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Black men (and boys) somehow grow much bigger and threatening when seen through white eyes [1]
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Date: 2023-04-20
As reported by Rachel Hatzipanagos and Timothy Bella, writing for the Washington Post, these skewed perceptions by Whites of Black peoples’ physical size and the degree of “threat” they supposedly represent because of that have been confirmed in numerous studies.
Similar language has been used in other cases, reflecting the fear people of other races sometimes feel upon seeing Black people, researchers say. In multiple studies, people who were asked to judge the size of Black people tended to see Black men as bigger and stronger than they actually were, and gave Black children the attributes of adults. The result is that they are seen as more dangerous, researchers say.
Racially biased perceptions of size, weight and the supposed “threat” represented by Black males have been cited by the American Psychological Association for the disproportionate number of unarmed Black men shot by police, as has the perception among Whites that young black Males (from age 10 and up) are somehow “older” and thus “less innocent” than White children the same age. These stereotypes, as noted by Hatzipanagos and Bella, are routinely reinforced and used as excuses by law enforcement and others involved in acts of unwarranted violence perpetrated on Black men, both young and old:
When a police officer shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in 2014, the president of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association defended the officer describing Rice as “a 12-year-old in an adult body.” Before George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin, 17, in 2012, Zimmerman called 911 and described the Black teen as “a guy who looks like he’s up to no good or on drugs or something.” And former Ferguson, Mo., police officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014, likened the struggle inside his vehicle that preceded the deadly shooting to “a 5-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan.”
Disproportionate coverage of Black crime by local and national news media, stereotyped portrayals in television and film, and institutionalized racism in the criminal justice system have all but internalized these types of biases in the minds of millions of Americans. The New York Times interviewed neighbors and relatives of Lester, who described him as “surly,” sometimes “aggressive, and spen[ding] considerable time at home in a living room chair, watching conservative news programs at high volume.” In other words, he seems to be just the type of person — with a hair-trigger temper, just waiting to feel threatened — that one might expect to react in such a violent way to the unexpected appearance of a young Black male.
As Kurt Hugenberg, professor of psychology at Indiana University, interviewed for the Post article, explains:
Racial stereotypes about Black people appearing bigger, stronger and more formidable tend to result in White people viewing them as dangerous regardless of the reality of their size, said Hugenberg, the Indiana University professor. In some studies, Hugenberg showed participants images of Black men and White men who are about the same height and weight. Participants often thought the Black men appeared larger, he said.
This bias among Whites toward assuming a threat from Black people is even demonstrable in Whites’ reactions to Black facial expressions. As the authors in the Post article note:
Another study, led by UCLA psychologist Jenessa Shapiro, found that White people were more likely to perceive facial expressions as being threatening if those expressions came from a Black man. “White participants failed to reduce their judgments of threat when a (neutral) Black male face followed an angry Black male face,” according to the study, which was published in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. “Indeed, after viewing an initial same-race angry face, Black males were seen as more threatening than White males, even though the faces were pretested to be equivalently neutral.”
So, the fact that young Ralph Yarl was by all accounts an honor student, a musician, loved by friends and teachers, and an all-around “sweet kid” likely never entered Lester’s mind. He was “a Black male, approximately 6 feet tall.” Even if he was only 5’ 8.” And whatever facial expression he was displaying when he rang the doorbell probably didn’t matter much to Lester.
None of this is intended to excuse Lester’s indefensible actions; he should be put away for the rest of his miserable life. He’s just one more in the innumerable list of reasons why Black parents are forced to have “the talk” with their kids, something that few White parents ever need to consider. As put by one Black parent, interviewed in the Post article, “[I]t’s a crushing thing to have to explain to a child.”
But Lester is more than simply one individual. He’s the sad product of centuries of racism, fed and encouraged in his fears and beliefs by an American culture that’s never come to terms with its most egregious, fatal flaw.
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