BY STUDENT
Growing up I was
raised in Mamaroneck, New York, which is a predominately white town. In the
last U.S. Census (2010) the population in Mamaroneck was made up by 65.3
percent White only, 24.3 percent Hispanic or Latino, 4.9 percent Asian only and
4.1 percent Black or African American only (U.S. Census 2010). Growing up in
this environment there was always a tension between a police officer and me
while we were talking. Even though the population was mostly White when someone
was accused of a crime it was more than likely that the individual was either
Latino or Black. I always wondered why this was. Why is it that even in a
mostly White neighborhood the crime rate is always centralized around
minorities such as Latinos and Blacks? Media is what has lead to people
centralizing crime around these minorities. When it comes to minorities who
have already committed crimes they were lead there by social labeling.
Being a Latino
teenager in this neighborhood I always felt like I was being watched at all
times because of the color of my skin. It’s almost as I was part of the broken
window in that town. A big part I think that led to people to was media. When
watching the news or reading a news article about crime its always focused on
the minorities. It was either that a Latino or Black person killed someone or
robbed a store; rarely to never did I ever see or read about a White person
being called out on the media unless they were someone that was relevant to pop
culture. When seeing this I think it puts an image in people heads that all
Latinos and Blacks are same in the way they act in society. I find that people
connect the race to crime; just because you’re part of the race you’re connected
with crime (Muhammad, 2010). Just walking around my neighborhood, being Latino
you were automatically being watched by police. In my case police officers
thought I was getting into trouble by sitting outside my on my steps and would
tell me I couldn’t sit there even though I lived there. When it came to a White
person if they sat on the steps it was fine even though they didn’t even live
there. It’s preconceived ideas that lead people to judge. The Way that the
police officers saw it is that I was Latino and since people like me have been
seen doing wrong I’m automatically involved in no good.
Social labeling
leads many people to take place in crime. In the symbolic internationalist
theory of crime, the labeling theory plays a big role; you label someone under
a certain category and soon enough they will be what you make them out to be
(Mooney 2013). If your always making out someone to be a criminal they will
eventually believe it and fall into it because you were able to change their
perception on themselves. In my neighborhood I’ve see this with people that I
used to know. They could’ve been a good student in school that rarely if ever
got in trouble but because they lived under a stigma that they were going to
eventually mess up they eventually did. They either started using drugs or they
got caught up in something that they shouldn’t have. While it doesn’t seem like
a big deal social labeling has a big role in the criminalization of Latinos and
Blacks. Imagine if we lived in a world where labeling wasn’t a thing would we
still have as many minority criminals as we do now?
Work Cited
Mooney, Linda A., David
Knox, and Caroline Schacht. Understanding Social Problems. 9th ed. Stamford:
Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.
Muhammad, Khalil Gibran.
The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban
America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2010. Print.
United States Census
Bureau. "Mamaroneck (village) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau."
Mamaroneck (village) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. N.p., 24 Sept. 2015.
Web. 06 Oct. 2015.
I know what its like to live in an area where judgement is apparent. My neighboring town has a much larger Latino/ African American residence and unfortunately where they reside is also where all the crime happens. The white's are living towards the outskirts of town, while the 'downtown like' center is mostly made of up Latino/ African Americans. In this area, cops make larger appearances, and as someone who has been to that part of town many times, its pretty rare to not see a police car or an officer every 10-20 minutes while walking around town. Meanwhile on the outskirts where whites live its pretty rare to see police at all.
ReplyDeleteI agree with a lot of what you've said about stigmas relating to minorities. I as a Muslim am stigmatized and even persecuted sometimes for my religion. In your last paragraph you talk about how stigmatizing people will eventually lead to them taking on said stigma and basically conforming to the way people judge them based on the race proving those who are prejudice correct about their stereotypes. While this may be true in some cases, I have to disagree on a whole. I think being stereotyped and stigmatized makes a person want to be an even better role model for society. It's a motivation that drives one forward to proving to those with such narrow sight that their stigmas and stereotypes are indeed biased and completely and utterly backwards. If we want to fix the problem of race to crime, the way is persist in our good actions and show the world through media that we are actually normal citizens that are probably even better than most as we make it part of our way of life to be righteous and kind to others.
ReplyDeleteI as a Muslim as well can relate to being stigmatized for my religion as well as others who share the same religion as me. I noticed a big flux of this after 9/11 terrorist attack where the social media was used as a huge platform to proclaim that almost all Muslims were a terrorist and bad for America. I notice this a lot especially when I travel and hear stories from other Muslims traveling about the racism they encounter at the airport. Not to mention the news doesn't help much either. When a white person bombs a church or goes on a shooting spree at a school, they are labeled as mental and not in the right mind. But anytime there is an attack caused by any Muslim its a "terrorist attack".
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Hanifah that being stereotyped and stigmatized makes a person want to prove that not everyone of their kind is labeled as a bad person or the same. I believe there is good and bad in everyone and I don't think an ENTIRE race of people should be crucified of just one person's actions.
I as a Muslim as well can relate to being stigmatized for my religion as well as others who share the same religion as me. I noticed a big flux of this after 9/11 terrorist attack where the social media was used as a huge platform to proclaim that almost all Muslims were a terrorist and bad for America. I notice this a lot especially when I travel and hear stories from other Muslims traveling about the racism they encounter at the airport. Not to mention the news doesn't help much either. When a white person bombs a church or goes on a shooting spree at a school, they are labeled as mental and not in the right mind. But anytime there is an attack caused by any Muslim its a "terrorist attack".
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Hanifah that being stereotyped and stigmatized makes a person want to prove that not everyone of their kind is labeled as a bad person or the same. I believe there is good and bad in everyone and I don't think an ENTIRE race of people should be crucified of just one person's actions.
I can relate to your description on the stigmas relating to minorities but speaking from my own personal experiences, I have also felt somewhat stigmatized for being hispanic by another minority..I use to live in Ozone park, and majority of the area was predominately African Americans and from time and time again I use to always get bothered because I was a Latina. I also have experienced just like you, being questioned by the police as to why I was sitting in my own steps outside of my house only because my area now has a high rate of crime by the Latinos that live there. I somewhat agree with your statement "Social labeling leads many people to take place in crime." because I have also seen personally people just committing crimes because it was easier for the person to believe they were bad since society kept labeling them as "bad". I feel like it takes a very strong minded person to really separate themselves from the label, and thats why I said I agree sometimes because there are cases in which people are tired of being stigmatized negatively so they strive to do better for themselves.
ReplyDeleteI love to read articles like this because they are genuinely so entertaining. The irony in criminalization is that the majority of people who commit crimes that are dangerous to others are not even people of color, but are seen more within white populations. I get so bothered hearing about racial profiling because someone like you becomes stigmatized based on the way you look and that is absolutely terrible. I am sorry to hear you do not feel comfortable having a relationship with the people who are very well supposed to be protecting you. That is the stereotypes of today's society and a reform is greatly needed.
ReplyDeleteA.C.
If we lived in a society were social labeling did not exist, I believe it would not necessarily be a good thing because without labels how would we know right from wrong. People would not know how to strive to be a good person in society. However, I feel like social labeling has its limit. Once you start labeling an entire race as deviant, it will affect future generations ability to normally fit into society.
ReplyDeleteI really like that this post opened up with the question, “Why is it that even in a mostly white neighborhood the crime rate is always centralized around minorities such as Latinos and blacks?” 65.3 is a very large percentage of a group of people in a community. Racial profiling is also a social evil, and it is unacceptable. Your race or the color of your skin should not automatically link you to crime or malicious intent. I actually know someone who also got in trouble with the police for sitting outside on the steps of their own house, their own property. It doesn’t make any sense, but the police don’t care about that sometimes, and they will deem you a troublemaker if you have anything to say back. You’re just losing either way, regardless of how unreasonable it is. It’s unfair.
ReplyDeleteInteresting point you make in how social labeling has played a major role in discriminating people in the past decades. Since the civil rights movement, our country was supposed to shift from a racist mentality to a more we are all equal mentality but it has been very challenging for whites. A white superiority was still desired and since race was not able to be used anymore because we were now all "equal", society began using language to marginalize race. Language has allowed for social labeling to happen where we use our language to stereotype races of being "criminals". I agree how social labeling has criminalized Blacks and Latinos because this has lead for many individuals to change their perception of themselves since they are continously being targeted as criminals.
ReplyDeleteI think you're blog raises a very interesting point. You particularly caught my attention when you mentioned the labeling theory. Society is constantly painting minorities as the bad guys, but we rarely hear about the crimes not committed by us. Although there have been many horrible crimes committed by White people, their image remains intact while ours get's tarnished.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see a different perspective. Ive heard a lot about stories here in New York City. But hearing from a latino who grew up in a mostly white neighborhood, it is interesting to see how similar or sometimes worse it is up there. I feel that is is different in the city because there are so many different cultures and most people have accustomed to it, but in places like where you grew up, people aren't so accustomed. I really like where you went with your argument and how you made it personal with stories from your own experiences.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see a different perspective. Ive heard a lot about stories here in New York City. But hearing from a latino who grew up in a mostly white neighborhood, it is interesting to see how similar or sometimes worse it is up there. I feel that is is different in the city because there are so many different cultures and most people have accustomed to it, but in places like where you grew up, people aren't so accustomed. I really like where you went with your argument and how you made it personal with stories from your own experiences.
ReplyDeleteI agree with basically everything that you have stated above. I am also from Mamaroneck and have always felt the tension between the police and people of color. I feel like every time I drive by an officer, I cannot even look at them in fear that I may somehow be seen as suspicious.
ReplyDelete