The Law of Unintended of Consequences is one of those laws that cannot be questioned. We have known all along that the race-based and unconstitutional Stop and Frisk procedure employed by the New York Police Department has resulted in the erosion of trust and confidence in law enforcement in many communities of color. As recent incidents at Barneys and Macy’s show, it has also resulted in the general criminalization of people of color.
Just about every adult black American who lives in or near a city has a story that involves their being followed around in a department store by security. It happened to Barack Obama and if you are an adult black American reading these words, it has probably happened to you.
During the past week, however, news stories regarding the arrest and detainment of black people who have legally purchased high end luxury items makes it clear that in New York, thanks to Stop and Frisk, white paranoia regarding the criminality of black people has reached hysterical, if not historical, levels. The fact that the wrongly apprehended individuals were offered a perfunctory apology by the NYPD does not hide the fact that there appears to be a new crime in the New York State Penal Code – LWB or Living While Black.
The Law of Unintended Consequences has been hard at work here. After over 4,000,000 unconstitutional and race-based stops over the past ten years, the NYPD’s Stop and Frisk policy has not only trained its officers to look at people of color as likely criminals, the virus has spread.
After ten years of official criminal profiling of people of color in New York City, a policy specifically and heartily endorsed by the mayor and the police commissioner and praised by more than a few businesses, newspaper editorials and citizens groups, there should be no wonder that many white (and non-white) New Yorkers (and retailers like Macys, Barneys and others) have come down with bad cases of profile-itis.
It is an ongoing tragedy that law-abiding citizens of the City of New York should have to worry about being questioned, detained or arrested for the simple crime of LWB. White citizens in New York do not think twice about walking into a department store and going to that section of the store where the luxury items are sold.
Black citizens of New York have every right to feel that, in a similar circumstance, they are seen as escapees from some racial township in a latter day version of American apartheid. They are simply out of their “territory” and even having the funds to purchase the items that they want is not enough to keep them from being caught in the jaws of a criminal justice system seemingly bent on promoting injustice rather than public safety.
Macys, Barneys and the NYPD have already issued their precooked apologies with all of the sincerity of stale beer. But just as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly remain adamant and unrepentant with respect to the odious race-based policy of Stop and Frisk, it is certain that there will not be any acknowledgement that “Ten Years a Suspect” could be the working title for a description of how that policy has been perceived by communities of color.
Meanwhile, as an ironic footnote to this sordid display of institutionalized retail racism, the rap mogul Jay-Z is planning to launch a line of eponymous high end clothing at……..you guessed it………..Barneys. And predictably, many of Jay-Z’s fans and others have called upon him to break off his relationship with Barneys. And predictably, Jay-Z has demurred to date.
The irony is that through his outlandish lyrics and commentaries that glorify violence, criminality and misogyny, Jay-Z has actually done more to convey the perception of young black Americans as potential criminals than ten years of Stop and Frisk. Again the Law of Unintended Consequences is hard at work.
One can be fairly certain that Jay-Z has never given a second thought to the impact and effect of his promoting some kind of faux gangster lifestyle. But one of the consequences of his successful promotion is that too many people, black and white, take him seriously. And the next consequence is that people of color get racially profiled and arrested by his business partner.
One would never have thought to see the NYPD and Jay-Z as strange bedfellows – but there they are – both complicit in demeaning, degrading and criminalizing communities of color but never thinking about the consequences.
Point of View 
It’s hard to argue that from both sides, harm has been done to the black people of New York. Some self inflicted – some government inflicted.
You could not have said it better thanks prof. Ford
Here’s a better way of saying it. If after 400+ years in this country black people have not learned that the police are not our friends, then we have a huge mental problem. And those with mental problems need to be rounded up just for observation to see if they are dangerous. WAKE UP BLACK PEOPLE. Those in charge could care less about us. If the truth be known they really don’t care about their own people. ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS MONEY & POWER. If Lincoln could have won the war & saved the nation without freeing the slave he would have. And we would be still picking cotton. Look at Jay-Z. He could care less.
The issue of “Black” is very deep. Its not only in NYC but in many countries. We can be blamed too but yes great observation
I totally agree Professor Ford. People of color who follows these rappers don’t think about what they are condoning. These rappers are not giving back to these communities as I think they should. I’m not knocking lyrics of rappers, that’s their choice, but because they are “icons” i feel it is their responsiblitiy to educate our youth on reality. By educating I mean with action, come out and have a forum or an event to speak to our youth about getting their lives together and making something of themselves instead of falling victim to what this city expects. such as; ex-offenders, high school drop outs, black on black crime, the list can go on. And because LWB in our communities paying taxes we get put under the bus and no one seems to see anything wrong with this. I feel as a community we should stand together, not only when racial discrimination hit the airways and there’s a media fuss over it, but for everyday racial profiling.