[Dave-P]

Why is it that when you hear about white-on-black crime, it’s “preposterous,” but when you hear about black-on-black crime, it’s “a shame”?

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Name : Dave-P, Gender : M, City : Brighton, State : MI, Country : United States, 

[Dan27360]

White-on-black crime is usually racially motivated… or at least the instances you hear about on the news are such. Black-on-black crime is usually contained within certain predominantly black communities where most others rarely tread, and it’s usually over drugs, money, rivalries or other reasons… which are your general run-of-the-mill street crimes. However, 6 drunken nazis giving an innocent 60 year old black man a ‘boot party’ is of an entirely different nature. Any common street crimes that involve whites and blacks and that are not racially motivated probably won’t make a splash in the news any more than black-on-black or brown-on-brown crime would. And I am glad that racial incidents receive the outcry that they do in this day and age, because back in the day they were both swept under the rug and celebrated.

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Name : Dan27360, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Pentecostal, Age : 22, City : Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class, 

[Jennifer R.]

I’m a little unsure about what you’re asking, but I assume you want to know why black on black crime seems to be considered less serious that white on black crime. I think it’s because of the circumstances under which much of this violence occurs. Black on black crime is usually due to gang or drug activity, economic rather than racist in motivation. It’s a hazzard of the lifestyle, and I guess no one is too surprised when the chickens come home to roost. That doesn’t mean people aren’t hurt or digusted or angered by it, but in some communities it is seen as such a perenial problem that it just isn’t shocking anymore. When white people attack blacks, it’s usually because of some kind of racist ideology. This kind of attack will always be shocking, because many black people see our story in this country as a litany of violence against us by white people, physical or otherwise. It’s far less common than black on black crime, but every time it happens, I think some of us wonder, ‘Oh sh–, are they starting again?’ There is no way to predict when this kind of violence will strike, or how far it will go, or why it has started. Therefore, maybe we feel that there’s no way to protect ourselves. You can get to know where high drug trafficking and gang activity areas are, but you can’t pick the homicidal racists out of 70+ per cent of the population. This is very unsettling. This is my take, anyway. ________________________________________________

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Name : Jennifer R., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Humanist, Age : 29, City : Saint Paul, State : MN, Country : United States, Occupation : Writer/Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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