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Comment by throwaway7312 | Hacker News Reader

If you've had the experience of being physically assaulted by random blacks high on drugs, had other random blacks break into your car, and still others accost you at night and ask probing questions designed to test how soft or hard you are as a robbery target (not to mention been pickpocketed by other blacks you tried being nice to), as I have, and you relocate yourself somewhere there are not so many of these people, as my family has, does that make you racist?

Genuinely asking, as I'm unclear how this term's defined these days.

As far as I'm aware, racism used to be defined as "believing one race is superior to another."

However it seems most of its users use it now to mean "protecting oneself from populations with, on average, markedly higher violent crime rates than other populations." You're not supposed to do that - you're supposed to grin and bear it.

For diversity.

Right?

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According to Merriam-Webster[1], racism is defined as one of the following:

1. a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

2.a. a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles

2.b. a political or social system founded on racism

3. racial prejudice or discrimination

As far as your comment you are simply "protecting oneself from populations with, on average, markedly higher violent crime rates than other populations," if that population is defined by race, you are being racist unless there is some newly published study I have yet to hear about that "blacks love crime."

[1] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism

Yeah, except that in reality, socioeconimc conditions are often tied closely to race. That doesn't mean that e.g. blacks are inherently more likely to commit crime than Asians, but certainly blacks are a more impoverished race in general. That leads to higher crime rates, so it's certainly not racist to be more fearful of that group of people in general, it's just a learned behavior and a reflection of reality.

Dude, the 80's called. They want their cliches back.

I personally have had the experience of being physically assaulted for being a white nerd who dared 'diss a clique of blacks in my high school. It was 1993.

First of all, things have changed, and changed radically. If you want your car broken into and rifled through, you;re more likely to get that joy in a small rural town, thanks to the opiates epidemic.

Secondly, the cities have become remarkably safer, though no less diverse.

The problem with that argument is that white collar corporate fraud is far more of a social problem than small-scale mugging. It's hugely more destructive of security and prosperity.

The list of corporate crimes, especially in finance, is not short. Just because (e.g.) LIBOR fixing doesn't threaten you with a gun doesn't mean you're not still a victim of theft, and that you haven't lost real money as a result of it.

So if you're arguing that crime is bad, then yes - it's racist to limit your definition of dangerous and anti-social crime to direct physical assaults by poor black people.

You cannot isolate yourself from corporate crimes based on where you live.

I wonder if you can find a single person who holds the position that you're arguing against.

Ahem... black people.

How is this clearly racist post from a throwaway account being upvoted while the parent comment is downvoted nearly into oblivion?

WTF does the person's race have to do with it?

You're just ignorant for labelling the race instead of the pertinent attribute: criminal. Are you OK being victimized by whites in Appalachia robbing you for pain pills or white rednecks in Tennessee high on Meth? As long as "blacks" don't do it?

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I don't think this is a very good argument. The term blacks was likely arbitrarily chosen and wasn't meant in a derogatory or disrespectful manner.

Also, where in the world have you lived? I just moved out of Harlem a few months ago and experienced everything the OP mentioned and more. The fact is, Harlem (at least East Harlem) is a dangerous and predominately black community. Crime there is driven more by circumstance (upbringing, low income, environment, etc.) than skin color, obviously, but I don't blame anyone who wants to move out of a dangerous area.

Also, "don't live around poor people" is basically saying "why don't you just make more money?", and is incredibly thoughtless. I didn't choose to live in a crumbling walkup in the bad part of town, I had to because that was my only option, and I got out as soon as I could.

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