Why we have stereotypes

From north of the world's longest undefended (?) border comes a news item from Winnipeg. Winnipeg is kind of like Canada's answer to Des Moines -- a good place to be from.

On September 13th of last year, a woman walked into a convenience store [love that oxymoron! ed.] and shoplifted a $1.49 can of "luncheon meat". Perhaps it was Spam. The owner of the store allegedly chased the woman out of the store. Five days later, the woman died, perhaps from injuries inflicted by a baseball bat.

The woman's name was Geraldine Beardy. She was 29 when she died. She was what Canadians call a "First Nations person". That's the politically correct way to say "Indian", a term which went out of use because people got tired of having to put adjectives like "red" or "East" in front of it.

The convenience store proprietor, aged 62, is a gentleman named Kwang Soo Kim. Mr. Kim is ... wait for it ... Korean. Now, a mere eight months after they were notified of the incident, Winnipeg police have charged Mr. Kim with manslaughter.

Walt's only comment is that the reason we have stereotypes is that behind the stereotypes lie stories that give rise to them. Not all people who comment on the propensities of certain racial and ethnic groups to do (or not do) certain things are racists. Some are just realists.