General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When Traffic Stops Go Bad -- How Cops Demean Black and Brown Men [View all]ismnotwasm
(41,976 posts)Occasionally I post about my neighborhood; multiethnic, working class it has a fairly high crime rate although my street is quiet. It's one of those schizophrenic neighborhood where one set of streets will be fine, the next full of tweekers and gang activity.
It's such a mishmash of ethnicities and race you'd think everyone would be on the profile list. We have quite the number of white, male sex offenders for instance.
Anecdotally (I don't have statistics right now) that's not the case, we have many instances of profiling of both Black and Latino males. Interestingly, we have Vietnamese gangs, I don't know what the experience of the average Pan-Asian male is.
But back to where I live. The edge of Seattle. Remember this is the city were a young officer shot a half deaf scrawny Native American man---one well known on the street-- dead for walking down the street with a small carving knife, head down minding his own business. This is the city where every time I hear of a police shooting, I automatically think its going to be another black man. This is the city whose police department had to have their Hands slapped with a federal investigation because of multiple complaints, yes, but it took the blatant murder of a inebriate male of color at the hands of the police before an accountable investigation actually happened
I'm am NOT anti-police. They have a tough job. I think we don't see the good services they provide, or even give them credit for it. My whole point about my neighborhood is if I have to call them, and I have, I want and get the protection and support police are supposed to provide. I'm white. And yes that makes a difference, both in my perception of what to expect from police, and police response.
Profiling is such bullshit, racism is so institutionalized, so prevalent that profiling cannot be separated from racism. I don't know why people try.