Implicit Bias Leads to Explicit Danger

There has been considerable and well-deserved publicity regarding cases where implicit or explicit police bias has led to unwarranted arrests and shooting of unarmed black individuals. The Starbucks case illustrates how a black man waiting at a place of business can be construed as loitering or engaging in disorderly conduct. A black man standing in his backyard with a telephone in his hand can be shot as a potentially dangerous suspect. About 22-25% of people shot and killed by police in 2017 were unarmed black men (Sullivan, Anthony, Tate, & Jenkins, 2018). How many of these shootings were necessary? It is similarly true that about 25% of the people killed by police are experiencing a mental health crisis (Khan, 2017). Many of those shot may be both acting in ways that suggest mental illness and be black, a double stigma. For example, a Chicago police officer called to handle a domestic dispute in a black neighborhood, saw Quintonio Legrier wielding a bat and within three minutes of arrival on the scene shot and killed both him and Bettie Jones, his neighbor who was keeping an eye on him (Fusco & Dumke, 2016). The major cases of police use of lethal force investigated by the Department of Justice in Chicago involved disabled black men (Perry, 2017). Like in the Starbucks incident, many members of the public generalize from their own experiences of being treated well to conclude that the men at Starbucks or others in similar situations would never have been arrested...
Source: Psych Central - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Bipolar Personal Stories Policy and Advocacy Psychological Assessment Psychology Treatment Bias Bipolar Disorder Hospitalization Prejudice race Source Type: news