# Convince me not to be racist **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 17, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781 "2014-08-17T21:35:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/41 "2014-08-18T02:23:29Z")
It is basically impossible for 100% of murders to be committed by one race, either an extremely small sample or some other statistical whackadoo is happening here. Sorry but come on crimes of passion? EDIT:I live in a country where white people make up 1% of the population, and I can remember off the top of my head several murders committed by white suspects that made it to the media. But you’re telling me Atlanta has 0? SURE ---
**Author:** ![nachtmusick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@nachtmusick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nachtmusick)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/42 "2014-08-18T02:43:37Z")
San Jose, California is the tenth largest city in the United States. Only 4 percent of the population is black, but there are a lot of poor. The crime rate has recently reached national average: > **[San Jose crime rate surpasses U.S. average, arrests plummet](https://www.mercurynews.com/2013/12/16/san-jose-crime-rate-surpasses-u-s-average-arrests-plummet/)** > > San Jose crime rate surpasses U.S. average, arrests plummet That is a lot of work for just 4 percent of the populace to accomplish. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/43 "2014-08-18T02:47:24Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Why is this not in the Pit? Good question. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/44 "2014-08-18T04:07:26Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > No, I don’t find that hypothetical objectionable at all. I think that the historical facts have proved that males are more likely than women to commit violent offenses. Being a male doesn’t make that any more offensive. You wouldn’t feel offended if someone didn’t treat you with respect and trust and equality just because you’re male? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/45 "2014-08-18T04:07:43Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > Well, I went back 6 months since you don’t like that data. > > 12/13 - 5/14 > 35 arrests for murder: 100% Black. > > I’ll keep going if you’d like. 286,000 blacks in Atlanta and you are going to paint all of them with a broad bruch because 35 blacks were arrested for murder? How many of their victims were NOT black? ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/46 "2014-08-18T04:12:19Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Holy shit, [it looks like poverty, rather than race, accounts for much of Atlanta’s crime](http://sf.oxfordjournals.org/content/79/2/707.short)! Whoda thunk (besides people not committed to a racist agenda, of course)? > > GS-E, at this point, if you continue to dismiss the race-poverty connection, even if you continue to attribute crime to black people rather than primarily to poor people, it’s gonna look willful. Look at the 2010 rather than the 1980 map. There is plenty of blue and a lot of green (hispanic). ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/47 "2014-08-18T04:38:53Z")
Another point in all this, is: Why does it matter, and why do you care? I mean, playing devil’s advocate, let’s say asian people are smarter on average than whites. So what? You still can’t look at an individual white or asian person and know anything about them. You can’t even make statements of what is “likely”, all you can say is “there’s a 7% higher chance of this guy having an IQ over 120” or whatever. And the reason people care so much about this shit is because making generalizations is exactly what you want to do. It would be great if you could tell friend from foe with just a cursory look. But we resist such an impulse because it would be wrong very often, and would treat many people unfairly. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/48 "2014-08-18T05:15:18Z")
> [@G-SE](#): > > So you accuse me of cherry-picking data, I show you that I’m not, and your response is a pit challenge. You can’t explain the numbers without being a potty mouth? 🙂 I’m not going to accuse you of cherry-picking data (at this time), but I will accuse the police of cherry-picking their targets. I looked at the April 2014 arrests for possession of marijuana, since it’s a pretty well known fact that whites and blacks are users at about the same rate (whites slightly higher, actually). Whites represent only 8% of the arrests for marijuana. I suppose it’s possible that they racially target blacks for possession arrests, but are completely impartial in how they focus their attention in other areas of criminality, but that seems like a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/49 "2014-08-18T06:11:10Z")
So, August is Race Month… ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/50 "2014-08-18T06:15:44Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > Another point in all this, is: Why does it matter, and why do you care? Exactly what I’ve asked a couple of times. > [@](#): > > And the reason people care so much about this shit is because making generalizations is exactly what you want to do. Yeah, that’s the sense I get. They want the cops to be able arrest more black men on a whim, to shut down affirmative action because “there’s no point to teaching those people”, to be able to bar anyone who looks Muslim from airplanes — heck, they’d probably love to be able to just take men into, say, STEM programs because “everyone knows women’s brains aren’t made for hard sciences.” They want to be able to treat non-whites (maybe even specific non-white races) like crap and justify it because “they’re genetically dumb and violent.” ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/51 "2014-08-18T06:41:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Here’s a statistic about why you shouldn’t be racist: > > Number of black people who were arrested in May 2014: 1,937 > Number of black people who were not arrested in May 2014: 2,980,452 /\ This ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/52 "2014-08-18T11:10:53Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > (_Originally Posted by Little Nemo_: > > Here’s a statistic about why you shouldn’t be racist: > > Number of black people who were arrested in May 2014: 1,937 > Number of black people who were not arrested in May 2014: 2,980,452) > > **Proof that the cops are guilt-ridden liberals who decide to let most black criminals off the hook.** Thread win. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/53 "2014-08-18T11:29:36Z")
OP, why do you think black people are over-represented in police arrests? What causes have you attributed to those statistics? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/54 "2014-08-18T15:44:36Z")
I’ll tell you this much, based on [this site](http://www.biography.com/people/groups/white-collar-criminals), its pretty clear that white men can’t be trusted to handle money. I assume the OP has all his savings safely secured in a black owned bank. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/55 "2014-08-18T16:17:00Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > So, August is Race Month… I thought it was Shark Month ? Fuck, I can’t keep up any more :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/56 "2014-08-18T16:22:20Z")
> [@nachtmusick](#): > > San Jose, California is the tenth largest city in the United States. Only 4 percent of the population is black, but there are a lot of poor. The crime rate has recently reached national average: > > [San Jose crime rate surpasses U.S. average, arrests plummet – The Mercury News](http://www.mercurynews.com/pensions/ci_24737175/san-jose-crime-rate-surpasses-u-s-average-arrests-plummet) > > That is a lot of work for just 4 percent of the populace to accomplish. Well, it’s not like anyone’s ever accused them of being lazy. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/57 "2014-08-18T16:30:37Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > I thought it was Shark Month ? Fuck, I can’t keep up any more :mad: Only the white sharks are great. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/58 "2014-08-18T17:14:21Z")
> [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Open this thread in the pit where we can have a proper discussion and I’ll be happy to respond. Please. Please. Please. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/59 "2014-08-18T19:09:03Z")
Cops are racist assholes (see Ferguson, MO). Therefore, arrest statistics are irrelevant. So, OP, pick another argument, or stop being racist. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781/60 "2014-08-18T19:10:59Z")
Racists are jerks, so don’t be a racist. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/convince-me-not-to-be-racist/695781.md?page=4)