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A Few Bad Apples or Systemic Racism?
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In the aftermath of now-iconic images of senseless police cruelty, public opinion has taken a left turn. In a Monmouth University poll, the number of Americans agreeing that police are more likely to use excessive force against a Black person increased from 34 percent in 2016 to 57 percent today. People responding to a CBS News survey concurred, with 57 percent now perceiving that police in most communities ātreat Whites better than Blacks.ā
But we err, says Attorney General William Barr. āThere are instances of bad cops,ā he grants. Despite those supposed few bad apples, he disputes the idea āthat the law enforcement system is systemically racist.ā He has many kindred spirits, with Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, National Security Adviser Robert OāBrien, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Chad Wolf, and Wall Street Journal commentator Heather Mac Donald all arguing that systemic police racism is a myth.
Are they right? Biased by the availability heuristicāthe compelling power of a readily available imageāhave our emotions been hijacked by unforgettable but unrepresentative images of police cruelty?
Alas, the data suggest that Americaās tragic history of racism survives, and not just within police departments:
- Police killings. From 2012 through 2018, Black menās mortality risk from police killings has been, relative to their population size, triple that of White menāa difference that has continued through the past year.
- Police physical force. In Minneapolis, the 20 percent of the population that is Black has reportedly been the recipient of nearly 60 percent of police use of physical force. For broader data see here.
- Traffic stops. Studies (here, here, here, here, and here, among many more) have found Black drivers more likely to be stopped, searched, and subjected to physical force.
- Perceived discrimination. Black Americans, Pew Research reports, āare about five times as likely as Whites to say theyāve been unfairly stopped by police because of their race or ethnicity (44% vs. 9%).ā Pew also reports that āNearly two-thirds of Black adults (65%) say theyāve been in situations where people acted as if they were suspicious of them because of their race or ethnicity, while only a quarter of White adults [and a third of Asian and Hispanic adults] say thatās happened to them.ā Perceived unfairness may be somewhat over reported: People who think they look different (for example, when wrongly believing theyāve been given a disfiguring theatrical facial scar) misperceive others as treating them differently. But there is more than a grain of truth to these perceptionsārace-influenced policing is reality.
- Everyday discrimination. In experiments (here, here, and here), people seeking employment interviews, Airbnb reservations, and Uber and Lyft pickups have received better treatment when applying with a name like John rather than Jamal, or Emily rather than Lakisha.
- Automatic perceptions and reactions. Modern prejudice is also substantially implicit. In experiments, participants have more often perceived an ambiguous object, when held by a Black person, as a gun rather than a bottle. And, when reacting in simulations, untrained participants also shot more quickly.
One other finding for us to ponder: Two experiments (here and here) show that most folks predict they would be upset and would intervene if witnessing a sexist or racist slur, yet respond with indifference when actually experiencing such. In one study, only 5 percent expected theyād say nothing. But faced with the actual situation, 55 percent stayed silent. Good intentions exceed courageous actions. T. S. Elliot understood: āBetween the idea and the reality . . . Falls the Shadow.ā
So, is there any hope for progress? Are efforts to create a better future pointless?
Martin Luther King, Jr.ās famous quoting of a nineteenth century abolitionist was optimistic: āThe arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.ā
Today, we can take heart that twentieth century civil rights efforts bent the arc. Acceptance of racial integration, interracial marriage, and Black presidential candidatesāall once supported by fewāare now supported by 9 in 10 people or more. āDecades ago,ā notes astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, āunarmed Black people getting beaten or killed by the police barely merited the local news. But now itās national newsāeven breaking newsāno matter where in the country it occurs.ā Even implicit racism has been declining.
These historic advances are, however, offsetāsince 2016āby some regression. By modeling divisiveness, the Presidentās bullying and racist tweets and retweets have contributed to a more polarized and toxic culture. For example, hate groups are more numerous. And the FBI reports that hate crimes increased from 5,850 in 2015 to 7,120 in 2018.
The bottom line: In the last six decades, overt racism, violent crime, sexism, homophobia, and other ills have substantially declined. So there is reason for hope. Our efforts can bear fruit. Yet prejudice persists. Systemic racism endures. To reach full justice, the moral arc needs to bend much further. If 2020 is to be an inflection point, there is work to be done on the barrel that can make apples go bad.
(For David Myersā other essays on psychological science and everyday life, visit TalkPsych.com.)
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