It is unrealistic to expect people to ignore stereotypes when doing a dangerous job.
Stereotyping is an INSTINCTUAL thing human beings have been doing since the dawn of man and evolved in us for a reason: to protect ourselves. To tell police officers not to stereotype is in essence telling them not to listen to their human instinct when confronted with dangerous situations. It's NOT POSSIBLE.
Of course a black male the ages of 18-27 in a high crime area is more dangerous than a white 40-something in a low crime area. To say otherwise is just stupid and unbelievable. And of course a police officer should treat each case differently until FURTHER INFORMATION is gathered sensually by the officer to "lower his guard".
What we are really debating is how can anyone possibly debate or expect that Police should start every encounter with every citizen on the exact same level of alert, suspicion and internal threat level. That sounds wonderful in theory but in practice that is just not ever going to happen. Until we understand and acknowledge this we can't start to debate ACTIONS after the initial threat assessment officers have to make at the start of each and every interaction with the public. And it helps no one in the minority communities to act dumb and expect officers to treat them 100% the same. They are NOT the same. The communities they live in are NOT the same. The danger is NOT the same.
Racism is a step-by-step process.
It starts with a healthy, ingrained human ability to stereotype based on experience and factual data. We all stereotype. It's what helped keep our ancestors alive.
What happens after stereotyping is bigotry. Bigotry is when you start to resent or dislike TRUE stereotypes about a culture, race, sexual orientation, sex or any segment of the population. Bigotry can be justified or not justified. There is nothing illegal about bigotry (although most would argue it's immoral).
Racism is when you start to ACT on your bigotry against the law of the land. When your actions actually HARM the race or group or individuals. When you don't hire someone. When you don't tell the truth about someone. When you don't help someone. When you try to segregate someone.
This country has LOTS of people that stereotype cultures and races and sexes. Some of those are borderline to confirmed bigots with deep seated dislike for portions of our society and "lump them all together". And some of them are actually racists that through their actions have actually harmed people, individuals or whole communities.
I have no issue stating I stereotype. I stereotype hopefully on FACTUAL data and try to sort out what is not true. When I first meet someone I have already stereotyped them until they show actions that either confirm or break those stereotypes. We all do it. We all create initial impressions of people - white, black, brown, yellow - doesn't matter. It's why ALL of our parents told us first impressions matter - because when we meet someone we want to get into the "good stereotypes" in people's brains and not have to overcome "bad stereotypes" with actions later on.
I try to tell myself I am not a bigot, but I'll be honest and say I probably have some bigotry inside me. There are some cultures I just don't understand and don't like very much. Cultural differences I can't fathom or explain. I don't understand how black culture has let their families degrade so much. I don't understand so many children out of wedlock or so many children born into untenable circumstances. I don't understand the logic of raising a child without having a thought on how to make his/her life better than your own. I don't understand Muslim culture or their feelings toward women and non-believers. I don't like some Asian cultures and how they treat animals and the environment. I don't like their massive desire of exotic animal products that drives the poaching industry of so many endangered species.
These are bigoted thoughts. I know not EVERY black, not EVERY muslim, not EVERY asian feels this way or does these things. But my anger and disgust and disappointment in mankind certainly does pick out cultures that are part of world wide problems.
I do consciously try not to do is be racist. I hope my actions have never HARMED anyone of color or religion or sex. I purposely try to give everyone a fair chance to base their worth to me on their actions alone and not base them on my stereotypes or bigotry. I try to follow the law. I try to treat people as I would like to be treated. Really that's what ALL of us should expect from society.
The problem with racism in America is it is too worried about stereotypes and bigotry and not about ACTUAL racism or the actions that really are harmful. Trying to lecture people about their ingrained, human emotions (often based in fact and experience) to stereotype people and even fail to understand how cultures can be disliked and criticized for legitimate reasons (and not be racist in doing so) is part of the big problem why racial issues continue to exist and are so prevalent in society.
