Note: This was originally published on my personal blog 15 months ago, and has a preamble first paragraph added for currency. The statistics held within after the first paragraph are a year old, and accordingly may be slightly different today.

Edit: Please note that this post was published before the despicable law enforcement shootings in Dallas.

With the recent publicity of black individuals being shot by law enforcement officers and the attendant cries of racism it’s good to take a step back and look at the bigger picture for context. In general, law enforcement officers should be given benefit of the doubt. They also should be required to wear body cameras just as much for their own protection as for the protection of those with whom they interact in an official capacity.

Eighteen years ago I was a college senior studying communication. As part of the coursework we were required to do practicum courses, and as a part of that I was pressed into being a guest on the student run talk show. The topic of the day was race relations. The reason I was pressed into service was given the topic I was unwilling to be a guest until told that I had to by the course instructor. Why not willingly cooperate? Because at the time, despite the tenor of the show being one of race relations are improving, dark clouds were on the horizon. Today, the storm has arrived. If you’re easily offended, don’t read on. FN 1

To begin with, what is racism? To answer that question we must first ask what is race? Race isn’t a set of inalienable characteristics a person is born with. The physical characteristics of a person are inalienable; they originally are a function of latitude and altitude with a strong absolute humidity gloss passed down via reproduction. Race is the group think beliefs and resultant thought patterns that have set in largely based along the underlying inalienable characteristics lines. FN 2

Eighteen years ago, I didn’t know the name of the storm clouds, only could see them on the horizon. They are the Frankenstein effect. Not the primary definition as found in the Urban Dictionary, but the secondary definition, an example of which can be found here. Although this usually refers to disability, it translates to other areas such as entitlement, victimhood, and disparate impact – the three drivers of todays racial discord. Just like Frankenstein, although ugly none of these three areas started out as a monster, and with a little care and concern can be remade back into an ugly harmless creation.

Before discussing the three areas here’s a test to serve as a check for your own degree of racism. Take a look at the following two pictures, A and B. Are A, B, or A and B racist? Now that you have answered the question take a look at picture C. If you answered A as not racist, writing it off as politics or discontent with Obama then you’re part of the problem. If you answered B as racist, then you’re part of the problem. It’s a dog taking a leak on a political yard sign, no different than C.

Entitlement

Entitlement is a driver of racism both in hard measurable data and in soft slights that aren’t recorded but exist on a significant scale. Entitlement is seen both in actual forms and in perceived irrational forms. Entitlement originally was an us positive factor. Whether it’s affirmative action giving minorities preferences or it’s a white guy trying to give his keys to someone they think is a valet the actual action of entitlement is an empowering action – us positive. The problem is the effect of entitlement. For every artificial advantage given to someone there is a corresponding sense of victim by those who are actually harmed by the effect of the entitlement.

Two candidates apply for random government job. After resume scoring and interviewing candidate N is 3 points higher than candidate W. The job would go to candidate N. However, candidate W is a minority and therefore entitled to a 5 point bonus score based on race. This leaves candidate W 2 points higher than candidate N so candidate W gets the job. W is empowered and N is a victim. Since negatives drive discord more than positives on our variable scale this is white us negative them positive. With low instances relative harmony ensued as the absolute volume wasn’t high enough to create discord other than the actual victims. However, affirmative action has existed since 1964 (arguably 1961) and over the past 50 years the cumulative effect has caused the us negative them positive to become disproportionate leading to discord.

Government blessed racism in favor of minorities has a long legal history since the Civil Rights Act. Initially, quotas were acceptable. When this was deemed an equal rights violation a points system similar to what was set forth above was instituted. This, too, eventually was declared an equal rights violation. Race as a nebulous “factor” then became the mechanism of favoritism and is still allowed today, though as of 2013 is viewed through a strict scrutiny prism.

Entitlement also exists in other forms that have created a black us negative them positive output. To paraphrase the President, what black male hasn’t been mistaken for a valet? This is a sense of entitlement that someone else can find my parking spot and care for my vehicle creating an effect of demeaning or second class citizen feeling towards the person mistaken as a valet. The same cumulative impact reasoning above applies leading to discord.

Recently though it seems like the Frankenstein effect has manifested in regards to entitlement. Likely no one knew Trayvon Martin, Michel Brown, and Eric Gardner. Yet, they have become celebrity causes for protests. Not just protests, but students saying they are too busy protesting in the name of social justice and wanting their finals postponed. It’s led to patently illegal activity like stopping traffic. This has resulted in a correspondingly sharp negative reaction. Now, you have listing of injustices by both races. Blacks show on social media the alleged wrongs happening to them by the hands of law enforcement. Whites show on social media the alleged wrongs blacks inflict on law enforcement and on whites. Frankenstein is becoming a monster. I fear we are on a critical mass trajectory if cooler heads don’t prevail.

Victimhood

Victimhood is the most passionate of the three drivers. While entitlement had a them positive us negative reading, victimhood is more of a us negative with no corresponding counterbalancing positive. To begin with, let’s look at some facts/figures dealing with hard data on victimhood. The Census Bureau estimates 316 million population, 78{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} white and 13{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} black (in round figures.) An individual is more likely to be murdered by a person of their own race. Murder is horrible, no two ways about it. Murder is also rare. In 2013 there were only 409 whites murdered by blacks and only 189 blacks murdered by whites. As horrible as murder is, an objective look shows that murder, especially interracial murder, is the extreme margin of societal ills.

Just like with entitlement victimhood has both hard data and soft but nonetheless real instances. Hard data is hate crimes. This shows that although on the margin in absolute values anti-black bias accounts for a majority of racially motivated hate crime. However, the data also shows that compared to relative proportion of the population, blacks are more likely to commit a hate crime than whites are. (Blacks 13{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of population, but 15.7{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of hate crimes, whites 77{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of population 42.7{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of hate crimes.) This leads to both races having a us negative reading as blacks suffer the brunt of racially motivated hate crimes, but also commit a disproportionately high amount of racially motivated hate crimes leading to a white feeling of victimhood.

Then there’s the no data victimhood that has set off the current spate of increased racial discord. Law enforcement justifiable homicides are tracked by number, but not by race (which is most unfortunate as it does not allow for usable data.) However, Mother Jones has created a chart using CDC data showing the number of deaths per million by gun from law enforcement. This chart is helpful to establish that blacks are killed at a higher rate than whites by law enforcement, but also shows a marked decrease in instances of black deaths from the 1970-2010 time period that is tracked (7.9 per million down to 1.8 per million.) White deaths in the same time period have trended slightly higher (0.9 per million to 1.0 per million.) Also noticeable is the vast variation in the number of blacks killed per year – a sine wave pattern – versus the relative straightness of the whites killed per year. This suggests that some outside element is in play regarding black deaths by law enforcement.

Taking a closer look at the data, propublica looked at law enforcement deaths between 1980 and 2012. The study showed that young black males were far more likely to be involved in an officer involved deaths (21x higher), but when looking at all officer involved deaths whites account for 44{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the deaths. What this doesn’t answer is how much of the force was necessary and how much was excessive. And the lack of hard data regarding necessary versus excessive has let the Frankenstein effect run wild.

Whether a fear is rational or irrational it is valid. However, it’s important to assess the etiology of the fear to best deal with the fear. The long held belief that blacks are being targeted by law enforcement and the consequential talks about how to act when interacting with law enforcement seems to be bearing fruit in the form of lower numbers of blacks killed by law enforcement (see the Mother Jones chart.) However, whites accounting for 44{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of law enforcement deaths (see propublica) suggests that if there is targeting it is not nearly as likely to result in death as is widely believed in the black community and is more of a Frankenstein effect. The problem is that the Frankenstein effect seems to have taken hold and is rapidly causing discord.

Looking at the grad jury evidence and autopsy report in Mike Brown case if you didn’t know the race of the officer and victim you have the following scenario. The decedent recently robbed a store taking cigarillos. He was high (THC in the blood per toxicology report), and had marijuana on him. Witness testimony is contradictory as to what initiated the altercation. The officer claims he was attacked in the patrol car while others say the officer initiated the physical nature of the altercation. The officer has bruises to his face. The decedent is shot and blood from the decedent is found on the exterior of the officer’s car, on the interior of the officer’s car, and on the pants of the officer. The decedent runs and then turns to run at the officer. The decedent is shot again and fatally wounded. The entry and angle of the gun shot wounds indicate the wounds to the arm of the decedent were fired at an upward angle The wounds to the head and chest of the decedent were at a downward angle.

Reasonable minds conclude that the cigarillos were likely stolen to be used to create more joints with the marijuana in the possession of the decedent. The blood and bruises suggest the officer was telling the truth regarding an attack in the patrol car as he is injured and the gun shot wounds are at an upward angle suggesting the officer had been knocked down. The blood on the interior of the patrol car and the officer’s trousers suggest the decedent’s arm was in the patrol car and above the officer at some point while injured. This would seem like a case of the officer using reasonable force to protect himself from an attack by an intoxicated criminal.

Yet this set of facts lead to riots and burning parts of Ferguson down. This set of facts is the casus belli that lead to the ongoing rapid deterioration in race relations. Frankenstein effect. This absolutely has led to racism as whites see this as a case of blacks playing the race and victim card and using that to justify illegal activity (rioting, arson, theft, blocking traffic, etc.) Blacks see themselves as victims in this scenario. All the subsequent die in’s and protests and the like do is further reinforce the two positions widening the wedge in between the two sides.

What’s worse is the effect of the Frankenstein effect in the playing of the victim card. Now, some blacks will cry racism when they are asked to modify behavior (as in this example.) The passenger would have been asked to refrain from the loud music regardless of race. However, it was irrationally perceived as racism, and the feeling of racism appears to be real (not feigned) as the passenger became upset and crying and concerned the flight crew enough to divert the flight. Not only do faux victimhood claims detract from the actual instances of victimhood the effects are now having an impact where the normal orderly flow of life is being significantly interrupted by a perceived racist action.

Worse, the legal system is being impacted as witnesses both pro Darren Wilson and pro Mike Brown had no qualms committing perjury to the grand jury investigating the case. That’s not just an interruption in orderly life, that’s a threat to the very system of law and order. Cooler more rational heads on both sides need to prevail. All those who perjured themselves, white or black, should be held accountable for their actions as they make the legal system unreliable and fundamentally unjust.

Disparate Impact

Entitlement and victimhood are the drivers behind the current state of race relations, but disparate impact is the underlying current which feeds the fire and doesn’t allow a return to relative harmony. This is the belief that race neutral activity is really a carefully crafted ploy to oppress. The current law of the land recognizes disparate impact as racist (using strict scrutiny as the standard of review), but the Supreme Court has heard arguments on the issue. The actual examples of disparate impact are unimportant to the point being made here. Disparate impact serves as a validity measure to the underlying victimhood feelings. So on our scale it would be us negative, them negative just like victimhood. Disparate impact true both for whites and blacks. Whether it’s law enforcement targeting or the disproportionate incidence of race motivated hate crimes, both races have ample supply of disparate impact to validate their underlying victimhood status.

One last point to make. White privilege. Look at what is alleged to be white privilege. Many of the statements are elitist or simply not true. Many hold equally true in reverse for blacks. Any claim, statement, argumentation or justification based on/of white privilege is racism in it’s purest form. It is unwise to make references to this abstract concept because not only can many of the same alleged privileges be found to be present for blacks, but a list of alleged privileges that black skin confers could be created and it would be equally damaging to the effort to return race relations to relative harmony.

Oh, if any think this is the ramblings of a lily white dude who has no idea of how things really are I’m married to an Asian. Check your prejudice at the door and read this again, this time for the merits of what’s being said. If you have any different thoughts on what was said you’re part of the problem.

This is meant to be blunt, but not offensive. Hopefully it will lead to calm, rational reflection on the current state of discord in race relations and set the table for reasonable discussions. The problem isn’t going to go away. Tensions have been simmering and pressure building. The release valve needs to be opened, and constructive dialogue and honest assessment of the issues will serve to set the stage to reduce the discord. At the least an honest self reflection and understanding of both sides of the issue serves to create a pause and move the needle to a more neutral position.

Footnotes:

FN 1 Although racism holds for all races since white/black race relations are the main source of racial discord in the country right now that is the focus and not other races.

FN 2 This statement differs from the social science concept that biology plays no part in racism and it is wholly cultural. Biology sets the inalienable
characteristics that are used to define the different races, but the emergence of “race” beyond the physical differences are a social/cultural construct.