"...not having an overt conversation about something that everybody else can see, which is that blacks are vastly overrepresented amongst those who are committing violent criminal offenses."
To my mind this is getting to the heart of the matter. I believe crime is more germane to racial issues in America than anyone would care to admit -- assuming they were allowed to talk about it.
I say so for several reasons:
1) Crime is both a cause and a consequence of fatherlessness, which I believe is the root problem of the black underclass;
2) American law enforcement is in constant contact with the black criminal class, resulting in a more adversarial police relationship with the greater black community than would otherwise be the case; this in turn leaves upstanding black citizens facing unfairly increased scrutiny which can often be de facto racist;
3) Crime feeds racism. I am an old white guy and I can't remember having ever heard a single racist comment that wasn't in the context of crime. Meanwhile people who don't come in contact with a lot of normal upstanding black Americans wind up with a skewed view of the black community from the news etc. (This is also a genesis of newly racist attitudes among non-white/immigrant communities, seeding the racism of the future).
4) The black criminal class is a progenitor of most racist or racial challenges historically faced by the greater black community, from employment to redlining to white flight to other forms of everyday discrimination.
I could come up with more but right now I have to go.
But allow a quick quibble with the assertion that the increased police scrutiny, increased police awareness of Black behavior, which quite predictably results from racially imbalanced crime rates, is somehow unfair. It's not.
If you and I are playing basketball...and you average 25 points / game shooting from beyond the 3-point-arc, is it 'unfair' if we double-team you when you go outside? Of course not. Indeed, it's eminently fair because your demonstrated scoring ability directly threatens us (and our ability to win the game). We'd be stupid if we didn't recognize the threat that you represent. We'd be extraordinarily stupid if we defended you the same way we defend your 7' center who misses every shot beyond 3 ft.
Fairness is not treating everyone equally. It's treating everyone according to their merit, in accordance with what they've earned and what they 'deserve'. If I shovel Bill's sidewalk and you don't. It would be unfair if Bill gave us both, $5. Conversely, it would be entirely fair if Bill gave me the $5 I earned and gave you nothing. You'd be unhappy, but the outcome would be absolutely fair.
So, if we consider the Police the same way we'd consider a defensive BBall Team, then their increased scrutiny of a population segment well-recognized as much more prone to commit criminal acts would be both entirely fair....and entirely frustrating to the good people being scrutinized simply because they're members of a demographic which commits proportionally more crimes.
Undoubtedly. I'd hate it if I were a member of a demographic which was, by nature, more subject to police scrutiny because it was, by nature, statistically more prone to commit criminal acts.
Men are much more subject to police scrutiny than women. And statistically more prone to commit criminal acts. So if you’re male you’re in that demographic. But it’s a pretty boring conversation I guess. Considering I never hear any conversations about that. It doesn’t really serve anyone’s narrative.
"crime is more germane to racial issues in America than anyone would care to admit"
I think you hit the nail on the head.
"upstanding black citizens facing unfairly increased scrutiny"
If a white career criminal hillbilly who cooks meth in his bathtub resists arrest and dies while being taken into custody, I don't shed a tear. Put angel wings on him? Put up a statue? Ain't gonna happen. Rushing to defend and glorify every Black person "wronged" by a white cop might bring a "racism" high, but there are repercussions.
This fits with an idea I've brought up here on Glenn's substack: that upstanding white citizens are more inclined to "write off" the white criminal underclass as "trash" etc., while upstanding black citizens seem more burdened by a need to "uplift" the black criminal underclass. While this response is understandable for historical reasons and laudable for moral ones, it is nevertheless counterproductive for the greater black community, as it leads to more cross-cultural contamination between the criminals and the upstanding citizens. Cheap example: the saggy pants thing started in the criminal underclass and spread to normal black teens, who then seemed lower status than they actually were. In this way criminal chic becomes a threat to black youth from upwardly mobile families while white youth from similar families instead face a greater social imperative to prove that they are not among the white "trash."
I think I recall that discussion. I remember John one time saying something to the effect that Black people often didn't want to harshly enforce laws because they frequently knew someone who would be affected. But, while it offers an explanation, that line of thought seems a dead-end road. No chance of anything improving; a tacit endorsement of the status quo.
"...not having an overt conversation about something that everybody else can see, which is that blacks are vastly overrepresented amongst those who are committing violent criminal offenses."
To my mind this is getting to the heart of the matter. I believe crime is more germane to racial issues in America than anyone would care to admit -- assuming they were allowed to talk about it.
I say so for several reasons:
1) Crime is both a cause and a consequence of fatherlessness, which I believe is the root problem of the black underclass;
2) American law enforcement is in constant contact with the black criminal class, resulting in a more adversarial police relationship with the greater black community than would otherwise be the case; this in turn leaves upstanding black citizens facing unfairly increased scrutiny which can often be de facto racist;
3) Crime feeds racism. I am an old white guy and I can't remember having ever heard a single racist comment that wasn't in the context of crime. Meanwhile people who don't come in contact with a lot of normal upstanding black Americans wind up with a skewed view of the black community from the news etc. (This is also a genesis of newly racist attitudes among non-white/immigrant communities, seeding the racism of the future).
4) The black criminal class is a progenitor of most racist or racial challenges historically faced by the greater black community, from employment to redlining to white flight to other forms of everyday discrimination.
I could come up with more but right now I have to go.
Yes,
But allow a quick quibble with the assertion that the increased police scrutiny, increased police awareness of Black behavior, which quite predictably results from racially imbalanced crime rates, is somehow unfair. It's not.
If you and I are playing basketball...and you average 25 points / game shooting from beyond the 3-point-arc, is it 'unfair' if we double-team you when you go outside? Of course not. Indeed, it's eminently fair because your demonstrated scoring ability directly threatens us (and our ability to win the game). We'd be stupid if we didn't recognize the threat that you represent. We'd be extraordinarily stupid if we defended you the same way we defend your 7' center who misses every shot beyond 3 ft.
Fairness is not treating everyone equally. It's treating everyone according to their merit, in accordance with what they've earned and what they 'deserve'. If I shovel Bill's sidewalk and you don't. It would be unfair if Bill gave us both, $5. Conversely, it would be entirely fair if Bill gave me the $5 I earned and gave you nothing. You'd be unhappy, but the outcome would be absolutely fair.
So, if we consider the Police the same way we'd consider a defensive BBall Team, then their increased scrutiny of a population segment well-recognized as much more prone to commit criminal acts would be both entirely fair....and entirely frustrating to the good people being scrutinized simply because they're members of a demographic which commits proportionally more crimes.
Point taken. I guess I really meant that it "seems" or "feels" unfair to upstanding black people, which no doubt it does.
Undoubtedly. I'd hate it if I were a member of a demographic which was, by nature, more subject to police scrutiny because it was, by nature, statistically more prone to commit criminal acts.
Men are much more subject to police scrutiny than women. And statistically more prone to commit criminal acts. So if you’re male you’re in that demographic. But it’s a pretty boring conversation I guess. Considering I never hear any conversations about that. It doesn’t really serve anyone’s narrative.
"crime is more germane to racial issues in America than anyone would care to admit"
I think you hit the nail on the head.
"upstanding black citizens facing unfairly increased scrutiny"
If a white career criminal hillbilly who cooks meth in his bathtub resists arrest and dies while being taken into custody, I don't shed a tear. Put angel wings on him? Put up a statue? Ain't gonna happen. Rushing to defend and glorify every Black person "wronged" by a white cop might bring a "racism" high, but there are repercussions.
This fits with an idea I've brought up here on Glenn's substack: that upstanding white citizens are more inclined to "write off" the white criminal underclass as "trash" etc., while upstanding black citizens seem more burdened by a need to "uplift" the black criminal underclass. While this response is understandable for historical reasons and laudable for moral ones, it is nevertheless counterproductive for the greater black community, as it leads to more cross-cultural contamination between the criminals and the upstanding citizens. Cheap example: the saggy pants thing started in the criminal underclass and spread to normal black teens, who then seemed lower status than they actually were. In this way criminal chic becomes a threat to black youth from upwardly mobile families while white youth from similar families instead face a greater social imperative to prove that they are not among the white "trash."
I think I recall that discussion. I remember John one time saying something to the effect that Black people often didn't want to harshly enforce laws because they frequently knew someone who would be affected. But, while it offers an explanation, that line of thought seems a dead-end road. No chance of anything improving; a tacit endorsement of the status quo.