The officers can be seen and heard talking with Houseman, trying to de-escalate the situation without resorting to violence.
In fact, when Houseman at one point told the officers to shoot him, one of them responded saying, "I don't want to shoot you; I'm not here to do that."
Eventually, the officers were able to subdue Houseman and take his gun, but decided against charging him.
So, in this case, when confronted with a white man who was acting belligerently and waving around a deadly assault rifle in the air, police officers talked the man down, didn't resort to violence or brutality, and were able to bring the situation to a close.
This is how a white guy is treated by police in the US.
Now, let's take a look at another situation that played out in St. Paul, Minnesota.
A cellphone video that was recently posted to YouTube shows a St. Paul police officer using excessive force against a black man, who was in a skyway, apparently just waiting to pick up his kids from school.
Initially, the officers ask the man his name and ask him why he's waiting in the skyway.
After he explains to one officer that he has the right to be waiting in a public area, and says that he's only be questioned because he's black, another St. Paul officer shows up.
After a brief discussion with the new police officer, the man is forcefully restrained and even tased. He can be heard screaming for help.
He's then heard saying that, "I didn't do anything wrong, I didn't break any laws and you tase me? That's assault."
This is a clear example of how the rules are different if you're black, and of the racist policing double-standards in the US today.
Fortunately, more and more people are realizing this, and are using video cameras to record their interactions with police, because they want to get anything that might be illegal on tape.
In a video uploaded to YouTube this past week, a man can be seen talking to police officers, who were looking for a wanted felon.
The officers repeatedly ask the man to turn off his cellphone video camera, but knowing his rights, the man does not.
They also ask to enter the man's house because they think he might be "harboring a fugitive" but since they don't have a warrant, the man tells them they cannot.
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