It is past time that we confront a racist system that rationalizes White crime while instilling fear in the public through images of Black criminality.
—
10 minutes before the end of The Dr. Vibe Show‘s live Sunday evening broadcast, which focused on the terrorist attack at a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, the host, Dr. Vibe, asked the black male panel a question that I submitted: Is it time for American police departments to stop and frisk White men who look like Mr. Dylann Roof?
One of the panelist, who noted it was a great question, said yes, indeed it is time to view a type of white male as suspicious, particularly because history shows that it’s white men – those that are skinny, nerdy and loners – who commit the majority of school shootings, mass murders, and heinous violent crimes.
And it’s not just history that provides the facts and context to build public will for erecting a profile of while male suspicion, government data offers reasons, too.
According to the FBI, Whites are responsible for the majority of violent crimes in America. Furthermore, The Bureau of Justice Statistics found that compared to Blacks, Whites were more likely to kill children, the elderly, family members and their significant others.
A business associate of mine, when he heard of the Charleston shooting, said “Why didn’t a skinny White boy at an all black church raise eyebrows?”
He wasn’t joking, and he needn’t be, because the lack of white male suspicion in the minds of many is no laughing matter.
How many more movie theaters, schools, churches and public spaces need to be sprayed with bullets by crazed White men before we deemed their types suspicious in the same manner in which we profile Black boys with sagging pants, backwards baseball caps and bulging waistlines?
Due to the stubborn nature of American politics, tackling and reforming gun laws seem out of reach. But given the momentum around the police reform movement, hope shines, barely, on the idea of diversifying the type of people subjected to stops-and-frisks, in an effort to mitigate gun violence.
Why stop-and-frisk as prevention tool? Well, following the logic of Philadelphia Mayor, Mr. Michael A. Nutter, who at one point was the President of the U.S Conference of Mayors, it saves lives.
Mayor Nutter, at a memorial service for the Philadelphia Police Officer who was killed by Black men at a North Philly Game Stop, said:
“We have lost five police officers to gun fire… I bet their families wish we had stopped and taken illegal weapons away from those who shot down police officers in our city.”
Mayor Nutter released a statement regarding the Charleston Shooting and as expected, there was no mention of stop-and frisk and its ability to prevent the tragedy.
Why is that? I’m sure the families of the nine individuals wish a police officer had stopped Mr. Roof and taken his gun away. And furthermore, I’m sure many more now wish they had deemed Mr. Roof and those who look him suspicious.
The time is now to not just build and distribute widely a profile of White male suspicion, but to confront a racist system that rationalizes White crime while instilling fear in the public through images of Black criminality.
*Tune into 900amWURD or 900amWURD.com every Friday evening during the 6 o’clock hour to hear me relive #TheWeekThatWas*
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™
—
Photo: Getty Images
Oh dear, someone doesn’t understand statistics. You have to compare crime rates based on the percentage of each group in the population. Blacks make up only 13% of the population but commit 49.4% of the murders, 32.5% of rapes, 54.9% of robberies, 34.1% of aggravated assaults, and 30.8% of burglaries (Source: FBI data from 2012). Whites who make up approximately 65% of the population commit 48.2% of murders, 65% of rapes, 43% of robberies, 62.8% of aggravated assaults, and 67.1% of burglaries. So whites commit crimes at a proportion around or below their population level while blacks commit crimes at… Read more »
“Why didn’t a skinny White boy at an all black church raise eyebrows?”
Actually, it does for cops. They look for things out of the ordinary like a white man in a black area at night especially if he doesn’t seem familiar with the area. The difference is they don’t assume that he’s there to do violence. They assume he’s there to buy drugs.
Agreed that there is an egregious and unfair double standard for young black and Latino men in particular, but sorry, I can’t support racial profiling of any type. Also the statement here: “According to the FBI, Whites are responsible for the majority of violent crimes in America” is pretty unsurprising considering whites are some 70% of the US population, with the next largest demographic being something like 14%. They’re probably responsible for the majority of pretty much all crimes in America, right? If you wanted to show that whites are more violent, you’d have to go to per-capita rates. All… Read more »