1 / 20

Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Act of Mind Reading

Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Act of Mind Reading. Presentation of pages 189-194 of Blink , by Malcolm Gladwell Theresa M. Senft, Public Speaking University of the Virgin Islands Summer 1, 2005. The Scene: South Bronx, NY. The Address: 1100 Wheeler Avenue located between

omer
Download Presentation

Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Act of Mind Reading

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Seven Seconds in the Bronx: The Delicate Act of Mind Reading Presentation of pages 189-194 of Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell Theresa M. Senft, Public Speaking University of the Virgin Islands Summer 1, 2005

  2. The Scene: South Bronx, NY The Address: 1100 Wheeler Avenue located between commercial strip of Westchester Ave and brisk drug trade of Elder Ave.

  3. The Players • Amadou Diallo (Peddler, 22 years old) • Race: Black (Immigrant from Guinea) • Height: 5’6”, Weight: 150 lbs • Four plainclothes NYC Police officers riding in an unmarked patrol car: • Sean Caroll (35 years old) • Edward McMellon (27 yrs. old) • Ken Boss (27 yrs. Old) • Sean Caroll (25 yrs. Old)

  4. The Events of Feb. 3, 1999: Part I • Midnight: Diallo goes downstairs to the stoop for night air • Police spot Diallo. Two thoughts: • lookout for a “push-in” robber • serial rapist active in neighborhood a year earlier. • Officer Boss backs the car up until it is right in front of 1157 Wheeler Avenue.

  5. Events, Part II “He was just standing on the stoop, looking up and down the block, peeking his head out and the putting his head back against the wall. Within seconds, he does the same thing, looks down, looks right. And it appeared that he stepped backwards into the vestibule as we were approaching, like he didn’t want to e seen…”Police Office Sean Carroll (Blink, page 191)

  6. Events, Part III • McMellon calls out, “Police. May we have a word?” He heads toward Diallo. • (Diallo has a stutter and had recently been robbed. Remember police are in plain clothes in an unmarked car.) • Diallo runs into building vestibule; police give chase

  7. Events, Part IV • Diallo reaches one hand to doorknob; other hand into pocket, turning his body sideways. • Police yell “Show me your hands” and “Don’t make me fucking kill you.” • Diallo appears to be removing a black object from his right side. • Officer Carroll yells, “He’s got a gun!”

  8. Events, Part V “He starts removing a black object from his right side. And as he pulled the object, all I could see was a top—it looked like the slide of a black gun. My prior experience and training, my prior arrests, dictated to me that this person was pulling a gun.” Police Office Sean Carroll (page 192)

  9. Events, Part VI • Officer Carroll opens fire • Officer McMellon jumps backward off the steps, firing as he flies through the air • Officer Carroll assumes McMellon’s bullets came from Diallo’s “gun” and that McMellon is flying through the air because he was hit by Diallo • Officer Carroll continues to fire in “center mass” as police are taught to do

  10. Events, Part VII

  11. Events, Part VIII • Boss and Murphy leave patrol car • Carol and Mellon = sixteen shots fired each • Boss= five shots • Murphy = four shots

  12. Events, Part IX • All climb the stairs, gun drawn. • Diallo lies dead. • Diallo’s hand holds not a gun, but a wallet. • Officer Boss runs disoriented toward Westchester Avenue. • Officer Carroll sits on steps next to body and begins to cry.

  13. What Went Wrong? • The most common and important forms of rapid cognition are the judgments we make about other people. • We call these judgments “thin slicing.” • Why couldn’t the officers on Wheeler Avenue thin slice Amadou Diallo on the night of February 3, 1999?

  14. Diallo shooting was an accident (trial verdict: officers were acquitted) Diallo shooting was a open-and-shut case of racism. Which do you believe?

  15. NYC Protests Diallo Verdict

  16. Is it a gun, is it a knife Is it a wallet, this is your life It ain't no secret It ain't no secret No secret my friend You can get killed just for livingIn your American skin Bruce Springsteen American Skin (41 Shots)

  17. Problems the either/or logic of accident v. racism • On one hand, no evidence that four officers were racists, bad people, or even out to get Diallo. • On other hand, this was no mere “accident,” as critical misjudgments were made.

  18. Gladwell’s Verdict “The Diallo shooting…falls into a kind of grey area, the middle ground between deliberate and accidental…what happened on Wheeler Avenue is a powerful example of how mind reading words—and how it sometimes goes terribly awry.” Malcolm Gladwell, Blink, page 197

More Related