By Tom Kando
In November 2012, the 47-year old Michael Dunn murdered 17-year old Jordan Davis in Jacksonville, Florida. Dunn is white, Davis was black. Dunn killed Davis because of loud music. His defense claimed that he believed Davis to be armed. On February 15, 2014, there was a verdict: A mistrial on the murder charge (hung jury) and a guilty verdict for attempted murder. This is clearly another Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman type case. It is about the explosive mix of crime and race.
Once again many people are calling for “a discussion of race.” Of course. MSNBC and other progressives are in the forefront of this. And of course they are right. There is no way that this country is “post-racial” yet, even after electing a multi-racial president.
The only problem I have is that there is a little bit of a cacophony on the Left. Let me give two examples of this:
#1. On Feb. 10, MSNBC complained that when Jordan Davis’ parents appeared in court during Dunn’s trial, they had to show that they had been good parents, which is shameful, considering that THEY are the victims.
The argument is akin to the familiar (and correct) argument that the court has no business delving into the sexual history of a victim of rape who, after all, is NOT the one on trial.
At the same time, MSNBC complained that the prosecution in the Michael Dunn case was NOT allowed to present evidence that Jordan had been a good boy (good student, etc.).
This is inconsistent. If it is demeaning for the court to examine whether or not Davis’ parents were “good parents,” then isn’t it the same with Davis himself? After all, Davis is truly the victim.
My position is that - unlike rape - in this case it would have been useful to present good character evidence on Davis’ behalf, along with the same for his parents.
* * * * *
#2. More importantly: There is the frequent allegation that America has more black men in prison than in college. However, this is not true, as guest speakers on MSNBC recently reminded us. We were told that this allegation is not only false, but that it is also racist, because it contributes to the media-induced false stereotype of the dangerous and criminal black male.
The allegation is indeed incorrect, but if it is racist, then why did President Obama mention it in a campaign speech in 2007?
To be sure, here are the facts: There are about 740,000 black men incarcerated in America, vs. 1.4 million in college (see"Black Men in Prison and in College")
However, even though there are, thank God, more black male college students than prisoners (although certainly not in elite universities), that figure of 740,000 is an outrage. Blacks make up 13% of the country’s population, and 36% of its prison population. Non-Hispanic whites make up 66% of the country, and 34% of all prisoners - There are more black prisoners than white prisoners: 740,000 vs. 700,000.
Although the “more black men in prison than in college” claim is in error, the claim that there are FAR TOO MANY blacks behind bars is not.
Remember also that the US incarceration rate is the highest in the world: We lock up 750 people per 100,000, for a total of two and a half million prisoners. We are ahead of Rwanda, China, Iran, Russia and EVERYBODY else. We lock up TEN TO TWENTY times more people than other civilized places such as Canada, Japan and Europe.
“Harping” on our excessive prison population, especially prisoners of color, is a good thing to do. Some criminologists view our racial incarceration policies as a form of genocide.
The exaggeration comparing the black prison and college populations is not important. What IS important is (1) the fact that far too many blacks get locked up, and (2) the REASONS for this.
This is not the place to rehash the whole litany of well-know racist and discriminatory habits embedded in our institutions and in our social fabric. They include the war on drugs and racist laws such as heavier penalties for blacks’ drugs of choice than other drugs; racist law enforcement such as discriminatory surveillance practices (DWB - “driving while black”); institutional racism in jury selection; a tremendously strong correlation between race and class, so that blacks are overwhelmingly among those who lack the resources to defend themselves.
Far from having achieved post-racialism, new hurdles are being erected as we speak, for example stand-your-ground laws such as Florida’s, which lead to cases such as Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis.
I merely wanted to remind progressives that they must remain logical and not use arguments in a pell-mell and flailing fashion.
© Tom Kando 2014
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Jesse Jackson said a few years ago, “There is nothing more painful to me … than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”
ReplyDeleteKeep on drinking the kool-aid Tom. Don’t care what you say, you’re never going to catch me walking through a black neighborhood…day or night.
The Zimmerman defense did not use “stand your ground”, they used simple self-defense…George was on his back getting his head pounded in. Florida stats show that despite the fact they are only 16% of the population, 33% of stand your ground defenses have been by blacks.
ReplyDeletePerhaps we need a conversation about race in America; but we have one, and it is ongoing. Somehow this comment, narrowly focussed at first . . . becomes a broader investigation about the embarrassing and tragic rate of incarceration in America, of blacks, and of whites too. But the case that begins it seemed to me one of several recently in Florida that highlighted how wide availability of guns and emphasis on "standing your ground" encouraged otherwise nonviolent people, including the 47yearold man here, or the even older police officer in another case, to use a gun against someone who was unarmed and nonviolent. The jury couldn't convict Dunn of murder because the laws and circumstances were so misleading. I don't think the primary factor here is one of race. Also, neither the victim nor his parents were threatened with incarceration, but Dunn will certainly serve many years in prison. I like the piece when it sticks to relevant facts and argues from those.
ReplyDeleteThere is a problem with lingering racism and stereotypes to be sure. However, stereotypes are the nature of human language and rather than try to solve problems using stereotypical language, the analysis has to be deeper. The problems themselves have be solved on the basis that everyone is human and entitled to the same rights, freedoms, and protections. The use of these racial stereotypes in the news, particularly MSNBC, only compounds the problems.
ReplyDeleteIf one man kills another, the same laws apply regardless of race. Today rules of excluded evidence that prevent juries from hearing all the facts are at least as damaging as stereotypes that members of juries might have. If you look deeper into these cases, you often find that convictions would be different if money, billable hours of lawyers, and the manipulation of trials by lawyers and judges were not so rampant.
My guess is that the amount of money behind the white guy's defense was at least as important as racism in the decision. But, racism is a loaded term of oppression, hate, and guilt so you have to expect the media to fixate on it.
Thanks, Tom, for your article. Sometimes it is so depressing to think that so little has been accomplished on the race issue during the last decades, but I still hold out hope. I do have to say, though, that our system of "the best justice money can buy" is a huge factor. Without money you don't stand a chance in court, and with money you can practically do whatever you want. Makes me sick when our "justice" is patently unfair depending on the economic status of the parties.
ReplyDeleteStatistics dont lie! Racial discrimination exists in the criminal justice system. I enjoyed reading the thought provoking responses. I think that we need to have two conversations. (1) Race in America and (2) Race and the Criminal Justice System-
ReplyDeleteIf you dont care, then you are part of the problem. If you do care, then welcome to being compassionate and concerned about social justice. As a sociologist, the first two anonymous responses solidfy the importance of Sociology. I think that a trip to the library and reading up incarceration rates, unfair sentences and racial profiling, Racism in America Society will help readers realize that they are perhaps naive and about structural inequalities that have pervasive consequences across race, social class and gender(single mothers) that people are scraping to make ends meet in our economically strapped society. I hope that this post encourages all of us to think about this issue. Thanks to this blog, we are able to learn on line as part of a human community.
Good to hear from you all, my on- line classmates :-)
Statistics don't lie! African-Americans commit crimes against whites far out of proportion than whites against blacks.
ReplyDeleteFrom Pat Buchanan’s article in Human Events of July 19, 2013:
“What about interracial crime, white-on-black attacks and the reverse?
After researching the FBI numbers for “Suicide of a Superpower,” this writer concluded: “An analysis of ‘single offender victimization figures’ from the FBI for 2007 finds blacks committed 433,934 crimes against whites, eight times the 55,685 whites committed against blacks. Interracial rape is almost exclusively black on white — with 14,000 assaults on white women by African Americans in 2007. Not one case of a white sexual assault on a black female was found in the FBI study.”
Though blacks are outnumbered 5-to-1 in the population by whites, they commit eight times as many crimes against whites as the reverse. By those 2007 numbers, a black male was 40 times as likely to assault a white person as the reverse.”
The war on drugs for the most part has been s war on blacks. This coming from a self described independent conservative. That's not to say Rand Paul was incorrect in describing black unemployment as a cultural problem in the black community, God forbid someone speak a truth that in axiomatic. Like many poor whites I grew up in close approximation to black neighborhoods & in Vallejo which is described as the most diverse community in America. Good intentions by well meaning liberals in conjunction with corporate greed deindustrializing black urban communities has desimated black family structure. We as America owe it to them to rebuilt these communities, but not on the backs of poor whites who are not responsible.
ReplyDeleteThis is what is passed off for scholarship. “Table 43" is a single Google entry. How convenient. Okay, so you think you caught me. Yes, blacks represent 32% of all ARRESTS for those three crimes.
ReplyDeleteI have subscribed to and studied the FBI’s annual UCR for the past 25 years:
1) white collar is a complex area that includes fraud, bribery, ponzi schemes, insider trading, embezzlement, cybercrime, copyright infringement, money laundering identity theft, forgery and a host of other activities.
2) the UCR tallies ARRESTS, as reported by local police departments. It is not a reliable gauge of the true crime rate. It is estimated that the UCR under-measures the true crime rate between 10% and 90%, depending on the crime. It measures the most serious crimes (the index crimes), the most accurately, and Part Two crimes such as fraud and embezzlement the most inaccurately.
3) Blacks are the most likely to be arrested, charged and convicted of these crimes because they are most often members of the lower class.
4) If there is any remnant of truth to your assertion, it is explained the same way as the disproportionate black participation in all other crimes - economically: poverty drives one to commit crimes, any crimes.
Your next comment:
No inconsistency: it is PRECISELY through institutional reform and an activist helping government that the earlier poor and criminal generations were brought on board. Without that, the oakies and the arkies (all white, remember the Joad family in the Grapes of Wrath?) wouldn’t have made it. If FDR’s New deal, Truman’s Fair Deal, Kennedy’s New Frontier and Johnson’s Great Society were not institutional reform, I don’t know what is.
But let me ask you this: what is your obsession with trying to prove that blacks are no good? In
my view, THAT is the real problem.
You are missing my point. I’m not trying to prove that blacks are no good. I’m positing that their culture is full of pathologies that they must reject if they are ever going to improve their lot. 50 years of institutional changes with Voting rights, War on Poverty, Busing, and Affirmative Action have accomplished virtually nothing. I am not interested in wasting any more money, until they take the initiative on fixing their culture.
ReplyDeleteYou articulate the Pat Buchanan position well, wrong as that position is.
ReplyDeleteThere are two aspects to our comment exchanges: (1) the substantive issues involved, and our substantive disagreements, which are worthy of posting. (2) The style used: ad hominem, personal insults get deleted. This latest comment of yours is done properly.
This reminds me of teaching a difficult class:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous I, II and IV are set in their ways. Opening their minds would be difficult.
They use statistics to suit their pre-conceptions. Of course blacks commit more crimes than whites. Duh. Will such people ever understand that this is a CONSEQUENCE, not a CAUSE. An EFFECT of the economic situation in which blacks have landed? But I am happy that I am not just preaching to the choir.
Anonymous III makes many good points. If I were to give out grades, I would give anonymous III a much higher grade than the other anonymouses.
NWE is on the right track. Remember that my post also established the in-severable link between race and class. NWE is right: NOTHING plays a greater role in outcomes than MONEY.
Sharon re-iterates this quite well.
However, remember, even billionaire Opra was disrespected while traveling in Switzerland, and world-famous Miles Davis was brutalized by cops, without provocation. So race is part of the mix.
Gail knows all this of course. She is a good sociologist.
Roy is ambivalent. That’s good. But he won’t like my next post, tomorrow: The “cultural” hypothesis is all wrong. This so-called “culture-of-poverty” - and the breakdown of the family - which conservatives like so much (it was Paul Ryan recently, not Rand Paul), are also CONSEQUENCES, not the root CAUSES of the problem. My next post will refresh your sociology.
But “at the end of the day” (this putrid expression on everyone’s lips these days), anonymous I, II and IV may carry the day. I am not optimistic.
I look at letters to the editors and Internet comments every day, assiduously. I see an enormous and growing amount of reactionary cliches and vitriol.
America has always straddled the line separating progressives from reactionaries. But now, it is definitely becoming THE most conservative industrialized country on the planet.
Sociologists since William Kornhauser have known that when the middle-class is downwardly mobile, it turns RIGHT. That’s what is happening to America. We can expect scapegoating, the popularity of Fox News-type demagoguery, intolerance, xenophobia, punishment and selfishness to increase. We probably won’t go as far as Germany, Italy and other countries did in the thirties. But there is no doubt that we are moving in the same DIRECTION.
There has been an upsurge in gang shootings in Sacramento, and yesterday the Sacramento Bee reported “Police are searching for: Donald Oliver, alias “Lavish D,” 29; Deiondrea Oliver, alias “Dreda,” 26; Anthony Jacob, alias “B-Tone,” 26; Donte Young, alias “Tizzle,” 23; and Lamont Young, aliases “Lil Lav” and “LL,” 24.”
ReplyDeleteGot to admit with names like “Lavish D”, “B-Tone”, “Tizzle”, and “Lil Lav”, there’s humor to this subject if they limit their killing to themselves.
Alright, I’ll respond (again):
ReplyDeleteI, too, peruse the Bee every morning, and notice the appalling number of murders. They occur nearly every day. Our metropolis of less than 2 million people has as many murders as the Netherlands, with its 17 million people.
If we guess at the ethnicity of the people involved, as anonymous does, I am actually struck by the very high frequency of Hispanic names.
Neither what anonymous says nor what I say is earth shattering. Everyone knows that blacks and Hispanics commit a disproportionate amount of street crime.
But I am afraid that I must give another brief sociology lecture:
1) The over-representation of blacks and Hispanics among street criminals has EVERYTHING to do with social class and NOTHING with race and ethnicity. If you control for class (= income), the difference between the black and white crime rates evaporates. In fact, the black crime rate is a bit lower than that of whites.
2) The very high crime rate of blacks and Hispanics applies mostly to STREET crime, not white collar crime. There are just as many white and Asian (cf. California state senator Yee, as a recent example) white collar criminals as black and Hispanic white collar criminals. What do you think is the race of most criminals on Wall Street?
) finally: Ethnicities have historically taken turns at the top of the criminal ladder. Back in the 19th century, the Irish were the most violent and troublesome group. Later, the Italians were on top. Then came African-Americans. And don’t tell me it’s different because unlike the Irish and the Italians, blacks were not immigrants. In fact, they were: The great black internal migration of the 1920s from the South to the industrial North - Detroit, New York, etc. So criminality comes in ethnic waves. The top of the ladder will soon be taken over by new groups. Who knows, maybe Russians, maybe Hmongs, maybe someone else.
Tom, your credibility is strained when your assertions are not backed up by FBI stats. Table 43 of the FBI stats for 2011 show that white collar crimes (forgery, fraud, embezzlement) arrests for blacks are almost three times as high as the rest of the population relative to the black percent of population (average 32% of arrests compared to 12% of the population).
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, on the one hand you argue that the black high crime rate is a function of poverty (not culture) and that the only way to reduce it is to change our institutions (the white man’s burden), and yet you also argue that the black high crime rate was preceded by a high Irish and Italian high crime rate, yet they were able to climb out of poverty and reduce their street crime rate without changing our institutions. And you don’t see the inconsistency in your argument?
ReplyDelete