Racial Stereotypes

[WinePusher]

I've heard many apologists for Trayvon Martin in the media bring up issues regarding racial profiling. They'll either say something like:

1) Had Zimmerman been black and had Martin been white then Martin would have been convicted and sentenced to prison.

or

2) Had Trayvon Martin been white instead of black, Zimmerman would have never followed him in the first place.

These two statements are stereotypes. They imply that the only reason why Zimmerman was suspicious of Martin was because of his race, and the first implies that the criminal justice system is biased against blacks.

But the real question is why do these stereotypes exist in the first place. My opinion is that a racial stereotype exists because many members of a certain ethnic group behave or act a certain way, and this trait/feature is extrapolated to the entire ethnic group.

Questions:

1) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of hooded black men walking your way, would you be scared?

2) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of teenage girls walking your way, would you be scared?

3) Do you yourself engage in racial profiling and stereotyping in your everyday life?

[JohnPaul]

I've heard many apologists for Trayvon Martin in the media bring up issues regarding racial profiling. They'll either say something like:

1) Had Zimmerman been black and had Martin been white then Martin would have been convicted and sentenced to prison.

or

2) Had Trayvon Martin been white instead of black, Zimmerman would have never followed him in the first place.

These two statements are stereotypes. They imply that the only reason why Zimmerman was suspicious of Martin was because of his race, and the first implies that the criminal justice system is biased against blacks.

But the real question is why do these stereotypes exist in the first place. My opinion is that a racial stereotype exists because many members of a certain ethnic group behave or act a certain way, and this trait/feature is extrapolated to the entire ethnic group.

Questions:

1) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of hooded black men walking your way, would you be scared?

2) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of teenage girls walking your way, would you be scared?

3) Do you yourself engage in racial profiling and stereotyping in your everyday life?

Of course we do. Such "profiling" and "stereotyping" are called generalizing. Human thought and understanding of the world around us would be impossible without it. If we stick our hand into a flame as a young child, we learn that the flame will painfully burn us. We then assume, without the slightest bit of evidence, that all flames will burn us, and avoid them. This is called learning from experience.

If the police know from experience that 97 percent of burglaries in a certain primarily white community have been committed by young black men, strangers in the community, then the police would be criminally irresponsible to ignore a stange young black man walking at night through the community. Is this racist? You bet! It is also common sense, and absolutely justified.

[keithprosser3]

Is this racist? You bet! It is also common sense, and absolutely justified.

I'll might just take that bet. As you say it is common sense to use the information that is available, and you have specified the 97% suspects are known to be black.

It would be racist if young blacks were targeted more than chance over young whites if the colour of the suspect is unknown.

[Dantalion]

If 100% of all commercial airplane hijackers or bombers are visually Arabic, it's asinine and dangerous NOT to use racial profiling.

It's called reality, did you know most Neo-Nazis are actually white ? shocking right

[Angel]

1) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of hooded black men walking your way, would you be scared?

I would have some fear and caution with ANY race walking in a dark alley with hoods on. For all of your other questions, you didn't mention hoodies and chose to restrict that to minorities. If a group of White guys were walking through a dark alley with hoodies on, would you have some fear?

2) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of teenage girls walking your way, would you be scared?

What happened to the hooded scenario? Granted I wouldn't be as scared as I would seeing a group of guys in hoodies, but I'd still have some caution against anyone. Bad guys know that people profile which is why they often resort to recruiting women or people that are less perceived as a threat to do lure people into a trap.

3) Do you yourself engage in racial profiling and stereotyping in your everyday life?

I believe that we all engage in racial profiling and that is not always racism. Racial profiling can become a problem when it affects our attitudes (start to dislike) or how we treat a race. If most of our profiling tends to be negative towards a race, then I question how would you separate that from disliking or having negative impressions of that race? How do you think a person or race feels when they know that people look at them mostly in a negative light? I would say we already have some answer to that based on reactions from Black and Hispanic communities and their view with cops and race, in general.

[bluethread]

Race is a stereotype. If you want to stop racial stereotyping, stop recognizing race.

[keithprosser3]

Race is not a stereotype under any definition of stereotype I can find online.

I think there are two different things going on. First, if you know a specific offender is a 6 foot 10 inch black man it is ridiculous to suspect a white dwarf of being that offender.

That is very different from stopping far too many black guys based on the assumption that a randomly chosen black man is more probably guilty of something/anything than a randomly chosen white man in the same circumstances.

[Dantalion]

[Replying to post 7 by keithprosser3]

mmmm not entirely agreed.
I'd say things like neighborhood and the actual crime itself also contribute.

[micatala]

I've heard many apologists for Trayvon Martin in the media bring up issues regarding racial profiling. They'll either say something like:

1) Had Zimmerman been black and had Martin been white then Martin would have been convicted and sentenced to prison.

or

2) Had Trayvon Martin been white instead of black, Zimmerman would have never followed him in the first place.

These two statements are stereotypes. They imply that the only reason why Zimmerman was suspicious of Martin was because of his race, and the first implies that the criminal justice system is biased against blacks.

But the real question is why do these stereotypes exist in the first place. My opinion is that a racial stereotype exists because many members of a certain ethnic group behave or act a certain way, and this trait/feature is extrapolated to the entire ethnic group.

I would agree, stereotypes are usually based on experience. However, I think they are often based on selective processing of that experience. People remember and react to some experiences more than others.

Questions:

1) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of hooded black men walking your way, would you be scared?

It depends on the context. Factors would include how familiar I am with the area, and whether it was known to be a dangerous area.

2) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of teenage girls walking your way, would you be scared?

Again, it depends on the context, but I will certainly admit I am somewhat less likely to be concerned in this situation versus the previous.

3) Do you yourself engage in racial profiling and stereotyping in your everyday life?

I would have to admit, at least internally, I probably do to a slight extent. I try to be aware of the possibility and correct for it.

I would say a couple of things about 'racial profiling' or other types of profiling in general.


Whether a given act of profiling is reasonable, morally justifiable, or legally justifiable depends on what action is being taken based on the profiling. Justifiability is also dependent on whether the profiling is empirically supported, and the nature of the perceived "threat."

For example, let's say 70% of crimes are committed by race A, 25% by race B, and 5% by race C. Is racial profiling of race A justified?

No.

If the population in the area follows roughly those percentages, then NO racial profiling is justified. Anyone who follows or takes other actions based on race in this situation is acting unreasonably. Law enforcement acting on the basis of race by, say, following or stopping people of race A at a significantly higher rate than 70%, especially if it is approaching 100%, are in my acting imorally and even illegally.



In general, actions taken on the basis of racial profiling, even when empirically justified, should be minimally intrusive and always take into account that any individual should be presumed innocent without additional reasons for suspicion. Even discretely following someone can be somewhat intrusive, but is certainly less intrusive then stopping and frisking people.

I would say any attitudes displayed, whether by ordinary citizens or law enforcement, make a difference. One could follow or even verbally address a person in a respectful and friendly way, even if the motivation for the action is to prevent burglary, shoplifting, etc. Following someone while glaring at them, or muttering expletives, especially on the part of law enforcement, is at the very least less than ideal behavior.

[Ooberman]

I've heard many apologists for Trayvon Martin in the media bring up issues regarding racial profiling. They'll either say something like:

1) Had Zimmerman been black and had Martin been white then Martin would have been convicted and sentenced to prison.

or

2) Had Trayvon Martin been white instead of black, Zimmerman would have never followed him in the first place.

These two statements are stereotypes. They imply that the only reason why Zimmerman was suspicious of Martin was because of his race, and the first implies that the criminal justice system is biased against blacks.

But the real question is why do these stereotypes exist in the first place. My opinion is that a racial stereotype exists because many members of a certain ethnic group behave or act a certain way, and this trait/feature is extrapolated to the entire ethnic group.

Questions:

1) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of hooded black men walking your way, would you be scared?

2) If you were walking alone in a dark alley and saw a group of teenage girls walking your way, would you be scared?

3) Do you yourself engage in racial profiling and stereotyping in your everyday life?

The reason stereotypes exist is because humans are prone to fear strangers, and especially people who aren't like them. Skin color and clothes are the easiest cues that the person may not be of your "clan".

The OP is race baiting. It's an attempt to make us think there might be something to the idea of the "savage black man".

Poverty and drugs are more indicative of whether the person you meet in a dark alley is dangerous, but those things aren't easily recognized.

The OP is dripping with racism. It's a sign of how institutionalized; how systemic, racism is, especially in certain areas of the country, and among certain people of limited education and intelligence.