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Yes, there is institutional
racism in America, and it does infect police departments and other law enforcement
institutions. The job of the police does not call for a deep understanding and appreciation
of the socioeconomic factors involved in driving certain segments of the
population to commit crimes. Police officers see the obvious: the color of the
skin of the people they often have to arrest. In time, intentions
notwithstanding, they become adept at racial profiling, and the practice works enough
times to make it self-justifying.
More importantly though, considering
the realities of police work which, as we noted above, often consist of policing
underprivileged communities which often house people from minority backgrounds,
police officers from these backgrounds in time fall victim to the same
practices involving of racial profiling and even fear vis-à-vis their “own
people.” That is, even when law enforcement institutions are diverse enough at
every level or even completely dominated by people from minority backgrounds, they
will remain vulnerable to the adoption of racist practices so long as
crime-fighting consists, often enough, of policing minority communities and arresting
people from minority backgrounds.
So, neither the development of a deeper
understanding of the socioeconomic realities driving criminal behavior, nor coming
from the “right” ethnic and racial background are sufficient conditions to changing
police behavior and perceptions so long as the current socioeconomic realities remain
unchanged. That is, so long as poverty keeps affecting people from minority backgrounds
in a disproportionate manner transforming some of their neighborhoods into dens
for gangs and drug-traffickers among other criminal behavior, law enforcement institutions
will continue to operate under the sway of racist assumptions and attitudes.
The real challenge facing America
at this stage then is not about training and reeducation, even though, these
are important ingredients on the short-term, rather, it is as it has been for
decades, about changing certain prevalent socioeconomic realities. But the real
danger facing America is the fact that its political class doesn’t seem
responsible enough to rise to the level of the challenge.
Academic studies of socioeconomic
realities and their changing nature over the last few decades might challenge the
accuracy of some of the assumptions made above, but our behavior is influenced not
only by realities but by our perception of these realities. The analysis above
is based on the “facts” as discussed by the media and the political class from across
the spectrum since the mid-1980s, that is, since I came to America as a
student.
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