The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

288
I think it is because they are black and the police didn’t watch
them doing anything wrong and that is why they are mad because
they didn’t get them.
Another black youth tells a story of driving a car filled with a number of his white friends
without drinking or drugs or anything. He was pulled over for speeding and he was the
only one arrested. He says, “It was cause I was black.” What he neglects to mention until
later in the interview is that there was a gun in the glove compartment. He maintains,
however, that police have always picked on blacks and always will.
Other black youth see discrimination in police attitudes. These youth feel the
police stereotype blacks and then make things harder on them because of the stereotype.
A 16 year old black male explains it this way:
All black young males, they treat them as dope dealers or gangsters... I
seen them arrest these black boys that act white. I seen them arrest them
just because of what they wear. Maybe there’s a crime going on and they
be somewhere around there. They’ll go arrest them and a white boy will
be walking all around where the incident happened... If they see a black
person walking slow, he’s doing a crime. If they see a white person, they
will speed past them.
The sentiment is that blacks get more undeserved attention than do whites. Police are also
perceived as going easier on whites.
One of the more interesting charges that emerged is that it is not just white
officers who act this way. A few of the black youth felt minority of icers show the same
biases as white policemen. As one black youth said, “I seen prejudiced black