Black Thief, White Thief? ABC's What Would You Do Catches Racism on Camera

Almost a year ago, a bystander reported Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates and another black male to the Cambridge Police after spotting them trying to jiggle Gates' jammed front door open. We know what happened next. The arrest of Gates. Accusations of racial profiling. Characterization of Gates as belligerent. The infamous beer summit, at which Gates, his arresting officer and President Obama — who remarked that the police had behaved "stupidly" — made amends.

Although the beef between Gates and the Cambridge Police was effectively history after that, what if Gates was right? What if he had been racially profiled — not by police, mind you, but by the woman who called the authorities on him in the first place? The season premiere of ABC's What Would You Do? — a show that films the public reacting to sticky situations, albeit ones carried out by actors — suggests that the average person is much likelier to be suspicious of blacks than they are of whites, even when individuals are engaging in equally suspicious behavior.

Yesterday, the show's season premiere featured a young white actor apparently in the middle of stealing someone's bike. The actor is armed with tools which he uses to saw off the bicycle's lock and chain. So, how do the bystanders, none of whom know this is a television experiment, react? Some ask the actor in disguise if the bicycle belongs to him. The actor responds vaguely, explaining that it's "technically not [his]." At other points, he responds, "Is it yours?" Despite such suspicious replies, bystander after bystander neglects to report the actor. Then, finally, an elderly white couple tells the actor that they're reporting him to authorities.

So, how did this same scenario play out with a black actor who was roughly the same age as his white counterpart, and dressed in similar attire?

In just a few minutes, an angry crowd surrounded the black bicycle "thief." They shouted at him, took pictures of him with their cell phones and didn't hesitate to contact the police. Why such a harsh reaction to the black actor and virtually no response from 99% of bystanders who witnessed the white actor stealing a bike?

As one black woman pointed out, "Young white men don't usually carry burglar tools." At least, that's her perception, and sadly the perception of the majority of bystanders filmed during this experiment. Even when a white man is clearly involved in criminal activity, witnesses give him a pass. The black man, on the other hand, didn't stand a chance.

So, had Henry Louis Gates been white, would someone have reported him for trying to force his front door open? Likely not. And had Gates been a white woman, bystanders likely would have helped him bust open his stubborn door. That's right. The What Would You Do? crew repeated the bicycle experiment with a conventionally attractive blonde, and men — clearly aware she was committing a crime — actually helped her remove the bicycle's lock and chain. In short, a handful of men willingly became the woman's accomplices. (Though at last, an older white woman, unmoved by the actress' sex appeal, decided to report the would-be thief to authorities.)

So, what lessons can we take away from this? It's not rocket science. If a black person appears to be engaged in suspicious activity, don't automatically assume a crime is in progress. If a white person is engaged in suspicious activity, don't automatically assume the person is innocent of wrongdoing. And the next time a prominent African-American complains of being racially profiled, don't write the person off as a whiny race-baiter. Experiments like these prove that it's not just authorities who are all too willing to profile blacks — it's your average person on the street, too.

Photo Credit: Garry Knight