Racism - a Red Herring

While the underlying brain and behavioral characteristics that create that capability to be racist are present in all of us, it seems like sometimes the word becomes an excuse rather than a path to a solution.

Scientific evidence seems to document that we are all hardwired to instinctively draw distinctions between "we" and "others" (see discussion in "Syria & Ukraine - Thoughts on Tribalism" published at this site 3-12-14).  Everyone is inclined to put themselves and people like them in the "us" category and adopt stereotypical views about everyone else in the "other" category.  Does racism, or sexism or religious bigotry exist in America? Unquestionably, and every other country, and it always will.  But calling people racist solves nothing, and explains nothing.

The Grand Jury decision, and accompanying vandalism and looting, in response to the decision not to prosecute the police officer who shot Micheal Brown in Ferguson Missouri brought this to mind.

I tried to ignore what was going on in Ferguson, because American media are useless when it comes to understanding problems and developing solutions.  Facts are boring.  But emotions and opinions stir people up, so the media hands the microphone to advocates willing to use strong language and state unequivocal opinions.  Little effort goes into developing facts and what few facts are developed get buried in a blizzard of opinion and innuendo.  But, I got caught up and have since been stewing about it.  

On the one hand were the commentators characterizing the shooting as a regrettable incident, a police investigation into a petty theft that went badly wrong because the very physically imposing young victim became aggressive.  The facts that are available provide some support for this view.  The victim was a young man 6'4" tall and about 290 pounds.  A very big man.  Having tussled with other young men a bit when I was that age I have no doubt a man that size could kill me - and most of us - with his bare hands if that was his goal and he caught us in close quarters where we couldn't use greater mobility to stay out reach or reach a weapon.  The physical evidence and the Grand Jury testimony seem make it pretty clear the victim was acting aggressively, then trapped the police officer in his car, punched him and tussled with him over the officers gun.  So clearly the officer had reason to be afraid.  But this view makes one wonder why the officer pulled his car sideways, essentially trapping himself, and why he didn't have a taser or other non-lethal defense option for close quarters.  This suggests not racism, but bad police training and equipment.

On the other hand were the commentators characterizing the event as a shooting of an unarmed black teenager sparked by white America's racism toward black America.  I don't think I saw or heard a single comment that didn't link "an unarmed black teenager" with the victims name.   Technically correct, Micheal Brown did not seem to have a weapon, but the description is a misleading characterization considering the aggressiveness he demonstrated and the threat his size presented

Both views seemed to ignore some part of reality.  The November 29th issue of the Economist brought out a number of facts that helped crystallize my thinking about what was bothering me.  So here are some facts, largely gleaned from the Economist.

The town of Ferguson is run by white Republicans who seem to follow conservative principles.  They evidently don't like taxes, are not keen on spending money for city services.  The city council has 5 white members and one black member.  The police department has 50 white officers, 3 black officers.  The second biggest source of funding for town operations, 20% of the towns revenue, comes from fines and asset confiscations imposed by the criminal justice system.  The amount collected averages to $124 in fines paid each year for each of the 21,135 residents of the city.  Last year the municipal court in Ferguson issued 32,975 arrest warrants last year, 1.5 times the number of arrest warrants as their are city residents, mostly for traffic violations.  86% of the traffic stops are of blacks.

The Economist cited the story of one woman who was stopped by police because she had "a black looking car".  The officer asked whether she had any marijuana, she replied no, perhaps a little to vehemently.  She ended up with three tickets, one for car windows tinted too dark, one for slowing down to much at a traffic light, and one for disrespectful behavior towards a police officer.  Three tickets carrying, presumably three fines.  Paying fines can involve standing in line for hours, if you don't have the money to pay the fine you may incur jail time and more fines.  It is hard to avoid the implication much of what police do in Ferguson has more to do with bringing money into the city than protecting and serving the residents.

These are the sorts of facts that cause people to say the problem is the whites being racist.  

Here is my problem with citing racism as the problem.  It makes the problem a function of white behavior.  But 67% of the population of Ferguson is black.   Yet turnout for the last election of city officials was 12% of the eligible voters.  A Washington Post analysis of the election found that white citizens were three times more likely to vote than black citizens.  If we use that figure as accurate it means that significantly less than 5% of the eligible black voters bothered to vote.

That mirrors the recent congressional election across the country where only 37% of the eligible voters voted, the lowest percentage since 1942 when many voters were overseas fighting WW II.  California actually had a significantly higher voter turnout, so that means much rest of the country probably had less than 37% of the eligible voters participate. Conservative Republicans (mostly white) almost always vote.  Most Blacks, mostly Democrats, apparently are too busy or otherwise engaged to vote.  So Conservative whites run Ferguson, and the country.

I recognize that who we each are today is strongly influenced by the ancestors we descend from, from whom we take much of our outlook on the world, and the black population of this country has a legacy of slavery, then second class citizenship in the south, and poverty.  I also recognize we all, of every race or creed, have to constantly fight the tendency to lump people we don't know into categories and create expectations based in stereotypes.  But in my experience the vast majority of white America see blacks as persons of equal citizenship stature.  They may sometimes still engage in black stereotyping, but they also stereotype Muslims, and at times even people from France, or fans of rival football teams. 

As conservative Republicans are prone to say, freedom isn't free.   As the Bible says, God helps those who help themselves.  I have no power to help folks who can't take the time to vote, so I have no patience with folks who still think calling folks racist is solving a problem.