At City Journal, Heather McDonald writes:
New York’s anti-cop forces have roared back to life, thanks to a fatal police shooting of an unarmed man a week ago. The press is once again fawning over Al Sharpton, Herbert Daughtry, Charles Barron, and sundry other hate-mongers in and out of city government as they accuse the police of widespread mistreatment of blacks and issue barely veiled threats of riots if they do not get “justice.”
The allegation that last weekend’s shooting was racially motivated is preposterous.
Unfortunately, while I think she may be right in her conclusion, she’d likely say that regardless of circumstances.
Ms. McDonald has written on the racial profiling subject many times, nearly always to argue that such a thing doesn’t exist, or if it did, it doesn’t now; that minority groups encounter the police in greater numbers because they commit disproportionately more crime, that racial profiling studies are junk science, and that the minority communities themselves are the ultimate losers in the anti-racial profiling war. (Some Heather McDonald articles here, here, and here.)
For the most part, I find McDonald’s arguments to be beautifully well-written, but far too absolutist, and it’s unfortunate that her persuasive writing style (she has enormous talent) has convinced so many that racial profiling is a myth.
While Polimom thinks Ms. McDonald may be right in this case, it isn’t because of her brilliantly articulated theories; dismissing racial profiling conceptually is wrong. Perhaps she should interview Fred Weary, the Houston Texans lineman who was pulled over, and ultimately tasered, in what can only be described as a Driving While Black (DWB) incident. (Stephanie Stradley, a blogger at the Houston Chronicle, covered this story beautifully here and here.)
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In a nutshell: Fred Weary, a BIG black man (duh, since he’s a pro-football player) was followed from a crime-prone downtown area (Reliant Stadium, specifically, where he works) for six miles (that’s a LONG way on a city highway), was finally pulled over for improper lane change (okay….) and was apparently asking why he’d been followed and pulled over when they asked for his driver’s license.
The HPD wasn’t impressed with his attitude and had him get out and place his hands on the hood of his car. When they went to cuff him, he evidently “twitched”. Apparently he stepped toward the police in there someplace, and was tasered.
Ultimately, he was charged with resisting arrest on the basis of said “twitch”, a judge was singularly unimpressed, and charges were dismissed.
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It’s hard to see this as anything other than racial profiling gone awry, and that his real infraction was DWB. It does happen, and denying the phenomenon is to effectively claim that the reality part of our American society has to live with every day is a fantasy of their own making. How insultingly patronizing.
Conversely, it’s an astounding over-simplification to dismiss every black individual / police encounter as racist, and while the incident in NYC was an enormous tragedy, the ethnicity or race of the victims doesn’t de facto make it racist, or the fall-out of racial profiling. There are, in fact, situations and conditions under which race is not the driver, or even a factor.
The “race card” has become an over-used trump, rather than the powerful and important card it should be.
Everything is not racist, the result of racial profiling, or bigotry… but many things are. Taking either of these as absolutes is reactive and counter-productive for the police, the communities they’re sworn to protect, and the wider society.
Reality lies — as it often does — somewhere between the extremes.