ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a somewhat different tack and examines a significant shift in the typical “us versus them” dichotomy that authors see in most of the white journal accounts in earlier chapters. It examines some accounts from journal writers that pay more attention to one type of racial discrimination-those involving police authorities, and often taking place in more public settings. In their backstage settings, whites, including police officers, frequently make critical and stereotyped comments about policing issues and those thought to be criminal in their communities. Discrimination targeting black motorists is well documented by social science research, for both men and women. From the mass media and other sources many whites seem to develop some sense that black citizens and some other citizens of color are not treated fairly or equally by the police, although this awareness somehow has not significantly affected the general white racial framing of society.
