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View Full Version : Is Profiling Racist? by Walter E. Williams




bobbyw24
08-03-2010, 05:32 AM
We live in a world of imperfect and costly information, and people seek to economize on information costs in a variety of ways. If we don't take that fact into account, we risk misidentifying and confusing one type of human behavior with another. Let's look at it.

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Pima Indians of Arizona have the world's highest diabetes rates. With knowledge that his patient is a Pima Indian, it would probably be a best practice for a physician to order more thorough blood glucose tests to screen for diabetes. Prostate cancer is nearly twice as common among black men as white men. It would also be a best practice for a physician to be attentive to – even risk false positive PSAs – prostate cancer among his black patients. What about physicians who order routine mammograms for their 40-year and older female patients but not their male patients? The American Cancer Society predicts that about 400 men will die of breast cancer this year.


Because of a correlation between race, sex and disease, the physician is using a cheap-to-observe characteristic, such as race or sex, as an estimate for a more costly-to-observe characteristic, the presence of a disease. The physician is practicing both race and sex profiling. Does that make the physician a racist or sexist? Should he be brought up on charges of racial discrimination because he's guessing that his black patients are more likely to suffer from prostate cancer? Should sex discrimination or malpractice suits be brought against physicians who prescribe routine mammograms for their female patients but not their male patients? You say, "Williams, that would be lunacy!"


Is an individual's race or sex useful for guessing about other unseen characteristics? Suppose gambling becomes legal for an Olympic event such as the 100-meter sprint. I wouldn't place a bet on an Asian or white runner. Why? Blacks who trace their ancestry to West Africa, including black Americans, hold more than 95 percent of the top times in sprinting. That's not to say an Asian or white can never win but I know the correlations and I'm playing the odds. If women were permitted to be in the sprint event with men, I'd still put my money on a black male. Does that make me a sexist as well as a racist?

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http://www.lewrockwell.com/williams-w/w-williams45.html

MelissaWV
08-03-2010, 06:34 AM
Not necessarily (and the examples given were good ones). Of course, be prepared that when you have a male patient who says he was told it was "really unlikely" he'd get breast cancer, or wasn't aware he even COULD get breast cancer, and was tested for everything BUT breast cancer... and then HAS breast cancer... be prepared for that patient to be more than a little upset with you.

The racism and absurdity comes into play if Walter is walking down the street, all of these statistics and probabilities swirling through his mind, and sees a random "black" kid. He assumes the kid is a better runner, and good at basketball, and not very smart. He also figures the kid is, even though he's wearing decent clothing and not displaying any telltale signs, a criminal (maybe he STOLE that decent clothing!). He encounters an Asian and assumes they know martial arts and eat rice almost exclusively and their mother once upon a time probably said "Me so ho-knee" to their father, who wore one of those little round hats and talked like a cartoon character. They're obviously good at math.

There comes a point where we're using what we "see" to make ridiculous statements about someone; rather than saying "blah blah percent of black kids will be arrested," someone will just assume a random "black kid" is a criminal. That's where it becomes a net negative. It's a shortcut that eliminates many people from consideration for things. Perhaps that one "white" kid who wants to be a sprinter, and is pretty good at it, is told that he'll never make it because the best sprinters are all "black." That would be a shame. Consider that there was a time where, good or no, "black" sprinters (and athletes in many sports, for that matter) were not recognized at all because of the color of their skin. It doesn't get any more becoming when it's done to another group, or another, or another.

Relevance is the key with this. There are markers which show someone is more likely to have breast cancer, for instance, that cross gender and age lines. If those are present in that male patient I was talking about at the beginning, I would expect a responsible doctor to go ahead and scan the male patient, too. If the doctor said "Nahhh he's a guy; it's so unlikely" and ignored those markers based on the "probability," that would be a potentially deadly thing.

stu2002
08-03-2010, 06:38 AM
I get racially profiled at least a few times a week. I get hit up for money from homeless people on the streets of Jacksonville, Fla. I have aksed them why they ask ME for money. Several have responded, "Cuz you're white and ya gotta suit on--white men in suits are rich." Uh huh.

I cannot eveen find a full time job.

MelissaWV
08-03-2010, 06:50 AM
I get racially profiled at least a few times a week. I get hit up for money from homeless people on the streets of Jacksonville, Fla. I have aksed them why they ask ME for money. Several have responded, "Cuz you're white and ya gotta suit on--white men in suits are rich." Uh huh.

I cannot eveen find a full time job.

You walk around casually in Jacksonville* in a suit? My God, you must be cooking alive :eek:

*I hate the heat. Yes, I find even Jacksonville to be overly warm this time of year.

bobbyw24
08-03-2010, 06:56 AM
You walk around casually in Jacksonville* in a suit? My God, you must be cooking alive :eek:

*I hate the heat. Yes, I find even Jacksonville to be overly warm this time of year.

As some one who wears a suit and tie here in the Town That Spawned Lynyrd Skynyrd, I can tell you that it's been over 95 degrees for the past few weeks and it ain't no fun walking to court.

stu2002
08-03-2010, 07:08 AM
You walk around casually in Jacksonville* in a suit? My God, you must be cooking alive :eek:

*I hate the heat. Yes, I find even Jacksonville to be overly warm this time of year.

Nah--I head downtown to look for a job. It's much easier for employers to blow me off when they are dealing with a piece of paper and not a human face