Constructing racial difference through group talk: an analysis of white focus groups' discussion of racial profiling

Overtly racist statements are socially and politically unacceptable in the USA. Yet black people in the USA continue to experience discrimination and prejudice at both the individual and institutional levels. This paper examines white people's talk about race in focus groups from the North Carolina Traffic Violation Study. The participants discussed race obliquely, by talking about hypothetical behaviour related to crime and police profiling while largely avoiding direct mention of race. At the same time focus group members voice different expectations for white people and black people. By differentiating between behaviours expected from individuals perceived to belong to different racial groups, they reproduced racial difference. Focus group members legitimized racial profiling and did so using language that was largely colour-blind' and socially acceptable by attributing the disproportionately high rate of stops for black drivers to ostensibly non-racial factors. The groups used mostly colour-blind language, but the result was racializing discourse.