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Kotaku: Pokémon Go Could Be A Death Sentence For A Black Man

Unfortunately police involvement is entirely possible given the very nature of this game. Exploring is fine however exploring on other people's property leads to all kinds of potential problems. There are bad cops out there, however the vast majority are good hardworking individuals who just want to come home at night. If you do happen to have a police encounter with Pokemon Go, just follow their instructions and you'll be fine.

Google Falcon Heights.
 
Unfortunately police involvement is entirely possible given the very nature of this game. Exploring is fine however exploring on other people's property leads to all kinds of potential problems. There are bad cops out there, however the vast majority are good hardworking individuals who just want to come home at night. If you do happen to have a police encounter with Pokemon Go, just follow their instructions and you'll be fine.

"Can I see identification sir?

"Yes officer, right here in my wal-"

"HE HAS A GUN! GUN! GUN!"

And about 50 shots later, well, let's see how your health is for following their instructions.
 

FZZ

Banned
I mean yeah

That's why all the time you see big groups posted about people meeting up because of the game it's mostly a bunch of white people with other minorities scattered throughout lmao
 
I thought about this too. When I was a kid, my mom got mad at me for using a shortcut home that involved going near backyards. Said I would risk getting shot by a potential nut if I did it again.
 

Crocodile

Member
Haha yeah this topic actually came up a bit in the BCT and we could all sympathize. As someone who has been stopped for many times in my life for basically doing nothing but minding my own business, this game never seemed particularly appealing.

Definitely something to take into consideration.

And not to derail, but it's not all doom and gloom!

Cm3Rv_hW8AA8LnW.jpg:orig

This was a good story though <3
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
[Agent]ZeroNine;209556559 said:
Speaking as a person who witnessed a fellow negro from a NYC meetup get put in the backseat of a Police cruiser because we were apart of a scavenger hunt, this shit is extremely real.
Wait. What? When did this happen
 
Read this earlier, and they're right.


It's chillingly plausible to imagine someone calling the cops on a "suspicious individual" walking through a neighborhood, seemingly pausing to look around like they're examining houses and taking pictures. Then some kid is freaked out by a cop rolling up, may not really know how to explain the dorky thing he's doing, which makes him seen evasive and shifty, then if it's at night a cop sees a dark object in his hand...

Christ that's depressing how believable this scenario is.
 

Warxard

Banned
Read this earlier, and they're right.


It's chillingly plausible to imagine someone calling the cops on a "suspicious individual" walking through a neighborhood, seemingly pausing to look around at houses as if they're taking pictures. Then some kid who may not really know how to explain the dorky thing he's doing, which makes him seen evasive and shifty, then if it's at night a cop sees a dark object in his hand...

Christ that's depressing how believable this scenario is.

America!
 
Read this earlier, and they're right.


It's chillingly plausible to imagine someone calling the cops on a "suspicious individual" walking through a neighborhood, seemingly pausing to look around like they're examining houses and taking pictures. Then some kid is freaked out by a cop rolling up, may not really know how to explain the dorky thing he's doing, which makes him seen evasive and shifty, then if it's at night a cop sees a dark object in his hand...

Christ that's depressing how believable this scenario is.

Yeah, seriously seems very, very plausible unfortunately
 

FairFight

Banned
[Agent]ZeroNine;209556814 said:
Google Falcon Heights.
I don't really want to get into it. The video is awful. It also starts after he's been shot Though I believe. We have no idea what transpired prior. I personally think it was a tragic mistake on the officers part given his panicked reaction.
 

Orayn

Member
Unfortunately police involvement is entirely possible given the very nature of this game. Exploring is fine however exploring on other people's property leads to all kinds of potential problems. There are bad cops out there, however the vast majority are good hardworking individuals who just want to come home at night. If you do happen to have a police encounter with Pokemon Go, just follow their instructions and you'll be fine.

Cops will happily kill you for following instructions too, actually.
 

CloakBass

Member
WANTED: Pleasant white individual to accompany me on a Pokemon Go expedition. Must be well-groomed. Turtleneck experience a plus.
 

tensuke

Member
Yeah my friends and I were out last night playing go and stopped into a parking lot to train our gym, right after we parked two other cars pulled up on either side of us to challenge the gym. Held them off, then saw a ghastly nearby so we got out and walked around trying to find it. Figured it must be across the street at Wendy's, so we got back in the car to head over there but a cop car had pulled up behind us and both cops got out to see what we were up to. Said we looked kinda suspicious parked in the dark. And this was a few unassuming white guys. Can't imagine how it could have turned out if we were black. Stay safe fellow trainers.
 

Orayn

Member
No it's not. He police have to have probable cause, not something based on race. This is insane to even consider as a real possibility.

Research what actually happened to skilling, then come back with an informed statement

It's insane to even consider that cops could be racist?
 

bomblord1

Banned
"Can I see identification sir?

"Yes officer, right here in my wal-"

"HE HAS A GUN! GUN! GUN!"

And about 50 shots later, well, let's see how your health is for following their instructions.

Do you really believe this is how it normally happens? Well maybe where you live I guess I can't say for certain but certainly not where I do.
 
No it's not. He police have to have probable cause, not something based on race. This is insane to even consider as a real possibility.

Research what actually happened to skilling, then come back with an informed statement

This works under the assumption that cops always do their jobs properly
 

Acerac

Banned
I'm white as fuck and I had some old guy taking pictures of me as I tried to catch a weedle outside his house. He lived next to a gym so it must have been common enough to freak the old fart out.

I can only imagine the reactions some others have gotten from similarly confused old people.
 

AmyS

Member
Kotaku: Pokémon Go Could Be A Death Sentence For A Black Man

giphy.gif


Kotaku clickbait, I'm sorry but I don't see it otherwise, even if what they're saying has some truth it in. I don't like clickbait in general.
 

Mediking

Member
Yeah my friends and I were out last night playing go and stopped into a parking lot to train our gym, right after we parked two other cars pulled up on either side of us to challenge the gym. Held them off, then saw a ghastly nearby so we got out and walked around trying to find it. Figured it must be across the street at Wendy's, so we got back in the car to head over there but a cop car had pulled up behind us and both cops got out to see what we were up to. Said we looked kinda suspicious parked in the dark. And this was a few unassuming white guys. Can't imagine how it could have turned out if we were black. Stay safe fellow trainers.

Wow... if that happened to me... I probably would have got sad and deleted the game from my phone. Just gonna wait on PK Moon...
 

Orayn

Member
Do you really believe this is how it happens? Well maybe where you live I guess I can't say for certain but certainly not where I do.

As far as we know, this is exactly what happened to Philando Castile. Cop asked him to produce his ID and immediately killed him when he complied.
 

Crocodile

Member
Unfortunately police involvement is entirely possible given the very nature of this game. Exploring is fine however exploring on other people's property leads to all kinds of potential problems. There are bad cops out there, however the vast majority are good hardworking individuals who just want to come home at night. If you do happen to have a police encounter with Pokemon Go, just follow their instructions and you'll be fine.

No it's not. He police have to have probable cause, not something based on race. This is insane to even consider as a real possibility.

Research what actually happened to skilling, then come back with an informed statement

You guys been in a coma for the past week (actually several centuries but whatever :p)? LMAO
 

Zaph

Member
This is one of those headlines that you desperately want to be satire or clickbait.

But alas...
 

mp1990

Banned
No it's not. He police have to have probable cause, not something based on race. This is insane to even consider as a real possibility.

Research what actually happened to skilling, then come back with an informed statement
If the recent events haven't proved you the black people are more susceptible to police violence and murder, many times without a solid reason (not that there's any reason for violence), I don't know what will.

*scratches Kotaku off list of sites to frequent*

I don't play videogames or read about videogames for political commentary.

You lack basic human decency. Fuck off.
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
Isn't walking around with your phone out pretty common though? You're either texting or browsing the web or using GPS.
 

bomblord1

Banned
I don't know what you want me to say. You said "Is this really how it happens where you live?" I do live in Minnesota and this literally just happened as described in CerfifiedFP's post.

What is your point? You responded as if what you said somehow contradicted my statement.
 

Acerac

Banned
Isn't walking around with your phone out pretty common though? You're either texting or browsing the web or using GPS.

Not stopping in front of people's houses and pointing it all around, sometimes directly at their house. Not every 3 minutes.

Seriously, the old dude was waiting for pokemon trainers. I am positive he was not the most upset person out there, I guarantee cops have been called on Go players. Hell, he may have called the cops on me and used that picture for evidence. XD
What's wrong with it?

FUCK KOTAKU RARRRGGGGHHH!
 
Thoughtful piece that sadly run true to me, spoiled by a terrible title.

If it's true, then is it really clickbait?

Yes. Pokemon Go isn't killing anyone. In his article, he's talking about how disproportionate statistics indicate that a situation where wandering around could have the cops called on him, and could lead to a fatal situation.
 
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