| Race and Racialism: Q&A |
A: Sorry, but your friends and co-workers do not a scientific survey make. The blacks who exist in your circle of friends and associates are going to be those who share common interests, skills, tastes and talents with you. If you are a middle class, white, veterinarian it's not very likely that you will be friends or associates with black ex-convicts or homeless crack-addicts. The blacks you meet and know will probably live and work near you and may have many common interests. Few middle-class whites come in contact with black prostitutes or chronic welfare abusers. So we should not look to blacks we know when forming a group opinion. You would object if the same tactic were used to find contrary evidence. If the only black person, Mr. X knew was a violent rapist, would he be correct in thinking that most blacks are violent rapists? Of course not. So if personal experience is invalid for Mr. X it's invalid for you and me, too. In forming an opinion on blacks as a race we should examine scientific surveys and studies. Personal anecdotal evidence is only helpful in aggregate (i.e. when it's combined with the views, recollections of many others forming a cross section of whites (or blacks, or New Yorkers, etc) beliefs). |