The factor fudge satisfies some critics, but it doesn't solve the racial proxy dilemma. When it's the decisive factor, it might as well have been the only factor. If it's never decisive, it's not really a factor at all. Obviously it depends on how valid the generalization is in any given case, and how costly or impractical it would be to get alternative information. When you fear a man approaching you may be a mugger, you may not be able to find out in the next five seconds whether he happens to be a University of Chicago intellectual headed for the New York Times editorial board.
Racial proxies are a tough call.
But it's safe to say that anyone who is outraged by racial profiling but tolerates affirmative action, or vice versa, has got it wrong. Related in Slate Brent Staples has written frequently for Slate on such topics as why blacks like Clinton more than whites do, why the civil rights movement fell apart , how contemporary blacks and whites deal with the fruits of antebellum miscegenation , the unfortunate beatification of Jackie Robinson , and the historical roots of Toni Morrison's fiction . The New York Times offers a cop's perspective on racial profiling. Michael Brus is a Slate assistant editor. Illustrations by Robert Neubecker.