African-America Research Papers

In America’s judicial system, the color of skin or race are often equated with criminal behavior. Dr. King once said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” As United States citizens, we are not convicted of a crime until proven guilty. However, racial profiling aids law enforcement on deciding when to pursue or detain a suspect based on race. This method undoubtedly categorizes that certain races are more prone to commit crimes. Nevertheless, racial profiling is a violation of constitutional rights thus protected by federal law; oddly it is often disregarded by states.

If you have ever traveled on an airplane before, you would be familiar with the Transportation Security Administration, or more commonly known as the TSA. Founded in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks initially under the Department of Transportation and later placed under the Department of Homeland Security all in the name of making air travel safer for Americans. They are most commonly known for making you take off your shoes, separate your liquids, and walk through body scanners. Keep in mind that those are only the least invasive things that you may be subjected to while passing under their watchful (or perhaps not-so watchful) gaze. Many Americans will gladly accept these invasions of privacy as a necessity on the path to safer travel for themselves and their fellow travelers through thwarting potential terrorists. But the harsh reality of it is that the TSA does not

Many Americans believe that the United States has entered a “post-racial” era, yet racial profiling remains a longstanding and deeply troubling national problem. If the U.S. is a place of freedom and equality, then why has “racial profiling been legitimized as public policy?” (Sudbury, 2014). Discrimination displayed on an every-day basis in the criminal justice field violates the Fourteenth Amendment, which ensures equal protection, as people of color are unfairly targeted. Discriminatory interactions between various races and law enforcement officers occurs daily,

The federal government assured the public that pictures would not be recorded and saved from these machines.  That is not the case.  The scanner that was uses in a Florid courthouse showed the actual “people side-by-side with their X-rayed selves” (Allahpundit).  Why did the government outright lie to the public?  To save their own asses, of course.  This is in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment.  The amendment gives people the right to be secure in their persons against unreasonable searches.  I believe the scanning of humans and taking pictures of their faces violates this.   Shockingly, former TSA security director, Mo McGowan, openly stated on fox news that “Nobody likes to have their 4th Amendment violated going through a security line, but the truth of the matter is, we’re going to have to do it” (Left Coast Rebel).  Excuse me? Did this man actually say this in public?  It’s not shocking that he’s no longer the security director.

In certain parts of the world, a retinal scanner was added at the security area. A passenger could go through a different security line and allow the scanner to read their eyes and be sent through without being searched, taking off shoes and coats or even removing their computers from their bags. In order to be able to receive this luxurious security check, a person would have to send in extensive forms to the government. These forms would tell the government everything about the person in order to do the extensive background check. And this takes time as well. You cannot expect for this to happen overnight. Not only does this take time and extensive checks, but it also costs money. It will cost someone about a hundred dollars to be even considered for this security check. The retinal scanner is not used in all airports. Most of them are actually located outside the

Still, many people choose not to go through the 3D scanner and opt to receive a pat-down instead. Many horror stories of overly invasive pat-downs make the news. In one instance, a 95-year-old cancer patient was forced to remove her adult diaper, traumatizing her. In response to the news coverage, the TSA maintains that they acted respectfully and professionally[4]. In another instance, a baby was given a thorough pat-down[5]. Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri said after a certain pat-down: "When you have the traveling public tell you that sometimes these pat-downs are unacceptable, trust me, they are not exaggerating. There are many times that women put hands on me in a way that if it was your daughter or your sister or your wife you would be upset."[6] Such incidents make the public wary of the TSA's privacy policies and intentions.

Ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11 there have been an increase in the willingness to condone law enforcement and security actions based primarily on the color of ones’ skin. Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it has been the official policy of the United States government to stop, interrogate, and detain individuals without criminal charges on the basis of their national origin, ethnicity and religion. Thus, the term racial profiling was coined. Society, however, has been ignorant to the true meaning of racial profiling and has sometimes misinterpreted the government’s continuous

The purpose of the paper is to identify, how racial profiling is not a legitimate tool for law enforcement agencies. The definition of the racial profiling is the consideration of race, ethnicity, or national origin by an officer of the law in deciding when and how to intervene in an enforcement capacity (Racial Profiling, 2008). The practice of racial profiling is illegal. Racial profiling violates the fourth and fourteenth amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The fourth amendment indicates [it goes against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched,

Shoshanna Hebshi was a 36-year-old woman from Ohio who is half-Arab and half-Jewish. On September 11, 2011 she was removed from a Frontier Airlines flight, along with two other men. She reported to have been “placed in a cell, where she was ordered to strip naked, squat, and cough while an officer looked at her” (Warikoo, 2013). Hebshi later found out that they were removed because people on the plane complained about two of them going to the bathroom. With racial profiling “law enforcement targets individuals for suspicion of crime based on their race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin” (Warikoo, 2013). Hebshi and the two other men were targeted because they were “possibly of Arab descent”, profiling them as possible criminals based off their skin color (Warikoo, 2013).

While racial profiling is used to solve many crimes, using race as a description of the criminal being pursued does not constitute discrimination. “Racial profiling does not refer to the act of a law enforcement agent pursuing a suspect in which the specific description of the suspect includes race or ethnicity in combination with other identifying factors.”1 Identifying and defining racial profiling simply on the basis of race can raise several issues. Using this definition solely based on race fails to mention when police act on the basis of race along with a violation. For example an officer who targets African Americans who were jaywalking would not be considered to be racial profiling because the people that were stopped were jaywalking and happened to be African Americans.

These criteria vary from flight check for weapons (whatever is considered to be a threat to life) to the passport for determining identification correctly; they are procedures that were developed with the aim of keeping the situation of an imminent threat and sealed to prevent national panic. The baggage policy has seen rapid change such as restrictions limiting any chance of temporary bombs or weapons for display on a plane, derailing any products endanger into the flight. Although this infringement of privacy, the privacy of personal belongings only to the one who is not greater than the chance of a threat if someone has actually taken place. This added to the account that we should not be too dependent on technology and that the probability that the machine is designed to detect any hazardous materials can make mistakes and that carelessness and accessories depending on the technology could lead to serious consequences, all due to the lack of

Racial profiling is an epidemic. It has negatively impacted communities for generations. THe use of race by American police in their policing activities has received much attention across the world. Social media have exploded the daily news people consume and trends are now visible to those that previously didn’t notice it. Countless studies were released on that epidemic and yet, in 2016, nothing seems to have changed. There are those who will support the idea, but quite often, it’s because it doesn’t affect them. While it’s true that African Americans have a particular past with racial profiling in America, it’s has always been much broader experience. Anyone with Arabic look or with Muslim affiliation would be constantly set aside for extra searching and questioning at airports. As a journalist so well explained “People like

Cultural discrimination in an airport, speaking from personal experience, has an insurmountable, mentally damaging effect on the individual. With no discretion given, the progress begins when a last name, in my case, of Persian origin, is prompted by the computer system to flag a passenger in the check-in line, initiating US Customs Officials to investigate. With all other passengers present, the humiliating ‘show’ (debacle), becomes the focus of all eyes, who immediately

“‘We are frequently reminded that our enemy is creative and willing to go to great lengths to evade detection,’ the director of the TSA, Kosketz said. ‘TSA utilizes the latest intelligence to inform the deployment of new technology and procedures, like the pat-down, in order to stay ahead of evolving threats’” (“Mad as Hell”).

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Shoshana Hebshi and two other Indian-American men were removed from a Frontier Airlines flight. Shoshana was “…strip-searched, and jailed more than four hours in a dirty cell because of her ethnic background.” (Warikoo) According to Hebshi, the two men that were with her on the plane were detained after some passengers had complained of suspicious activity all because they had gotten up and went to the restroom. Hebshi just so happened to be sitting next to them and had similar skin color, so that is why she was detained as well. She repeadtedly asked what was going on, but no one would ever tell her anything. Hebshi describes her emotions as “…frightened and humiliated…” (Warikoo).