
 
catholicray said:
We tend to think of racism isolated from the whole of societal structure. Classism is little known or accepted by Americans as fact. A more engaged understanding of history concerning the foundation of America exposes the fact of classism and it’s roots. Europeans brought their class structure and the ideologies associated with it to America. Classism has evolved. We no longer identify with lords, barons, serfs. We’ve traded it for black, white trash, landlord, governor, CEO.
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My opinion as a European — Pole, to be precise — is that classism is underappreciated these days by pretty much anyone. It is also believed to be somewhat acceptable, or at least not falling under the typical societal and legal injuctions against discrimination.

In terms of social structure, yes, America did not have barons, lords, etc., as in actual British peers living in the colonies at the time of the Revolution, expect for perhaps one or two people. But the upper class or the landed gentry was broader than just the titled folks. Even among otherwise untitled ‘esquires’ one person could have been a single-manor squire, whereas another could have been a lord in all things but name, hence much stratification existed.

I’m not sure about all of Europe, but in my country certainly there is a lot of people feeling better than their neighbours because of having more education, more IQ, more foreign languages spoken, or just more money. And in other countries there seem to be some other such class lines, much of which you will simply feel when you run into people who presume themselves to be your betters and make you feel bad for it.

Looking at America’s problems from the outside, I would definitely not deny racism, as some of those problem seems to relate clearly and precisely to race (e.g. black people more afraid than white people to make potentially suspicious moves in a car park, almost regardless of social class), but a lot of the privilege talk seems to focus on the race while ignoring class issues.

In my own country, the intelligentsia seem to be looking for racism where there is none (kind of a witch hunt) while being oblivious to the classism practiced by themselves.
 
My point was those incidents aren’t exclusive to people of color or dubious character. It was a traumatic experience and I brought it up because the focus the past several weeks has been on the police actions towards black people . I guess I either didn’t make that clear or you missed my point
 
The only thing I saw you advocating for is 2 tiers of justice: one for the poor; another for the well-off. Maybe that’s not your point, but that’s certainly how it presented: when someone says “I got treated like a common criminal!,” they’re usually decrying not just being treated like a criminal, but more being treated as a commoner, as if jail cells and bail are just for the poor.
 
Ok ,I will revise my verbiage.He was treated like a criminal,which he wasn’t and isn’t to this day.
 
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