I am a firm believer that political correctness has forced society to do away with common sense. I am a believer in science, numbers, physics, facts, statistics and well, reality. To me, proof is proof. If you can prove something to be true, then it is fact. The problem is, the facts aren't always politically correct, so we have to abandon those facts, or risk being considered an immoral, or bad person.
I know I've touched on racism in one of my previous blogs titled "Hug a Racist", but recent events in the world are bringing on the urge to restate my position, and point out the obvious, which people seem to either be blind to, or are unwilling to accept.
Police profile people. It's their job. It's what they are trained to do, and it enables them to be effective, and efficient at their job. But recent events have not only called those practices into question, but are causing people to ask for a ban on them all together.
Now, before we go any further, I'd like to test your common sense, or your sense of reason. Now, let me give you a statistic. People are three times more likely to die driving a Chevrolet Camero than they are a Chevrolet Malibu. Now, you might assume that the Camero, is a less safe car. It must not hold up as well in a crash, but that's not the case at all. This statistic is a product of it's conditions. The Camero has more power, and is owned by a much younger demographic. So what you have is a very fast and powerful car, driven by inexperienced drivers, therefore it's more likely to be involved in a crash, and a high speed one at that. Now do you condemn the Camero for being the cause of more deaths than other cars, or do you realize that the safety of the car isn't to blame, as the statistic is just a product of a different demographic of drivers.
Now how about a scenario, there is a car, that has just had it's window broken, and some change stolen from it. There are only three people in the neighbourhood that could have done it. One is a 40 year old man, that is wearing a clean business suit, was walking by the car on his way home from his office job. The second suspect is an 78 year old women, who just came out of the nearby grocery store. The last suspect is a 30 year old man, that looks to be wearing the same clothes for the last week, and appears to be high or drunk. Who is the most likely suspect? Your job right now, is to profile. Common sense. Granny didn't smash out a car window, and most people don't smash windows for change on the way home from their 9-5. Unfortunately, political correctness is suggesting that all three suspects be treated equally, even though, we know who did it. We are forced to throw all previous experience out the window, as well as common sense, and statistics. Who wins in that scenario? Who wins by wasting an hour questioning granny about a crime she didn't commit?
Now, I'm sure you know where I'm going with this, and maybe you don't like it, but please read on, and hopefully I can lead you to the big picture. For years police have been told, by governments, to crack down on crime, in high crime ares, where drug trafficking, firearm possession, murders, rapes, thefts etc are the heaviest. Makes sense to me. These are the rough neighbourhoods, the "ghettos". So the police targeted these areas, which in the states, are predominately populated by black people. Now black people in the states only make up about 12% of the population, and yet make up 35% of people that are incarcerated. Now that stat offends people. They claim it's due to profiling, and that more black people are arrested than white people due to racism. In reality, the highest crime areas, are more densely populated by black people. So when a cop goes out on duty for the day, he can go to a middle class, suburban neighbourhood, which will probably be predominately white, where reported crime is very low, or he can head to the part of the city that has far more reports of gang crimes, murders, drug trafficking and the likes. Now if the crime riddled neighbourhood is predominantly black, does that mean he is profiling, and/or a racist? Or is he just using common sense?
I have a friend that lives in northern Alberta. In his area, there are many Indian reserves. I've talked to him many times about this, and he explained to me the experiences he has had dealing with natives. He says they fit the stereo type. They are quite often drunk, or high. They are dirty and usually poor. He crosses the street when he sees them, to avoid being hassled for change, or cigarettes. Now, I guess he is profiling them when he chooses to cross the street. Maybe he should wait to see if the person does hassle him before passing judgement, or maybe he should respond to his previous experiences and cross the street. What's the right thing to do?
I'm not going to say I know where to draw the line. I know questioning a 78 year old women about smashing the window out of a car seems like a waste of time, and assuming the crack head did it, will probably save a lot of time. But what if a middle class neighbourhood has been complaining of recent break ins, and as a police officer, I see a young black male, dressed in dark clothing walking around that neighbourhood at 1 am. Should I question him? Is that profiling? Will it help prevent more crime? Will it cause outrage in the black community that another black male has been profiled for no reason, other than he is black? What if statistically he is 5 times more likely to be the culprit than a white male? Is the cop a racist if he does stop a black male, but not a white male, or is he using statistics to help him solve a crime?
Now the flip side of the coin is how profiling isn't fair to innocent people. That's a given. Why should a black male be stopped, and searched, when he has done nothing wrong, when a white male is left alone? I'd call bullshit on that too, and after so many years of oppression, it must seem like things are never going to be fair for the people that are being profiled, but this doesn't change the fact that profiling is a very important tool. In Alberta, young men pay more for insurance that young women, regardless of their driving record. That's profiling. Good young male drivers are getting screwed, and bad young female drivers are getting it easy, but clearly you can understand why insurance companies do this? Statistics. Men crash more. So it's clear cut, legal, profiling, based on numbers. We have to deal with it. After writing this last example, I have to apologize for comparing car insurance prices with police brutality, racism, and years of oppression.
Now, on to the big picture. I don't have an answer for the problem. I think profiling is a tool that police have to use to be effective at their job, and I also think that many people have suffered unjustly at the hands of profiling. I don't have the answer for the problem, but I do know what the problem is, which seems to be something everyone is over looking.
Are natives under achieving, drunken, deadbeat criminals, or are people that were torn from their homes, stripped of their identities, murdered in the thousands, abused, introduced to alcohol, and left with nothing, under achieving, drunken, deadbeat criminals? If the roles were reversed, do you think white people would be in any better condition than the indians are in now? Natives are a product of their circumstances. Their circumstances are something white people caused. Just as black people are a product of being slaves, having no rights, being considered less than equals and treated like animals. When they final gained equality, they were in bad neighbourhoods, unable to find jobs, and resorted to crime. I don't care if you are black, white, yellow, or red, if you are born in the ghetto, and all you know is crime, and to be poor, that's how you will grow up and continue to live. Black people aren't criminals because they are black, they are criminals because of their circumstances. You round up all the white people, take away all their money, and drop them in bad neighbourhoods, and they will turn out just the same. Profiling natives or black people isn't the problem. Breaking they cycle is the problem. How do we help people, stop being a product of their circumstances?
