Well this is a good look for Milwaukee...

[Benny B]

I don't know....I bet you look a lot like one of those Canadians that are clearly up to no good....

[Brewtown Andy]

Okay, if only to distract people and keep this thread from turning ugly.

Here is the most recent one:  A woman complained that this semester, her daughter had 8:00 classes every morning and and also, some evening classes. "At this point, I had to step in. How is she supposed to find time to study with a schedule like that?"

.... Is her daughter a vampire and unable to study between 9am and 5pm?

[Spotcheck Billy]

  Be frightened and ask for the police to stay a while longer; racist.  Not to mention, I'm gonna guess my analysis of this episode have given me that title as well.

Perhaps the store would benefit from hiring onsite security guards if it's so bad employees are afraid to come out of the back room

[mu_hilltopper]

Because IMO it isn't a "plausible reason."

There is absolutely NO reason that I can think of why this would be classified as a "traumatic experience" that they would need a police presence. 

Can't tell if your kidding or trolling at this point.   Thinking you are being robbed, locking yourself in a back room is plausibly a traumatic experience, full stop.  If you can't admit that's plausible, there's simply a point where you've gone from reasonably debating a topic, to not, which is unfortunate.
 

Right.  The black guys really don't know when it is racism.  It is only racism when the white guys reasonable people, after analysis, can't come up with a better explanation.

(Partially) FIFY.  This case is a great example of snap judgments.  Read comments from the various media outlets .. 95%+ of posters have absolutely no idea what happened Friday-Monday that explains the call to police.

Fortunately, through analysis and debate, we've dispensed with the false narrative, and now can focus on one sentence in the police report: a frightened employee asking the cops to stay a while longer.    Progress!

[mu03eng]

Then what does that make her? Isn't treating or reacting to someone differently on the basis of their race pretty much the definition of racism?
She may not be intentionally so, and may never consciously/intentionally act in a racist manner (or at least that she's aware of), but i don't see how you can say she treats a black customer differently from a white customer, but that's not racist.

As a somewhat related side note, I suspect we're all a little racist to one degree or another, thanks to our societal/cultural upbringings. Studies like those using the implicit bias test have shown this over and over, even showing that many African-Americans are more likely to be biased in favor of whites.
It's what it is, but it doesn't mean we shouldn't all strive to overcome our biases, and it doesn't excuse those who fail/choose not to do so.

This is where I think we done ourselves a disservice in the use of language.  I completely agree on the bias statement(there was a great episode on this from Morgan Freeman's Through the Wormhole) but just because one is biased in a situation doesn't make them racist.  The brain is a bias engine, it literally takes tons of data and boils it down to a series of assumptions/biases so that it can make decisions and execute actions.  The sales people were acting on biases, but we can't say whether that bias was based on race or some other experience. 

How do we know she would have treated a white customer differently.  If all of the details were the exact same but it was Ryan Braun or Andrew Bogut not John Henson does it all go down the same way?  If yes, she has bias but not a racial one(unless she's racist and anti-semtic).  If she treats them different than she has a racial bias in this situation.  If she treats all african americans in a biased manner regardless of context than she is indeed racist.  One can be racially biased in an individual situation without out being a racist IMO.

Thoughts?

[mu_hilltopper]

... To another comment about racism and profiling being common .. University of Washington did a study .. turns out, we're born with a race preference.  I imagine no one is shocked.

http://time.com/67092/baby-racists-survival-strategy/

[rocket surgeon]

the school's racial make-up was something like 20% caucasian, the rest hispanic and african american.  the principal didn't get the results she wanted or thought would be appropriate.??  i heard that after bill oreilly brought it up, she had a change of heart-a teaching moment?  so, is this racist?  just wondering...

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/10/20/principal-holds-up-student-election-results-because-winners-not-diverse-enough.html

[Pakuni]

If she treats all african americans in a biased manner regardless of context than she is indeed racist.  One can be racially biased in an individual situation without out being a racist IMO.

Thoughts?

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your point above (which is entirely possible), but it seems as if you're suggesting that in order to be racist, one must be biased (or act in a biased manner) against all members of that race in every situation.
That's a pretty tall order. Under those circumstances, only the most virulent of bigots would qualify.
For example, IMO, Donald Sterling is racist as f---. Yet he donated millions to civil rights causes over the years, so clearly he did not show his bias in all situations.
Am I getting you wrong here?

But ultimately, I don't know if these employees are racist or not.  After all, I don't know these people, much less understand their beliefs. But I am comfortable believing their actions on that particular day were racist.

[CTWarrior]

I think you need to look up the term racial profiling because it is NEVER appropriate.  Racial profiling means using someone's race as the sole reason to suspect someone of a crime, etc.  It doesn't mean that if someone matches the description of a criminal or terrorist that race can't be part of that description.

I will just say this.  My brother is a retired cop in Bridgeport, which is the biggest cioty in CT and a very high-crime city.  Whenever a cop in Bridgeport saw a white guy in a nice car in Father Panik Village, it was a sure bet (99%) that he was there buying drugs.  The other 1% were very lost.  You stop that guy on his way out, and you make a drug bust every time.  Is that racial profiling or good police work?

[brandx]

I will just say this.  My brother is a retired cop in Bridgeport, which is the biggest cioty in CT and a very high-crime city.  Whenever a cop in Bridgeport saw a white guy in a nice car in Father Panik Village, it was a sure bet (99%) that he was there buying drugs.  The other 1% were very lost.  You stop that guy on his way out, and you make a drug bust every time.  Is that racial profiling or good police work?

Different take on it, but why waste time on guys buying drugs? Has about as much effect on the drug trade as arresting johns has on the hooker trade.

[Pakuni]

I will just say this.  My brother is a retired cop in Bridgeport, which is the biggest cioty in CT and a very high-crime city.  Whenever a cop in Bridgeport saw a white guy in a nice car in Father Panik Village, it was a sure bet (99%) that he was there buying drugs.  The other 1% were very lost.  You stop that guy on his way out, and you make a drug bust every time.  Is that racial profiling or good police work?

It's very likely unlawful (i.e. doesn't meet the probable cause standard) to pull someone over just for driving a nice car in a particular neighborhood while being of a certain race.
So the question in itself is sort of moot.

[CTWarrior]

Different take on it, but why waste time on guys buying drugs? Has about as much effect on the drug trade as arresting johns has on the hooker trade.

How about to discourage customers from going there and cutting off an avenue of sale?  Or because often they will tell you where they got it to avoid prosecution?  Anybody who was not there buying drugs would appreciate a police visit to help them get out of there, too.

[CTWarrior]

It's very likely unlawful (i.e. doesn't meet the probable cause standard) to pull someone over just for driving a nice car in a particular neighborhood while being of a certain race.
So the question in itself is sort of moot.

Yeah, that particular place has been torn down, but they can't do stuff like that anymore.

[rocket surgeon]

Different take on it, but why waste time on guys buying drugs? Has about as much effect on the drug trade as arresting johns has on the hooker trade.

many reasons to arrest guys buying drugs:  it is against the law to buy/use drugs, it might get the person into treatment,  said person buying the drugs might be breaking the law in other areas-theft, abuse, etc..., the drug dealer loses customers-do you realize how much violence surrounds the drug trade?  if not arresting drug buyers, why have any laws re: the drug culture?  where do we start/stop with enforcing the law?  when ny city enforced the laws under "broken windows" model, all crime went down dramatically

[mu03eng]

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your point above (which is entirely possible), but it seems as if you're suggesting that in order to be racist, one must be biased (or act in a biased manner) against all members of that race in every situation.
That's a pretty tall order. Under those circumstances, only the most virulent of bigots would qualify.
For example, IMO, Donald Sterling is racist as f---. Yet he donated millions to civil rights causes over the years, so clearly he did not show his bias in all situations.
Am I getting you wrong here?

But ultimately, I don't know if these employees are racist or not.  After all, I don't know these people, much less understand their beliefs. But I am comfortable believing their actions on that particular day were racist.

I don't think it's all or every, but there should be a track record certainly of a racial bias for someone to be racist.  You can certainly act racist based an event.

I don't understand the Sterling example, he seemingly displays racist tendencies in everything he does, just because he gives money to civil rights organizations doesn't mean he's not biased all the time.  Hell, he could be giving money because he's trying to prevent people from recognizing his racism.

Maybe I'm being semantical, but if you label someone a racist because of a single action that is a very tough burden to put on someone.  Additionally, if you set the bar at that level(never taking an action that can be interpreted as racist) that's where people will disengage.  Everything I've ever been trained on with diversity and inclusion is about a two street between sender and receiver, receiver needs to understand there is context and bias in a sender as the sender has to understand there is context and bias in the way the receiver receives it.

Given all the facts and information, I agree the primary interpretation of the employee's action is a racist one. 

Now, if we find out the employee worked at a store previously where a customer was vetted by the police and then turned around and robbed the place....context is different(this is a ridiculous stretch, just making an example) and she is biased but not necessarily racially.

[ChicosBailBonds]

So for the people here that label this incident as racist, if anyone shops there moving forward...are they racists?  Are they supporting a racist entity?

[ChicosBailBonds]

On Thursday, I drove through a Border Patrol checkpoint on I-8 in east San Diego County.  I can wholeheartedly assure you that they were racially profiling EVERYONE.  Fortunately, I don't look like an illegal immigrant, so we got the polite hand that waved us through.

Here's the kicker... the Border Patrol agent who was deciding who to wave through and who to direct to the "examination station" was clearly of Latino ancestry.

Yup....it's called common sense policing.  Others want to make it racial as in a bad thing, when it's about not wasting time searching 90 year old grandmas.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I've only been through the border once .. I think it was 1975 and I was 6 years old on a tourist bus trip to Tijuana.

I distinctly remember everyone stepping off the return bus and being instructed to say "I am a citizen of the United States of America" to the patrol guy.

I thought for sure I was going to ef it up and not get back in!   

Not today's crack border patrol.  I've been through the I8 version that Benny talks of many times....usually it isn't even a slow roll but cruising at about 45 mph.  Now, on the actual border, it's a little different, but not much.  We do a lot of winky winky these days.  Can't be making enemies you know.

[4everwarriors]

So, a lotta pit bulls are known to be fine, upstandin' dogs. Upon commin' across a random pit bull ya gotta be on your guard until proven outta wise, hey?

[Benny B]

Not today's crack border patrol.  I've been through the I8 version that Benny talks of many times....usually it isn't even a slow roll but cruising at about 45 mph.  Now, on the actual border, it's a little different, but not much.  We do a lot of winky winky these days.  Can't be making enemies you know.

It was a slow roll, but we weren't going more than 5 mph once we were in line... they were out in full force last Thursday.  I don't know if it's an indicator of a typical day, but I counted no fewer than four helicopters in a 30 minute period on that stretch.

[Skatastrophy]

So for the people here that label this incident as racist, if anyone shops there moving forward...are they racists?  Are they supporting a racist entity?

Not if the owner fires the employees involved.

[Pakuni]

So, a lotta pit bulls are known to be fine, upstandin' dogs. Upon commin' across a random pit bull ya gotta be on your guard until proven outta wise, hey?

[ChicosBailBonds]

It was a slow roll, but we weren't going more than 5 mph once we were in line... they were out in full force last Thursday.  I don't know if it's an indicator of a typical day, but I counted no fewer than four helicopters in a 30 minute period on that stretch.

That's typically not the case, though usually I'm down there for the weekend when they want traffic to keep rolling.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Not if the owner fires the employees involved.

Has this happened?

What would be the grounds for firing?

[warriorchick]

I am sure 4Never was just giving me an excuse to post this video.  I believe Frankie here is a pit bull.    :

https://www.youtube.com/v/Wk0ZFbGV2Jc