The author of the article states that in government agencies, all things being equal, you will usually get better and more competent service from a white than a black.
I have not found that to be the main determining factor in my experience, limited to traffic stops, DMV and the INS (for my Canadian wife).
After we spent many hours filling and filing INS paperwork, our submitted application was rejected because they did not see the marriage certificate (which was attached to the returned rejected application in the mail). We don’t know the race of the person who made that mistake.
When we went to the office to resubmit with that same marriage certificate, a middle-aged woman V.V. had a very fast moving line, with a lot of disgusted looking people having a short time in the line before having to do something over again. When it was our turn, V.V. pointed out that a lot of rules had changed after our application was received, but before it was rejected, requiring us to start all over again with new forms. I was not pleased. I called over the supervisor.
Now, V.V. was a white middle-aged lady who looked like she walked out of a Far Side comic strip. She DEFINITELY had the attitude of a lifer whose bitterness was only tempered by dispersing some of it onto others. Her supervisor was a young black woman who quickly, authoritatively, and calmly pointed out to her white underling that the date stamp on our original application is the controlling factor, and that we were good to go. Yes, it played out like an episode of a Norman Lear sitcom, but it did happen. I believe that competency and attitude in government bureaus has more to do with time served (more is worse) than anything else.
I do blame the bulk of the problems in the black community with the dominant sub-culture in the urban sections. I get treated more courteously by a young black man working the counter at a convenience store in suburban Georgia than by a white woman working the same job in a northern city. I also see the same drop-off in intelligence and civility in the swaths of white people who adapt a variation of the urban black subculture in general. (Pierced tongue, being an example of an application for permanent membership in the underclass.)
I don’t see the point at all to Derbyshire making that observation on public servants. His kids are somehow supposed to act on that information or not have that information add to inevitable bias in how he meets every black he encounters?
On the other hand, Derb’s counter to your observations is that yours are anecdotal, whereas his claims would be statistical averages likely to hold over large numbers.
“I get treated more courteously by a young black man working the counter at a convenience store in suburban Georgia than by a white woman working the same job in a northern city.”
Off topic, I guess, but that reminds me of an experience I had. I often had to shop at a major chain retailer, in Jersey City, and I always came out in a meltdown because of the mind blowing stupidity and rudeness of their staff. Mostly black and hispanic I imagine, but not entirely.
Well, I was there one day and the cashier (black) had such exquisite manners that I walked out in a state of complete shock. She didn’t even help me in any particular way, she was just so POLITE. My beeber was so stuned I even forgot to thank her! I’m pretty sure she was from down South, even though she didn’t have any kind of strong accent. And she probably thought I was just another rude Yankee.
I hope working at that place didn’t ruin her manners, and that she was soon on to bigger and better things.