Beware The Stereotype

People dressed all in black. It’s important to keep in mind the limitations of statistics & probabilities whenever you are talking about racism & bias. In the study of logic, a stereotype is a fallacy in which we believe an entire group has a particular characteristic & so assume that an individual member of that group also has that quality.

This is a question I asked a group of friends last year, pre-pandemic, as we were chatting in my kitchen in Maryland. Everyone stopped to check out what people were wearing. Most of us were dressed in blue jeans and brightly colored t-shirts; I was wearing a red dress. Only one of us was in all black.

The Police & The KKK

Image of police office in tactical gear. There is a documented history of links between law enforcement & white supremacist organizations, something that should concern anyone who wants to prevent acts of terrorism on American soil.

Are police officers racist? This is an essential question that confronted me as I began to do research for an upcoming podcast recording. (I am guest hosting a couple episodes of “The debate,” a new show from Newsweek that hopes to demonstrate that civil discourse is possible, even between people who strongly disagree.)