I work on the north side of Milwaukee, which is mostly Black. In the 2 years that I have worked there, I have seen more crimes than I did in seven years of working in mostly White neighborhoods.

And if whites aren’t often being put in jail, then the logical conclusion is that they must indeed be better behaved. Which has been shown to be statistically true countless times.

The real purpose of this post isn’t to make fun of the governor’s silly commission or its ridiculous findings.

The “conclusions” the commission reached, however absurd, are the only logical ones if you absolutely, positively insist on denying the truth about the linkages between race and crime. You are forced to create a whole system of lies and absurdities to cover up the one truth you won’t admit or even dare to speak of.

We’re hoping that a lot of people will read not only this post, but also the original newspaper article, and will have their eyes opened to an important reality: namely, that one of our society’s cherished beliefs–the belief that (1) every misdeed and every failure by every nonwhite is somehow the fault of whites, and (2) whites can fix every problem caused by nonwhites by making ever greater concessions to nonwhites–is fundamentally absurd, and leads nowhere, especially when it is used as a basis for real-world public policy.

If the disparity in Wisconsin is high, I take this to mean that Wisconsin’s whites are better behaved than the whites in other states.

If nobody who drove on a revoked or suspended license were jailed, then the whole system of drivers’ licenses and minimum competency tests for driving on public roads would be moot. If nobody who had sex with legally underage people were jailed, then the legal protections given to minors to protect them from predatory men would be moot.

More of the same:

The Commission on Reducing Racial Disparities in the Wisconsin Justice System was created by Governor Jim Doyle to study and propose solutions for racial disparities in Wisconsin’s criminal justice system. Studies show that Wisconsin ranks at or near the top of national lists measuring disproportionate numbers of African American, Hispanic, and other minority populations in the corrections system. In January, the National Council on Crime and Delinquency reported that young African Americans in Wisconsin are imprisoned at nearly 20 times the rate of young whites… 

Governor Doyle has directed the commission to develop strategies aimed at reducing racial disparities at each stage of the state’s justice system – from arrest of new suspects to parole of convicted felons – and submit a final report on its findings and recommendations by October 1, 2007.

I’m sure you can hardly wait to find out what everyone can do to make sure that fewer black criminals end up in jail (everyone, of course, except the criminals themselves, who have nothing to do with it)!