by Heather MacDonald

About the author: Heather MacDonald is a contributing editor to City Journal, a conservative New York City publication, and the author of Are Cops Racist?

I've been amusing myself recently with the following experiment: I call up the most strident anti-police activists of recent years, including Washington's local police scourge, Georgetown law professor David Cole, who argues that every aspect of the criminal justice system is racist. I ask these police critics the following question: Suppose that in the wake of [the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America] the FBI decides to check out recent graduates of American flight schools to see who else may be plotting to use airplanes as weapons. Which students, I ask, should the FBI investigate—all of the wouldbe pilots, or a subset of them"

Without exception...