How the War Against the Police Harms Black Americans

Capitalism Magazine ^ | Thomas Sowell

[presidio9]

In much of the liberal media, large-scale confrontations between police and people who are breaking the law are usually reported in one of two ways. Either the police used "excessive force" or they "let the situation get out of hand."

Any force sufficient to prevent the situation from getting out of hand will be called "excessive." And if the police arrive in large enough numbers to squelch disorder without the need for force, then sending in so many cops will be called "over-reacting." After all, with so little resistance to the police, why were so many cops necessary? Such is the mindset of the media.

Add the volatile factor of race and the media will have a field day. If an incident involves a white cop and a black criminal, you don't need to know the facts to know how liberals in the media will react. You can predict the words and the music.

Heather Mac Donald of the Manhattan Institute does have the facts, however, in her new book, "Are Cops Racist?" Unfortunately, those who most need to read this book are the least likely to do so. They have made up their minds and don't want to be confused by facts.

For the rest of us, this is a very enlightening and very readable little book. Ms. Mac Donald first tackles the issue of "racial profiling" by the police and shows what shoddy and even silly statistical methods were used to gin up hysteria. Then she moves on to police shootings and other law-enforcement issues.

Suppose I were to tell you that, despite the fact that blacks are just 11 percent of the American population, more than half the men fined for misconduct while playing professional basketball are black -- and concluded that this shows the NBA to be racist. What would your reaction be?

"Wait a minute!" you might say. "More than half the players in the NBA are black. So that 11 percent statistic is irrelevant."

That is exactly what is wrong with "racial profiling" statistics. It is based on blacks as a percentage of the population, rather than blacks as a percentage of the people who do the kinds of things that cause police to stop people and question them.

A professor of statistics who pointed this out was -- all too predictably -- denounced as a "racist." Other statisticians kept quiet for fear of being smeared the same way. We have now reached the dangerous point where ignorance can silence knowledge and where facts get squelched by beliefs.

Heather Mac Donald also goes into facts involving police shootings, especially when the cops are white and the suspect is black. Here again, an education awaits those who are willing to be educated.

People in the media are forever expressing surprise at how many bullets were fired in some of these police shootings. As someone who once taught pistol shooting in the Marine Corps, I am not the least bit surprised.

What surprises me is how many people whose ignorance of shooting is obvious do not let their ignorance stand in the way of reaching sweeping conclusions about situations that they have never faced. To some, it is just a question of taking sides. If it is a white cop and a black suspect, then that is all they feel a need to know.

The greatest contribution of this book is in making painfully clear the actual consequences of cop-bashing in the media and in politics. The police respond to incentives, like everyone else.

If carrying out their duties in the way that gets the job done best is going to bring down on their heads a chorus of media outrage that can threaten their whole careers, many cops tend to back off. And who pays the price of their backing off? Mainly those blacks who are victims of the criminals in their midst.

Drug dealers and other violent criminals have been the beneficiaries of reduced police activity and of liberal judges throwing out their convictions because of "racial profiling." These criminals go back to the black community -- not the affluent, suburban and often gated communities where journalists, judges, and politicians live.

The subtitle of "Are Cops Racist?" is: "How the War Against the Police Harms Black Americans."

[mhking]

It is based on blacks as a percentage of the population, rather than blacks as a percentage of the people who do the kinds of things that cause police to stop people and question them.

DING!

I love Thomas Sowell -- he makes so damn much perfect sense!

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[wideawake]

Shhh . . . don't tell all the FReepers who were weeping and tearing their garments over the death of the criminal Amadou Diallo.

[ClearCase_guy]

"How the War Against the Police Harms Black Americans."

But Liberals know this already (deep down). I live in Massachusetts. Just about everyone I've ever known has been a true blue Liberal. And I would say that 100% of them have been racist and fully intent on "helping" blacks -- to stay in their proper place (below elitist Liberals).

The War Against Police is simply one of the tools.

[WaterDragon]

Thomas Sowell is ignored/hated by liberals and deceived Americans because he is so brilliant and sane and makes so much sense. But it galls me that they say he doesn't care about blacks. If you read everything he writes you know nothing could be farther from the truth than that lie.

[joesnuffy]

what is happening is the police are increasingly frustrated and hindered from arresting blacks

considering the numbers of them involved in crime..particularly against other blacks...the inability/refusal of the police to ... police the black communties ..only means one thing

Black criminals will have free reign in black communities...and it will not be due to the failure of the police...to police

Now if good black people armed themselves and refused to allow criminals to rule in their communites...and the liberals just got the hell out of the way of the decent citzenry..things would shape up quickly..

Liberals of course prefer that blacks be oppressed...its their stock in trade...and poverty pimps like Jesse 'the jet' Jackson will never ever give up his 'cash cows' or allow them to be free...and unshackled or empower them with firearms or self defense..

The dynamics of crime and police and liberals makes Jesse and his ilk far too much money and their is too much power to grab to allow blacks to be truly free

[tru_degenerate]

Wow, sounds like we need a Civil Rights Movement Part II.

'We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome the likes of Jesse one day-y-y-y-y-y'

[LibertyThug]

Thomas Sowell bump!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Bump

[Ohioan]

Apt comments from a man who still has intellectual integrity.

Those who pay the price for "Liberalism"--and its many faceted flight from reality--usually are those whom "liberal" politicians and media types pretend to be helping. Throw in the history of the NAACP--an organization set up by frothy White Fabian Socialists to make race relations confrontational--and the madness described in the book review, begins to make more sense; sense from the standpoint of promoting confrontation, not solving any problems.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[Pukka Puck]

I am a big Thomas Sowell fan also.

[headsonpikes]

More Sowell, less Morford.

[WaterDragon]

I am a big Thomas Sowell fan also

When I read his book 'Basic Economics' it blew me away. His writing style is elegantly simple, every sentence is crystal clear. But he packs so much wisdom into every paragraph that it took me forever to finish the book. I kept stopping to just think about what he'd said. I don't know of another writer whose respect for his readers comes through so clearly.

[judicial meanz]

Yesterday, a police officer friend of mine was killed outside of a project in Richmond. He left 3 kids behind.

He was shot, assassination style, in the back of the neck/head behind while he met with 3 suspected drug dealers at a street corner known for high criminal activity.

No one even bothered to call the police, and everyone fled the scene after it happened. He laid there in his own blood and died in the ten minutes it took the police to figure out something had gone wrong.

Maybe this is not the best time for me to address this issue, but I am sick of people I have known for years being killed for senseless crap in crime zones that make the Vietnam war look like a glamour parlor. To think of the callous person who saw this happening, and refused to call the police infuriates me. To think of the media making these little criminal darlings out to be victims pisses me off more than words can describe.

Its time to call these people to account and confront them with the people, like my friend, who have died while they encourage this crap. I, personally wont stand for it anymore. I've been to enough police funerals in my life.


For anyone interested, this is the thread I posted about my friends death:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/955927/posts

[chasio649]

How would we be percieved in Liberia? Just a thought.

[judicial meanz]

I think going into Liberia, to save people who decided anarchy was favorable to rule of law, is a big mistake.

The media would probably lap it up.

[dwd1]

I think that going into Liberia is a mistake because of the cultural difference in attitude that is not being dealt with...The real truth is that in many African Nations, you have far too many corrupt governments....I am not saying that all is well here but there is a general feeling that we are more a nation of laws than men...In Africa, there very seldom exists a peaceful transfer of power because when one is in power, the opportunity to enrich oneself and serve special interests comes first...This creates a fear among those in power that payback will be received the moment they leave power so they are highly motivated to keep power at all costs...

Until a long term plan for economic development and a constitution that allows for reasonably peaceful transfers of power exists, that place will be a death trap where we will send our young men and women to die needlessly...

I have previously stated that the blood of our young men and women is just as precious as that of the young men and women of any other nation....

[dwd1]

Someone said there are lies, damned lies, and statistics...

The simple truth is that there are problems with the way police deal with the minorities but one needs to be fair that both sides can at times act to make the situation worse...

As a black person, the traffic stops do get old but I try to remember that the cop is just doing his job...The thing that I have seen that makes most persons not treat the police with respect is the emotional violence where a police officer takes an accusatory or hostile questioning technique without probable cause (i.e. provocation) trying to get a rise out of someone. I think treating someone that way in front of their wife and kids is not right....On the other hand, someone who is dealing drugs and taking away the future of so many communities...I am not opposed to investigatory techniques that are within the law...It is a question of balancing security with a certain loss of civil liberties....Sometimes, the price is a little high...

As someone who tries to never let a confrontation with the police get out of hand, I try to show him respect and expect the same....I wonder sometimes if those in law enforcement who mistreat the communities they patrol and protect make it harder for the majority of police that do their jobs properly and professionally just as those within a community who live outside the law make it harder for the majority within a community who obey the law. I think the acts of a few in law enforcement and in all communities cause the hostile tone that exists....The rest of us are just trying to make a living and get home alive...

[rockfish59]

Watch the cops here!

[dwd1]

I am very sorry for your loss...

I was told about my Grandmother and the way she demonstrated kindness to German soldiers when they were POW's near Mexia, TX during WWII...

She said "That is someone's son or father and there is someone out there who is missing them. They deserve to be treated with humanity."

Never let anyone forget that this police officer, this man who carried a gun, who arrested people, who locked people up, who did what his duty required...is still a human being with family, friends, and loved ones...

True evil is the lack of empathy....Who would want their loved ones or their friends left in the street? .....

As a black person, I can not tell you how much it embarasses me when Jesse Jackson and the like are there when the black community is wronged but nowhere to be found when our community has done the wrong...

Once again, sorry for your loss...