This is my first post to this discussion group. I have been following
your very interesting threads for a while. I have to stop lurking and
start posting. Tim Connolly induced me to.
I have to applaud him for being honest and saying what most people in
Minnesota are afraid to say in public. We all profile and we do it every
day. I am white, 53 years old, Jewish, and not born or bred in Minnesota
(although I've lived here for over 20 years). Culture is learned behavior
that is passed down from generation to generation. Part of culture is the
evaluation of behavior which is based on values, attitudes, and mores. I
learned how to view the world from my parents, who learned from their
parents etc. My first critical social distinction was between jews and
gentiles. We evaluated jews' behavior differently from gentiles'
behavior. This was from a people who lived in ghettos and did not have
civil rights in the wider society. I went to school with my parents'
prejudices. They grew up in the crucibles of eastcoast immigrant
neighborhoods that had distinct boundries. I learned how to evaluate the
"other" through stereotypes but (and this is a big but) I had day-to-day
interaction with the "others" over a long time. I weighed the stereotype
against the sustained contact. Then came the Civil Rights Movement and
the 1960's. We tried to trancend our prejudges. This is what I do
everyday when dealing with people: are they Jewish or not? what is the
stereotyped view? what is the transcended standard? Are they meeting this
standard?
This is my cultural calculus. We have to take this for granted or else we
would go crazy with minute details. But this is how I see the world and I
admit it.
The police don't admit this. Certainly Chief Olson doesn't own up to his
embedded prejudices. Most Minnesotans don't either. Yet daily social
interactions are profoundly affected by these cultural categories and
attitudes. When you overlay political correct attitudes over your imbred
cultural attitudes you increase the gap between reality and expectations.
I would like to hear from others what they think about this cultural
evaluation and how it plays out for them here in Minneapolis.
The Yiddish phrase for being candid is "shtell tuchis afim tish" which
translates literally into "put your ass on the table."
Thank you Tim for putting your ass on the table.
David Wilson
Loring Park
On Wed, 20 Dec 2000, timothy connolly wrote:
> let's be honest here.
>
> i am a caucasian male, 51 years old, partially reared
> by an afican-american woman. i live mostly with
> african-american men. i've spent my share of time on
> the street with all that entails. i have lived here
> and in virginia. i racially profile. i stereotype. i
> may do it less than others but i do it. black people
> also profile and stereotype though the effects may not
> be felt by whites the way the majority's profiling is
> felt by blacks given the majority's use of police to
> do their dirty work.
>
> i still believe olson should not be reappointed. i
> hold no illusion that this will be a panacaea to the
> problems our city faces vis a vis profiling, police
> over-reliance on force, etc. it is only a beginning.
>
> tim connolly
> ward 7
>
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