Comments on: Racist Moral Panic

By: Understanding Racism in Social Context – The Other Sociologist

Understanding Racism in Social Context – The Other Sociologist — Sun, 19 May 2019 03:11:08 +0000

[…] tried to fast-track visas by White South African farmers, at the same as he was whipping up a moral panic about “Black African gangs” (that is, Black Australian youth of African backgrounds). He was thankfully defeated. White South […]

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By: bell hooks on Critical Thinking – The Other Sociologist

bell hooks on Critical Thinking – The Other Sociologist — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 03:08:21 +0000

[…] we can see this in the lack of interest in Aboriginal women’s deaths, scaremongering over Sudanese-Australians and how migrant-Australian youth are alienated versus the media’s irreverant treatment of […]

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By: Racist Scaremongering as Social and Political Control – The Other Sociologist

Sun, 19 Aug 2018 20:43:57 +0000

[…] are not the problem. There is no out-of-control ‘gang’ problem in Australia, just a normalisation of scaremongering (Zevallos 2018b). Sudanese people and other African-Australians make up a tiny minority of crime […]

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By: The Social Construction of Migrant Youth Deviance in Public Spaces – The Other Sociologist

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 04:44:29 +0000

[…] Z. (2018) ‘Racist Moral Panic,’ The Other Sociologist, 25 […]

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By: Benjamin David Steele

Benjamin David Steele — Thu, 25 Jan 2018 14:50:12 +0000

As a white American with some ‘progressive’ inclinations, let me say that the same thing is found in the good ol’ US of A. I’m sure you’re already familiar with American racism.

What you’re describing reminds me of the Democrats during Bill Clinton’s administraton in the 1990s. In campaigning for the presidency, he gave a speech about being tough-on-crime while standing in front of chained black prisoners and in the background was the mountain that is infamous for being the site of the most important Klan memorial. A clear message was being sent.

Black leaders supported Bill Clinton’s tough-on-crime policies, as white progressives cheered it on. It led to further racialized policing and incarceration, along with a worsening of the school-to-prison pipeline. Yet, then as now, most crime is caused by whites and to an even greater extent for mass killings.

Research has proven that crime and specifically violent crime is correlated to two main factors that have nothing directly to do with race: poverty and lead toxicity. We’ve decreased though not eliminated the latter and the former is still a major problem. Of course, both disproportionately harm minorities because of a history of economic biases in housing and employment along with environmental racism.

No doubt it is the same basic pattern in both Australia and the United States. It’s the entrenched legacy of colonial imperialism that continues to shape the minds and behaviors, practices and policies of each new generation.

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