Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
I have a new column up at PJ Media today, in which I discuss – gasp! – race and crime. In light of the recent murders of two Chinese graduate students less than a mile from the USC campus, a crime all but certainly committed by a black or Latino, I pose the question: Bearing in mind that John Derbyshire found himself in the soup for imputing too much into racial distinctions and for encouraging others to do so, what advice on personal safety as it relates to ethnic groups should parents offer their children as they send them off next fall to USC (or Columbia, or Yale, or the University of Chicago)?
Read the whole thing here. You'll see that the comments on the site have taken some odd if occasionally interesting turns, but I’m keen to hear some reactions from the Ricochetti, from whom I invariably learn new things.
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Jul '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
Anyone who sends their kids off to any potential crime area( any city college) without a conversation about various forms of violent crime and how to minimize their chances is a fool. Race does not have to be the main focus, but to ignore race and crime statistics is pure ignorance of reality.
Jul '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
My 22 yr old went to Savannah to work for the summer. He is faster and stronger than 99.99% of men. Nonetheless I told him if it is night and 2 or more black males are walking toward him to cross the street and if followed to use his track skills. I could give a rats backside what anyone thinks of me, by age 20 I was robbed at gunpoint and by age 25 I'd had a few inner city gun conflicts with robbers but I always drew first. Facts are facts and until you've been there your opinion means nothing.
Jun '10
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
If you're going through a strange neighborhood, and you see wrought iron bars on most of the windows, but you don't have any wrought iron bars (or other metal) around you, you might be in some trouble.
Edited on April 20, 2012 at 7:40amApr '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
Funny that DocJay. I go to the University of Chicago nestled here on the South Side of the city (that is the "scary" side for you out of towners) and I get the campus safety reports, and while we certainly have a few sensational cases every once in a while and it is always good to be aware of surroundings, Hyde Park is as safe a neighborhood in Chicago as they come. I run into plenty of black males every day coming and going even at night.
Why cultivate fear and suspicion in your children? I know, I know you call it caution and maybe it is, and maybe I'm a fool but the statistics all say the people you should fear most are those you know.
Jun '10
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
Valiuth:
....Why cultivate fear and suspicion in your children? I know, I know you call it caution and maybe it is, and maybe I'm a fool but the statistics all say the people you should fear most are those you know.
Can we at least be as afraid and as suspicious as the people that live in the violent neighborhoods? One of the reasons that places get very dangerous is that everyone living there is afraid. Either afraid to be outside at all, or afraid to remember anything they saw.
Jul '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
If you're a male out at night in various parts of Chicago I suspect you should be wary of young men. My dad did his internship at Cook County and carried a 32. When you go to the ER and get folks with lead poisoning on a regular basis it becomes common sense to practice street smarts.
Jul '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
@Jack: Since you do not know who committed the crime you should go with the most obvious acceptable and safe suspects choice that the crime had to be done by radical conservative white supremacist with possible tea party ties. Since you instead decided to use statistics and science you obviously have racial issues that to date have been unknown. Some of our more enterprising members will now deconstruct your writings with an attention to detail that will make their 8th grade teacher proud. Others will scour through your archives looking for any snippet that can be taken out of context to show your inherent racism. It has been an honor knowing you, sir!
Oct '10
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
Understanding the environments and some some prudent awareness of the culture one travels in and speaks to neither bigotry or racism. Unless one is small minded and given over to PC hype.
Predators come with four legs or two as well as fins.
Pick where you want to reside in the Food Chain. Educating offspring to this end has worked for centuries. Simple.
Edited on April 20, 2012 at 8:08amJul '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
I cultivate critical thinking Valiuth. My kids aren't racists or sexists. Our middle school is 60% Hispanic and high school is 30%. They know who the gang kids are, who the druggies are, and who is kind. They choose their friends based on words, actions, and common interests. As far as big cities and crime riddled areas go the conversation changes. Be aloof. If you've never been mugged you would not understand and I hope you never do. It changes you to have a gun pointed at you. I suppose it's a paranoid flavor of PTSD.
Jul '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
For completeness Valiuth, I've warned my oldest daughter at great length about date rapists types( a huge issue in our country) and her line that she is to first use is that her dad is not scared of jail time and her second action if the man proceeds and violates her person is to jam a finger or pencil in to his eye socket. I'm an equal opportunity dispenser of paranoia.
Oct '10
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
From the comments section in the other blog.
Ding, ding, ding ding...
Dec '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
Jack Dunphy:
In the mid 80's I was on a motorcycle unknowingly going through Watts. All of a sudden the neighborhood changed. It was mostly black and I felt fear in the air. I don't think this was totally subjective because the surrounding were bleak and the looks on people's faces were not welcoming. Luckily I had a full-faced helmet so I didn't stick out as much as I could have. I am sure I would have felt similar if I were black.
As people we like shortcuts and stereotyping/profiling is a shortcut. To throw out all general rules is a stupid way and can be a dangerous way to live. But stereotyping is unfair and painful to those whom the stereotype does not fit. To be wise the correct balance needs to be struck.
Why is it that some neighborhoods are so unwelcoming of strangers?
Have you also experience the sudden change in atmosphere, from safe to dangerous, between areas?
Feb '12
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
All well and good when you have the time to gather information to make the best possible decisions. But generally meeting people on the street one has very little to go on.
I frankly doubt that most people go so far as to think "black ergo dangerous." They have a picture in their head of what "dangerous" looks like and black is a possible check in the "caution" column. Other checks would be male, young, baggy clothing, in a group of two or more, out at night, and so forth.
May '10
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
Smart people play the averages.
Mar '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
Linked to without comment, other than that viewer discretion is advised if you choose to view the video.
Oct '10
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
Valiuth: FunnythatDocJay. IgototheUniversityofChicagonestled hereontheSouthSideof the city (that is the "scary" side for you out of towners) and I get the campus safety reports, and while we certainly have a few sensational cases every once in a while and it is always good to be aware of surroundings, Hyde Park is as safe a neighborhood in Chicago as they come. I run into plenty of black males every day coming and going even at night.
Why cultivate fear and suspicion in your children? I know, I know you call it caution and maybe it is, and maybe I'm a fool but the statistics all say the people you should fear most are those you know. · 7 hours ago
I spent some time with the legendary big wave rider Roger Ericson, a Vietnam vet with a plate in his head from a confrontation with a biker gang. He was among the last of the old-school Waimea hellman and a dedicated risk-taker. One time he said, in reference to how quickly seemingly safe situations can turn,
"Everything is fine until it isn't."
Coming from him, that bordered on profound. You don't want a plate in your head, Valiuth.
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
I'm far more comfortable in poor black neighborhoods than poor white neighborhoods.
That probably has more to do with familiarity than race, and I suspect a great deal of what drives judgments about race has to do with familiarity, although that is a very under-discussed topic.
Jan '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
But what determines culture? People. The "It's the culture" line is a dodge, just as "I'm depraved on account of I'm deprived" was always a dodge.
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
nick
But what determines culture? People. The "It's the culture" line is a dodge, just as "I'm depraved on account of I'm deprived" was always a dodge. · 13 minutes ago
West Side Story reference!
Nov '11
Re: Shhh -- Race and Crime Discussed Below
Valiuth:
Why cultivate fear and suspicion in your children? I know, I know you call it caution and maybe it is, and maybe I'm a fool but the statistics all say the people you should fear most are those you know. · 8 hours ago
Cultivating fear and suspicion is exactly what needs to be done. The biggest problem faced by teachers of self-defense face is overcoming the desire to rationalize away a threatening situation. The law-abiding are at a disadvantage and inculcating watchfulness (fear) is important. Among other things, this means profiling, which, as others have pointed out, is a complex business, but needs to be imparted to anyone going off to live on their own. Having lived in Hyde Park and other dangerous neighborhoods, I'd say that race is a part of profiling for everyone, black, white, and Asian. The black nine-year-old I rescued after he had been stabbed by a gang member in Hyde Park (c. 1966) was probably wary of young black men.
That said, the physical dangers college students face come more from alcohol and drugs and "hooking up," and that warning ought to be forcefully imparted.