What's up with people in Chicago (Manhattan: transplants, violent crime, buying a home)

[mjtinmemphis]

Originally Posted by j_cat

I find this notion dubious. I find the media to be pretty cautious in this regard. I mean for some reason, TV criminals are often Irish or Italian east coast guys, regardless of where the show is set. This does not make sense demographically or in any other way, but it's accepted because stereotyping Brooklyn types as criminals is politically "safe" and not loaded, the way casting a black man or even a white Southerner would be, and it's also not implausible, the way casting a woman or yuppie man would be.

I think people's racial apprehensions are based more on personal experiences of tensions and mistrust. Plus the reality that most categories of crime are not so evenly distributed.

The media isn't cautious! They are all about sensationalism. I've noticed in a local Lake View newspaper that reports crime almost always identify the criminal if they are Black or Hispanic. Rarely is the race or picture is shown or many times the story isn't reported if the criminal is White.

[cap1717]

Originally Posted by DipGrant

I am an African American male and I think I know subtle/covert racism when I see. I currently live in a city that is predominantly white and I rarely get cues of racism. Whats going on in this city where whenever a black man crosses peoples path they seem so edgy. Things like asking for ID twice after already being checked in twice, from getting strange looks from people during a date with a woman who was white, too drug store managers following me around. Check this out, during a recent trip to the gym I went to my rental car to put some things in the back. One white women was just about to leave, then just stopped and was staring at me for a couple minutes. She went back to the gym and had one of the staff members escort her to her car which was parked near my car.

This all happened in the popular trendy north side neighborhoods. Is there a APB put out on individual black men, because I think residents who reside there need to get a wake up call. Not every young black male is going to mug you and are part of a flash mob.

I grew up in Chicago (west Englewood), and lived there until my senior year in H.S. Although I went to schools that were integrated, back then (1950's), blacks were definatly a minority. I remember being shocked when I brought a black girlfriend home to "play" after school, and we got "funny" looks from neighbors. It was many years later that I recognized, and confronted my own bias about this issue. . . .and I've really thought about it a lot since then. My conclusion, for thinking people, at least, is that it is not genetic background or skin color that is the trigger for racism, but rather, cultural differences, and the "fear" that goes along with approaching the unkown. So sorry for your experience. So sorry for all of the beautiful black children, especially the young black boys, who will grow up in a society that is "afraid" of them. . .what a waste of human potential.

[55degrees]

Originally Posted by zz4guy

My first question to you is what were you wearing? I doubt it was a button down shirt tucked into your pants.

ATTENTION all black men: from now on you must wear a button down shirt tucked into your pants or else you will be perceived as a threat. Bonus points for coke bottle glasses and using a pocket protector with slide rule.

[glass_of_merlot]

Like you never judge people by how they .

[55degrees]

Originally Posted by glass_of_merlot

Like you never judge people by how they .

A tucked in button down shirt?? Who dresses like that in a casual situation? 50 year old men. To expect black men to be dressed much more formally than other people in order to be treated fairly is wrong.

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by 55degrees

ATTENTION all black men: from now on you must wear a button down shirt tucked into your pants or else you will be perceived as a threat. Bonus points for coke bottle glasses and using a pocket protector with slide rule.

This is crazy. However, I do feel that majority of black men have an a more aggressive demeanor. I actually become shocked when I see non-hard looking African American male. It is not exactly about a look of clothing. Unfortunately, this is the case that black men have to be more careful in what they wear and their approach.
But this is really a statement most black people women and men especially in an harsh racial climate like Chicago.

For the majority of white people is all about demeanor and do you look scary. I have studied this for years as an African American female. I have been doing this for years. I only wear a certain type of earrings, talk a certain way and other things etc not to look threatening to the typical white people. I will admit it is more about this than skin color because I get approached at a lot from whites and other races for all sorts of things. I hate to say it more about looking friendly not aggressive more than anything else as whites in general are a less aggressive culture depending on what region of Europe. Maybe it is a midwestern culture thing.

However, out west even places like Minneapolis people of all races, black, white, Asian culturally tend to act the same and have similar values. This is why the race tension is not as apparent as somewhere like Chicago where culturally the typical black person and white person is like night and day.

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by mjtinmemphis

That isn't what scares people. I'm very clean cut and scare people all the time. Like I said before it represents a ignorant segment of the population.

It has to be something in your demeanor then or how you come off to others

[Golfer31]

Originally Posted by DipGrant

I am an African American male and I think I know subtle/covert racism when I see. I currently live in a city that is predominantly white and I rarely get cues of racism. Whats going on in this city where whenever a black man crosses peoples path they seem so edgy. Things like asking for ID twice after already being checked in twice, from getting strange looks from people during a date with a woman who was white, too drug store managers following me around. Check this out, during a recent trip to the gym I went to my rental car to put some things in the back. One white women was just about to leave, then just stopped and was staring at me for a couple minutes. She went back to the gym and had one of the staff members escort her to her car which was parked near my car.

This all happened in the popular trendy north side neighborhoods. Is there a APB put out on individual black men, because I think residents who reside there need to get a wake up call. Not every young black male is going to mug you and are part of a flash mob.

They are old school in their way of thinking.

[ChicagoMeO]

Unfortunately, when the news shows crime, it seems to focus on all the shootings, that seemed to be in Englewood and the West and South Sides, and coincidentally they are showing the criminals as black people. Now the crimes are flowing over to the neighborhoods that never had it before, like Skokie, Lakeview, and now at the beach and on Michigan Ave, Lincoln Park. Of course people are going to be wary because they do not want to he criminalized. The bad ones have messed it up for the good ones. People have lived in these places and have had it nice and pretty much crime free, and they were among people who were their same race or skin color or nationality. They felt comfortable and crime was not there, not like today.

Unfortunately also, a person who has had a pickpocket crime, or someone stealing their iPhone on the El, well, if it happens to be a person of a certain color/race, unfortunately the next innocent person with that same trait, is going to be reacted to, and it makes sense. Sorry that some person before you who has your skin color made it bad for you. In other words, if I am a victim of a crime, the next person who looks like that, I am sure going to be wary.

It's street smarts that you develop living in the city that causes this. Pavlov's dog reaction, etc. It is your body protecting itself.

As for me, I will choose to protect myself rather than be Politically Correct.

One other thing about race, I can view two people - lets say they have dark skin color. I can see one as threatening and I could not hang with that person, but the other I could. ((I guess that goes for any race of people)). I guess it has to do with perhaps how they look, how they dress, how they carry themselves, the kind of personality, type of music, are they walking with that gang banger look or not, do they work, are they clean, well I guess these are things that enable me to judge a person, no matter what color or race, as people to be wary of or not. However, I do try to look past a person with a turned around baseball cap as not necessarily a gang banger.. but your gut feeling will often tell you who is walking toward you who is dangerous or not. I've walked past a group of 3 black guys - actually they stepped aside to let me go by, and i did not freak out, just because they were black guys. I didn't give them any attitude like i was scared of then, but some people might have been fearful of them, but so anyway, its a case by case situation.

[j_cat]

Originally Posted by 55degrees

A tucked in button down shirt?? Who dresses like that in a casual situation? 50 year old men. To expect black men to be dressed much more formally than other people in order to be treated fairly is wrong.

I'm not a fan of ultra-conservative attire; when I see someone dressed over-seriously, I just substitute one set of negative stereotypes for another.

Still, I must comment on your choice of words here. As far as "fairness", note that comparative crime rates are also not "fair". In fact, life in general is not known to be fair. By all means, people should dress however they want to, while realizing that others may react in ways that reflect prior experiences.