What, exactly, does a thug look like? In the July 14 article reporting that an internal State Police review found no racial profiling by Trooper John Darcy, this is the unanswered question.
Police authorities were right to be concerned that Trooper Darcy made this statement. What exactly, I’d like to know, made him think that the person he stopped “looked like a thug”?
I am not accusing the trooper of a consciously racist act. But there is a strong inclination in our society to identify African American men as criminals, and vice versa.
The word “thug” is also closely identified with Black men.
It is unlikely that any person in America is not racist at some level. Admitting this to ourselves is a first step in breaking racism’s hold.
Officer Darcy and his superiors need to confront this in himself in order to become better public servants.
Stephen Carnahan, Auburn
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