Racism's Forgotten Victims

A blogger, The Cold Equations, points out that "nobody sheds a tear for racism's forgotten victims - white drug abusers who go to the ghetto to buy drugs."

It turns out these drug abusers are profiled by police.

But of course The Cold Equations isn't really wording things correctly. Usually when people talk about someone being the "victim of police profiling" they do so in reference a person who lacked illegal intent but was treated with suspicion by authorities for probabilistic reasons.

At least I hope that's what people complain about, as opposed to complaining about the fact that profiling made it harder for this or that criminal to commit his chosen crime.

So racism's real forgotten victims are whites who visit the ghetto for some reason other than to buy drugs, but who are hassled by police due to the stereotype that whites in black ghettos are more likely to be there to buy drugs.

This is similar to the stereotype that Westerners in Thailand are more likely to be there to abuse children than random Thai who are there just because it's where they come from and live.

Both are contexual stereotypes based on the concept of selection bias. 

The fact that police are sophisticated enough to use a context dependant stereotype, and in the case of the many police officers who are white to use it against members of their own group, is interesting.

For one thing it shows how foolish it is to think that police profiling is merely an expression of "institutional racism".

It is true that innocent people are sometimes subjected to profiling. 

But it's important to understand that the alternative to profiling is not the cessation of this phenomenon, but rather the extension of it to the entirety of the population.

Well, at least in certain situations where the prevention of violence and mayhem is of great monetary importance to large corporations:

As part of the increased security surrounding the Super Bowl, NFL and federal authorities are limiting what fans can bring to Cowboys Stadium.

Everyone entering the stadium must pass through a magnetometer, such as those used at airports, and get a patdown as part of the screening process. The majority of fans will enter through checkpoints on the east side of Cowboys Stadium.

Small bags are allowed, but will be searched, and jackets will be X-rayed.

Not allowed
Items fans can't bring into Cowboys Stadium:

Weapons, mace/pepper spray, fireworks
Camcorders, tripods, camera cases and binocular cases
Umbrellas, strollers
Grills, tents, poles, sticks
Banners, noisemakers, horns, beach balls, Frisbees, laser lights and pointers
Containers of any type, coolers of any size, backpacks
Bottles, cans, hairspray

When it comes to less important situations where human life is all that's at stake, of course, the rejection of profiling would more often be accomplished via its substitution with the use of a nearly worthless "scattershot method".

At least the scattershot method makes people feel like something's being done to protect them, so perhaps it isn't an utter and complete waste of government resources in that sense.