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it all seems rather rational to me. All people of all colors automatically are more on guard with young black men dressed a certain way in certain circumstances, because of the perception out there in the media, in statistics, and in personal experience. There are truths behind every steryotype. Just like all people of all genders out there are more on guard with a young man doing this than a young woman. Hell, they'd probably be more on guard with a young person over an old person. The show does make the mistake in that the two guys were not dressed the same, they were dressed similar but not the same. And such little differences make a big impact on people's perceptions. If the white guy had dressed more like the black guy, he probably would've gotten even some more reaction.
It's not really fucked up to make such distinctions or even to generalize as such. It just so happens that in the US these distinctions have messed up unique histories backing them up, but the same is true everywhere else. It happens everywhere around the world, even the so-called enlightened areas. Everyone there still steryotypes. Everyone there still generalizes. It is human nature.
Now to attribute those steryotypes to biological differences based on race is messed up. But if someone is more on guard around young black men because of their perceptions or someone is more at ease around young white men because of their perceptions it doesn't necessarily make them racist. It just makes them human. They could attribute their generalizing to the way that blacks have it harder in society or how whites have it easier. That's a logical conclusion.
That's not to say it doesn't hurt others to steryotype or generalize based on race, gender, etc. but to say that someone doesn't do it is laughable. Unless you get a lobotomy, you generalize. It is hard-wired into the human brain for survival. Some people are much better at withholding final judgment than others, and having a lot of experience with lots of different kinds of people helps someone understand the differences better, but it doesn't ever stop people from generalizing or steryotyping. It's not something that is surprising or even fucked up. What's fucked up are the conditions or circumstances which lead certain groups to be steryotyped in some negative way, and the lack of action to change those conditions and therefore to change the generalizations and steryotypes.
Generalizations and steryotypes based on ignorance (of which there are a lot) happen because of a lack of interaction between different groups. And in the US, groups are pretty darn segregated, but you see more harmony in communities where there is more interaction and therefore more understanding and where it is less likely people will generalize based on what they've heard rather than what they've experienced. Not that experience is the end-all-be-all of understanding others.
I see generalizing and steryotyping quite often right here on DU. Sure, it is reserved for the right and the teabaggers, but there is always someone with a ready description of what your teabagger looks like. And in general, they are correct. But they are steryotyping and may very well think one person is a teabagger who isn't, just from their race, age, or the way they are dressed. And no one on here seems to think this is wrong to do, or at least, they don't speak up. If you think that is logical, then you must think that the way these people reacted to the black kid is logical as well.
Personally, I wouldn't have called on any of them. I would've just thought they were fucking with me. Not to mention the hassle to try to apprehend some bike theif just doesn't seem worth it to me, or all that heroic, and could end rather badly. I would have just walked on.
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