It was a rhetorical question meant to highlight the inclusion of possible racial profiling. I won't debate you on that, though, because it's unknowable and needless.
Why is it any black on white crime gets the benefit of the doubt, but racism has to be a factor in any white on black killing? Again that may just be the media starting up shit, but they do a damn good job at it. And once it's out there it really never goes away, especially to a certain percentage of the public.
That's not the case. You're including your conclusion in your premise. Have you seen sentencing disparity on crimes in which the offender is black (and/or poor) and the victim is white (and/or wealthy)? I assure you that no preferential treatment is given. It's just that these lightning rod cases like Trayvon exist not because of the heinousness of the act (as would be the case with the case (errr) you cited), but the system which is perpetuated in the act. Again, violence across races happen every day: these cases which are gaining traction now are doing do because they are indicative to latent prejudice-driven instances which have been brushed over for years.
For all I know, race is involved in the mens rea of every single goddamn crime committed across races. However, a black man killing a white man out of racial hatred reflects on the black man individually: it cannot (in any instance I can fathom at the moment) reflect institutional problems. At least not at this juncture.
He probably would have given two shits if there were reports of a white man breaking into homes.
Also white people get pulled over and searched too, not just black people.
I think one of us may have the details of the Trayvon case mistaken, because I do not recall any B&E's in that storyline.
And, yes, I'm sure they do, but not with the same consistency and obvious discrimination. I know that I have never been harassed by a police officer while walking down the street. And the active racism within law enforcement groups is a whole issue in itself. Another St. Louis-area poster and were speaking in this thread earlier of how we both knew cops in this area (he is Stl and I in Chicago) who are aggressively racist as a mere novelty.
Do you believe that white people can’t be the targets of racism and racial violence?
Of course they can. But that doesn't carry the same implications pertaining to policy and institutional trends.
