Racial Profiling

I was watching the Dr. Phil show yesterday, in which he was discussing the Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case with Lisa Bloom, who authored a book Suspicion Nation in which she criticizes the prosecution for botching the case. You may recall that Zimmerman was accused of "profiling" Trayvon Martin, which led to the confrontation between them and to Zimmerman's eventually shooting Martin, allegedly in self-defense.

At the end of the program, Dr. Phil revealed the results of a poll asking people in various indirect ways if they were racist (against blacks). It turned out that 80% of whites indicated they were racist against blacks and that 50% of blacks indicated that they were racist against other blacks. If you find this surprising, consider the following exchange between Juan Williams and Dr. Caroline Helmand, Professor of Political Science at Occidental College. Williams was fired from NPR for saying that when he sees people in Muslim garb on a plane, he gets nervous, which prompted the following comments from Professor Helmand:

JUAN WILLIAMS

Helmand: "I happen to agree with Schiller that your comments [about Muslims] were bigoted. I think that if I were to say that I clutch my purse every time I walk by a black man that might resonate with a lot of Americans. It might be the truth but it's a bigoted statement. I certainly wouldn't have fired you but I do think there was some truth in that video that we don't get to talk about because we are afraid to have actual discourse in this country."

Williams: "I can't believe that you just said that. You think that simply saying what you think is evidence of bigotry that all of a sudden it's as if you were walking by a black man that would mean if you were bigoted if you were somewhat nervous. Let me just tell you, with the amount of black on black crime in America, I get nervous and I'm a black man. So, I mean, wait a second..."

Helmand: "There we go again, Juan. I would find that to be racial profiling that's a bigoted comment."

Williams: "That's a bigoted comment?"

Helmand: "Yes it is. Just like your comment about Muslims."

Williams: "I'm the father of black young men and I'm saying that if you saw a couple guys walking around looking like thugs down the street late at night, you're saying 'Oh, I'm not going to think it through.' Caroline, I think you are way off base."

A few years ago, Jesse Jackson voiced a similar concern when he said: “There is nothing more painful to me … than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.” Do these kinds of concerns voiced by people like Juan Williams and Jesse Jackson constitute "racial profiling"? Do they really rise to the level of racial bigotry?

And what are we to make of the poll showing widespread racism against blacks? I wonder how the questions were phrased. Like Juan Williams and Jesse Jackson, I myself "profile" black teenage boys who are dressed and act a certain way, especially if a gang of them is walking towards me on the street. If convenient, I make a point of crossing the street. I base this on personal experience of having been mugged by members of this group and on that of friends who've had similar experiences.

If I were black and living in the racist South 100 years ago, I'd "profile" white boys in pickup trucks displaying Confederate flags. You can call it "racial profiling," if you want, but it's really the profiling of a racial subgroup.

I'm just wondering if the people who answered that poll viewed this type of profiling as racist. Is it really true that racism against blacks exists among 80% of whites and 50% of blacks? If it were that pervasive, how is it that we elected and re-elected a black president?

What I find ironic is that people make such a huge issue of cases like the George Zimmerman shooting (for which he was acquitted), when relatively little outrage is expressed over the epidemic of black on black crime occurring nearly every day in our major cities. It is this that should be occupying our attention instead of pointing self-righteous fingers at comparatively rare cases like the Zimmerman shooting.

A good place to start is by decriminalizing drugs. That would take the profit out of drug dealing and eliminate the gang activity associated with it. Then we should stop excusing bad behavior as an "understandable reaction" to racism and poverty and begin holding people responsible for their actions. If you tell a whole group of people that their bad behavior is not their fault, will they take responsibility for it? You've given them a ready made excuse to continue it. It's human nature to blame others and to seize upon whatever excuse is available, which are usually variations on the theme of "the devil made me do it."

Part of treating people as individuals is holding them responsible for their choices.

Post 1

Saturday, July 19, 2014 - 2:07pm

Is it really true that racism against blacks exists among 80% of whites and 50% of blacks?

What about racial predjudice against whites among whites and among blacks? What would that poll have shown? Taking the first poll, and combining it with the results of this other poll might have shown a correlations between focusing on race as a key issue in life and lower average incomes? And Less success in life? The irony in modern America is that it is not the racial attitudes of others against you that will hold you down, but rather it is that the holding of racial attitudes (as in believing that race is an important issue) is more likely to be what holds you down.

The question relating to this thread is about the logic of associating of a kind of appearance with a degree of danger. And this will boil down to what degree of reasonablness is justified in associating a racial demographic (young black males) with a cultural subgroup comfortable with violent ways(the 'gangsta' worshipping subculture for example)?

And in terms of psychology, what is the relative frequency of one racial demographic dressing, acting, and behaving in ways designed to project the possibility of violence? Jesse Jackson could also have said that he would be relieved if the footsteps behind him were from a young black man wearing a suit instead of baggy jeans and a hoodie. It isn't the skin color that is scary, it is the possibility of gangster-like violence. The music and movies and 'heros' of a portion of the young black subculture speak of violence and act as if it were justified.

True racism is about that vicious fallacy of seeing character traits (things of choice) as being determined by race. If a large segment of a subculture and demographic choose to adopt violent, antagonistic, aggressive postures and beliefs, then the identification of a member of that subculture and demographic is the identification of possible risk. That's not racist.

The highly factionalized, partisan politics of today when combined with a high degree of dishonesty in the approach to winning votes is causing a lot of problems. Using 'racism' as a wedge issue and moralizing theme to arouse their political base while attempting to demonize their opponents results in a kind of 'racism' that is unreal, and occupies a false place in the moral/political environment. It is not a move towards the dream of Martin Luther king of that day where our children would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. It is not a move towards equality under the law with justice blind to the skin color of those before her. It is not about any real progress in solving actual problems of crime and violence.

Because of the passionate drive towards collectivism/statism and an angry insistence on control of others by elites, 'racism' is no longer really racism. The made up, counterfit version of racism has driven much of the real issues surronding skin color differences out the arena.

It is bad beliefs and bad psychology that lead to most poverty and crime. This is an individual phenomena and responsibility is an individual function and this is true for all races. Far too many young blacks have adopted aspects of a hostile, racist subculture that blames whites for what is wrong. They are encouraged by liberal psuedo-guilt, Progressive propoganda, a media in lock-step with the progressives, Hollywood stereotyping, and academic PC. This has grown into a subculture that holds far greater tolerance for violence, for substituting angry outburst for personal responsibility. The biggest racial issue for many blacks today is in focusing on skin color for personal identity, as an explanation of the world they live in, and for failing to adopt the values that make others successful - regardless of skin color.

Post 2

Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 5:26pm

"And what are we to make of the poll showing widespread racism against blacks? I wonder how the questions were phrased. Like Juan Williams and Jesse Jackson, I myself "profile" black teenage boys who are dressed and act a certain way, especially if a gang of them is walking towards me on the street. If convenient, I make a point of crossing the street. I base this on personal experience of having been mugged by members of this group and on that of friends who've had similar experiences."

And on the news every single night. We can get conditioned like any other animal, can't we? But it's so much more than what color a person is. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of little non-verbal cues that can set off alarms. Why social scientists choose to only focus on color is a mystery to me.

Post 3

Sunday, July 20, 2014 - 6:38pm

Why social scientists choose to only focus on color is a mystery to me.

And to me.

But one thing is certain. A racist is someone who associates a character trait with skin color. And the other side of that same inane idiocy is a person who says, my skin color is X, therefore I'm going to believe Y. And in that way we end up with a whole subculture made up of individuals, media themes, literature, art themes, etiquette, clothing fashions, etc. and all based upon a skin color. Black music, black clothing styles, black attitudes, black political themes, ways of speaking, slang, etc.

It is a form of insane self-selection by the one group that to be logical should be fighting any attempt to label anything by skin color. We are told that native Americans don't want sports teams named things like "The Redskins" - but we see a huge rush to make things like black history month, black studies, the Black Caucus in congress, and so on.

It is a back door to racsim and it keeps the heart of racism alive and well. The heart of racism is a focus on skin color as if it were an important deciding criteria. The logical direction for those who want to kill racism, for those who aren't using a bit of racism to drive identity politics, and who aren't afraid to be Politically Incorrect is to demand that people be 'as if' they were color blind.

Post 4

Tuesday, August 19, 2014 - 6:16pm

When discussing examples of racial profiling, don't forget to include assumptions that a white police officer who shoots an unarmed black man must have had racial motivations.

Post 5

Tuesday, November 4, 2014 - 6:51am