I don't think television is necessarily an accurate reflection of the real world on this. I don't have statistics, but I would find it hard to believe that Black people are a higher percentage of cops than of the general population.
In Detroit, Black people are 75% of the population but about 50% of the police force, and this is after twenty years of one of the most anti-racist mayors in history, Coleman Young, and affirmative action until it was struck down.
I don't believe there is any general idea of targetting police jobs in general among Black people
You said an "impression" , so I am just giving you another impression. I noticed the tv pattern too by the way. I always thought it was a Hollywood way to misrepresent the level of authority in Black people's hands and thereby undercut this aspect of racism.
Charles
>>> Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> 05/28 2:25 PM >>>
At 08:22 AM 5/28/98 -0700, Jim Devine wrote:
>I notice while watching TV cop shows that a lot of the cops are Blacks,
>especially the lieutenants ("NYPD Blue" & "Homicide"). My superficial
>impression is that in the real world, African-Americans are following a
>strategy similar to the Irish-Americans (i.e., becoming cops. forming
>political machines, etc.)
I think even more so by joining the military or civil service -- that are far less discriminatory than the corporate sector or, for that matter, the academe.
Regards,
Wojtek Sokolowski