We have one group which is pretty much non-violent. Then we have another group that is also pretty much non-violent. One group is convicted of violent crimes significantly more often, but the vast majority of both groups are not violent.
The risk of violence from interacting respectfully with a black person is near zero. It’s not quite zero, but it’s close. The same goes for any other group, though that near-zero number is higher for black people, statistically.
But when the cop raises the risk of violence by his own behavior, he is making this problem worse. My point is that (some) cops, and police culture overall, is not doing enough to minimize the risk of violence in general, and in particular towards black people.
No. The risk of dog attack in an elevator (assuming the owner is present) is near zero. The risk of black-person attack in an elevator (or some other equivalent situation) is probably much, much lower.
There’s virtually zero basis for this. There’s slightly more basis for this then associating criminality with white people, or Virginians, but for all three there is very little basis for associating these groups with criminality. The vast majority of all three groups do not deserve to be treated like they have a significant likelihood of being a criminal.
I blame them if their different reaction is extremely disproportionate towards individuals who are black, and results in extremely disproportionate numbers of deaths which are well above the disparities in criminal behavior. I don’t blame all police, but I blame a police culture that doesn’t take this problem seriously (or admit the problem at all), and that places the “Brotherhood” above justice in many instances.
Considering that cops (and other authorities) treated black people far worse, in many ways, before the statistical “break-up of the black family”, I think that this is extremely dubious. If the cops treated black people badly then, and they still (statistically) treat them disparately in ways like stopping/frisking them, arresting them, and killing them, why would we assume at least some of the reasons then don’t still apply?
Maybe some do. Maybe not. But why do you automatically assume they do? The situation is worlds different. No one denies that blacks were treated horribly and unfairly in the past, even the recent past. There was rampant racism. and very often the only crime a person was guilty of was being black. That’s not true today.
Do you or do you not accept the proposition that the higher incidence of violence among black men warrants that police—to some degree—be more wary of them than white men?
It’s definitely true to a lesser degree today. We probably disagree on how much lesser.
No. The vast majority of black people police encounter will present no danger whatsoever. Police should be equally wary around all people. This is for their own benefit – by treating one group differently (and more negatively), police are increasing the risk of danger to themselves. It is incumbent on them to treat all groups the same in terms of ‘wariness’ – and this certainly doesn’t put them at greater risk, assuming the level of wariness is appropriate to balance safety, efficiency, and good community relations.
The point you’re illustrating is a racist one; it’s just attenuated a bit by taking an inefficient route. If black people didn’t wear gangsta t-shirts and gold grills, you’re saying, enough unnecessary police detentions would be prevented to be worth talking about, in your view. This in defense of the view that police officers are justified to have heightened precaution levels around black people.
You’re arguing that 1. a significant enough number of black people do enjoy riding around with gold grills and in baggy white tees, and also that 2. these characteristics are the characteristics that racist people unfortunately associate with a criminal culture. You’re telling black people not to dress like criminals if they don’t want to be treated like criminals… which means not dressing like what you think black people dress like.
No. A policeman confronting someone is a circumstance. And policemen have to make a judgement about the danger of the circumstance. Since iiiandyiiii dug up statistics that black youth are 9 times more likely to be commit murder than white youth (and the same AFAIR goes for other violent crime), obviously the danger is higher when confronting a black youth than a white youth. I am sure policemen do not dig up statistics, but their experience tells them the same thing. So when in a confrontation they must take that into account when evaluating how dangerous the confrontation is.
We already determined that there is pretty solid evidence that black youth commit 9 times more violent crime than white youth - you brought the evidence. There is also evidence, based on very incomplete numbers, that in confrontations with police, black youth are killed (if you read your own cite) anywhere from 10 to 40 times more often. Because the info is so incomplete, it could just as well be 10 as 40. So - 9 times “disparity” in criminal behavior and 10-40 times more consequences. Is that “extremely disproportionate”?
My point was to simply illustrate that things other than skin color can communicate degree of risk. Black people, white people, purple people, c an all dial those other factors up or down. Gold teeth, Aryan Brotherhood tattoos, known gang colors of a certain area can all turn the perceived threat of violence dial UP. Adopting style cues from groups least likely to be associated with violence, e.g., the guy in the BB suit driving the Volvo, will dial the perceived threat of violence DOWN.
However, the majority of those murders tend to be gang-on-gang murders that do not, in and of themselves, pose a threat to policemen. Further, as Spitzer’s study of New York stop-and-frisk stops demonstrated, the police actually had less to fear when stopping a black youth than a white youth. I suspect the numbers would be similar elsewhere.
If the police want to take better precautions, then let them learn to examine behavior rather than skin color. (And if one conflates baggy pants with criminal behavior, one should probably get out of police work or go find a job in Mayberry or Podunk.)
I don’t think that’s right. Let’s leave the people out of it for a second. Do you think a cop stopping a shiny new red Prius should reasonably be as wary as a cop stopping a shiny new Escalade? While we probably agree that he should be cautious approach all cars, which car, driven in NYC or Chicago do you think is more likely to be carrying a gun? An illegal gun? The point, obviously, is that people, especially cops, do and should use cues to assess any situation.
It is very unfortunate that black skin on young young mails has become an indicator for a greater likelihood of violence, but it’s understandable that it has. Not the that in that last sentence I said “a greater likelihood”, not “a likelihood”. The statistics bear this out. What you seem to want is for member of a group to be judged on an completely individual basis, as if they are not members of that group, and not preliminarily assign to any one member of the group an attribute that may be most prevalent in that group (compared to other groups. I don’t think that’s a reasonable thing to ask of people, especially when one’s life is on the line.
Do I think all cops are pure actors? No. Nut as you said, I think we disagree on how prevalent the problem is. I maintain that greater RESULTS would be had by black men not being as violent as they’ve been. The answer, for me, lies more in having young black men getting better educations and having better opportunities. And even more so, for the black community to someone repair itself from the very real problem of the break up of the family. I think looking inward is the key. Even if we were to be able to assure 1000% racism -free cops.
I think you might be being naive about this. According to studies, skin color outweighs a lot of other profiling factors in stops, such as age:
Emphasis added. No, I don’t think we can assume that cops are paying more attention to “cultural” cues like clothing style or vehicle type than to skin color. I think your optimistic assumption that a “respectable-looking” black guy is less likely to be stopped than a “thuggish-looking” white guy is not necessarily realistic.
But the point is that black people and white people don’t get issued the same kind of “dials”. White people with a lot of negative indicators still get treated as well or better than black people without negative indicators.
The mere fact of being black in our society automatically “dials up” someone’s “factors” so that a black person is regarded by default as the moral equivalent of a criminal.
Considering the alternative, and how it makes everyone less safe in the long run, I think it’s reasonable. The cops risk nothing by treating everyone the same. If they think they need ‘heightened wariness’ for some, then they should have this heightened wariness for all.
Again, considering how badly cops acted before this “break up of the family”, I think this would have very little impact on how cops treat black people.
Hold on: if targeting blacks 560% more than whites only causes the hit rate to fall by 17%, wouldn’t that mean racial profiling does work? If they’d “only” targeted blacks 450% more than whites instead of 560% more they would have got the same hit rate for blacks and whites.