One conclusion from one paper, that a comprehensive analysis shows that predictive factors include the racial composition of criminals within the area rather than the race of the police officer or the victim.
OK, but getting back to racism and specifically to the perception of racism among the people being policed, what is the relevance?
Let us say (for the argument’s sake only) that it is more common for teachers to be unfair or to stereotype what boys should or shouldn’t be
only because they are boys at a boys school or at a military school than at a co-educational school. It might change which schools are the most in need of intervention. It doesn’t change whether the treatment is fair or not or whether it is tolerable anywhere.
There are two separate issues that need to be faced. One is the perception of racism. One is the reality of racial injustice. They are two related and yet separate things. Someone can feel as if they are being treated unjustly because they are, or they can imagine it. Conversely, someone can be treated unjustly and know it but can also be treated unjustly without knowing that they deserve to be treated differently.
The third issue is the appreciation of the unjust treatment of others. We can experience no racism and conclude it doesn’t exist. We can experience racism and conclude that no one outside our group experiences it. We can see some people getting preferential treatment because they are in one group and we’re not and incorrectly assume that everyone in that group gets that preferential treatment. We can make stereotypical judgments of our own:
oh, it is easy for you, you are in the group that gets the preferential treatment.
If you think about it, though, it is never that simple. Let us say that some girls go through school batting their eyes and seeming to get everything they want. It is predictable for those who are on the short end of this favoritism to feel slighted. They deserve that! They have experienced an injustice. Still…Is it true that all pretty girls
do that? That all girls
could do that if they wanted? That there are no negative stereotypes that hold pretty girls back, too? So what happens if people who have been passed over due to favoritism shown to the “pretty girls” just starts assuming that everyone who appears similar to those treated with favoritism are getting that treatment? If they let themselves have those blanket attitudes (which are understandable), they’re going to fall into unfair attitudes themselves. It doesn’t mean the injustice they’ve faced isn’t real. It means that not only can someone who has been through injustice due to unfair stereotypes fall into doing that to someone else, but that they could even be more vulnerable to unjust thinking. If the stereotype is used against you, an accidental difference does become a real thing. The psychologists can tell you all the ways in which that treatment can very quickly change a person’s outlook.
We can all remember the story of Jane Elliot’s 3rd grade classroom:
