If there’s one word I’m sick of hearing in the media, it’s “disparities.” Car stops…arrests…sentencing…imprisonment…police use of force…whenever there’s a slow news day, the Chronicle or KQED radio or Oaklandside or some other progressive outlet can run a panic story on disparities, and make it sound as if racism were running riot.
Yes, there are statistical disparities in all the areas I mentioned above, and more. But it blows my mind that we’re not asking the one pertinent question that needs to be asked: Maybe these disparities exist because too many people of color commit crimes and then resist arrest?
For example, today the Chronicle ran a front-page a story whose headline (in the print edition) was “Stark racial disparities in use of force by S.F. police.” The story quoted people who believe that the only explanation for racial disparities in police use-of-force incidents is racism. Here are the statistics: where Black people make up only 5% of San Francisco’s population, they accounted for 44% of police use-of-force in the first six months of 2023. The reaction among progressives to this news was swift and condemning. “The conclusion is racial bias,” thundered the vice president of the S.F. Police Commission. The activist founder of a group that “advocates for Black San Franciscans” told the Chronicle, “The [Police] Commission has known about the disparity for years. Where is the reduction?”
It’s extremely difficult for outsiders to get their hands on current data pertaining to race/ethnicity in criminal matters. Here in Oakland, I’ve repeatedly been ghosted when trying to obtain such numbers from the city. It’s almost as though the actual statistics are deliberately hidden behind an Iron Curtain of secrecy, because the powers-that-be don’t want the truth to be revealed. As for San Francisco, I did manage to dig up some data from 2017 that shows that arrests that year of Black people accounted for 39% of the total, contrasted with that 5% of San Francisco’s population made up of Black people. That is indeed a “disparity,” but instead of holding hearings about it, and demanding a “reduction,” and screaming about racism and police brutality, we ought to ask why there’s such a glaring disparity of criminality in the Black community.
I would suggest it’s not “racism” to ask this question, although there are always going to be Black activists and their sympathizers who point the finger and allege that anyone who dares to speak truthfully, or even inquire, about crime and ethnicity is a racist. Unfortunately, calling someone a “racist” is like asking a man, “When did you stop beating your wife?” However he responds, he looks and sounds guilty. No wonder so few people are willing to step into that hot mess. Nobody needs it.
But until we can answer that question, we’re going to be stuck in a never-ending loop of denialism and frustration. And if there’s anyone who should be held most accountable for perpetuating the current atmosphere of hysterical racializing of everything, it’s our Black politicians (Carroll Fife, Pamela Price, Cat Brooks), Black opinion leaders at nonprofits, and Black columnists (Justin Phillips). These people jump on every statistic that illustrates racial disparities, and they blame it on racism every time, without fail, instead of assigning the blame where it truly lies: in a segment of the Black community’s more criminal-minded members. It’s ironic that these are the same Black leaders who claim to be concerned with the “root causes” of crime: on the one hand, they have to pretend crime isn’t a Black problem, but on the other hand, they demand billions of dollars to try to stop it! That is a very odd way of thinking…
As much as it pains me to state these truths, someone has to. Have a lovely, safe weekend. Back Monday.
Steve Heimoff