Low threat thresholds plus anonymity drive racially discriminatory emergency calls.

Evidence

The combination of a low bar for perceived threat and anonymity might lead Whites to make calls that are perceived to be made for no other reason than racial discrimination. One recent example of such a call that gained widespread attention from the media is that of “Barbeque Becky,” a White woman who called the police to report a Black family for having a barbeque in an area that she believed was not suitable for charcoal grills. … Clearly the Black family reported on was not perceived as a real threat, as the woman’s explanation for calling does not seem to describe an actual imminent danger. — Joseph Avery, Jim Sidanius, Joel Cooper, Gregory Davis, Amanda N., Bias in the Law, 270

Categorization

• SEED: A piece on ‘the grammar of the 911 call’ — how a caller’s framing language (who is named as threat, who is deemed deserving of protection) encodes who counts as belonging to the polity.