Talk:George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

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Q1: Does it have to say "white" police officer?

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Description of Darrell C. Scott[edit]

In the "Committee Hearings" section, I had changed "Trump surrogate" to "conservative minister." @Neutrality: changed it back because the referenced source calls him a "Trump surrogate." I think calling him a "Trump surrogate" based on a passing comment in the source makes it seem as though WP considers him to be such. Politico is not governed by WP:NPOV, so they could call him a cranky ocelot if they wanted to, but WP shouldn't do the same just because they do. I'm not even sure what "Trump surrogate" means in this context, which is especially concerning if we're going to refer to him as one. Rather than get into an edit war, I'm bringing it here.

I think calling him a "conservative minister" is more NPOV than "Trump surrogate," and is unquestionably accurate. What do other editors think? Would it be an acceptable compromise to put quote marks around the term?

*Septegram*Talk*Contributions* 16:08, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The current language is good, and the proposed language would not be. Our article describes Scott as "a minister and Trump surrogate" and the source material describes him as "Pastor Darrell Scott of Illinois' New Spirit Revival Center, another longtime Trump surrogate." Thus, our text appropriately matches and summarizes the cited source. We follow what the reliable sources say; we don't water it down or change its meaning. Note also that being a "Trump surrogate" is not the same thing as being a conservative. The former is both more specific, and arguably quite different, from the latter. (Many conservatives are not pro-Trump.) Neutrality^talk 16:14, 28 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I know what the source material says, but I question its appropriateness here. The WP definition is "substitute or deputy for another person in a specific role," but that hardly seems NPOV without something more substantial than a passing comment. The source, as I said, is not bound by NPOV, so we should be cautious about giving the appearance that WP is calling him a "Trump surrogate."

I don't think calling him a "conservative minister" would be incorrect or "watering down" anything, nor would it be changing the meaning of anything. It would be eliminating what appears to be a mildly pejorative term with one that is undeniably accurate and 100% NPOV. Calling someone a "Trump surrogate" certainly implies being a conservative (or a loon); progressive Trump supporters are about as plentiful as Black Klansmen. I'm aware there are many conservatives who are not pro-Trump, but that's not the point here.

Regardless, I'm going tweak the text slightly to make it clear that the term is quoted from the source material, which is undeniably true, whether the source material is accurate/NPOV or not, and leave it at that.

*Septegram*Talk*Contributions* 14:57, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I think my verbiage was fine, but @Neutrality:'s change to "ally" is entirely reasonable and NPOV.

*Septegram*Talk*Contributions* 21:10, 29 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]