<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bean pointed out this story<\/a> to me; an ABC hidden camera “reality” show paid three teenage white boys to “vandalize” a car in a park (a car that was owned by ABC, of course). The boys visibly broke into the car, and then began beating it with a metal tool and spray-painting it. This went on for quite a while.<\/p>\n One person called 911, and one passerby asked the boys what they were doing. Elsewhere in the park, coincidently, some black folks (relatives of an ABC employee, as it turned out) were napping in their car; this also generated a call to 911.<\/p>\n Next day, same park, same situation — but the three actors hired were black. Suddenly, lots of people were asking the boys what they were doing, and lots were calling 911.<\/p>\n What interested me, in light of recent discussions on “Alas,” was the quotes from the various white people who called 911 about the three black “vandals.”<\/p>\n So we asked those who approached the black kids or reported them to police, “Would you have acted any differently if the boys were white?”<\/p>\n Sang said, “I would have done the same thing. Maybe I would have stopped them sooner.”<\/p>\n Joan A. and Martha had a similar response: “I did notice they were African-American young boys in a white neighborhood,” said Joan A. “But if they had been white kids, I mean, I would have done exactly the same thing.”<\/p>\n Martha agreed, “I might have done it quicker if they were white kids.”<\/p>\n “Actually, I probably hesitated because they were black,” said Joan D. “I don’t like to assume that three black kids are up to trouble. But they were clearly up to trouble,” she recalled, laughing. “But had it been three white kids I’d have done the same thing. I might have called quicker.” <\/p><\/blockquote>\n ABC’s segment isn’t a legitimate study, of course; but for argument’s sake, assume a social scientist did a well-designed study which replicated ABC’s findings. (In the real world I doubt an academic ethics committee would approve purposely generating false calls to 911).<\/p>\n RonF and others argue that it’s wrong to believe racism is a factor when the individuals involved have a plausible, non-racist motivation for their actions. That means there’s no racism here: Every individual person who called 911 denies that there was any racism in their choice. If anything, they say, they would have been quicker <\/em>to call 911 if the vandals had been white. And no one denies it’s legitimate to call 911 when one sees a crime being committed, regardless of the criminal’s race.<\/p>\n So, Ron and others: Is it wrong to say that there’s anything racist about a society in which random passerbys are more likely to call the cops on black teens than white teens for identical behavior? Let’s say that having black teens do the crime generates 10 times as many 911 calls, whereas white crimes doing a crime is only as likely to generate a 911 call as black people taking a nap are. But in no case can we prove <\/em>that any individual <\/em>making a 911 call had a racial bias.<\/p>\n From your point of view, there’s no racism going on here. Right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bean pointed out this story to me; an ABC hidden camera “reality” show paid three teenage white boys to “vandalize” a car in a park (a car that was owned by ABC, of course). The boys visibly broke into the … Continue reading