Are Cops Racist Heather Macdonald Analysis

Are Cops really Racist?
When I received the book “Are Cops Racist?” from the library, I laid it down on the table and got mixed emotions and responds. Some said yes, cops are indeed racist and they stay away from them as much as possible. Then there are others who feel that cops are not racist they are just doing there job. This is how Heather MacDonald feels in the book “Are Cops Racist?” Heather MacDonald has done a wonderful job on stating the facts and making everything plain, but I still have mixed emotions on the whole ideal of racial profiling. I agree with her in so many ways like when she says that people claim racial profiling but don’t look at the crime rate. There are a lot of crimes that are committed by the African American
and Hispanic community and that are why there are an excessive amounts of arrest. Also another idea that I can totally agree with Mrs.. MacDonald on is when she says, that this cry for racial profiling often times “scares” the police into not truly going where the crimes is because of the accusations discrimination that might arise. This in the end, this hurts the African American community because they don’t patrol where it is needed. Even though there are a lot of things that make sense about this book and everything that is said, the one thing that sticks out in the back of my mind, the many stories of racial profiling. I have heard time and time again where there are instances that cops pulled people over for no reason at all.
Even though I am a African American, I will have to admit that there is a lot of crime within our community and it is completely understandable how there are many more arrest in our community than in a Caucasian community.
In New York, blacks are 50% of all persons stopped and frisked by the police, but only 25% of the population. Police critics look at these rates and automatically cry racial profiling. And this would indeed be cause for concern if crime rates were evenly distributed across the population. This is not the truth, however - not in New York, not anywhere. In New York, in 1998, 62% of victims of violent assault identified their assailants as black, meaning that blacks were 13 times more likely to commit a violent assault as whites. Remember: these are victims identifying the criminal, not the allegedly "racist" police. It turns out that blacks in New York are actually being under stopped, compared to their rates of violent crime. Also another part of “Are Cops Racist?” that I can totally agree with is the chapter she has on the “black cops that you never hear about”. I this chapter she talks to the black cops that no one hears. They agree with her when she says that cops are not racist and that its just the area they are in that they have so many African American arrest. Lieutenant Christian was say, “often the entire neighborhood is black, so of course we are going to be stopping blacks-based on there behavior.” This shows that it is not just the white community saying that cops are not racist, its is also the African American community too. Most don’t see that and they attack the cops by making the allegations of racial profiling. This hinders the cop because they don’t make the arrest needed because they don’t want to seem to be arresting too many
cops.
I feel as if most cops just do their jobs to the best of there ability. A lot of them don’t race, gender or religion. Cops just see a crime and know that someone has to be arrested. Many people don’t see it like that for whatever reason. They feel as if cops are racist and very bias in there everyday life. For this reason, all cops are put under the microscope and examined to the tenth degree about them just doing there jobs as a police officer. So now cops have to watch who they arrest, when they arrest them and different unnecessary things because of the allegations that might arise. This hurts the African American community because the cops don’t make the arrests that are needed because they feel that some one will look at them as being racist. They overlook many things and the law abiding citizens of the community have to deal with the crime because the cops are scared. This hurts the community as a whole because from there crime can get out of hand. We must stop it at the root before it gets that far and we can not do that if every time there is an arrest, someone cries racial profiling.
Even though I agree with everything that was said in this paper, its always the thing that lies in the back of my mind. There are many cases where I have seen racial profiling, where my friends and I are looked at funny because we are driving a nice car. I have been in instances my friends and I have been pulled over because my male best friend had a white girlfriend and I had a white friend with me. They made us get out and searched us over a regular traffic stop. IT was said that we were speeding but we never received a ticket, and the blacks in the car was the only ones that were searched. It was a terrible experience and it sticks in my mind forever. Sometimes I think that all cops are like that but I have to realize that not every cop is like that and for the most part cops care and don’t act like that but it definitely was hard to deal with. This is only the most recent time, there are many more and this is why a lot of people don’t like cops and stay away as much as possible This was an eye-opening book that has really made me think about of a lot of things. I am not bias about cops how I used to be. There are a lot of times where cops are just doing their job. The statistics show that cops are not racial profiling and I agree with it all. Even when I agree with this I still feel that there is racial profiling in some areas. Just like there are still some form of racism in some places, there are racial profiling in some places jus not everywhere like people make it out to be.