Racial Profiling: A Loss of Mutual Respect

Racism has been a big problem in the U.S. for all races for a very long time and continues to be a problem to this day,. Racism has been a big part in U.S. history and has changed over time, some of these races were African Americans, American Indians, and Mexican Americans, for American Indians it was how they were treated wrong socially and economically.

Racial profiling remains a dormant issue in the United States. It is the act of the authority, mostly, police officers linking minority status to criminal behaviour (Glover, 2007). Several police officers in the United States target specific groups because they don’t display characteristics of typical Caucasian individuals (Glover, 2007). To put history into context, before 9/11, not many police officers profiled individuals based on their ethnic backgrounds but after the attack, there was an increase in racial profiling (Harris, 2006). A racial profiling method that became prevalent in the 1980s in the United States was administered by the U.S Drug Enforcement Administration. Operation Pipeline was a program that they launched to help police officers catch drug traffickers (Harris, 2006). In a video, they taught police officers to look for clues that would help them recognize criminals. It was noticed that police officers made a majority of stops to people with Hispanic last names (Harris, 2006). Marshall Frank, a former police officer was asked what police officers should do if they saw an African man driving around a white community. Frank responded by stating that the police officers should stop the vehicle and investigate the reason to why he was there even if there was no occurrence of a crime (Harris, 2006).

The National Institute of Justice (“Racial Profiling”) stated that racial profiling, which is a form of discrimination, racism, and stereotypes is when law enforcement, based on a person’s race, ethnicity, national origin, or religion targets a person for suspicion of crimes. Today people can turn on their television, go online, and even listen to their radios and they will hear about racial profiling. Racial profiling is not anything new and has been going on throughout history; it goes all the way back to slavery. Racial profiling has recently started being recorded, which is why it has become such a huge national issue today, because people can no longer ignore it. This issue is not specific to one race, religion, ethnicity, or national origin. People of many races, religions, ethnicities, or national origins have been affected by racial profiling for years since the start of this country, but one group that has been affected by racial profiling at a high rate is African Americans. The goal of this paper is to analyze this main group that has and still is being affected by racial profiling and acknowledge other groups that are being affected as well.

What makes America? Is it the freedoms granted to any American citizen? Is it the way the founding fathers fought for their own freedom against Britain? Is it instead the racial history behind this nation? America, since its origins has been a country of immigrants and for immigrants, yet since its origins, there has been discriminatory laws against blacks, Latinos, Asians, and every other race that is not considered white or Caucasian. Has this country that has been based upon racial profiling, that has fought wars as one nation (and even against themselves at one point), and has triumphed through the Civil Rights movement finally succumbed to justice or is racial profiling just as prominent today? Racial profiling still exists in America because ____________________, ___________________, and _____________________. (3 reasons stated in thesis)

One of the most imminent threats looming within American society is race relations. America is a melting pot of different races, cultures, and religions, yet the matter of racial profiling still remains prominent today. By definition it is considered “an activity carried out by enforcers of the law wherein they investigate or stop any individual in traffic or round up people of the same race or ethnicity for crime suspicion” (NYLN.org ). This profiling has become a significant catalyst in the tension that has been ensuing between minorities and the government. Hostility has grown due to the apparent and intentional targeting of “brown people”, and

Have you ever been racially profiled while driving, shopping or while just walking in a particular neighborhood? Personally I have never been a victim of racial profiling, but I will be 16-years old this summer and able to drive to school, to a friends house or to shop at the mall. I realize that it is a possibility that I could be racially profiled at some point. There have been recent incidents that made racial profiling a very controversial issue. On February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, 17-year old African-American high school student walked through a gated community and was fatally shot after an altercation. Trayvon Martin’s parents strongly believed he was racially profiled, as stated in a news article

According to the 11 Facts about Racial Discrimination, “The U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics concluded that an African American male born in 2001 has a 32% chance of going to jail in his lifetime, while a Latino male has a 17% chance, and a white male only has a 6% chance” (11 Facts about Racial Discrimination 1). Racial profiling, or discriminating against a whole group of people based on their race, is an unjust act and a big problem in our society today. Arresting people because of how they look like, or what they believe in is absurd. According to ACLU, “Racial Profiling refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual 's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin” (ACLU 1). Although law enforcement assumes they are doing their job, they need to remain objective and fair in all situations, because they are violating rights, lacking protection and risking lives.

Stop and Frisk is the practice by which a police initiates a stop of an individual on the street based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. The Stop and Frisk policy was adopted from laws in a number of different courts in America. Under Stop and Frisk, a police officer has the power to stop, question, and frisk suspects with reason. These questions may determine whether the suspected person should be detained and investigated.

In the Justice System there are a lot of flaws that affect many people of color, and from past history, it has shown how these practices can lead to very unfortunate events, one of these practices is racial profiling. Racial profiling is when law enforcement uses race and ethnicity as grounds to determine if someone, typically of color, is guilty of doing something illegal. Racial profiling is a major problem in this country, this as well affects many citizens that are mainly of color because law enforcement usually sees them as targets, and it is important to improve and fixed this issue because there are many tragic incidents that have been caused of racial profiling.

Since the birth of our nation, racial profiling has been an issue longstanding and troubling among minority groups and still continues to exhibit severe consequences in communities.

“In 2005, a study analyzing data accumulated statewide in Texas reveals disproportionate traffic ceases and searches of African Americans and Hispanics, even though law enforcement authorities were more liable to find contraband on Whites.” (The Reality of Racial Profiling) The utilization of personal characteristics or comportment patterns to make generalizations about a person is called racial profiling. Throughout time, the utilization of race by law enforcement agencies in their policing activities has received considerable attention across the nation. The 4th amendment right that one has as an American, which is protecting against unreasonable search and seizure, is becoming contravened; one reason for the way one looks. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that racial profiling violates the constitutional requirement that all persons be accorded equal protection of the law, but it is still occurring in our society. Racial Profiling has caused the violation of our rights whether it maybe from a terry stop that was originated for the case Terry vs. Ohio, stop and frisk, racial vehicle stops, and the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act also known as Arizona SB 1070.

In today’s world we deal with multiple cases of racial profiling seemingly on a daily basis. Turn on the television, check the internet, or simply have a discussion with someone and you’ll hear about it. "Racial Profiling" describes discriminatory practices by law enforcement officials who target people for suspicion of crime based on their ethnicity, race, origin, or religion. The term first came about during the War on Drugs in the 1970’s and 1980’s when law enforcement were accused of pulling over motorists simply because of their race, then unlawfully searching their vehicles for illegal substances. There are varying opinions about this topic and as the year’s progress, it seems acts of racism, labeling, and profiling increase. Many of the instances of racial profiling that occur today involve criminal justice.

First let’s ask what does Stop and frisk actually mean legally? “It’s the situation in which a police officer who is suspicious of an individual detains the person and runs his hands lightly over the suspect's outer garments to determine if the person is carrying a concealed weapon.”

Racism and racial stereotypes have existed throughout human history. The radical belief associated by thinking the skin color, language, or a person’s nationality is the reason that someone is one way or another has become extremely detrimental to society. Throughout human existence it has sparked tension between groups of people and ultimately influenced wars and even caused slavery. Racism in America dates back to when Native Americans were often attacked, relocated, and assimilated into European culture. Since then, racism within the states has grown to include various other cultures as well. In the essays by Brent Staples, Bharati Mukherjee, and Manuel Munoz, they discuss the various causes as well as the effects that racial stereotyping can place on a victim and the stigma it leaves behind for the society to witness.

In Philadelphia stop and frisk is “a situation where a police officer who is suspicious of an individual stops and searches them for a concealed weapon or illegal substance.