Sometimes to see an issue right way up, you need to stand it on its head. Imagine a story that read like this:
Kenosha police are swamped in their attempts to stem a wave of crime that ranges from fraud, to dealing drugs, to murder."There's one common thread in all of this," says Kenosha Police Chief Brian Ford. "In each case, the criminals are white."
While statistics on crime are not recorded by race, Kenosha police estimate that fully 90 per cent of crimes committed locally are by whites. Police are calling for the hiring of more white officers, to help them better understand the customs of the white criminals. Ford, who is white, is frank about the racial element in the crime spree. "Some of these families have been in Wisconsin for generations. The scary part is, the criminals look just like you or me."
Police sources say that white criminals often wear sports gear or even business suits, but there is no distinctive dress code that could alert potential victims to the presence of a white criminal.
Spokesmen for local whites were shocked by the numbers, but defensive. Jacquelin Holzman is a member of Kenosha City Council, an all white group that is believed to exert considerable influence within the white community. She goes by the street name The Mayor.
"Certainly the white people I know are the exception here," Holzman said. "Land developers, lobbyists, people like that. All fine citizens. We sometimes forget about them when the media write another story about white crime.''
The figures on white crime are "stunning, spectacular, stupendous'' said Counsellor Richard Cannings. Cannings, who is white, is proposing a series of one-way streets and road closings to keep white criminals out of his ward.
Some criminologists question whether race is the dominating factor in determining criminal activity, pointing to poverty and lack of jobs. "If government could find a way to put white people to work, many wouldn't need to turn to crime," says Prof. John Smith.
Spokesmen for Wisconsin's native peoples were relieved that the white crime problem has finally been brought out into the open. "We want genealogical testing done on these people so they can be deported to their homelands. Let England and Ireland deal with their own problems," said one.
Sounds silly when you put it that way doesn't it? Almost as silly as having to seriously discuss the notion that because some members of minority groups are criminals, all are no good.
Adapted from a lesson originally posted at http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/issues/minrep/resource/Articles/denley.htm