Slothrop's racial fears

[Doug Millison]

>[...] Well yes, if by "crime" you mean the traditional interpretation of
the
>term: violence or property offenses committed on the street or in the
>home, which are punished as crimes by the justice system. Since these
>kinds of offenses are highly correlated with low socioeconomic status,
>there will be a higher rate of offending in communities of color, which
>thanks to the interplay of race and economic marginalization will tend
>to be poorer.

>Then again, if we thought of crime as any behaviors that result in
>unnecessary death, injury and illness (like the manufacturing of tobacco
>and numerous faulty consumer products, as well as corporate pollution,
>which contributes to occupational disease and death at three times the
>rate of homicides), then the answer would be no. But we don't think of
>it that way, so we stay focused on the violence of the dark and poor,
>over that of the white and wealthy.
>
>And even regular old violence and dysfunction ain't just for black
>people anymore (of course, it never really was, as the Crusades,
>lynching, Indian genocide, the theft of Mexico and a certain German
>dictator all pretty well demonstrated). Evidence from around the nation
>makes it quite clear: white folks can break the law and do damage with
>the best of 'em.
>
>In California, even as felony arrests for black and brown youth have
>plummeted by a third since the 1970's, the rate for white adults over 30
>has gone up 171%. There are now twice as many such whites being arrested
>for felonies each year in California, as there are youth of color: a
>complete flip-flop over the course of two decades.
>
>Nationally, whites commit about 56% of all violent crime. Whites are
>about twice as likely as blacks to be involved in child sexual
>molestation (so who is the real threat to these white suburban
>children?) White youth are more than twice as likely as black youth to
>kill their own parents. White youth are more likely than black youth to
>use drugs, (and whites generally are far more likely to be heavy users).
>Whites are nearly twice as likely to drive drunk. White males are more
>likely to bring a weapon to school with them than black males are. And
>rates of criminal victimization are actually slightly higher in suburban
>schools than in urban ones.
>
>(For those who would like footnotes for these facts, my e-mail is at the
>bottom, and I'll be happy to send them to you)


from:
Fear and Loathing in Suburbia: Crime, and the Irrationality of White Racism"
By Tim Wise
June 16, 2001

>Tim Wise is a Nashville-based antiracist activist, writer and lecturer.
>He can be reached at (and footnotes for this article can be procured
>from) tjwise at mindspring