If you saw a group of unknown young black males walking toward you is it racist to be wary of them since it is racists to think that all black men take part in this activity?
ra... tional.
No. I hope you did not mistunderstand what I said and the context in which I said it. These are two different situations.
I am fully supportive of profiling in a vast body of endeavors from financial to personal. We are alive today because we profile.
If I saw a group of ten young black men walking towards me, I would indeed profile them, but...I wouldn’t say to myself “They are black. This is bad.”
I would say to myself: “It is a large group of black men. Where am I right now? Am I across the street from a police station or in a part of the city where there are bars on the windows of homes and no other people around? What is their demeanor? Are they in a jovial mood wearing suits and going to a church for a wedding, or are they wearing hats sideways on their heads, baggy pants falling down and loudly cursing or carrying on? Are they eyeing me with open or concealed hostility as they approach?”
And, to be fair, I would view a large group of young white men the same way and ask myself many of the same questions.
It would be very unlikely to ask myself the same questions of a large group of elderly black people or young black men pushing baby strollers.
It is not racist to consider the race, but it is racist to have that be the ONLY consideration. And I think there are very few people who would disagree with me on this.
What do you think?