The Personal Responsibilty to End Racial Profiling
In one week, President Obama covered the waterfront on racial politics. Although, in his address to the delegates at the NAACP's Centennial he said, "an African-American child is roughly five times as likely as a white child to see the inside of a jail," he also used the same "personal responsibility" rhetoric as he has every time he has spoken to African American audiences as candidate and president. Just days later, he would answer a question at a prime time press conference regarding the arrest of African American Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. that would place him in the middle of the debate on racial profiling.
"Personal responsibility," a Republican vocabulary word born in the Reagan era, plays politically well among moderate and conservative Whites, and even among some White liberals who, unfortunately, have a hard time distinguishing reality from the right-wing noise machine. The "personal responsibility" argument suggests that there is some inherent pathology within African Americans that is disabling. "Personal responsibility" is the modern day replacement for the antebellum term that endured through the middle of the 20th century -- "shiftlessness."
Today, Republicans argue "personal responsibility/shiftlessness" most frequently with the statistic that 70% of African American children are born to single mothers. But according to the Institute for Policy Studies, "the increase in the share of White children living in a single parent home has been much higher (229%) than for Black children (155%) since 1960." Yet Whites are never accused of lacking personal responsibility or preached to about the subject. And sometimes we Democrats, Lefties and Progressives are too quick to repeat what the Right has popularly propagandized without a careful analysis of this rhetoric's roots.
I criticized the president for feeling the need to include "personal responsibility" repeatedly and exclusively in front of African American audiences (not to mention his admonition while in Ghana for Africans to get over colonialism). Even he mused aloud to the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson after his NAACP speech about the attention he received. "I've noticed that when I talk about personal responsibility in the African American community, that gets highlighted," Obama said. "But then the whole other half of the speech, where I talked about government's responsibility . . . that somehow doesn't make news."
Enter Gates. Literally. Or Gates attempt to enter into his own home. An arrest is made. The Harvard professor charges racial profiling, and most of us who are African American can immediately identify. Countless studies have proven that African Americans are disproportionately stopped and detained Driving, Walking and Flying While Black. Hence, the NAACP has introduced a mobile rapid response system for African Americans to report police misconduct. I co-founded the Washington, DC NAACP Police Task Force that pressured the DC Police to implement their own profiling study using data collection and analysis. (I even taught a course at the police academy on racial profiling and the historical relationship between African Americans and law enforcement. So, I would love to talk shop on racial profiling instruction with Gates' arresting officer, Sgt. James Crowley, a reported fellow teacher on the subject.)
There is no question that the president is an African American who has genuinely lived the African American experience. So when asked about Gates' arrest he gave an answer which unlike his NAACP speech was unscripted. He said that "the Cambridge Police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home...what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."
Immediately, the political punditry and police unions focused on "acted stupidly," and demanded an apology from the president. The demographic to whom "personal responsibility" rhetoric was appealing a week earlier was at risk of alienation. The White House then began Walking Backward While Black. The president invited first, Crowley, then, Gates, over for a beer.
But this does not erase the most important part of the president's statement at the press conference: "There is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately."
White House refreshments are insufficient to end racial profiling. As a student of Abraham Lincoln, President Obama knows that Lincoln's diplomacy by appeasing the South with a plan for gradual emancipation failed to stem the tide of the Civil War. Injustices must be pulled promptly by their very roots.
Why not invite stakeholders on all sides to a National Conversation About Race and Policing as the National Black Police Association has suggested? Why not endorse the reintroduction and swift passage of the End Racial Profiling Act in Congress? This bill would require state and local jurisdictions to practice data be collected by race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, and religion, so as to determine the extent to which profiling exists in a jurisdiction, if at all. For both sides of this debate, this legislation puts the proof in the pudding.
Mr. President, refreshments are insufficient. Without a national conversation and passage of this important legislation, there can be no post-racial America before we achieve an era of post-profiling. With your gifts, Sir, and as president, getting us there is your personal responsibility.
Follow Mark Thompson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/makeitplain
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As much as racial profiling exists, I do not think in this situation that was the case. I do believe that Officer Crowley abused the law by making an arrest simply because he felt he was being "talked-down" to by a black man with impeccable scholarly credentials. I think Officer Crowley would've done the same thing had it been a white man yelling at him. Cops are on power trips and it doesn't make much difference what the color of your skin is. If you are disrespectful, you will get arrested. Certainly Mr. Gates did himself no favors by being angry and abusive but clearly Officer Crowley abused his position of power and needs to be reprimanded because it had already been established that Mr. Gates was inside HIS own house!
It is everyone's responsibility to end profiling of any sort. Mine (typical 'caucasian' mutt that I am), yours and everyone else. We are all victims of it at one time or another {as sixtyfivepercentwater stated below).
What President Obama gets, and the MSM fails to report, is that responsibility is a two-way street. My responsibility to my community does not depend on the community's response to me; similarly, the community's responsibility toward me does not depend on my response to it. Put another way, breaking the law is wrong, even if the community treats me like dirt. The community has a responsibility to offer me the chance to become educated, even if my parents are unmarried.
Vis a vis Dr. Gates and Sgt. Crowley, neither side did an outstanding job of behaving responsibly; Dr. Gates could have kept his temper, and the officer could have walked away. However, the officer had duty to walk away, and he did not. It is he who should apologize, and Dr. Gates should try to be more patient next time he comes home tired and irritable--which is not illegal. False arrest is.
Except that all the "personal responsibility" mavens have no real experience themselves in this matter. What group of people has had to be more personally responsible than the Black citizens of the US? Who has fought harder for the right to vote and not be discriminated against. Even as the indigenous battle to be even remembered, whose taking to the streets in the North and the South even as our Gov't harassed and murdered our leaders?
Whose persistence opened this entire nation to greater educational opportunities with their blood, sweat and tears? Black people routinely made extraordinary sacrifices to keep families together, putting up with daily humiliations with some hope that the hard work mantra might be freedom. How else would personal and community responsibility manifest itself? Smallpox blankets? A trail of tears? Thousands of lynchings? All of that is America too.
"Negroes need not apply" could very well have been this nation's motto. America's response to Katrina defines its notion of personal responsibility. Indeed.
The article written by Mark Thompson was thoughtful and provoking. I admire his willingness to take on the subject of "personal responsibility "and the facts as well as the stats to support his statements.
Teta
Listen to Mark-you'll get that everyday at 5 pm on Sirius channel 146.
Every so often, he gets riled, but he's great with facts and historican points, something lost on 95% of Americans.
I've seen my friends racially profiled many times. I tell my kids about each episode as it occurred. I have no desire to raise 2 more whites who think things are "just fine" in this country. I've also told them what the "birther" movement is really about-whites not willing to admit a black man was elected to lead this country, fair and square.
Powell: Gates should have reacted differently
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32197646/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/
This from a man who accepted personal responsibility and rose to great heights.
Professor Gates has already done the "great heights" thing. Did you miss it? They don't let just anyone teach at Harvard. Gotta publish a book or two.
Professor Gates has accomplished many great things. I have never said otherwise! Why did you assume that I did?
But, he clearly has had a racial bias all these years:
"As always, whitey now sits in judgment of me, preparing to cast my fate."
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=104&pid=0&sid=1725138&page=2
He actually said both should have reacted differently. Stop trying to use Powell as your token Black example to prove your point.
"Token"... WOW. Your word, not mine. You think a man who rose to become general, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, national security advisor and Secretary of State is merely a "token Black"? Wow.
HOW DARE A BLACK MAN CRITICIZE A WHITE OFFICER?
WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES?
It's a great day - that your joke can be made.
PRESIDENT of the United States!!! Yes he is. LOL! LOL! LOL!
After a long trip, you get home and you can't find your keys. You break into your home. Maybe 10 minutes later, after you've settled in, the police knock on the door. First of all, if you were a BURGLAR would you answer the door? Gates did. Okay, then the police ask you to step outside. You know that a police man has a right to arrest you if you step outside so you say no and allow the police man into the house (you know, like a BURGLAR would). . . You show the police officer your photo ID, that shows your address AT THAT HOUSE (you know, like a BURGLAR would!). The police officer does not laugh about it, or say "Oh, well that's understandable" (this is what I would expect as a white woman)--- instead he keeps acting hostile toward you. You get annoyed, so you ask for his badge number. Then it escalates. Finally you step outside because you really want his badge number. And the guy arrests you! There was no reason for him to be hostile once he saw the guys address and that he lived at that house. And there was no reason for him to be afraid for his safety. The police man should take some PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for OVER-REACTING to a tired, upset older man. Crowley either could not accept that Gates really owned the home--or he's a bully.
Did those events happen somewhere in the universe?
It didn't happen quite like that... the cop saw Gates inside before knocking. Also, Gates was initially uncooperative, and refused to answer questions. He wouldn't answer when asked if there was anyone else in the house (Remember, the report was TWO men breaking in.) The first ID Gates showed was a Harvard ID that did not have his address on it. He continued to be combative. It was Gates who was being hostile here.
Also, Gates does NOT own the home. Harvard does.
And once the cop walked outside after establishing Gates did live there, there was no reason for Gates to follow him out and provoke a confrontation. Gates alone is responsible for escalating this situation.
The officer's first request was asking Gates to step out of the house. That's a no no. That's a very confrontational approach. Gates had every right to resist. Gates does not own the house, however he's the resident. Gates could have been in an apartment and the same rule would apply. I would have resisted initially myself and ask the cop why he was there in the first place.
You are so predictable. You will justify the most outlandish behavoir of this white police officer. You white guys can never admit to being wrong about anything it seems. A superiority complex that has endured for centuries. Jeesh!!
Google Gayle King and Gates and Sirius Radio to listen to Gates' account. I believe his account and the police report differ in certain regards. . . if you listen to his tone and the way he tells his story, you will realize it is quite credible.
"an African-American child is roughly five times as likely as a white child to see the inside of a jail," ...what I got from your article Mark is that this statistic is due to racial profiling. So judges, juries, lawyers are at fault as well. And the single parent statistic is so self-serving to your article. Come on? There is a critical point (which has been passed) that any overall increase in this statistic that will cause a % to seem overly dramatic. Good try though. Any person with an ounce of common sense can see a lack of family structure will have a negative impact on a child. Black, white, or brown. If someone could fix that problem this line of discussion is over.
Personal responsibility....
Blaming white people for the problems faced by African Americans won't solve the problems faced by African Americans.
Bull Conner is dead, and so are his dogs.
The only thing holding back a young black man or woman is that same young black man or woman. Systematic racism is dead and buried. The system just elected a black man president of the country.
Wow. Put that way i have to agree with you.
What planet are you from?
Uranus?
I should have known.
"Bull Conner is dead, and so are his dogs."
Tell that to Abner Luima, a Haitian immigrant who was sodomized with a broom stick by NYC police officers in 1997
Tell that to Sean Bell, a Guinean immigrant who was shot to death by the NYPD even though he was UNARMED.
Tell that to Rodney King, Malice Green, Sean Bell...should I go on??
I don't think anyone here would argue against the importance of personal responsibility. But to state that racism is no longer an issue, is laughable to say the least.
typo: I meant Amadou Diallo, not Sean Bell, in my second example.
Those examples, heinous as they are, are irrelevant.
What happened to those people doesn't stop a young black man from achieving.
For example, by many measures gay Americans seem to do better than other groups by most measures. Extending your reasoning, they shouldn't be able to do that because of what happened to Matthew Sheppard.
Getting angry at and blaming white people doesn't help young blacks.
Except that the majority of white voters did not voter for Obama. The world is indeed changing, just not the way you imagine. White people remain problems for every "other" and indeed themselves, and in turn, all the world's people's. Bull Connor was an extreme example, but his descendants remain in he halls of power and even now create anti-human legislation.
The problem with the white community is that they remain under the thrall of Bull Connors and Ross Barnetts.
Good post, Matsumela. On another subject:
Here's a good post about single-payer that needs to be brought up:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michele-swenson/blue-dogs-should-demand-c_b_245083.html
It has an except from the Lewin group (yes that Lewin group) that estimated a $1.4 billion saving for Colorado alone.
I'd rather have single-payer over public option, but if we get neither, then we should have the congressional health care revoked!
"[Obama] mused aloud to the Washington Post's Eugene Robinson after his NAACP speech about the attention he received. "I've noticed that when I talk about personal responsibility in the African American community, that gets highlighted," Obama said. "But then the whole other half of the speech, where I talked about government's responsibility . . . that somehow doesn't make news."
Thank you, Mark. President Obama is a very intelligent man, and so I have a hard time believing that he would be surprised that the MSM would focus on the portion of his speeches to Black people in which he talks about personal responsibility. Some of the things he says before an audience of Black people he would NEVER have the courage to say in front any other group of people, even though there are problems in EVERY community, not just in the Black community. Yet, only the problems in the Black community are up for public discussion. He makes generalizations about the problems in our community as if the majority of African Americans are dysfunctional in some way, and he’s reinforcing negative stereotypes about African Americans as a result. I also don’t want Black people to think that President Obama should not be held accountable for his policy decisions just because he tries to impersonate a preacher whenever he’s speaking to the Black community.
". . .he tries to impersonate a preacher whenever he"s speaking to the Black community." I noticed that. I wonder if he's doing it consciously. It's rather disturbing.
Anyone in this country who is not an upper middle class white male has experienced profiling. I'm a white woman, and I was detained once at Heathrow airport because I fit the profile for an IRA agent (woman travelling alone, red hair. . .). People who drive sports cars are stopped more often than those who drive Buicks. Teenagers are hassled a lot more than adults by police in every situation.
And so what? Whatever happened to the thing we all used to know, "life is not fair." Police are humans (I know I'm being charitable) and they have human foibles and weaknesses. Anyone who is diffferent from the norm stands out in some respect and is therefore noticed. A person who is noticed is going to be singled out sooner or later.
It's time for all of us to get over ourselves and realize that bad things do happen to good people. Instead of having conferences about it, why don't we all just move on? Surely we have more important issues to deal with than the fact that we've been picked on. Unless we've turned into a nation of whiners, that is.
Heathrow is not in America you maroon.
Surely you get that being detained once for having red hair is not the same as having everyone in your family stopped throughout their lives for having red hair, so that you know it's coming, you have to prepare your children for it, and you have the pain of knowing that your elderly parents will continue to experience it?
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