[skh]

I think you read what I wrote with some wrong assumptions. For instance you seem to think that my comment on blacks and crimes was a statement that supports a view of the legal system being racist. Nothing I said implies this or can reasonably be construed as suggesting this.

I said that blacks are on average more likely to be charged with committing a crime than whites. You agree with this since you mention that blacks overcommit crime. Obviously my comment suggests that the variance in the black community is higher than it is in the white community. I didn’t attempt to deny any facts as you put it. My agreement with you is right there in writing. I said blacks on average are more likely to be charged with committing a crime.

I don’t know how old you are but growing up in the 1970s and 1980s when crime was very high there was media narrative with regard to crime and race. This spilled over into the 1990s with Clinton’s remarks about super predators and the need for the 100 thousand cops program. The famous welfare queen that Reagan talked about was black and the image was created that blacks were a problem in terms of being a drain on the system.

Here’s a thought experiment. Have two black guys walk around a predominantly upper middle class white neighborhood walk around with hoodies and low jeans. See if the cops stop them. Have two white guys do the same. I’ll bet more times than not the white guys are treated differently.

Poor white Americans are not more racist than richer white Americans. Framing images and using coded language though allows poor white Americans to get a perception that the problem people, the ones who leech off the system are the brown people and not them. Using race gets people to lose focus on what ought to be socio economic discussions by getting them to think of race.

You should read about the Southern Strategy the Republican party engaged in. Here’s a quote from Atwater:

Y'all don't quote me on this. You start out in 1954 by saying, "Nigger, nigger, nigger." By 1968 you can't say "nigger" — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "Nigger, nigger."

[ams6110]

Anecdotally I see the cops talking to white youth in "gangbanger" dress quite often. I'm not sure the lesson is anything other than "if you don't want to be treated like a criminal, don't dress like a stereotypical example."

[skh]

Thank you for your comment. Why does this attire evoke the image of a stereotypical example of a criminal? Where does this stereotype come from? Is the stereotype correct? Does it have anything to do with originating with black culture? Have you ever met a gangbanger? I havne’t. I too have this perception of this attire being “gangbanger dress”. But this perception does not come from experience. It comes from media.

I personally have not seen white youth in gangbanger attire accosted by cops in white upper class neighborhoods. I have seen blacks accosted in upper white neighborhoods. I’m willing to bet that most interactions between cops and whites in gangbanger attire in white neighborhoods are much less intense than between cops and blacks in said attire in white neighborhoods.

[weberc2]

Wasnt assuming anything as your position was unclear; I was just adding important context since your statistics weren’t worth very much without it (e.g., noting that whites commit more crime isn’t meaningful without the context that they are a larger part of the population, and very often it is used to mislead).

Regarding the rest of your post, I can’t relate to your characterization as you seem to have a very different, very negative experience with white people than I have had. Since we can’t do much more than trade anecdotes, I’ll be ducking out now.

[skh]

I mentioned that whites are a majority of the population. I wrote:

This despite the fact that whites - due to being a majority of th population - consume a majority of the welfare.

I’m just posting my own observations and views. I did quote some very specific examples to support my view but what I wrote wasn’t to be taken as conclusive proof.

There are a vast number of articles and scholarly works published on the issue of race portrayal in American media. You can do a web search to find them if you are interested in the topic.

By the way, I’m upper class white. Have very little experience with inner city black culture but realize that even using the phrase “inner city” is pretty much coded language. When people talk about inner city problems inevitably one thinks of brown people. You and your friends may be exceptions to this but statistics and surveys show otherwise for most people.