What is classed as racism in society?

[Col]

What is classed as racism in these PC days? 

1. On the news tonight a white policeman is caught on camera in a dialogue which involved him being critical and some may view racist about black and asian youths carrying knives and being involved in crime generally.

2. Also later on the news is the story of a pyscotic black man who stabbed a white policeman to death whilst involved in the 'care in the community' scheme.

As usual the Stephen Lawrence story was mentioned in respect of report no.1 but surely the race may be said albeit in reverse of report no.2?

Before anyone starts I am not a racist but these reports were on the same news programmed which drew my attention, has the line which may be classed a racism become blurred in modern Britain?

[jno]

the white cop spoke in a way suggesting he believed in a link between colour and crime. That's racist thinking. If he suspects a white and a black of a crime, will he arrest the wrong one because he's judeged by their race, not the facts?

It doesn't follow that an individual black killing a white - or an individual white killing a black - is a racist; that is, the killer didn't think all people of the other race needed killing. He was in fact sick, which suggests he might have killed anyone at all.

Not every black/white clash is the result of racism. Racism lies in thinking that everyone of a certain colour says or does certain things, forgetting that we are all individuals and so prejudging us.

[flashpig]

I am reminded of Sociology where we had to think of features of what we had in our mind as a stereotypical criminal. And it turned out as a black man in his early twenties, and I think I was told that this is true. Sometimes when I walk home I wonder about the tall black guy in the hoodie walking in my direction. Is this racist? I don't know. Probably. I can't help it, though I try every time to not make that assumption. My only reassuring thought is that quite a lot of the white kids this way are just as scary.

All I know is that not all people asian people carry knives, and that this should not be the assumption, especially of a policeman.

And on the interracial fighting thing, i agree with jno, people fight for all sort of reasons, not just race. I remember the south park episode where Cartman gets arrested for a hate crime for throwing a stone at the black kid, who called him fat, despite also doing it to a white kid.

I don't know whether the lines have been blurred, I haven't had to think about race at all before. There was only 1 black kid in my year and 1 asian. My only experience being with non-white people really has been since I went to university and since I've lived in London, and I am really worried I will do something wrong and inadvertantly racist. Even worse I worry I'll turn a little David Brent.

[kags]

The problem seems to be that we often do not feel comfortable discussing racial issues as there is a concern we will be seen as racist. We all have prejudices, the important thing is to recognise them and be sure we don't allow them to influence our behaviour. At work, I know that there are some colleaugues who allow their prejudices to spill over into their treatment of students - not maliciously, they just don't realise they are doing it, but it is not possible to have a calm and reasonable conversation about it with them. They would interpret this as being accused of being a racist and react badly. I have in the past had a colleague take a sharp intake of breath when I was asked to describe a student who had been looking for her, and I said (among other things) they were black. This is not racist, and if people think it is, this is why the lines are being blurred. If we cannot have frank and honest discussion about race and people's attitudes the problems we already have are going to get worse.

[Ducati]

It strikes me that it is difficult to speak about black crime without automatically being accused of racism. Take Sir Paul Condon a few years ago, he had cold hard facts that young black men were the root of the majority of street crime in London, yet this was branded racist.

 

Why? How can facts possibly be racist?

 

If we are going to be multi-cultural country without prejudcies then this sort of ridiculous knee jerk reaction has to stop.

 

Now I don't know that stats, but let's, for the sake of the argument, assume in this instance that more black men than white men carry knives. This being the case, is it racist to voice this fact (if it is a fact)? No, of course it isn't.

[Lillabet]

As far as I can tell racism is a form of prejudice and as such it is racist when you pre judge that race is a factor when there is little or no evidence of this.

In you 1st example the recording seems to indicate that the police officer is searching the boy without due cause and verbally abusing him about his appearance. Using factors about someone's appearance / sexuality / gender as a form of abuse is I would think evidence of prejudiced thinking - I mean if you think 'asian' adds something to your insult then presumably you think there is something lesser about being Asian. However using it as a form of description is not to my mind racist.

In your second example a mentally ill man kills someone. There is no evidence to suggest that race is a factor. As such to assume that race is a factor just because two people of different ethnic backgrounds are involved could be seen as a form of pre judging the situation.

With regard to flashpig's answer the stereotypical image people end to have of a criminal is a young black man. In fact most crime is committed by young white men. The main factors which predicate whether or not someone will become involved in crime are to do with poverty and the low levels of educational achievement that all too often run alongside this. In the UK people of Afro-Caribbean ethnicity are disproportionately in the poorest groups and also disproportionately involved in crime.

[Lillabet]

continued...

What does not exist is 'black crime' which is somehow different to 'white crime' There is criminality involving people from a wide variety of backgrounds. In some cases race is a factor and to say that it is or may be a factor is not racist. What is racist is to use race as an explanation - or to always assume that it effects behaviour.

I agree some people are overly scared of giving offence. Going out of your way to never mention ethnicity and avoid the subject at all costs is simply silly. There are however normally clear signs as to when race is a factor in an offence and when it isn't. To ignore these or to create these where they don't exist could be seen as racist.

This does work both ways. To assume you are being discriminated against on racial grounds without evidence for this belief is just as racist as anything we would normally understand as racial discrimination.