[zozin]

“It’s my pretty firm belief,” says Gilliard, “that the police should not be called unless someone’s life is in danger.”

That can seem, to some, like a noble if naive thought. Yet Gilliard offers a retort. “The likelihood that it was a Brown or Black person who egged my car, based on where I live, is pretty high,” he says. “When you call the police on a Black or Brown person, there’s a good chance you are putting their life in danger. I don’t think that is a thing one should do lightly.”

The mental gymnastics of well-intentioned paternalism is humorous to see in practice. If it’s rational not to call the cops in this situation because the risk of negative externalities is far too great, then two conclusions are possible: (1) black/brown people are rational actors and they know the chance of getting caught/punished is very low, thus are incentivized to continue breaking the law, thus creating a vicious cycle where more law breaking begets more leniency, which begets more law breaking or (2) black/brown people are not rational, and need the benevolence of others to make sure they do not end up in jail.

Either way you slice it, it becomes clear that even well intentioned individuals are mostly acting out of self interest. It’s in the interests of Gilliard to not call the cops because losing a $50 package that will be reimbursed anyway is less important than projecting the image that he deeply cares about black and brown people.

[d0gsg0w00f]

Yes, if you try to think about the problem logically you're always going to come to one of those sobering conclusions--"we must treat someone differently because of the color of their skin and factors outside of their control". If I was a marginalized group I would be pissed off that you're patronizing me and you don't think I'm capable of meeting your standards. It's the complete opposite of what we've been fighting for for the last 50 years.