Excessive force?

Just finished watching this discussion show on community TV about police brutality. To tell you the truth it really wasn't that well done a show but it was interesting. Three youth and a moderator addressing the concerns of police using excessive force and their brutality of young people.

As expected (this is North America after all) there was a young black man there who had experienced brutality. He told his story about standing outside a convenience store when police approached him and his 4 friends, said they fit the description and proceeded to beat the crap out of them. Charges were pressed against him and his friends only to be thrown out of court later on but both he and his friends still carry the scars, both physically and emotionally, of the beating they received.

Anyway what was interesting about this show was that the other two young persons on the show tried to justify the use of police brutality on innocent civilians. They said maybe the guy fit the description, maybe he was hanging out in the wrong place at the wrong time, and maybe the policemen had dealt with youth who had given them a hard time in the past and their actions were colored by those previous experiences. Un-frigging-believable.

Then there was an on the street segment where they asked a bunch of young ladies about their views on police brutality. Surprisingly or maybe not so surprisingly given the bias by the interviewer towards choosing a totally homogeneous sample all saw absolutely nothing wrong with police brutality.

All I can say is wake up people.