I have been wondering about this and why these thoughts are so ingrained in society

Not my name, it was the name of story. I do not think white people are any more dangerous than any other group but I have always wondered why stereotypes only exist for certain groups, while other stereotypes are ignored?

White People Commit the Most Heinous Crimes, So Why Is America Terrified of Black Men?

Notice how the reasoning about race runs right to insulting conclusions (blacks are criminals), but never to positives, which would be equally (il)logical.

No one thinks:
1. Barack Obama is our president, and he’s African American.
2. That kid walking down the street is African American.
3. He’s probably a future president!

Most everyone in the debate about the black-as-criminal stereotype, then, accepts as fact that African American males commit a grossly disproportionate amount of crime. On the right, this is generally used as evidence justifying anxiety about African Americans on the streets, in stores, or near white homes.

On the left, root causes of crime are examined (failing schools, poverty, joblessness) in an effort to explain and reduce the numbers. But few scrutinize the numbers themselves to see who really is committing serious crimes in America, to determine based on reason and logic whether suspicions of African Americans actually make sense.

Nevertheless, this FBI data shows that African Americans, who comprise 13 percent of our population, represent 38 percent of inmates in state and federal prisons. That is, blacks are locked up at nearly three times their rate in population, a shockingly high number. This statistic is often used in support of the black-as-criminal conclusion.

But these numbers are almost entirely useless, because they are both over- and under-inclusive.

The same goes for Muslims, Mexicans, First Nations people or any minority, how many live in North America and how many actually commit crimes? I am going to wager they represent a small amount in regards to the entire group. So why do people continue to spread fear about an entire group of people due to crimes that a small amount of people from that group commit?

Why do stereotypes stick to one group but not for another?

First of all....little education on "black "white" people
youtu.be...

a reply to: justagod

It's disingenuous to say pot possession has anything to do with this or with the stats. The FBI numbers for 1980 to 2008 (Not sure if there's something more recent that has a similar amassing of data) identifies 52.5% of all homicides in the US were committed by African Americans. 13% of the population was responsible for over half of the murders.
www.bjs.gov...

Any effort to treat this problem as if it weren't a problem, as the OP article attempts to do, are insulting. We can discuss cause and effect rationally, but at the end of the day the FACT is that minorities disproportionately commit more violent crime in America.

a reply to: ElOmen
Thats so real it needs an embed!

a reply to: justagod

I'll tell you why, look up the words...

a reply to: justagod

Not my name, it was the name of story. I do not think white people are any more dangerous than any other group but I have always wondered why stereotypes only exist for certain groups, while other stereotypes are ignored?

You mean like if you are a white republican you are considered a racist? Or if you are a redneck you are not just racist, but very uneducated? Yeah. People think that labels actually mean something, but they do not. People are just people, and people are different. It has to do more with culture than anything else.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

Actually, that's incorrect.

If you read page 34 of your link, it says that only 91% of homicides reported to them were included in the report. And then it says that much of the data concerning offenders may not have been reported at all "because no suspects were identified or the agency chose not to report the info". Page 35 then goes on to say that they came up with the percentages by inferring them through algorithms based on similar homicide cases.

Yes, inferring them through algorithms. That means that those percentages could be drastically wrong: 1) because they literally ignored 9% of homicides outright; 2) because they admit that the data they obtained about many other homicides didn't include all of the offenders' personal data; and 3) they admit to then estimating the results based on the limited data they had. Oh yeah, page 35 also says that 30.8% of homicides included an unknown number of offenders, which further blurs the line on how many people actually committed murders. Yet you're acting like the numbers are concrete even though your own link says otherwise?

Oh yeah, page 34 also says this:

Homicide as defined here includes murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, which is the willful killing
of one human being by another. The general analyses excluded deaths caused by negligence, suicide, or accident; justifiable homicides; and attempts to murder.

Hmm, so deaths caused by negligence (like many industrial deaths & child negligence deaths) don't count. And neither do any killings that are ruled an accident, suicide, or justifiable homicide. LOL I'm curious as to what the numbers would be if all murders were actually counted?

To give a more recent example, let's look at 2011's reported homicide numbers. If you only looked at the summary (HERE), it says that "Of the offenders for whom race was known, 52.4 percent were black". The key word is "known" offenders, because the detailed listing (HERE) shows that White Americans were reported as committing 4,729 homicides, Black Americans were reported as committing 5,486 homicides, other Americans were reported as committing 256 homicides, and no identity was given in 4,077 homicides. This drops the % of homicides committed by black Americans down to 37%, and once again, it excludes all of the other forms of killings that took place. So any killings that were ruled as suicide don't count either.

In short, there's a reason people say things like "There are three types of lies -- lies, damn lies, and statistics". Because depending on which deaths we count and which ones we ignore, the results can change drastically. Things like suicide (and killings labeled as suicides) are important here too, since white Americans are 3 times as likely to commit suicide than black & Hispanic Americans (HERE). But those killings conveniently don't count either.

a reply to: justagod

The reason there's a disproportionate number of black people in jail is because these neighborhoods are policed in different ways than nice, upscale communities.

On average, more white people use drugs than black, but police concentrate on areas that are poorer because there's less chance of residents being able to pay for a capable lawyer to defend themselves.

a reply to: enlightenedservant

That's interesting.

It sounds a lot like how they come up with the unemployment rates and global warming temperatures.

a reply to: enlightenedservant

I can't disagree with all you're saying HOWEVER, if we're going to sit here and say drug offense is a victimless crime, then suicide is sure as hell also a victimless crime. Suicide can't be violent crime based on the law because we have multiple SCOTUS decisions that affirm the right over your own body.