Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism: The Hidden Costs of Being Black in America

217 Pages·1997·26.34 MB·English

by  Jody David Armour

Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism
Critical America
General Editors: RICHARD DELGADO and JEAN STEFANCIC
White by Law: The Legal Construction of Race
Ian F. Haney Lopez
Cultivating Intelligence: Power, Law, and the Politics of Teaching
Louise Harmon and Deborah W. Post
Privilege Revealed: How Invisible Preference Undermines America
Stephanie M. Wildman with Margalynne Armstrong,
Adrienne D. Davis, and Trina Grillo
Does the Law Morally Bind the Poor? or What Good's the
Constitution When You Can't Afford a Loaf of Bread
R. George Wright
Hybrid: Bisexuals, Multiracials, and Other Misfits under American Law
Ruth Colker
Critical Race Feminism: A Reader
Edited by Adrien Katherine Wing
Immigrants Out! The New Nativism and the Anti-Immigrant
Impulse in the United States
Edited by Juan F. Perea
Taxing America
Edited by Karen B. Brown and Mary Louise Fellows
Notes of a Racial Caste Baby: Colorblindness and the End of
Affirmative Action
Bryan K. Fair
Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas:
A Critical History of the Separation of Church and State
Stephen M. Feldman
To Be an American: Cultural Pluralism and the
Rhetoric of Assimilation
Bill Ong Hing
Negrophobia and Reasonable Racism: The Hidden Costs of
Being Black in America
Jody David Armour
Black Rage Confronts the Law
Paul Harris
N E G R O P H O B IA
AND REASONABL E RACIS M
The Hidden Costs of Being Black in America
Jody David Armour
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
Copyright © 1997 by New York University
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Armour, Jody David.
Negrophobia and reasonable racism : the hidden costs of being
Black in America / Jody David Armour.
p. cm . — (Critical America)
Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index.
ISBN 0-8147-0640-1 (acid-free paper)
1. Discrimination in criminal justice administration—United States.
2. Afro-Americans—Civil rights. 3. Racism—United States.
4. United States—Race relations. I . Title. II. Series.
HV9950.A75 199 7
305.896'o73—dc2i 96-5130 6
CIP
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Addie Armour
and in memory of
Fred Armour

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
"Rational" Discrimination and the Black Tax 1
Chapter One
The "Reasonable Racist": A Slippery Oxymoron 1 9
How We Know What We Know: The Typical,
the Reasonable, and the Accurate 2 2
Why We Blame Whom We Blame: The Typical,
the Reasonable, and the Damnable 2 7
Chapter Two
The "Intelligent Bayesian":
Reckoning with Rational Discrimination 3 5
Why Rational Discrimination Is Not Reasonable 4 6
Race and the Subversion of Rationality 5 8
viii Contents
Chapter Three
The "Involuntary Negrophobe" 6 1
The Involuntary Negrophobe and Dueling Conceptions of Law 6 4
Chapter Four
Of Mice and Men: Equal Protection and Unconscious Bias 6 8
Private Bias and Equal Protection 6 9
Restructuring the Maze to Serve Justice JJ
Chapter Five
Blame and Punishment: Narrative, Perspective, Scapegoats,
and Demons 8 1
Framing the Narrative Broadly in Women's Self-Defense Work 8 3
Narrative, Consent, and Blame 8 4
The Fundamental Fault Line: Determinism
versus Antideterminism 8 9
"Disadvantaged Social Background" 9 4
Opponents Grasp at Straws 9 6
Ideological Agendas 10 1
Chapter Six
Repealing the Black Tax: Breaking the
Discrimination Habi t 11 5
Hypocritical Racists and Aversive Racists 11 8
Proving Ubiquitous Unconscious Bias 13 0
Combating Unconscious Discrimination in the Courtroom 13 9
Conclusion 15 4
Notes 16 1
Index 20 1
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I presented portions of this book at various workshops, collo-
quia, and faculty seminars in Colorado, Indiana, Pittsburgh, and
at the University of Southern California. I gained much fro m
these workshops, seminars, and colloquia, and thank all those
who participated. Parts of the book were also presented at the
American Association on Law Schools Conference on Torts and
at another AALS Conference on Evidence. I received valuable
comments from participants at both conferences.
Outside these organized forums, Phreda Devereaux provided
extremely helpfu l remark s o n th e chapte r o n Negrophobia ;
Frank McClelland offered penetrating comments on the chapter
on stereotype s an d prejudice ; an d Marth a Chamallas , Jule s
Lobel, Rhonda Wasserman, and Welsh White read large por-
tions of the manuscript, making many very thoughtful remarks.