This is a paragraph of a story by The Examiner about the investigation of the death of Ronnie L. White, a 19 year-old black man, who was found dead in his jail cell after being charged with murder for the death of Corporal Richard Findley, a 39 year-old white police officer (link).
There were seven [jail] guards — most of whom are black — who had access to White’s isolation cell. While all seven were still of interest to investigators, along with all of the Department of Corrections’ 630 employees, investigators had taken particular interest in three individuals.
This is the first and only reference to any body’s race in the whole story
What’s the point to pointing out that “most” of the guards are black?
Since there’s no conscious reason for that to be mentioned in the article, I then turn to the subconscious reasons:
1.) The victim was white, the suspect was black, “most” of the guards were black; ipso facto, the black guards wouldn’t have committed “black-on-black crime” and killed someone that is charged with killing a cop — like one of those crazy cracker [white] cops would have. We all know those crazy cracker [white] cops love to violate people’s human and civil rights.
2.) “Most” of the guards are black; ipso facto, they are more likely to kill someone (or something).
The fact that he points out the race for any reason to indicate that someone is less (or more) likely to commit a crime in this situation is the very definition of racism (from Webster): “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities”.