Garry Trudeau’s art piece, “Street Calculus,” illustrates the influence of bias on our perceptions of people we encounter.
The art highlights the foolishness of relying on trivial external factors for navigating human interactions. In the picture, both men’s facial expressions reflect surprise and shock to come face-to-face with someone they consider to be threatening. My first impression of the art is that it highlights the irony of how people size each other up to see if they are a threat.
I believe this story takes place in an area going through gentrification. The black man is stunned to see a white man walking around at night in the “wrong neighborhood.” The white man is startled by seeing a young black man and relies on stereotypical images to see if the stranger measures up to being a suspicious character. Neither knows how to approach the situation, whether to be on alert or open-minded. Both men calculate their surface-level similarities and differences to determine if the other is potentially dangerous.
We should not rely on labels to decide how to interact with others because we are not as cliché as assumptions suggest.
The artist seems to suggest that life is not two-dimensional or black and white. The characters’ thought bubbles provide a deeper look into the factors at play in this seemingly innocent comic strip. Both men decide how to act based on split-second observations. They evaluate race, gender, age, appearance, music interest, location, and the objects they are carrying. Only the white man looks for aggressive body language, and only the black man checks if the stranger is a police officer. Their calculations for what they consider risky shed light on how culture influences what different groups consider normal.
The white man considers black men wearing backward baseball caps risky, but polo shirts and Sondheim music as mitigating. The black man sees white men in wrong neighborhoods as threatening, but people over 40 carrying groceries as mitigating. The role external factors play in calculating risk is mind blowing. If the black man was wearing a baggy jacket or if the white man was not humming Motown, the situation could have played out very differently.
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I think both men missed important factors on their lists. The white man notes aggressive body language as a risk, but neither note friendly or neutral body language as a mitigating factor. Additionally, neither person checks for weapons or offensive symbols and/or gestures.
Their lists were likely shaped by stereotypical media depictions, news coverage of black and white people, both men’s previous encounters with black and white strangers, their society’s social norms, the history of race relations between black and white people, and the current racial climate.
- The NPR podcast, Implicit Attitude Tests Reveal Buried Bias, discusses scientific innovations in unearthing hidden biases.
Depending on how each man calculates risk, they may ignore or start conversations with non-threatening people. On the other hand, they could question, insult, run away from, call the police on, or attack people they think are dangerous.
To change these lists, both men should unpack the roots of their bias, work to overcome their negative attitudes, and experience more non-threatening encounters like this to increase their level of ease around different types of people.
Even though the artist chose a comic strip as the style for his piece, “Street Calculus” reflects a real-life decision process many people work through when faced with different types of people. Despite the risks of drawing inaccurate conclusions and offending others, people still keep lists of characteristics like these. Some people may not even be aware they have lists, but manage their interactions with others nonetheless. To an extent, it is important to have guidelines when observing one’s surroundings. Without guidelines, how could individuals watch out for those intending to do harm? However, with this in mind, I recommend that people stop and reevaluate what they think makes a person suspicious.
In “Street Calculus,” many of the factors on the characters’ lists were not reasonable in determining danger like whistling certain songs, long or short hair, or how a baseball cap is being worn. Physical traits as representative of various groups do not mean an individual is more or less likely to do harm.
When people see me, they may see me as more or less risky depending on how I dress and act in that moment. Risk factors about me could include me being black, wearing my natural hair, being under 30, wearing a hoodie, or whistling Bob Marley. Mitigating factors may include me being female, having straight hair, wearing business casual attire, carrying my school backpack, or whistling Broadway showtunes. I wonder how someone would treat me if I whistled songs from Hairspray, wore a black hoodie and sweatpants, and carried a briefcase?
The bottom line is, we can’t live life like it’s a video game–attacking every person we think is a bad guy. So the next time you see someone that looks different than you, remember that good or bad is not as simple as black and white.
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