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White collar crime is not viewed as "real criminal activity" because it's so impersonal. People ***** about Madoff, but they want to KILL the random black guy that robs them at gunpoint, because it's a face to face thing, even if he stole much less than Madoff.
Some say that we should be more angry at those who continue to perpetuate the stereotype than those who stereotype blindly. Truth is, I'm "mad" at both equally. Discriminating against an entire segment of the population for the actions of a few is no more rational than, say, choosing to resort to a life of crime simply because you happened to be a product of a single-parent household.
This is QFT. In fact as a Latina, I place alot of the blame on Latinos that indirectly make MY life harder by reinforcing all of the stereotypes that I have to deal with. What makes me mad is that people act as if all people who share a skin tone or ethnicity think with one single brain. When someone makes a rude comment on this message board or seems to be rude to me in real life about something I have no control over, it's obvious to them that I am representing millions of people I have never met before. I've read white people on this forum complain about affirmative action and illegal immigration. I want to tell them: I have about as much control over affirmative action and illegal immigration as you do over Jim Crow laws and slavery. You're simply attacking the low man on the totem pole.
It doubly makes me mad when people who share my ethnicity/skin tone EXPECT me to think exactly like them simply for that reason. Or they feel they can speak for me. And then call me a sell out if I'm not the parrot they wanted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sarahkate_m
This routine our friend experienced: BS, right? But that's the reality of the black man (or woman). He (or she) seems untrustworthy or somehow not worthy of hiring. This was in So. Cal! Not like the deep South! Or whatever. I've never been to the deep South (I'm wildly guessing sorry) but this routine makes me sick.
What is with So. Cal lately? I've been hearing ALOT of instances of racism from there. It's unfortunate but it's instances like what your black friend has faced that makes the case for EEOC, a program that ends up indirectly hurting other white people who don't deserve it. ALL because certain other people won't hire your friend and many other well qualified people simply because they are black or some other minority.
This thread did not actually cite the hate crime statistic referenced to
Hate Crime Statistics, 2007 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/hc2007/index.html - broken link)
Specifically the one that shows whites commit the overwhelming number of extra racial hate crimes, thereby statistically the average black person (or gay person, or woman, or muslim, or hispanic, or jewish white person) has more to fear from a white person than vice versa (because practically all black crime is intra-racial).
The black crime statistics are what they are. Yet we can quote statistics until we are all black and blue, but the reality of the matter is that, me being a black male, and there are millions of blacks like me who have never committed a crime, who have never been arrested, who have never been on parole, who are bascially law abiding citizens, and yet no one addresses that statistic as well----HUMMMMMMMMMMMMM?
But, unfortunately, a black male like me, who has two degrees still falls into the stereotype, because of my fellow black brotha's inability to obey the law in proportion to whites. Should I be mad at that brotha for making my life hard by allowing whites to justify stereotyping me when they say blacks only make up 13% of the population yet commit 50% of the crimes? Should I act a fool every time I run into a person who is suprised to see that I am articulate, educated, and non combative?
The reality of being black in America too is that we seem to give many reasons for whites doing certain crimes, and the same isn't applied to blacks. Here's a prime example. When a white person steals chronically, he or she isn't a criminal but has a mental disorder, and we put the label on that person as a cleptomaniac. A white male who kills several women or prostitutes is a serial killer instead of a murderer. Let a black male kill more than one person, he surely isn't called a serial killer. Let a black person steal from the store more than once, he surely isn't labelled a cleptomaniac.
Blacks fall into a catch-22. We are damned for being good citizens, and we are damned for not being good citizens. When we try to achieve the American dream some look at it in amazement when statisically, especially if you are black from the inner city, you are not supposed to finish high school nor go to college.
I don't think anyone would disagree with me on this. Every American regardless of his race basically wants the American Dream and just wants to be TREATED FAIRLY.
There seems to be this view by some who think that when a person in authority has to encounter blacks, for what ever reason, we are ALL going to automatically react like Professor Gates. I just wonder had Gates been white, and reacted the same exact way, would he have still been arrested?
The sad reality of this whole situation too is that the media doesn't make it any better because that type of media helps their ratings, and again we end up back at square one---talking about racism in America-which in most cases, it's just the media's attempt to stir up controversy and mess which many people fall right into the media's trap.
I fell you my brother. I as a Latino in this country get the stereotypes all the time. It's a natural thing. I really believe it's how you present yourself also. When I dress in my hoody and sweats and look kinda bummy to run to the store, I get the "look". Now most of the time I am dress normal, what many would would call preppy. I like nice clothes, always fresh and clean. So most of the time I don't get the "look". Now when you see a black preppy guy you don't get alarmed. Same black guy with a white wife beater, baggy jeans, pick in his 'fro, with a phillie blunt in his ear, you think different. So besides race, I think the main factor is appearance.
White collar crime is not viewed as "real criminal activity" because it's so impersonal. People ***** about Madoff, but they want to KILL the random black guy that robs them at gunpoint, because it's a face to face thing, even if he stole much less than Madoff.
Is it possible for you to be this stupid??? The reason people get angrier at the mugger is because of the GUN. Most of us just don't like seeing our lives flash before our eyes as we face death. It has nothing to do with the money. Bernie Madoff is a bad man, a thief, a scoundrel, and he deserves his punishment, but I'd rather lose my fortune than be raped or murdered.
Antredd, if I were you, I'd be annoyed at whites who made misjudgments about me but I'd be angriest at my fellow blacks who perpetuate the negative stereotypes.
You haven't given any concrete examples of how you have suffered from stereotypes. Can you share some?
I have no difficulty telling the difference between low class gangbangers who are likely to commit a crime at the first opportunity, and regular law-abiding people who happen to be black.
Anger wastes energy. You should just direct your energy toward bettering yourself and your own community. Whatever other people and races do and how they respond is based on their own bias and judgment. You happen to ignite their recall of the statistics by sheer appearance, but you are not responsible for anyone's reaction to yourself unless you are provoking them. Anger will do nothing but fulfill their expectation that you are supposed to be the "loud, angry, violent" black man. Don't fulfill it. Surprise them.
Confucius said, "The inferior man makes demands on others. The superior man makes demands on himself."
the whites stereotype though because they are gullible and misled by the media. with the media you would assume 99 percent of all criminals are non-white. this terrifies whites into thinking all non-whites are deviant.
what people dont understand though is this. there isn't that much crime to begin with. crime, esp violent crime has been dropping for years now. so say you have 2 mill violent crimes last year, it was 1.945 officially and half are committed by blacks, thats roughly 980k criminals out of a 40 million plus population.
a stereotype is something a large amount of people of one group do or act. 2 percent of the population does not constitute a stereotype imo.
No. IMO the decent black males should be mad at the black males committing the crimes and causing whites and other races to stereotype them poorly.
Those who would stereotype me are just as bad, because they expect be to take responsibility for people i have absolutely no relation to. I doubt many whites or anyone else would want to be constantly laden with the burden of guilt perpetuated by the lesser members of their racial group.
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Should Black Males be Mad When Whites Stereotype Them Because of Their Higher Crime Statistics?
