Albany’s response addresses bias, but not systemic racism

The recent suspension of an Albany police officer for making disparaging racial remarks to a sheriff ’s deputy provides a perfect example of the dangers of having

Alice Green is the executive director of the Center for Law and Justice. the Albany Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative focus on implicit bias rather than systemic racism.

Mayor Kathy Sheehan and the Common Council’s calls for the termination of Albany Police Officer David Haupt fall far short in identifying the severity of the problem plaguing policing. While Haupt’s reference to Blacks as

“the worst f---ing race” certainly reveal his personal bias, racism is found in the context in which those words were uttered.

Robin Diangelo, author of “White Fragility,” describes the difference between prejudice (or bias) and racism. Diangelo says that prejudice or bias is “prejudgment about another person based on the social groups to which that person belongs.” Haupt’s remarks reveal his bias against Blacks.

Diangelo continues on to define racism: "When a racial group's collective prejudice is backed by the power of legal authority and institutional control, it is transformed into racism, a far-reaching system that functions independently from the intentions or self-images of individual actors."

Two white law enforcement officers discussing “the worst f---ing race” is symptomatic of systemic racism. These men felt comfortable trading biased comments because they share membership in a racial group with the power of legal authority and

institutional control: white law enforcement officers.

The unnamed deputy sheriff said to Haupt, “Literally it does get old, because literally every day, it’s not like it’s an overwhelming 50-percent-to-50-percent shot where you get a call and they’re like, ‘Yeah, a white male,’ or, you know what I mean.”

Haupt replied to the unnamed deputy, “… [T]hey are the worst f__ing race. … You know because we work together — they are getting worse and worse, and people are defending that. Are you f__ing kidding me?”

This does not suggest that all, or even most, white law enforcement officers harbor bias against Blacks. But it does mean that the bias exhibited in these comments is a common enough attribute within white law enforcement culture that each man felt comfortable his views would not be challenged by the other.

That the mayor’s and Common Council’s reactions are restricted solely to Officer Haupt’s words is an indication of their focus on bias, not racism. To demonstrate a focus on racism, these government officials would have had to condemn not only Haupt’s words but the totality of circumstances under which the comments were made.

The government officials’ solution to

this problem: Fire Officer Haupt. This is not enough to address the impact of systemic racism on Albany policing. This will eliminate one officer’s bias from the department, but it does nothing to address the racism reflected in the relative comfort with which two white law enforcement officers denigrate “the worst f___ing race.”

To fulfill Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order mandate to reform and reinvent policing, the Albany Collaborative must acknowledge the impact of systemic racism on Albany policing. Addressing systemic racism requires reducing racial inequities in education, employment, health care, housing, and other human necessities.

Clearly, the collaborative cannot remedy all of these imbalances by April 1, 2021. What the collaborative can do is produce a plan that minimizes interactions between the city’s overwhelmingly white police force and Albany’s Black citizenry. Non-law enforcement functions (e.g., responding to mental health and substance abuse calls) currently performed by the APD should be transferred to better-suited agencies, along with a proportionate reallocation of the APD budget.

But first things first: City officials’ reluctance to acknowledge the impact of systemic racism on Albany policing makes it imperative that the Albany Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative courageously do so.