Re “Racial Bias – Even if We Have to Fake It”

With questionably supported allegations of racial bias by black and white Oakland police officers against black lawbreakers back in the news, Culver City, says the police chief, can stand up with an unquestionably clean record.

After reading yesterday’s shaky report in the Los Angeles Times, Scott Bixby expressed grave doubts about the quality and veracity of the claims.

“To me, there are a whole lot of variables in the story,” he said.

Mr. Bixby said that accusations of “bias” have been raised against his officers.

Significantly, though, none of them has been meaningful.

Racial prejudice does not just happen in a hollow space. It draws artificial political help in contemporary America, the police chief contends.

He acknowledged that prejudice always will be with us – because we are not all of one kind.

“It is across all races,” Mr. Bixby said. “It is not just white on black or black on white, either.

“Based on experiences, interactions, myths, misconceptions – those are some other reasons for prejudice.”

Then Mr. Bixby zeroed in on a specific target.

“It seems as if there is a certain group of people out there who just want to perpetuate racial prejudice,” Mr. Bixby said.

“They don’t want to work on the biases that people have. They want to keep it going. They want to perpetuate the feeling of us vs. them.”

Mr. Bixby recalled a case in a southern Culver City neighborhood.

“A lady called to complain that people were walking by her driveway,” he said. “She claimed that was her property, not community-type property.

“The lady was right – but she also was wrong.

“She claimed the reason we were not doing anything about it was because she was Chinese and elderly.

“I thought ‘wow.’”

The chief shook his middle-aged head.

“I mean, everybody uses that,” Mr. Bixby said. “Everybody says ‘I am a victim because I am…fill in the blank.’”