I'm a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing

[Acetoolguy]

People talk about racism like its fixable. Short of using mind control drugs it will always be with us, just like murder, rape and robbery will always be us. The best we can try and do is end institutional racism, and I think the US has made strides in that direction. Are there racists cops? Yup. Both blacks that hate whites and whites that hate blacks.

I worry that laws such as Civil Rights move us further away from a color blind society, not closer to it. Isn't a law that singles a group out inherently racist? Regardless of its intent?

[HeyYou]

People talk about racism like its fixable. Short of using mind control drugs it will always be with us, just like murder, rape and robbery will always be us. The best we can try and do is end institutional racism, and I think the US has made strides in that direction. Are there racists cops? Yup. Both blacks that hate whites and whites that hate blacks.

I worry that laws such as Civil Rights move us further away from a color blind society, not closer to it. Isn't a law that singles a group out inherently racist? Regardless of its intent?

I wholeheartedly concur. I think affirmative action to more to sabotage race relations, than it did to help it. At one point, maybe it was needed, but, today, I think it has outlived its usefulness.

 

And quotas for college/university admissions as well..... It should be a level playing field, you get in by your test scores, and that's it. No awarding additional 'points' because you are some specific color, or come from some specific region of the world.

[TheMastersSon]

People talk about racism like its fixable. Short of using mind control drugs it will always be with us, just like murder, rape and robbery will always be us. The best we can try and do is end institutional racism, and I think the US has made strides in that direction. Are there racists cops? Yup. Both blacks that hate whites and whites that hate blacks.

I worry that laws such as Civil Rights move us further away from a color blind society, not closer to it. Isn't a law that singles a group out inherently racist? Regardless of its intent?

If you're talking about our civil rights acts (1964, 68 etc), no specific groups are singled out or even mentioned. These laws simply prohibit discrimination based on ANY race, color, religion or national origin.

[TRoaches]

 

...more to sabotage race relations, than it did to help it.

I watched an interview with Thomas Sowell (economist, author, think tank guy) where he made an argument against affirmative action that I had never considered before. Consider a situation where a person pursues a job in a field where they have no real experience but they are confident that they would be able to learn and perform if given a chance. Sometimes companies love to hire people like this, because they are cheaper and may turn out to be a stellar hire who just hasn't been given a real chance to excel yet. It is a gamble, however, and the person may not work out in the end. The company may decide, after a trial period, that they just aren't going to work out.

 

When a minority applicant is in this position, according to Sowell, a company is actually incentivized NOT to hire them because of affirmative action, because it makes it much more difficult to fire them down the road if necessary. If the applicant is white they can just tell him thanks but no thanks and send him home. Sowell contends that affirmative action, in the end, causes companies to shy away from giving ethnic minorities a shot at a position unless they are over-qualified and not asking for much money. A cheap, over-qualified applicant is more of a sure thing than gamble. This means that the only people who really benefit from the law are people who would likely be solid contenders for the job in question without such a law, and even then they will only benefit if they are competing with other applicants with the same level of qualification and experience and affirmative action laws are the deciding factor. It achieves this, however, to the detriment of ambitious candidates who are younger and less qualified. If the goal of the law is upward economic mobility, and if Sowell is right (I think he is), then it is achieving the exact opposite of its goal by silently shutting doors on minority applicants.

Edited October 10, 2016 by TRoaches

[HeyYou]

 

 

...more to sabotage race relations, than it did to help it.

I watched an interview with Thomas Sowell (economist, author, think tank guy) where he made an argument against affirmative action that I had never considered before. Consider a situation where a person pursues a job in a field where they have no real experience but they are confident that they would be able to learn and perform if given a chance. Sometimes companies love to hire people like this, because they are cheaper and may turn out to be a stellar hire who just hasn't been given a real chance to excel yet. It is a gamble, however, and the person may not work out in the end. The company may decide, after a trial period, that they just aren't going to work out.

 

When a minority applicant is in this position, according to Sowell, a company is actually incentivized NOT to hire them because of affirmative action, because it makes it much more difficult to fire them down the road if necessary. If the applicant is white they can just tell him thanks but no thanks and send him home. Sowell contends that affirmative action, in the end, causes companies to shy away from giving ethnic minorities a shot at a position unless they are over-qualified and not asking for much money. A cheap, over-qualified applicant is more of a sure thing than gamble. This means that the only people who really benefit from the law are people who would likely be solid contenders for the job in question without such a law, and even then they will only benefit if they are competing with other applicants with the same level of qualification and experience and affirmative action laws are the deciding factor. It achieves this, however, to the detriment of ambitious candidates who are younger and less qualified. If the goal of the law is upward economic mobility, and if Sowell is right (I think he is), then it is achieving the exact opposite of its goal by silently shutting doors on minority applicants.

 

Wouldn't be the first time that the government passed a law that had pretty much the opposite effect of what was intended........