The author Claude Steele expresses that his study shows that stereotyping individuals can, and does lead to what he calls “identity contingencies–the things you have to deal with in a situation because you have a given social identity, because you are old, young, gay, woman, Black, Latino, etc…Identity contingencies are circumstances you have to deal with in order to get want you want or need in a situation.” Steele’s introduction states that these identity transformers can cause individuals to act in ways which can limit their performance on tests, choices of lifestyle, choices of careers, and how they act in social situations to which the stereotype is relevant. The expectation of how one should appear to present themselves can be embedded into a social norm, causing stereotypical actions and reactions from agencies, as well as the general public.
The stereotype that young African-American males are violence prone has been promulgated since the mid-nineteen-sixties until today. For example, profiling of African-American youth by police agencies, carried over from private prejudices formed by the general public, has been documented since 1968 in The Kerner Commission Report. An active ‘stop and frisk’ policy was initiated nationwide following the Watts riots of 1965. For example, Caucasian police officers have often profiled me for violating their “macho clandestine right of driving a better, or cooler automobile than minorities should have, and/or of being uppity in my dress or walk.” This became evident when I first arrived in California in 1969 and was stopped while driving a new car with the owner sitting next to me. The owner of the vehicle was released immediately. Although I had a clean driver’s license, and I was twenty-one years of age with no criminal history, I was arrested, investigated, and kept in jail for five days. (It was Friday so I was kept for the weekend, plus seventy-two hours). These profiling, arresting and harassment tactics became more pronounced as the years passed.
After I purchased my first new automobile in 1970, I was routinely met with open looks of hostility and flagrant remarks of denigration; I was assaulted, and even almost murdered by police agencies. I was arrested fifteen times for investigation over a twenty-five year period for walking while Black in Los Angeles, while tending to my own business, or driving around in newer automobiles, with no warrants on the vehicles, nor having made any traffic violations.
One time, for instance, I was driving down freeway 101 in Los Angeles at 60mph in a 65mph speed zone in my new Dodge Charger. It was metallic sky blue with white interior and a white half-top vinyl roof with a white racing “RT” stripe (for rapid transit) on the rear end of the vehicle, signaling it had a large engine–either a 440 cubic inch motor, or a 426-cubic-inch demi motor under the hood. The car had 7 inch deep Chrome Rocket wheel rims on the rear, and five inch deep chrome wheel rims on the front, looking as if it had just been driven off some drag-racing strip. The car was beautiful and I was driving it as if I owned the world as I was listening to my favorite tunes on my stereo.
I had been driving in the same lane for approximately twenty miles when a highway patrol officer pulled up next to me riding on a motorcycle with a red face full of anger and shouted, “Where do you think you are going, making that unsafe lane change?” Then he pulled me over to give me a ticket as he investigated me for whatever violation he could find or concoct. It was with disdain in his entire manner as he almost proved he knew it was my auto before he pulled me over. The hatred and animosity was in his every manner as he investigated me for driving while Black and young, and driving an automobile that only White men should have. I was given a ticket simply for the profile I presented: Young and Black.
These types of stops for persons of my race, as well as for Latinos, have resulted in thousands of unfair tickets as well as hundreds of “murders by cop” over the decades. They instill in our persons the fear of getting stopped by law officials whether one has committed the offense charged or not. After about three of these instances–the last ending with a gun pointed at my head–I ended by getting an ID in another name, trying to save points on my driving record. We never know if we are going to die or not each time we are pulled over.
The PBS documentary showcasing The Kerner Commission Report of 1968 confirmed that “white racism” was systematically practiced in every aspect of American life in Black neighborhoods. The report detailed how redlining in housing, bank loans, job discrimination, and the alleged war on poverty, were “discriminatory practices placed in practice to legitimize stereotyping of Black Americans.” White racist policemen were actively recruited in cities such as Los Angeles by police departments to initiate “stop and frisk” with as many individuals as possible to keep them afraid of the authorities and subordinate to White authority. The war on poverty was synonymous with institutionalization of discrimination and stereotyping of all American Black youth by profiling to subvert the threat of riots.
These social structures show that stereotyping generally comes from cultures of honor that have deep historical roots, like the ones found in the Harlen, Kentucky article that can force identity contingencies upon others, by the force of their prejudices that can start by simple greed contests. Starting out in youth one youngster tries to show off, showing the other youngsters that he has better toys, or is bigger or stronger than his peers, so he can make the rules they live by. Malcolm Gladwell states: “To be aggressive he has to make it clear that he is not weak. He has to be willing to fight in response to even the slightest challenges to his reputation, and that’s what a ‘culture of honor’ means. It’s a world where a man’s reputation is at the center of his livelihood and self-worth.” As these cultures grow that start off in ignorance of moral and social rules, they devise ways to control their family, friends, and neighbors. Even nations around the world continue to adopt similar progressive behaviors to the point where hangings, burnings, witch hunts, and even mercy killings continue the traditions unless or until moral or social law are established. They will go so far as to killing their own family members for alleged honor offenses. Tribal alliances, racial covenants, religious cults, and secret societies form fraternities and sororities, creating opportunities for draconian practices to continue long after these cultures become allegedly civilized.
The Ku Klux Klan promulgates racism as its foundation for manifest destinies through genocide and property annexations. They both follow practices long claimed to come down from their fathers before them and demand that their followers continue those practices forever. They both claim to be gods and sons of gods on Earth. Stereotyping many classes of others has always been their method of operating. Fighting against them with the best means available is the only way to impede or slow their progress. Too many others think being aggressive and disrespectful of lives different from theirs is the only way to live on this Earth.
The only remedy for these behaviors is for the authorities to develop a moral conscience by hiring moral officers, after screening and training them better. Then for those officers to approach each encounter as if both he and his stops of persons of color were neighbors.
Photo courtesy of Bonaru Richardson
