By Cecilia Smith -March 10, 2018

Entangled in controversy, you would think the infamous New York Police Department would have enough things to worry about, including a recent leaked file that revealed hundreds of officers had been allowed to remain on the job following a string of fireable offenses. According to a new report however, research indicates that there’s something else on the minds of some officers, namely, a fear of tall African-American men.

Yes, you read that right.

Published by the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, the study — conducted by University of North Carolina psychology professor Kurt Gray and social psychology graduate student Neil Hester — concluded that being a tall Black man increases the likelihood of being profiled by white New York Police officers.

According to the study, “Young Black men are stereotyped as threatening, which can have grave consequences for interactions with police. We show that these threat stereotypes are even greater for tall Black men, who face greater discrimination from police officers and elicit stronger judgments of threat. We challenge the assumption that height is intrinsically good for men. White men may benefit from height, but Black men may not.”

It also found that, “Height seems beneficial for men in terms of salaries and success; however, past research on height examines only White men. For Black men, height may be more costly than beneficial, primarily signaling threat rather than competence. Three studies reveal the downsides of height in Black men.”

http://atlantablackstar.com/2018/03/10/study-proves-race-height-plays-factor-police-discrimination/