Comic Strips

Around half of the US population has hypertension.

I'm guessing you wouldn't want your doctor just assuming you have it and start treating it though.

The reason why stereotypes are bad is because even if there's aggregate data trends on a broad population basis, that doesn't necessarily translate to individualized specifics.

Statistically, black math scores are worse than white.

In my high school, I was in Calculus BC in my senior year, along with most of the other smartest kids in my grade.

One of the few black students at my prep school had been in that class in his junior year and for his senior year just sat one on one with the math teacher because he was a full year ahead of us. He was also the student that I used to get the most competitive with playing chess in the student lounge (because he was legit better than me and the few victories I'd eek out were actual accomplishments), and was the one of my friends to go off to Stanford.

It'd be a real shame if someone looking at him decided that based on broad statistics relating to the melanin in his skin that he wasn't as good at math as someone with less melanin.

And personally, I'd think anyone making that leap of logic was a goddamn moron.

(Also, pro tip - it's worth thinking about the differences between averages and distributions around those averages if you are going to make an argument for there being merit in extrapolating from statistics. For example, you are more likely to be told by a mother with a child that the father is not in the picture by a white mother than a black mother if you ask the question of every mother you see.)

I'm not sure but I don't think the point is statistics. I think the point is to treat everyone equally despite the colour of their skin until you know them personally, and their situation.

Your quote doesn't support your claim. 69% of black mothers being unmarried does not mean they're single mothers. It definitely correlates, but one doesn't mean the other.

Unmarried and single are different things.

This sounds like one of those crime rate arguments for justifying racism without looking at any of the other factors.

Your choice of wording is odd, like "problem", and "better." I am 30 years old. I have been with my partner for 15 years, and we have an 8 and a 6 year old child together. We live together in our 4 bedroom home. Yes, we are black. No, there is no struggle associated with us being unmarried.

Statistics show that white people are more likely to develop skin cancer than other racial groups. Would that problem be fixed by asking every white person you meet who has mole on their face if they have skin cancer?

Exactly, and for any white people in the comments about to say "well they have to ask everyone to know you can legally work,I get asked about my citizenship status too in the job interviews, it's just a box HR has to tick"

Yes, it is just a box HR has to tick, which is why they will usually ask after a few other questions, and in my pasty pale experience, they ask me "and just confirming you're legally eligible to work in [country], are you a citizen... Or a PR" and the trail off, they don't ask about working visas or our equivalent of green cards, they assume I'm going to say "yes, citizen" and move on.

Meanwhile my partner, who is also white, but from his accent he is clearly not "from here" will also get similar treatment, they wait until a few questions into the interview, they ask about his legal work eligibility, they will mention working visas in the question, but it's still coming from a place of genuine information gathering.

My brown cousins on the other hand? "do you have a work visa?" is one of the first questions they get asked. Not even "do you have the legal right to work here? Like a Work visa or citizenship", just straight up "do you have a work visa?" because the assumption is that they are not a citizen or PR because of their skin colour.

Lol I've seen this first hand so many times. "When did you come to Canada? Is this your first winter? Have you seen snow before? Was it hard learning English?" Like, do you think Canada just recently opened its borders and everyone who isn't white must be new?

I’m not brown but I was once mistaken for Mexican immigrant. The way the person treated me in that instance was really eye opening to me for how folks can get treated that I never otherwise would’ve have experienced.

I especially like her panels because it illustrates that even liberal, socially conscious people need to stay aware of their own biases. I try to be a progressive person, but that certainly doesn’t mean I’m immune to this sort of thing.