People Wondered When Texas’s 10 ‘Most Wanted’ Were All White Guys. Then They Got a Closer Look.

When people got a look at the Texas ‘Ten Most Wanted’ list of bad guys, there was a collective ‘Whuuut…?’

The ‘rogues gallery’ of murderers, child rapists, and gangsters on the list appeared to be overwhelmingly Hispanic. However, as The Washington Times reported, all of the criminals were listed as white:

“An eagle-eyed Redditor posting in a Donald Trump thread late Tuesday night noted how TDPS lumps all Hispanic suspects under a ‘white’ designation. The same criteria, however, is not applied to victims in the Bureau of Justice’s Criminal Victimization Report, which reports to the U.S. Department of Justice. Victims can be separated by race and ethnicity.”

The Reddit user posted a compilation photo of the Ten Most Wanted:

Image Credit: Reddit

And, as the news traveled, the befuddlement grew:

Texas “Most Wanted” list full of “white fugitives..that are not actually “white”http://bit.ly/2ap9uSR

— Howie Roark (@Toro520) July 14, 2016

Explain “white male” classification of Texas 10 Most Wanted. @JGilliam_SEAL @CraigRSawyer @AllenWest @SheriffClarke http://pic.twitter.com/9cgWvcZVsP

— Powerwave20 (@Powerwave20) July 13, 2016

#Texas 10 Most Wanted Fugitives: http://bit.ly/2ap9m5z Do all these fugitives look white to you? They’re listed as “white.” Hmm.

— Kristy Lonestar (@luchadora41) June 27, 2016

Independent Journal Review confirmed the top ten list with state records and asked the Texas Department of Public Safety why it would label Hispanics as white. Ten days later, spokeswoman Summer Blackwell told us:

“The concept of race and ethnicity are complicated issues, and many people get these two categories confused. For instance white is a category of race, while Hispanic is an ethnicity.”

She told Independent Journal Review that someone who is Hispanic can “self-identify as white or another category”:

“Therefore, to say we are misidentifying Hispanics as whites shows a lack of understanding of the concept of race and ethnicity, and glosses over the complexities of race and ethnicity in a multi-cultural society.”

The people on Reddit wondered if Texas was pulling a fast one to make it look like whites committed more crimes and thus skew the crime statistics. As The Washington Times reported, the state and federal governments don’t seem to have consistency in labeling bad guys and victims:

“For victimization the Bureau of Justice releases a Criminal Victimization Report (2014), which includes racial categories of black, white, Hispanic and other,” wrote user Reborn. “This obviously makes it appear that whites are responsible for a much greater share of violence than is actually the case.”

Blackwell said there’s nothing hinky going on:

“We categorically deny the article’s allegations that the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) intentionally misrepresents someone’s race or ethnicity in order to skew crime statistics.”

But Texas apparently got so much flak for ‘calling Hispanic people white,’ that in the ten days between our question to TDPS and Blackwell’s answer to Independent Journal Review, the state changed its website:

Image Credit: Screenshot/State of Texas

Here’s a close-up:

Image Credit: Screenshot/State of Texas

Raul Ambrosio Jimenez, Jr. used to be identified only as white. Now, the phrase “Hispanic” is included as part of his identity.

The FBI already uses both designations for its “Most Wanted” list.

Not since George Zimmerman have people been so confused about Hispanic people being called white.

Blackwell told Independent Journal Review that no matter what you call “these ruthless thugs” on the Ten Most Wanted list, Texas law enforcement is focused on capturing them.

The post People Wondered When Texas’s 10 ‘Most Wanted’ Were All White Guys. Then They Got a Closer Look. appeared first on Independent Journal Review.

Source: independent journal

The post People Wondered When Texas’s 10 ‘Most Wanted’ Were All White Guys. Then They Got a Closer Look. appeared first on .@tonygreene113.