By Thomas Sowell
Even
in this age of runaway emotions, there are still some people who want to know
the facts. Nowhere are facts more important, or more lacking, than in what
has been aptly called "The War on Cops," the title of a
devastating new book by Heather Mac Donald.
Few, if any, of the
most fashionable notions about the police, minorities and the criminal justice
system can withstand an examination of hard facts. Yet those fashionable
notions continue to dominate discussions in the media, in politics and in
academia. But Ms. Mac Donald's book of documented facts demolishes many
fashionable notions.
Consider one of the
big talking points of politicians and others who claim that the harsher
penalties for people selling crack cocaine than for people selling powder
cocaine show racism, since crack cocaine is more likely to be used by blacks.
The cold fact,
however, is that black political and community leaders, back in the 1980s,
spearheaded the drive for more severe legal penalties against those who sold
crack cocaine. Black Congressman Charlie Rangel of Harlem was just one of those
black leaders who urged these more severe penalties. So did the New York Times,
the promoter of many crusades on the left.
Fast forward to the
present, when both black leaders and the New York Times are blaming white
racism for the more severe penalties for selling crack cocaine. If you want to
see what they were saying back in the 1980s, check pages 154-159 of "The
War on Cops."
When the political
winds change, politicians change. But that does not change the facts about what
they said and did before.
As in her previous
book, "Are Cops Racist?" Heather Mac Donald put hard facts front and
center -- and those facts devastate many a fashionable notion in the media, in
politics and in academia.
One of the most
popular arguments used in many different contexts is to show that blacks have
been disproportionately represented among people stopped by police, arrested or
imprisoned, as well as disproportionately represented among people turned down
for mortgage loans or for other benefits.
Although many people
regard these "disparate impact" statistics as evidence, or virtually
proof, of racial discrimination, suppose that I should tell you that black
basketball players are penalized by NBA referees out of all proportion to the
13 percent that blacks are in the American population.
"Wait a
minute!" you might respond. "Blacks are more than just 13 percent of
the players in the NBA."
Black basketball
players are several times more numerous than 13 percent of all NBA players.
This is especially so among the star players, who are more likely to be on the
floor, rather than sitting on the bench. And players on the floor most are the
ones most likely to get penalized.
The difference
between the percentage of blacks in the general population and the percentage
of blacks in the particular activity being discussed is the key to the
fraudulent use of "disparate impact" statistics in many other
contexts.
Hillary Clinton, for
example, decried a "disgrace of a criminal-justice system that
incarcerates so many more African-Americans proportionately than whites."
The most reliable
crime statistics are statistics on murders, 52 percent
of which were committed by blacks over the period from 1976 to 2005. If blacks are
convicted of far more than 13 percent of all murders, does that mean that
racism in the courts must be the reason?
On the benefits side,
there was instant condemnation of mortgage lenders when statistics showed
blacks being turned down for prime mortgage loans in 2000 at twice the rate
that whites were turned down.
Seldom, if ever, did
the media report that whites were turned down at nearly twice the rate that
Asian Americans were turned down -- or that Asian Americans' average credit
scores were higher than the average credit scores of whites, which were higher
than the average credit scores of blacks.
Such facts would have
spoiled the prevailing preconceptions. Many facts reported in "The War on
Cops" spoil many notions that all too many people choose to believe. We
need to stop this nonsense, before there is a race war that no one can win.
Challenges For Black People
By Walter E. Williams
President Barack Obama
and his first attorney general Eric Holder called for an honest conversation
about race. Holder even called us "a nation of cowards" because we
were unwilling to have a "national conversation" about race. The
truth of the matter is there's been more than a half-century of conversations
about race. We do not need more. Instead, black people need to have frank
conversations among ourselves, no matter how uncomfortable and embarrassing the
topics may be.
Among the nation's
most dangerous cities are Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, Memphis,
Milwaukee, Birmingham, Newark, Cleveland and Philadelphia. These once-thriving
cities are in steep decline. What these cities have in common is that they have
large black populations. Also, they have been run by Democrats for nearly a
half-century, with blacks having significant political power. Other
characteristics these cities share are poorly performing and unsafe schools,
poor-quality city services, and declining populations.
Each year, more than
7,000 blacks are murdered. That's a number greater than white and Hispanic murder
victims combined. Blacks of all ages are killed at six times the rate of
whites and Hispanics combined. According to the FBI, the police kill
about 400 people a year; blacks are roughly one-third of that number. In
Chicago alone, so far this year, over 2,000 people have been shot, leaving
over 320 dead. It's a similar tale of mayhem in other predominantly black
cities.
Heather Mac Donald's
most recent book, "The War on Cops," points out some devastating and
sobering statistics: "Blacks were charged with 62 percent of all
robberies, 57 percent of all murders, and 45 percent of all assaults in the 75
largest U.S. counties in 2009, while constituting roughly 15 percent of the
population in those counties. From 2005 to 2014, 40 percent of
cop-killers were black. Given the racially lopsided nature of gun violence,
a 26 percent rate of black victimization by the police is not evidence of
bias."
The primary victims
of lawlessness are black people. To address this problem and most others,
black people should ignore the liberal agenda. If civil authorities will not do
their job of creating a safe environment, then black people should take the
initiative. One example comes to mind. In 1988, at the request of residents,
black Muslims began to patrol Mayfair Mansions, a drug-infested, gang-ridden,
unsafe Washington, D.C., housing
project. The gangs and drug lords left.
The Nation of Islam sentinels were
not deterred by the wishes of politicians and the American Civil Liberties
Union. They didn't feel obliged to give kid glove treatment to criminals. Black
residents of crime-infested neighborhoods should set up patrols, armed if
necessary, to challenge thugs, gangs, drug dealers and other miscreants and
make black neighborhoods safe and respectable. No one should have to live in
daily fear for his life and safety. Most Americans have no idea of -- and
wouldn't begin to tolerate -- the climate of fear and intimidation under which
so many black people live.
Without
self-initiative, there is not much that can be done about the high crime rate
in black neighborhoods. Black and white liberals and their allies in the ACLU,
as well as many libertarians, will not countenance the kind of tools needed to
bring about civility. For example, the Chicago Police Department recently
entered an agreement with the ACLU to record contact cards for all street
stops. The ACLU claimed that police were disproportionately targeting minorities
for questioning and searches. The practical result will be fewer
investigative stops by policemen and more crime, and it will be black residents
who suffer.
Black people have the
capacity to run the criminals out of their neighborhoods. Let me put the issue
another way. Suppose it were the Ku Klux Klan riding through black
neighborhoods murdering 7,000 blacks year after year. How many black people
would be willing to wait for the Klansmen to behave themselves or accept
political promises and wait for a government program?
