Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for May 08, 2021

True then, true now.

Weep for us.

Things have changed. Now they simply shoot he black guy

Seems like society is developing backwards, with us in Germany as well

The more things change, the more they stay the same. “Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen.” ~ Woody Guthrie

I really need Danae’s “black death” emoji for this. Really.

As they say, the more things change, the more they stays the same.

Go back about forty years. Picture my father, a white senior executive with a major firm in his late fifties. He is walking down a street in Toronto’s business district when a passing car runs over a stone in the road and shoots it through a store window. When he told me about it, he said he was glad there were no police nearby because they might have arrested him.

I told him that he could walk up to a policeman, pick up a brick, throw it through a window, and the policeman would arrest the first black teenager he saw.

Back then, I might have been right. Now I certainly would be.

Yup.

Wiley, it is very sad how right you were 21 years ago. Sadder yet is how right you still are today. Weep for America.

Scary to think nothing has changed in that aspect in over 20 years. We’re better than we used to be, but it’s not good enough. We need to do better….

Sadly, as relevant today as it was then. Change is so slow.

No, just profile the cops. Because… if they’re cops, they must be bad, right? You guys are the real profilers. That is, until you need one.

Ça ne change pas du tout, donc ça reste la même chose. :’(

Unless he tampered with the website, it really did run exactly 21 years ago. Also surprised to see the comic is almost 30 years old.

Too true.

It’s…funny because it’s true…?

Makes a Grown man want to weep !

Not only is this behavior still being done directly to citizens of color, it’s being taken to the next level with their voting rights, too.

The saddest thing is this comic is 21 years old and the premise is still true.

21 years ago, the active verb was “arrest” instead of “shoot to kill.”

Usually the well dressed white guy (banker) mugs you without a gun visible.

Nah, arrest the policeman; they look a shifty lot.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Until the U.S. confronts and admits its pervasive and chronic racism, we will not really change. Right now, they are changing voting laws across the U.S. to hinder or prevent Black citizens the vote. And most Americans aren’t doing a thing about it.

Arrest them both and let the court sort it out. Right?

I am guilty of profiling myself. Whenever I see a person who is heavily tattooed or pierced, I have a negative reaction. I know that this is totally irrational and my brain has to kick my gut to get it into alignment.

What is even more perplexing is that I know people who have “body art” (though not as extreme as some) and I like them!

Well, at least I know I have this bias but I’m willing to bet I have a host of other biases of which I am not even aware.

Humans are often irrational creatures.

Remember the mentally troubled white guy who wandered out of his group home? A black therapist was talking with him, calming him down. The police arrived and shot the black therapist.

(Officers stood at too much of a distance to hear what was being said. Maybe, but there were a lot of witnesses standing by the two men who could hear what was going on. Why didn’t the police move in as close as the people standing around the men and showing no signs of fear?)

At least they only were going to arrest the black guy, instead of shooting him.

21 years. With not a bit of change because the qpublicans have blocked every Democratic bill that has anything to do with changing the police. It a sad fact, but the vast majority of qpublicans know nothing of history(or simply dismiss it claiming that history has nothing to do with the current state of affairs)even that of their own Party

Which one would the Cops arrest if both robber and robbed are White?

This is total Left leaning bull. If anything, it’s the opposite. Try fact, not want-it-to-be.

I almost missed the “non-sequitur 21 years ago today” Feeling beyond words

Not much has changed, has it. Except that, today, the black guy would end up dead…

At this moment, I notice that there are 168 likes for this toon. This could mean that a sizable number of gocomics folks see the problem that is over 21 years old, and that’s a good thing. Or, it could mean that a sizable number are cheering on the white mugger and idiot cops, and that’s a bad thing. We live in a very polarized society so that a sizable group could support the cops and Trump no matter what bad acts they do. I pray we can come together at least enough to defeat the virus, and restore democracy throughout the land.

Hey Wiley, two cops got shot in downtown Memphis yesterday. I’ll leave out the skin color of the good guys and bad guys because it’s the content of a person’s character that counts. Quit demonizing people because of their job, skin color, and even political party because there is good and bad in all walks of life.

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…

Sad part is that I remember news articles where cops arrested, even shot, people who were victims of a crime because they were black. The USSC ruled years ago that cops don’t have to enforce the law either. They can witness a crime and choose to do nothing.

As I pointed out t’other day, conservatives want to hold back progress. To retard it, one might say.

Some much for advancement.

Very sad that any changes that have occurred over the last two decades, are for the worse

Oh man…I’m glad “Breaking Cat News” is my next comic today.

Well predicted, that or more accurately, we are unchanged.

Gee Wiley, I ignored your language, but I see you are still bent on divisiveness. After years of reading…I am done.

We could accidentally shoot the white guy, so as not to be accused of profiling.

Just a by product of then Senator J Biden’s 94’ crime bill. Look it up, hear his words from that time that is not so long ago.

‘’Same as it ever was.’’

I find comfort with the many who understand what this is about, but sadness that some find it inaccurate.

“The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” – Oxford English Dictionary Thank you Mr. Miller

Blacks were not trusted hundreds of years ago, and are not trusted today, by the people who enslaved and then, once emancipated, suppressed them into ghettos. Feel that irony and you may be feeling the core of racism in the United States of America.

I find it interesting that those who preach most about “trusting the science” ignore science and statistics when it suits their agenda.

2021 is different. Today, they would just shoot the back man – no questions asked.

99% of the time they’d be correct.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. :(

What’s old is new again (still).

Must be a tax hungry politician

Surprised that the police didn’t just shoot the black guy first and then strategize their rationalization…

Still Happening, but at least it’s going both ways now. Small improvement, but at least it is an improvement.

21 YEARS ago today! The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Perception is at least 90%…

The more Things change, the more they stay the same.

This is heartbreaking.

In Soviet Russia we rob from rich, In America rich man bribes government to rob YOU! Ehhh ehhhh ehhh

I thought that well-dressed white guy looked like a Democrat….

Hmm, I own a business that serves a lot of cops. Don’t know a one of them that would fall into this stereotype

dwagner said: “99% of the time they’d be correct”, apparently in response to “2021 is different. Today, they would just shoot the back man – no questions asked.”

Cite your statistics and their source(s), please.

Why does the guy with the gun think that the other guy has money? Why does he not care that there are police officers standing there? How long has the guy been pointing his gun and holding out a hand given that there was time for officers to see them, come over, and then have a discussion? I get the point but the rest doesn’t make sense.

It happened then, it happens now and, given far too many responses here, it will continue to happen.

I find this toon laughable stupid with the standard cast of sorry white apologists bleating their anti LEO, blacks are so put upon trash. It is refreshing to see so many Commenters stand up for the Thin Blue Line that keeps the Animals at bay. Animals of all stripes & colors.

In 1960’s Berkeley, a female friend was accosted and/or harassed by some guy leaving our place in the evening. She called the cops and gave a description of the guy, including the fact that he was white. Shortly thereafter the cops brought to her a scared black teenager—“Is this the guy?” “No, I told you he was white!”

https://local.theonion.com/dna-evidence-frees-black-man-convicted-of-bear-attack-1819594800

To quote a lyric written by Frank Zappa (over 50 years ago)…“I’m not black, but there’s a whole lotta times I wish I could say I’m not white”.

This. Happened to my Asian American son-in-law. He reported an attempted rape. The cops who responded knocked him to the ground then handcuffed him. While he was pinned to the ground he was searched and questioned about the money that was in his pocket. This was in the most most liberal part of Maryland. My son-in-law calls these police actions “code brown.”

I like puppies and kittens. And clear mountain mornings.

Profiling is nothing more than application of the “Duck Test” filtered through education and experience: IF it, looks like a duck and has web feet like a duck, and it waddles like a duck, and it swims like a duck, and it flys like a duck, and is seen in the company of other birds known to be ducks; you can be reasonably certain that it is most likely a duck.

Wow – if I’d written such a pathetically ignorant cartoon 21 years ago, I wouldn’t show it off today.

All cops are bad apples; that’s what defines “law enforcement.” It’s what the knuckleheads want to be.

Since then, the guy has replaced his Gun with a Payday Loan agency and a Lawyer.

Change is never going to come.

Sad but so true…heavy sigh

Today it’s, “…so to be on the safe side, shoot the black guy.”

to be fair, they’d probably arrest them both – just in case the well dressed white guy is well-known. That way they can look like they’re doing something.

Wiley, what happened in your life to be so bitter and hateful? Maybe someday you’ll experience grace, but until then, you need to work on your black heart.

Well, that hasn’t changed.