Is racism still a major problem in America? President Barack
Obama certainly thinks so. He said that racism is “in our DNA.”
Really? If racism is in our DNA, doesn’t that it’s mean immutable,
unchangeable?
But America has changed -- and dramatically so. In 1960, 60% of
Americans said they would never vote for a black president. Almost
50 years later, the black man who said racism is in America’s DNA
was elected president, and four years later re-elected. That’s only
the most obvious example of racial progress. There are many
others.
Take inter-racial marriage. As William H. Frey of the Brookings
Institution wrote, “Sociologists have traditionally viewed
multiracial marriage as a benchmark for the ultimate stage of
assimilation of a particular group into society.” Black-white
marriages were still illegal in 16 states until 1967. And a 1958
Gallup poll found that only 4% of Americans approved of black-white
marriages. Today that number is 87%. In 1960, of all marriages by
blacks, only 1.7 percent were black-white. Today, it’s 12 percent
and rising.
Now, what about “racial profiling” and abuse of blacks by the
police? Doesn’t that prove that racism remains a major problem? In
the summer of 2014, Ferguson, Missouri became ground zero for this
accusation when a white policeman shot and killed an unarmed black
teenager. While a Department of Justice investigation of the
incident cleared the officer of any wrongdoing, it did accuse the
city’s police department of racial bias.
But what was the Justice Department report’s most
headline-grabbing stat? The gap between the percentage of blacks
living in Ferguson -- 67% -- and the percentage of those stopped by
police for a traffic violation who are black -- 85%. An 18 point
discrepancy.
Racism, right? Not so fast.
Blacks comprise 25% of New
York City but account for 55%
of those stopped for traffic offenses -- a
30-pointdiscrepancy, far bigger than that of Ferguson. Why
isn’t the NYPD, a department that is now majority minority,
considered even more institutionally racist than the Ferguson PD?
The answer is you cannot have an honest discussion about police
conduct without an honest discussion of black crime.
Though blacks are 13% of the population, they commit 50% of the
nation’s homicides, and almost always the victim is another black
person, just as most white homicides are against other whites. In
2012, according to the Center for Disease Control, police killed
123 blacks, while, by the way, killing over twice that many whites.
But that same year blacks killed over 6,000 people -- again, mostly
other blacks.
What about traffic stops? Unlike when responding to dispatch
calls, police officers exercise more discretion when it comes to
traffic stops. Therefore “racist” cops can have a field day when it
comes to traffic stops, right?
Actually, no.
The National Institute of Justice is the research agency of the
Department of Justice. In 2013, the National Institute of Justice
published a study called "Race, Trust and Police Legitimacy." Three
out of four black drivers admitted that they were stopped by the
police for a "legitimate reason." Blacks, compared to whites, were
on average more likely to commit speeding and other traffic
offenses. The Institute wrote, “Seatbelt usage is chronically lower
among black drivers. If a law enforcement agency aggressively
enforces seat belt violations, police will stop black drivers."
The NIJ’s conclusion? These numerical disparities result from
"differences in offending" -- in other words, not because of
racism.
Similarly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
also found that blacks violate traffic laws at higher rates than
whites -- in every offense, whether it’s driving without a
license, not wearing a seat belt, not using a child safety seat or
speeding.
Is there still racism in America? Of course, there is. But
racism is not in America’s DNA. Recent history and a lot
of research and data prove it.
As liberal Harvard sociologist Orlando Patterson said, America,
“is now the least racist white-majority society in the world; has a
better record of legal protections of minorities than any other
society, white or black; offers more opportunities to a greater
number of black persons than any other society, including all of
those of Africa."
Patterson, by the way, is black.
I’m Larry Elder for Prager University.