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In contrast to the 2nd hand opinionated recollections of your friends, actual facts were presented in the article: > David Gibson brought statistics from the O
by xibalba 7y ago
In contrast to the 2nd hand opinionated recollections of your friends, actual facts were presented in the article:
> David Gibson brought statistics from the Oberlin Police Department to the college showing that of the 40 people arrested for shoplifting at Gibson’s over the previous five years, 33 were students of the college, 32 were white, six were African American and two were Asian, which almost perfectly matched the racial makeup of the city.
- nkurz 7y agoIt's a useful statistic to consider as a baseline, but I'm not sure it's relevant to the accusation. "Racial profiling" usually means that people of a particular race are singled out for attention to a degree greater than appropriate. One definition of "appropriate" is matching the incidence rate. Showing evidence that the number of people arrested matches the racial profile of the town might imply that the a rational shopowner should be equally suspicious of all races. But it doesn't (so far as I can see) show that in actuality they treat all races equally. Would the statistics be in any way contradicted if the store was in fact unduly suspicious of black customers?
- rfrey 7y agoNo, the statistics would not be different, because that sort of accusation — “your attitude varied by race” — is impossible to prove or disprove.