Know Anyone Who Thinks Racial Profiling Is Exaggerated? Watch This, And Tell Me When Your Jaw Drops.

[warrior1]

http://www.upworthy.com/know-anyone-that-thinks-racial-profiling-is-exaggerated-watch-this-and-tell-me-when-your-jaw-drops-2?c=bl3

[Ruby the Liberal]

1. OMG

No words.

[AZ Progressive]

2. A perfect example of racial profiling in America

I see "What would you do" and I remember this episode. This one and the one where people would help a white guy but not a muslim guy was pretty damn telling of how racism is alive and well.

[karmaqueen]

3. So Sad...

I watch that show all the time.. It shows the good the bad and the truly ugly.. Thankfully there are a lot of good people who do try and help in bad situations. This particular situation is just wrong and painful to watch.

[KarenS]

4. absolutely stunning.

I would love to see this experiment expanded different sizes/shapes/ages of actors as well as different areas
urban/suburban/rural ~ East Coast/West Coast, etc,,,, the thing could be made into a wonderfully educational film for all of us.

[AZ Progressive]

5. Also, many white people were suspecting the white guy was committing a crime...

...but didn't call the police or try to stop him. But when it was a black guy, white people tried to stop him and called the police and even banded together.

So if a white guy commits a crime, its no big deal, but when a black guy commits a crime, the horror!

Pure Racism.

[heaven05]

35. lucky

after they banded together against that black 'threat', he didn't get lynched then and there. Thank god zimpig wasn't there. I had never seen this study, but not surprised in the least. Thanks.

[bluestate10]

36. But none aggressively confronted him except the elderly couple. The Black kid drew

crowd and would have been able to start a city if he had stayed at the bike longer.

[Igel]

43. So were black people.

Check out the "first impressions are important" couple. And it wasn't just white hands clutching phones calling, we assume, the police on the black guy.

This goes from racism to what profiling is, stereotyping. Some stereotypes are pure fiction; some are rooted in fact. Most are rooted in a bad ad hoc analysis of probabilities and statistics. But the video is about profiling. We only think "racial profiling," but that's a limitation on our thinking that's not in the video.

Otherwise you can't account for the girl being in there--she's there not because she's white, but because she's blonde and breasty. "Guys steal bikes, not girls" isn't a racist comment. It is profiling, it is stereotyping.

And that both guys and gals both have the same stereotype--like blacks and whites generally do--hammers home the point.

Oddly, having a black woman as the actor I think would have made the video worse. I don't have a "stereotype" for her. The others, yeah, they're the stereotypes I would have said, and the people, black and white, male and female, acted as I'd have predicted. (Ooh, nice stroking of my confirmation bias.) But a black woman ... I think I would have put her in a ranking as

white girl, humored
black girl, ignored
white guy, suspected
black guy, disrespected

After all, the white guy *was* eventually called out on it and at that point we shifted to somebody else. And the black guy came in right after it was announced somebody was stealing a bike, so the guy's activity was already named. The white girl, though ... Perhaps out of sequence, perhaps it was obvious that with the bike attracting 3 thieves with the same tools it was a Candid Camera moment. Or maybe "sexual" profiling is just that much more prominent and important than racial profiling.

Don't know. An actual experiment would be cool, though.

[mainer]

6. oh god, this pisses me off

but it's not at all surprising.

I feel so sad for every young African American male in this country.

[mainer]

7. Pretty blondes get away with everything don't they?

And guys will even help them break the law!

Not only is this a demo of racism, it's a demo of look-ism

[KarenS]

8. Some of those guys even had their wives with them,,,,

sheesh.

[whathehell]

15. I think it's really more about her being female.

One guy in the video even says something like "girls don't usually steal stuff".

[Just Saying]

18. They've done shows on this as well

And the more attractive female is always given the benefit of the doubt and treated better. (More attractive men get away with more too.)

[bluestate10]

39. Look matter. If the female actress had been rough cut, she would have drawn more

suspicion. The fact that the female thief was smoking hot mattered.

[whathehell]

53. Yes, but they do for males as well.

A "rough cut" male of any color will be perceived as "suspicious" far more often than one with boyish good looks.

[RebelOne]

38. That is true. I am 74 now, but in my younger years,

I was a very pretty blonde and I got away with anything short of murder.

[ctaylors6]

54. I actually

laughed when I saw this part. I swear I thought that one man was going to knock over his wife to get over to help the pretty blond woman.

[alittlelark]

9. Just.... WOW

[GiaGiovanni]

10. Good post. Thanks for putting this up

Stereotyping is amazingly powerful.

[burnodo]

11. holy cow

thats horrendous

The attractive white girl gets offers to help steal the bike
The white kid is moderately questioned with no action taken against him
The black kid is IMMEDIATELY deemed to be doing something wrong, people confront him, police are called

[TheDebbieDee]

27. They confiscated his tools in an effort to prevent him from being successful!

[burnodo]

12. kick

[DLevine]

13. Sickening. nt

[azurnoir]

14. really wish I was surprised but the reactions were so entirely predictable IMO

at no point did my jaw drop, this is present day America - period

[mountain grammy]

16. No, actually, this has always been America.

[azurnoir]

17. Trust me I know that however my wording was intended to point out

that this kind of bigotry is still common place in today's America, the same America that has voted a Black man as POTUS twice now, makes some think the days of bigotry are over, they are not.......... in fact I found myself wondering how many of those outraged at the young Black man White folks had in fact voted for Obama themselves or I can't be a bigot because...........

[mountain grammy]

21. So true. We just can't seem to get past it.

[savebigbird]

19. Typical.

I am not surprised. It is completely unacceptable, but not surprising.

[mountain grammy]

20. My dad was a Marine who picked up any hitchiker in military uniform,

never looked at color, just the uniform. In 1958 in NC, a black private hesitated getting into a car with a white couple and two little white girls. The man said "you could get in trouble, sir." My dad looked confused and the man said "ya'll are white, I'm a Negro." My dad said "I outrank you, private. Get in!" I remember how shiny his shoes were.

Why does seeing this video bring back those memories?

[Skittles]

23. your daddy was awesome

[mountain grammy]

47. He was. He died 3 months after this happened, probably why I remember it so well

[Skittles]

52. awwwww so sorry mountain grammy

but what a wonderful, poignant memory to have

[anomiep]

40. Your dad is awesome, and your post brings back memories for me.

Back in the mid '90s my flight landed at an airport in North Carolina on my way to an Air Force base for more technical school, after finishing basic and the first part of technical school.

I was on the phone calling the guys who'd arrived before me to see if they could come get me or I had to take a cab/shuttle/whatever when a black gentleman, who'd seen my bag (I was in civilian clothes, but had the green pack I'd been issued in basic) offered me a ride to the base.

I took the ride, and rode back with the whole family (who were there, I believe, to pick someone up). They also offered me dinner, and dropped me off at the temporary quarters on base - it was practically door-to-door service, with dinner included. I went to church with them the next Sunday when they offered, even though I'm an atheist (although I never mentioned that to them), just because I appreciated it so much. I haven't seen them in years, but they are always in the back of my head as 'Good people', and like your dad, awesome.

[mountain grammy]

49. He really was.

He was always calling my mom during the day to set another place or two at supper for some homesick new recruit. We were stationed in Cherry Point, NC in 1958. He died just 3 months after the hitchhiker thing.

[Kali]

22. k and effing R!!!!

America, meet yourself.

[AZ Progressive]

24. Another "What would you do" video showing something similar

Last edited Sun Jul 14, 2013, 06:37 PM - Edit history (1)

This time with getting help from others to change a spare tire. This time they put a muslim guy to see what people would do.

[hfojvt]

25. it's not really racial profiling to stop an actual criminal is it

the strange part is that they did not stop, or care about the other two.

It does seem like the white guy was bigger too, and that might have been a factor.

You kind of expect a real thief to slink away when even asked "is this your bike?" and not politely say "no, but it will be soon as I get this lock off".

It would have been interesting if they tried it with a pretty black woman. Are the old white guys gonna help Hallie Berry steal a bike?

[NewJeffCT]

34. I bet a good percentage of them would

maybe not as high a percentage as with a pretty white woman, though.

I remember even doing an anecdotal study several years back - a restaurant near my place of work at the time had a very attractive black server there with a really top heavy figure. It wasn't Hooters or anything like that - it was just maybe a step above your chain restaurant like Ruby Tuesday, Chili's, etc. However, it was a good place to get a bite to eat once or twice a week, or at least pick up food on the way home from work. But, every time I was there and an older white guy in a suit (or high end business casual) came in, she'd turn on the charm and they'd eat it right up. I was at that job in that location for maybe a bit under 2 years and I don't remember anybody ever not responding positively to her flirting. This was maybe 5-7 years ago, so I was probably too young for her to flirt with at the time... and, of course, I wasn't at the restaurant 7 days a week, either, so I can't say she batted 1.000%, either.

[MrScorpio]

41. Of course, you'd say something like that

But any Black woman would tell you that just because she's a woman, it doesn't prevent her from being Black in America.

[treestar]

57. I'd be interested in that too!

The black male made it clear to them it was abandoned property. Yet he still got all that crap. Yet the attractive girl was just stealing it and they wanted to help her!

[yardwork]

26. The black actor was brave. I kept waiting for somebody to shoot him.

[crim son]

28. I admit it, I'm absolutely shocked.

Posted it on FB for my less-enlightened friends to watch.

[Robb]

29. "You guys with the cameras should go after the thief!!!"

Shameful. K&R.

[NewJeffCT]

30. Racial profiling is real

Anybody who says differently isn't dealing with reality.

I posted this same link from upworthy.com a month or two back and got maybe a handful of replies (at best) - timing really means a lot, too.

[Crunchy Frog]

31. That was extremely eye opening.

Thanks for posting.

[heaven05]

32. watched it

Last edited Sun Jul 14, 2013, 06:35 PM - Edit history (1)

not surprised. Classic amerikkkan culture and values. I don't see any of the zimpig apologist trying to explain this away.

[AndyA]

33. Hard to argue with that video.

Surprising how helpful or suspicious and confrontational people can be, considering who they're dealing with.

[MrScorpio]

37. Now imagine what happens to black people when they're suspected...

But they're NOT doing anything wrong.

That's America for ya, baby!

[AZ Progressive]

42. Doesn't this show just how hypocritical is much of White America...

They have tried to claim before that there isn't anymore racism, that they aren't racist, when they are tested they fail it.

[arely staircase]

44. fucking wow.

thanks for posting

[Scurrilous]

45. K & R

[Jamaal510]

46. I don't believe this shit.

I really am speechless about how fucked up this is.

[BumRushDaShow]

48. How many similar studies have they done like this?

Answer: Many, including testing attempts to rent and apartment over the phone...

Thanks for posting that by the way!

[caseymoz]

50. Shocking outrage and sexism.

Outrage or the lack of it. They really took it personally when a Black guy was stealing a bike. With the White guy, it was wrong but somebody else's problem.

I used to argue with conservatives who claimed racism was so over. I knew it wasn't. I wish I had this video to send them to. They will understand a little more about what Black people go through, just walking in the wrong neighborhood.

I'll admit I feel so good knowing that locking my bike in public will protect me from theft by thirteen percent of the population, even if the thief says "I'm stealing this bike."

I haven't seen anyone bring this up, but doesn't this say something about sexism? Those guys who helped a pretty, blonde, morally questionable woman steal a bike wanted to get in her pants, right?

I wanted it to continue. I wanted to find out if she was then free to leave or whether she was expected to reciprocate, and how strong that expectation was. I have to say, I always presumed she could just walk away without giving a "return favor."

I never helped a woman steal, but when I did a favor for a female stranger, I never expected a return much less of the sexual kind. At most I thought she'd be slightly more inclined to, but I didn't expect a direct quid pro quo of sex.

I've never before thought to question if any or many other guys acted differently than that. Now I'm curious. If guys generally expected more than I did, then I really feel bad for women in this society.

[Parrcrow]

51. My jaw actually did drop eom

[McDiggy]

55. Wow.

This makes me wish I was a white woman. You could get away with murder.

I wish they would have done some other scenarios. A well dressed black man, a pretty black women, a white guy covered with tattoos, etc.

[treestar]

58. A biker white guy

Good point. I bet they'd think he was stealing it but let him alone out of fear.

[treestar]

56. Wow.

Asking the attractive white girl if she needed a hand? OMG.

[steve2470]

59. excellent post and video, really proves the point beyond any doubts nt

[Enthusiast]

60. Any questions?

[pnwest]

61. Made me sick and ashamed. My second reaction

Was a disgusted eye-roll at the guy who pedaled past his wife to go "rescue" the pretty blonde. Men. Sheesh.

I felt scared for the black kid... That old man was just itching to deck him.

[ZombieHorde]

62. Yep. nt

[geek tragedy]

63. Meet your George Zimmerman jurors. nt

[Blue_Tires]

64. brilliant....n/t

[VOX]

65. Pack mentality emerges against the African American kid...

Nauseating.