Black Lives Matter Movement/Protests

My opponent asks for a link between crime and black oppression. In round two I showed how the oppression of the black community created areas of concentrated poverty in our inner cities. First let us recognize that children born into poverty are far more likely to live in poverty as an adult. "One"s economic position is strongly influenced by that of one"s parents: 42 percent of children born to parents in the bottom fifth of the economic distribution remain in the bottom as adults and another 23 percent rise only to the second fifth, while 39 percent of children born to parents at the top of the income distribution remain at the top, with another 23 percent moving to the second fifth." (http://www.nccp.org...). We should also be aware of the effects of poverty on child development. "Child poverty and economic hardship can have significant consequences for children"s development and life chances. Growing up in poverty can be harmful to children"s cognitive development and ability to succeed in school, to their social and emotional well-being, and to their health." (https://www.princeton.edu...). Concentrated poverty has many negative effects on the community and the people living in it. When you have a lot of really poor people in concentrated area the community loses its tax base causing a decline in public services. Lack of funding for schools leads to a decline in educational opportunity. (http://usuncut.com...). Impoverished communities are less attractive to investors and employers limiting job opportunities. "lack of business competition, gaps in market information, and higher costs for doing business in poor neighborhoods can raise the prices charged for basic goods and services, such as food, car insurance, utilities, and financial services, in low-income neighborhoods." (http://www.frbsf.org...). "Residents of high-poverty areas experience negative health outcomes at much higher rates, owing partly to the stress of being poor and marginalized and partly to living in an environment with dilapidated housing and high crime. There may also be higher risk of exposure to other environmental hazards, such as lead-based paint(http://www.cdc.gov...), and pollution from heavily trafficked roads nearby. Even when the residents of high-poverty areas seek medical attention, they may find that the quality of care available at local providers is inferior to the quality of care available to most residents of wealthier areas." "In general, high-poverty inner-city neighborhoods exhibit higher crime rates, especially for violent crime.96 One team of researchers found that neighborhood poverty is a significant predictor of local crime.97 In another study, Anne Case and Lawrence Katz show that neighborhood peer groups influence adolescents" propensity to engage in criminal behavior or drug use.98 In these neighborhoods, the social penalties for criminal activity may be lower, and reduced access to jobs and quality schools may further reduce the opportunity costs of crime." (http://www.bjs.gov...). If we look at any major city in America the poor side of town is the bad side of town. The cities with the highest crime rates have more poverty compared to the national average. (http://ww2.kqed.org...). Poverty is a major contributing factor to crime and the oppression of the black community created an endless cycle of poverty and crime in our inner cities. Now my opponent says crime and poverty have no correlation. He says that there are actually more poor white people. But his own source says "that blacks and Latinos are disproportionately poor, 27 percent of African Americans and 25 percent of Latinos are poor, compared to just 9 percent of whites". (http://www.theroot.com...). Do to the relationship between poverty and crime when you see a higher rate of poverty within a demographic you can also expect to see a higher rate of crime. My opponent repeatedly points to the high rate of crime in black communities like somehow it justifies police acting as judge jury and executioner on the street. But my opponent never addresses the issue of uneven policing. (http://www.nyclu.org...). In New York City 55% of the people stopped for stop and frisk were black even though the city is only 25% black. White only made up 10% of stops despite making up 45% of the population. (https://www.census.gov...). 90% of all people stopped were innocent. So if police are disproportionately looking for crime within one group of people chances are a higher rate of the crime they uncover will be within that group of people. Just like if I only fish in the Atlantic Ocean chances are the fish I catch will be from the Atlantic Ocean. That doesn't mean that I can't catch fish in the Pacific Ocean or that there are less fish to catch in the Pacific Ocean it only means that that I just don't fish in the Pacific Ocean. High crime rates within a community does not justify police misconduct. Just because there are more criminals in a certain community doesn't mean cops are aloud to treat innocent members of that community as criminals. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Even if only a small percentage of police killings are unjustified it doesn't make the unjustified killings any less egregious. It doesn't make family members miss their brother, son, or husband any less. We can not allow our public servants to be so careless with civilian lives. We need higher standards for the use of force on the national level. Just because more black people die from black on black crime then by the police doesn't mean you shouldn't work to solve both. Just like more people die from heart disease then cancer but we aren't going to stop trying to find a cure for cancer until we can prevent heart disease. So by repeating that more blacks die from black on black crime is not an argument against protesting police killings. Your irrelevant anecdotes about affirmative action have nothing to do with this debate I would just like to point out that affirmative action has nothing to do with what grade you got on your school project. And no we can not all agree that black people are treated more fairly. Just for example studies show that if you have a black sounding name you are less likely to get a callback for a job even if you are just as qualified. (http://www.nber.org...). My opponent says "But there is no evidence that even 1/5 of all white cops commit hate crimes". That is a really low bar. I sure hope 20% of cops aren't committing hate crimes. Even 1% is too much. We need to investigate every murder with an independent outside investigator and prosecute any wrong doing to the full extent of the law no matter what percentage of police are committing these crimes. My opponent denies that police officers falsify reports and suppress evidence after a police shooting. The case of Laquan McDonald is the most recent high profile example of this but a simple Internet search will reveal this happens all over the country. (http://www.cnn.com...) (http://atlantablackstar.com...). I would also like to hear the reasoning behind your claim that the Alton sterling shooting was justified. The penalty for possession of an illegal weapon is not shoot on site. The gun was shown to be still in his pocket after he was shot. He was on the ground being restrained by multiple officers using a taser. I fail to see the justification in this shooting. All of this is beside the point. The point of this debate is that as my opponent admits "Of course there is oppression against blacks and of course there are violent hate crimes that cops commit. To those cops that commit such actions, I say they can rot in hell for all eternity." and of course these crimes should be investigated by an impartial independent investigator and any wrong doing should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. That is all BLM is asking for. All of this other stuff is just a distraction. No one should escape justice even if their victim was a criminal. Every American has the right to protest and injustice is cause worthy of protest. Every American has the duty to demand liberty and justice for all.