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Crime, Race, Prejudice, FearBy Edward I. Koch: Edward I. Koch is Mayor of New York City

Published: January 19, 1987

In the aftermath of the Howard Beach incident, we must restate certain truths about the evil of racism, the need for racial tolerance and the

importance of the fight against discrimination. But we will not advance racial understanding unless we also attempt to come to grips with the

fear of crime in general and white fear of black crime in particular.

By now, the Howard Beach story is well-known: three black men walking in a predominantly white neighborhood were set upon by a gang of

white teen-agers. Shouting racial epithets, the gang chased and assaulted the black men, one of whom was killed when he ran onto a highway.

No one has defended the criminal behavior attributed to the gang of white youths. The assaults appear to have been provoked only by the fact

that the men were black. Some voices, however, have urged understanding for the general proposition that residents of a mostly white

neighborhood are justified in being suspicious of any black person who enters their neighborhood. In support of this position, they cite personal

incidents of victimization by blacks and statistics showing high levels of criminal behavior among blacks.

We cannot avoid the fact that crime in New York City is disproportionately committed by young men who are black. One recent estimate suggests

that a young black man is 10 times more likely than his white counterpart to commit a robbery. Indeed, on any given day approximately 57

percent of the inmates detained by the New York City Department of Correction are black.

There are many possible responses to these facts - responses that acknowledge their essential truth but look to the experience of black Americans

for explanations.

One explanation reminds us that violent criminals are more likely to be poor and that blacks in contemporary America are disproportionately

poor. To support the general proposition, we could point to an earlier era when poor Irish immigrants populated our jails. Still, one should

hesitate before arguing that poverty causes criminality: certainly, most poor people are law-abiding, and not all impoverished ethnic groups have

the same levels of criminality.

A second explanation suggests that the disproportionately high crime rate among blacks in America must be understood as a cruel legacy of

slavery and Jim Crow. No group has had such a painful experience in America. Centuries of oppression, the destruction of the American black

family and forced economic dependency have, in this view, resulted in a pattern of anti-social behavior.

Still another explanation suggests that black criminality is, to some extent at least, an artifact of a racist criminal justice system. Those who hold

this view cite statistics showing that a black man is more likely to be stopped by the police and arrested for behavior that, had he been white,

might have been overlooked. According to other statistics, once a black man is arrested, he is more likely, other things being equal, to be

convicted and sentenced to prison. This is troubling indeed, but we must be careful not to take the argument too far, for surely society must

provide punishment that fits the crime whatever the race of the criminal.

Each of these explanations contains more than a kernel of truth. Yet for present purposes, it is more important that we examine the effect of

black criminality rather than the cause. In other words, we should come to grips with the fact that, for many whites, crime has a black face, and,

because in their minds race and crime have become inextricably intertwined, their fear of crime fuels a larger set of racial stereotypes and

prejudices.

How do we acknowledge understandable and appropriate fear of crime while condemning inexcusable and intolerable racial stereotyping? If we

recognize the disproportionately high level of crime in the black community, are we not condoning the attitudes and actions of those who would

discriminate against blacks?

To distinguish fear from racism, we should understand the role of racial stereotyping. Racism is defined by Webster's as the belief that one race is

superior to another. Like its close cousins, religious and ethnic prejudice, racism consists of a set of attitudes, a bundle of beliefs, that provide a

rationale and justification for overt acts of discrimination. The racist world view is expressed, in large measure, through racial stereotyping. Often

these stereotypes have some basis in truth. The evil of stereotyping, however, is that characteristic of some members of a race or ethnic group is

applied indiscriminately to the entire group. It may be true, for example, that the Mafia is made up of Italians; that does not mean that all

Italians are involved in organized crime. Nor does the high incidence of criminality among black youth justify stereotyping black youths as

criminals. The truth of the narrow proposition does not justify the broad stereotype.

A black man walking into an all-white neighborhood may be suspected by some white residents of being up to no good. On what basis would

they think this? There can be no basis other than a racial stereotype: had he been white, the suspicion would not be raised. Similarly, a white

person walking in a black neighborhood might be viewed suspiciously - as someone to be feared or distrusted. Might there be circumstances

where these fears might be warranted? Certainly, if the individual was acting strangely and, based on objective facts, appeared intent upon

committing a crime. But without a good reason for suspicion, the suspicion should be defined as unjustifiable racial stereotyping.

Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do

not fit the group stereotype, then it begins to fall apart. An integrated neighborhood of law-abiding black and white residents is less likely tobecome the stage for an incident like that seen at Howard Beach. For this reason, I believe we must continue to enforce housing discrimination

laws so that people of all backgrounds can live in any neighborhood they can afford.

The incident at Howard Beach thus provides an opportunity to speak out against racism in its many forms -to find a common thread between

the stereotyping that assumed the three black men were intent upon mischief, the racially motivated criminal acts of the white youths at the

pizzeria and, in a larger sense, the overt discrimination that keeps some of our neighborhoods all-white.

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But the Howard Beach incident should also be seen as a lesson about fear. The justifiable fear and resentment of blacks against the bigotry of

significant numbers of whites should be understood and understood sympathetically. The fear of crime is also understandable, and the fear of

black crime has some basis in truth. But none of these fears - among either blacks or whites - justify stereotyping, discrimination or violence.