Walter E. Williams says it straight!
RACIAL PROFILING
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It turns out that some physical attributes are highly correlated with other attributes that are less easily, or more costly, observed.
Let’s look at a few, and the associated “profiling,” that cause little or no controversy. Mortality rates for cardiovascular diseases were approximately 30 percent higher among black adults than among white adults. The Pima Indians of Arizona have the world’s highest known diabetes rates. Prostate cancer is nearly twice as common among black men as white men. Would anyone bring racial profiling charges against a doctor who routinely ordered more frequent blood tests and prostate screening among his black patients and more glucose tolerance tests for his Pima Indian patients? Of course, God wouldn’t have to do that because He’d know for sure which patient was more prone to cardiovascular disease, prostate cancer and diabetes.
It is clear, whether we like it or not, or want to say it or not, that there is a strong correlation between terrorist acts and being a Muslim, and being black and high rates of crime. That means if one is trying to deter terrorism and in some cases capture a criminal, he would expend greater investigatory resources on Muslims and blacks. A law-abiding Muslim who’s given extra airport screening or a black who’s stopped by the police is perfectly justified in being angry, but with whom should he be angry? I think a Muslim should be angry with those who’ve made terrorism and Muslim synonymous and blacks angry with those who’ve made blacks and crime synonymous. The latter is my response to the insulting sounds of car doors locking sometimes when I’m crossing a street in downtown Washington, D.C., or when taxi drivers pass me by.
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I don’t blame cops for doing their job in trying to catch crooks and I don’t blame airlines for trying to thwart terrorists. I blame the thugs and Islamists who created the need for them to do the job in the first place.
January 2nd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
“It is clear, whether we like it or not, or want to say it or not, that there is a strong correlation between terrorist acts and being a Muslim, and being black and high rates of crime.” (Walter E WIlliams)
Not only that, but there’s correlations between various ethnic groups and various crimes.
Crystal Meth producers tend to be white and more likely than not, Biker types. Mafiosos tend to be Italian and members of the Russian Mob tend to be….well, Russian.
When I worked in the South Bronx as a fireman I was given a great insight into this by a woman who lived near the firehouse where I worked. In the spring and summer the street in front of quarters teemed with playing children. I noticed that this one woman, who went to work everyday, carried herself professionaly and dressed fastidiously allowed her two young boys (maybe 8 & 10) to stay out really late (near midnight in the summer), while her two daughters (about 12 & 14) were always in by dark.
One day as she passed by, I asked her why and her answer shocked me, “My girls have to learn to be responsible, while my boys have to learn to be tough, so they can survive in this racist world.”
I was shocked and then saddened because wittingly or not, she was raising her daughters for success, while training her sons to be reckless and irresponsible (prime “thug traits”) young men.
Chris Rock did a comic skit awhile back about “How not to get shot by a cop,” in it he merely gave common sense advice (like be polite, say “yes sir,” or “yes officer”) and don’t “jump ugly” on a cop just doing his job (writing a speeding ticket, etc), while interspersing it with his comic jibes about what happens when you don’t do these things.
Funny or not, Chris Rock was right; (1) it pays to be polite, or at least civil and it doesn’t pay to be a jerk or wiseass and (2) the street is the wrong venue to argue your case…that cop’s made his “judgment call” and we can each argue the merits or demerits of that in COURT (traffic court or other), where such challenges belong.
I hate using personal stories so much, but I did get an insight into a cop’s job (I was never a cop) quite a few months ago when I was stopped for rolling through a stop sign…by a black cop. Now I just figured I was getting a ticket and though I’d thought I’d stopped, when he came over and asked, “You know why I stopped you?”
I answered “No sir.”
He said “I saw you roll through that stop sign, you didn’t make a complete stop.”
Now I wasn’t about to argue the merits of this guy’s vision with him, so I just said, “Yeah, OK I probably did.”
After all I have to admit that I often slow to an almost stop and not a complete stop when I can see that the coast is clear (I didn’t, in this case, see the cop car on the other corner).
Well, the cop took a step back and said, “You know, you’re the first guy who didn’t argue with me all day. I’m gonna let you off with a warning, but be more careful with the stop signs OK.”
I was dumbfounded by TWO things, first the guy giving me a break (I hadn’t even tried to flash my FD tin, as that can be a bad deal sometimes) and secondly and perhaps more surprisngly that I was THE FIRST GUY ALL DAY WHO DIDN’T ARGUE WITH THIS COP!
I thought, “What’s wrong with people?! Are they nuts?! You’re not going to win a street argument with a street cop, in fact you’ll probably only make things worse.” If you have a case, or a real legitimate complaint, challenge the ticket in trafic court or bring a written complaint to the officer’s precinct (it’s on the citation), if you feel you were treated in a derogatory manner…but traffic court is the place to argue such disputes, NOT 165th Street and Findlay Avenue in the South Bronx!
And in the same vein, I have ZERO symapthy for Arabs/Muslims who deride “racial profiling” on airlines, if it was the IRA doing it (I have an Irish last name and am half-Irish descent), I’d EXPECT to be scrutinized and would think the airlines lax if they didn’t scrutinize me.
Arab/Muslims who complain about “profiling” are like those Italian-Americans who insist that “there’s no such thing as the Mafia” - both are wittingly or not, helping those respective illicit groups.