Now that the city of Cleveland will not be prosecuting any of its police officers for the murder of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a new round of thought pieces and analyses are making their way around the internet. One comes from the Washington Post and is titled, “Why white people see black boys like Tamir Rice as older, bigger and guiltier than they really are.”
The article references a study published in 2014 by the American Psychological Association:
To some social science researchers, these characterizations would not come as a surprise. Rice is black. And research published last year by the American Psychological Association found "evidence that black boys are seen as older and less innocent and that they prompt a less essential conception of childhood than do their white same-age peers." In other words, people tend to think of black boys as bigger and older than they actually are.
In one experiment, a group of 60 police officers from a large urban police force were asked to assess the age of white, black and Latino children based on photographs. The officers were randomly assigned to be told that the children in the photographs were accused of either a misdemeanor or felony charge. The officers overestimate the age of black felony-suspected children by close to five years, but they actually underestimated the age of white felony-suspected children by nearly a year.
What the Washington Post article does not do, however, is provide the reason alluded to in its headline: Why. The APA article gives a reason though: Unconscious dehumanization. Sort of.
Basically—and yeah, I can believe I’m typing this at the tail end of 2015—the authors of the study tested predominantly white cops. They determine their level of prejudicial bias and unconscious dehumanization of black people by using apes.
That’s the short version. Here’s a quote from the actual article for the long version:
Researchers tested 176 police officers, mostly white males, average age 37, in large urban areas, to determine their levels of two distinct types of bias — prejudice and unconscious dehumanization of black people by comparing them to apes.
To test for prejudice, researchers had officers complete a widely used psychological questionnaire with statements such as “It is likely that blacks will bring violence to neighborhoods when they move in.
To determine officers’ dehumanization of blacks, the researchers gave them a psychological task in which they paired blacks and whites with large cats, such as lions, or with apes.
Okay. Now what?
Researchers reviewed police officers’ personnel records to determine use of force while on duty and found that those who dehumanized blacks were more likely to have used force against a black child in custody than officers who did not dehumanize blacks. The study described use of force as takedown or wrist lock; kicking or punching; striking with a blunt object; using a police dog, restraints or hobbling; or using tear gas, electric shock or killing.
Aha! Those who dehumanized blacks were more likely to have used force—including punching, police dogs, tear gas, and even killing—against a black child in custody. And?
Only dehumanization and not police officers’ prejudice against blacks — conscious or not — was linked to violent encounters with black children in custody, according to the study.
The authors noted that police officers’ unconscious dehumanization of blacks could have been the result of negative interactions with black children, rather than the cause of using force with black children. We found evidence that overestimating age and culpability based on racial differences was linked to dehumanizing stereotypes, but future research should try to clarify the relationship between dehumanization and racial disparities in police use of force.
Okay, so, “overestimating age and culpability based on racial differences was linked to dehumanizing stereotypes,” but, sorry … repeat that first part please?
… police officers’ unconscious dehumanization of blacks could have been the result of negative interactions with black children, rather than the cause of using force with black children.
Oh. Perhaps the officers had a bad interaction with a black child, and that is why they dehumanize black people?
That almost sounds like a blaming of the victim. Like the head of the Cleveland police union saying that Tamir Rice is in the wrong.
This is reminiscent I am reminded of a scene in the film Hurricane, starring Denzel Washington as the boxer Ruben Carter. In this scene, a 9-year-old Carter has been picked up on suspicion of stabbing a white man who appears to have been a pedophile after the man attempts to entice Carter and his friend. We don’t see what happens to his friend but by some mystical magical way, the police figure out Carter is the one who needs to be questioned for the deed. One of the cops tells the man who portrays Carter’s nemesis throughout the film to “take it easy on him, he’s just a kid.” Carter’s nemesis replies, “He’s a n---— with a knife.” Again, Carter was 9 years old at this point in the film. Our children are not seen as children. Our children are not allowed to be children.
Perhaps its just that a lot of white cops are racist. Not unconsciously biased—just racist. Perhaps.
No Tamir, you weren’t wrong. No black boy is wrong just because he’s tall or chubby. Or black.
No.
