My 20 something, tiny, blue eyed, blonde daughter taught in the South Bronx

[MellowDem]

28. No "race" has "the problem"...

it's more of a human issue. While your daughter ran into no trouble, quite a few white people have run into trouble in black neighborhoods, or they have heard stories from those that have, or they most certainly have seen nightly news reports/crime shows that all tend to effect how they perceive the world and pre-judge those that live in it. And the statistics don't help either. I go to a college that e-mails reports of crime that happen on campus. The campus is in an urban environment. I've gotten around 20 e-mails so far this year about muggings of students around the campus, and in every single case, the suspects were described as young black males. Gotta wonder how that effects people's perceptions when they're walking to their cars late at night.

I have gotten some trouble for being white in a black neighborhood, but it was few and far between. I have had friends get mugged in a black neighborhood. Now, this is the point where some people will take one of two different approaches to it. One is to overreact to these sorts of things and become very fearful and paranoid and quickly prejudge regardless of context. The other is to understand the context of the situation and learn from it and move on. It's very human for people to categorize danger, and doing it based on not just skin color, but age, dress style, location, time of day, etc. is second nature to everyone, whatever race (or sex) they are.

When I'm walking down the street at night, and some woman is walking alone towards me, I understand that she will likely be apprehensive of me, given the context of the situation.

Of course, this kind of pre-judging comes at a cost, that being that people can indeed be wrong when they pre-judge. Depending on the situation, and the amount of prejudice used without any sort of context, the cost can be very high indeed, as was the case in Florida. And of course, there is a larger societal cost of prejudice, as history bears out as well.

The issue with categorization and prejudice becomes acute when logic is thrown out the window in favor of fear and paranoia. Obviously, experiencing threatening situations directly can make a person throw logic out the window, and this happens. Many times, though, societal percptions aren't shaped by personal experiences but rather by larger societal narratives (provided by media) that in some ways are much worse than personal experience. I have gotten in trouble for being white in a black neighborhood. Once. I've also walked through black neighborhoods many times with no trouble, and even friendly hellos and smiles. I have other experiences to counter that one. Other people who have little to no experience with other communities at all can only rely on what they see in the news. And what they see is usually awfully one sided.

Even worse are those politically inclined to an inherently more fearful and paranoid ideology, one that thrives on it actually, and has radio shows that spout it every day. That makes people draw clear distinctions much quicker and much more radically without context. It's an easy, even attractive mindset, because it allows for quick, clear answers to most situations, even if it means little or no accuracy in how a situation is assessed.