Jason: Only 2 to 3 percent of black males are actually behind bars, and only 27 percent of all blacks are below the poverty line. That’s the facts for you.”
Phil: That doesn’t tell you how many are actually prone to violent behavior, just those who were incarcerated. It also misses my point on disproportionate behavior.
Actually what we are looking at is how many Blacks have served time. How many have a criminal record, and what for?
Have you seen those statistics saying that, what, 1/3 of young Black men are either in jail, in prison or on probation or parole? 1/3 of them are under the control of the criminal justice system in one way or another? I believe that 1 out of 8 Black men cannot vote because they have a felony conviction. I forget what the actual statistics are, but they are pretty stunning. When you have 1/3 of your young men involved with the criminal justice system in one way or another, that’s bad news.
Further, if you live in a heavily Black neighborhood, it will become rapidly clear that it’s a lot more than 2-3% of the Black male population who are problem people. I mean if that was all it was, then we could deal. For Chrissake, 25% of White men in my age cohort have been arrested, including me, and not just once but twice in my case! If 25% of White men in my cohort have been arrested, can you imagine what the figure for Black men might be?
Of course not all Blacks, or Black men, or young Black men are criminals.
But it’s a bad idea to minimize the Black crime problem. For one thing, it is hitting their own community like a nuclear bomb. Saying it’s no big deal is an insult to all of the Blacks suffering under the wrath of this crime wave. Furthermore, it’s an insult to these Black men themselves, not all of whom are bad human beings, who are having their lives screwed up or ruined by arrest, imprisonment or even just having a record.
It’s also a bad idea if you are going to have a dealings with large numbers of Blacks, especially younger Black men, especially of a certain type. Minimizing their behavior is not intelligent for your own sake. You really need to get it into your head how dangerous large numbers of them can be so you can exercise due caution.
