Spot The "White" Criminal: Mug Shot Challenge

**Michael Knowles** (0:00)
That guy is not white. We've just been lied to so much. That guy, no one would look at that guy in the street and say, that's a white guy. But that guy is not white. How on earth, who could look at that guy and say he's a white guy? This is how people become racist. 33% of the US prison population is black, what they call non-Hispanic black. We'll separate the Hispanics, 33% black. 31% is white, 23% is Hispanic, 2% is Indian, feather not dot, 1% is Pacific Islander. This according to the crime statistics. So my producers have asked me to go a little bit deeper and to see if I could identify the race of inmates just based on their appearance. They're asking me to racially profile people. He's black?
This is in Mr. Davies, this is in New Jersey? Yeah, this is New Jersey Department of Corrections. Okay, all right, let's go, take it away. Okay, that would be an Hispanic guy. His name is Richard Acevedo. I would say that's pretty clearly an Hispanic guy.
He's white.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:10)
Hey, you're white. Smile.

**Michael Knowles** (1:12)
No, look, I should know, look, I should be on the guard for this because what they're doing is they're lumping and people are not white, they're saying they're white. But that guy is not white. I mean, look, as someone who's racially liminal, I'm a little bit dusky myself.
That guy, no one would look at that guy in the street say that's a white guy, right?

**SPEAKER_2** (1:32)
I'm a 35 year old white man.

**Michael Knowles** (1:34)
Okay, next one. Okay, that guy's not white. That's Christian Argoeta. Argoeta, señor Argoeta is Hispanic.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:42)
He's white.

**Michael Knowles** (1:43)
He's white. That guy's not white.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:45)
One's a baby and the other's black, I think. At least part black or Hispanic.

**Michael Knowles** (1:53)
Christian Argoeta is not, are you kidding? How on earth, who could look at that guy, say he's a white guy? Well, man, because white is actually a social construct. Whenever it's convenient for us, say the liberals. Whiteness is real. It's objective. We need to abolish it. But when it's convenient for us, like when we're classifying prisoners, then whiteness doesn't exist. Okay, next one. That guy also definitely not white. Luis Bernabel. So not only does he not look white, he doesn't have a white name at all. So it's gonna be white, right? Is the thing you're doing here that they're all white, is that, is Hispanic?
He's white.
Before we go on, cause sometimes, you know, Mr. Davies, you send me news stories and I look into them and they're not really, is this real or is this like a Mr. Davies fact? You're horrible at this. I'll go in and I'm gonna let you try to find a white guy in a second. I got a few more just to get your opinion on these.
I mean, look, Javier Betancourt. He's not a white guy. He's Hispanic, but like I guess skin is a little lighter. He's not William F. Buckley, but his skin is a little, but he's not white. He is Hispanic.
I know. I mean, I know. I think I figured out your game. Okay. Let me see the next one. Javier Caban. Again, like I get, no, he's just Hispanic. He's like a whiter Hispanic for sure. He's not, he doesn't quite look Quechua or something, but he's definite. I mean, his name is Javier.

**SPEAKER_3** (3:29)
Javier Caban.

**Michael Knowles** (3:30)
He's Hispanic.
He's white. Okay. He's white. We're going to keep going until we get to a couple more of the black guys. Just, just, just for content purposes. Joseph A. Caban. A lot of Caban's commit crimes. Joseph A. Caban. That guy is Hispanic. Maybe a touch admixture of black. Certainly indigenous, but Hispanic for sure. White, yeah, okay.
When I see, if this is true, I'm still reserving judgment on whether or not this is true. When I have seen some examples like this, it starts to make you wonder. You say, look, okay, white people in prison are vastly underrepresented relative to their percentage of the general population. But then when you look and you see like all the whites who are in prison are not actually white, you start to say, do white people commit any crimes at all?
They must, I'm sure they must. But when you look at something like that, do white people commit any crimes in America? Next one. Okay, Luis Rosario, he is Hispanic, leaning black. He's like more black Hispanic, I would say. Blanish.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:35)
You don't believe me, do you?

**Michael Knowles** (4:37)