On Judgment and Profiling

Some of my co-workers were emailing each other about a news article stating that there was a war on hoodies.  Two men in particular were having words with each other.  Let's call them A and B.

A was saying that the hoodies hadn't actually done any crimes, and declaring a war on a piece of clothing was a type of racial profiling because of the kinds of people who typically wear that piece of clothing.

B said that a piece of clothing wasn't a race, and to suggest that everything was a kind of racial profiling wasn't helpful for anyone.

A responded by asking B what he would think if he went shopping in a Walmart store and saw a fat, white man wearing torn flannel shirts and ripped jeans with three kids and a fat wife walking next to him who had chocolate stains on her cheek.  A was trying to get B to admit that there was some kind of judgment B would make of the family just from looking at them.

B responded to this by saying he would see that family as just a typical American family practicing their right to be a typical American family, which was a right he had protected by serving in the military for 22 years.

A then responded by saying that B's eyes may be open but they're still glued shut, as no man can see that which he refuses to.

B then responded by saying that he was happy that he doesn't judge a person by the clothes they wear or the color of their skin, just by the stupidity that comes from their mouth, which was an old Puerto Rican proverb stated by him.

I then responded to B by asking if he was admitting to being an intelligence profiler.

No one has yet to respond to my funny, funny joke.


Before I go any further, I want you to honestly ask yourself this question: from the example above, what color/race are A and B?  Did you assign a race to either or both of them?  Be honest.  Nobody but you will know, and nobody but you will judge.  If you thought about their race, as I did, you're profiling.

Here's my take on the subject, since I don't trust or like these people enough to share my opinions with them. 

Judgment works from concrete and goes to abstract.
Profiling works from abstract and goes to concrete.

Judgment: this apple looks red, so it will be delicious.
Profiling: delicious apples look red.

Judgment: those four kids walking towards me are dangerous.
Profiling: dangerous kids walk in groups.

Judgment starts with something you can see, hear, taste, touch, smell or move with your ESP powers, like a red apple or a group of kids.
Profiling starts with something intangible, like a feeling.  Danger or deliciousness.  Both are subjective and will not be defined by everyone in the same way in the same way. 

I think it's impossible to live without judgment.  Judgment happens all the time, and it gets a bad reputation.  I think judgment gets a bad reputation because people make logical mistakes based on their judgments, and then take equally mistaken actions based on those incorrect judgments.  My wife is pretty close to being blind, and in high school she didn't always wear her glasses, which meant there would be times when I would wave at her and she wouldn't even acknowledge my existence.  "What's up with that cold shoulder??"  In every day life, that typical judgment looks like this: you do something, something bad happens, you decide to never/always do certain things because of that situation.  You get married, your husband beats you, you decide to never get married again.  You get drunk, you get sick, you decide you're never drinking again.  You saw Jaws, you hated it, you decide never to see another Stephen Spielberg film ever again.  You wave, the Hottest Chick In High School completely ignores you, you decide you're never talking to her again because she's a bitch.  These are all logical mistakes, and don't address the issues that have caused you pain.  Your current husband beats you, not future husbands, yet you deny future husbands access to marrying you because of your past husband's actions=logical mistake.  You got drunk (past tense), then you got sick and deny future drinks even in minimal proportions=logical mistake.  Jaws made you sad, so you will not see any other movie which is not Jaws but was done by the same director=logical mistake.  The Hot Chick didn't reciprocate, so you decide to cut off future experiences before understanding that she couldn't see you=logical mistake.
         
We think about judgment and profiling in the Michael Brown/Trayvon Martin/Eric Garner cases, and we instinctually feel there were obvious logical mistakes made with these three cases, even if we're not quite sure what they are.  This is what we think of when with judgment and profiling-- it causes logical mistakes.  Nobody wants to make a mistake, so they deny profiling and judgment all together.  I don't judge people based on what they're wearing, says my coworker for fear of being seen as somebody who makes mistakes and, perhaps on the extreme, kills without reason.  Trayvon's killer took notice of him and started a physical altercation with him because he was walking in a neighborhood at night.  Michael's killer took notice of him because he was walking down the street in the daytime.  Eric's killer took notice of him because he was breaking up a fight.  There is a logical disconnect in the thinking when you see somebody walking down the street, walking in a neighborhood, or breaking up a fight, and go into a mode that leads to killing that person.  Nobody wants to be thought of as a person who is crazy or paranoid enough to kill somebody just for walking down the street.

I need my cops to make judgment calls when determining who is a bad guy and who is a good guy.  I need my soldiers to keep me safe and profile the enemy.  We all need that.  We also need sane soldiers, cops, public servants who don't judge you as a criminal simply for wearing a hoodie or walking through a neighborhood at night, or for being black.  We need to stop that kind of insanity, that kind of paranoia.  It cannot be acceptable any more for people to behave in ways that endanger people.  And I think the first step to stopping the insanity is to admit that it's there.

It was insane that Trayvon Martin was killed for walking through his neighborhood.
It was insane that Michael Brown was killed for walking down the street.
It was insane that Eric Garner was killed for breaking up a fight.
It was insane that the grand juries decided not to indict in the Brown and Garner cases.
It.  Was.  Insane.

I find myself being worried that cops around the nation have the means to end life, and in some circumstances they are required to end life, and that life might be mine.  I identify closer to Trayvon Marin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner than I do with any of the police officers involved in those incidents, which causes me to become concerned for my safety.  And that, too, has a bit of insanity to it primarily because I'm white.

Now that we've admitted it's there, we all can work on getting treatment for this insanity.
And that is a subject for another day.