Racial Profiling And The United States Of America

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).

For years, researchers have attempted to study everything pertaining to the racial profiling phenomenon as studies revealed that it does happen in the State of New York, which is the home for millions of people of different races and diverse cultural backgrounds. Fagan and Davies (2000) argued that part of the situation might be derived from the Broken Windows Theory; which is in essence the belief that disorderly behavior in neighborhoods will eventually lead to more serious crimes. Research evidence and statistics showed that the police activity in the New York City area was a demonstration of a pattern of hostile policing methods. However, the investigational facts proved that police does not only focus on disorderly people in certain areas,

The special population that I have chosen will be on minorities. As we take a closer look into that statistic on crime, housing, employment along with racial profiling I do believe most are tied together which can easily cause a revolving door within the criminal justice system. When we look at the minority communities there are many challenges they are faced on a daily basis.

Racial profiling has always been a problem in America. ‘i never experience racism the way i have in america, say one cuban immigrant my mother knew name Rosalinda. Racial profiling is one of the worst things about living in this great country called America”It’s like the fine print in America. Just cause he’s muslim doesn't mean he want to blow up the plane,just cause he’s black and wearing a hoodie doesn't mean he’s going to rob a store,or cause she’s speaks spanish doesn't mean she's an immigrant.The use of race or ethnicity as grounds for thinking someone committed an offense, that the official definition for racial profiling

I grew up in a family where my father was a doctor and my mother a homemaker, both immigrants from Pakistan hoping to achieve the American dream. Growing up in a white-dominant community and attending a high school with predominantly, white students and teachers, I was restricted in my growth and freedom. I was treated differently by my friends, peers and faculty members as I tried to acclimate to the American culture. My low social status, identity as a student in my high school was due to my race and gender. My race, defined by my phenotypic traits, compelled my peers and teachers to treat me differently, because of association with an inferior race. Despite being born in America, my foreign looks and association with another country, led me to be captured by the chains of racial profiling. My family, my low-social status in a White-dominated institution and my membership in primary groups were all pivotal aspects that have allowed me to attend UC Davis, where I plan to combat the low expectations of my Pakistani race.

Racial profiling has and always will be a large part the American society. Although before we can discuss its effects on society and how society then affects me we should know what it is. Racial profiling is the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement (e.g. stop and search or arrest). In other word it is justifiable racism. I say this because in order to use a person’s skin color to determine whether they have committed a crime or not you must be comparing it to another skin tone. Then you get into the habit of thinking of the ‘bad races’ and the ‘good races’. I call it a habit because it was first an idea to help speed of the judicial process. It became a habit after they realized it was doing more harm than good but refused to change it. This however is not the only profiling, it is simply the one in the news right now. There is behavior and appearance profiling. We watch a person walk a certain way and assume the worst. We see a boy dressed in way we would never dress our son and declare war on them.These habit can lead to many lives ruined and stolen.

Ever Since being forced to the united states as slaves blacks have been exposed to racism and legal discrimination citizens of African descent in the United States living threw things like Jim crow laws which were laws set to legally separate blacks like they were lesser to white citizens, or dealing acts of terror by groups like the KKK or other racist whites. And most importantly going through slavery which heavily set blacks back. Black men as a whole in society are believed to have the toughest time. They are often portrayed by society to be hoodlums or thugs when in reality that’s a small percentage, society lets a small amount represent the larger body. According to the Washington Post “African Americans are 13% of the country 's population, but they are 62.7% of convicted drug users/dealers. Caucasians are 80% of the country 's population, they are the majority of drug users/dealers but only 36.7% of them are locked up” this is a direct result of racial profiling and discrimination. We as a society need to improve and bring awareness to the topic of male males being profiled and discriminated against.

Racial Profiling is a big problem in today's world. A personal story of mine is when i was in middle school 7th grade and that was the Paris bombing and a guy i don't really like he called me a terrorist. I felt humiliated and i didn't tell anyone i just pretended like it never happened. Ever since that day i always felt scared about what people thought about me so i was insecure.

On September 11, 2001, four planes were hijacked from different areas of the East Coast. Two out of these planes crashed into the World Trade Centers in New York City and over two thousand people were killed from that incident alone. One plane had also crashed into the Pentagon in near Washington, D.C. The last plane headed towards the White House but incidentally crashed in an open field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania (9/11 at nine). U.S Officials strongly claimed that the attack was linked to a terrorist group named Al-Qaeda. Ever since this occurrence many Muslims across the United States have been subject to racial profiling and security has definitely increased ever since, especially at airports.

The charging planes demolished the towers, as millions of people gazed at the rubble collapsing to the ground. Consequently, bodies were falling as the tower had its last stand. Screaming can be heard from a distance, as reporters were recording all the details. Officers were left stunned at what they just saw. The nation was at a stand-still. After intensive investigating, the miscreants were found to be of Middle Eastern descent. They couldn’t trust them anymore. There was a solution, and it seemed like it was the only option. After the event of 9/11, perpetrated by people of Middle Eastern heritage, many police departments adopted a prejudiced view of Middle Easterners, stripping away their civil rights.

"What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence?" Now this questions makes you step back and actually think about what going on in your life or around the world. Actually think for a moment, and take a look around for example the police brutality, the segregation, the manipulation. How much more can the people take?people hate certain people based off their skin color and ethnicity and have been brainwashed. By people I mean the whites and blacks, today on the radio I heard a women talking about in order to stop segregation their should not be a black history month or a BET(black intertainment television) because whites don't have a month dedicated for them

People are denied their sense of agency on many levels in regards to decision-making, freedom, and independence. The youth, as well as the elderly are either seen as incompetent because lack of knowledge or expertise. Youth especially minors are given less acknowledgment due to being such a young age, especially when it comes to medical practices. Youth are discriminated by older people, usually those who are established. For instance, youth and crime, all youth that have had a criminal record are labeled as being bad, and a lot are stereotyped into this system because they have the same attributes as others who have caused crime. The elderly gets discriminated by because they are not as able, physically and mentally, and professionals and younger people talk down to them because they think/ know that they no longer don’t know what may be the best situation for them. The elderly people get taken advantage of sometimes because of this because they are so unknowing of the continuous changes around them.

Benjamin Todd Jealous once said, “Racial profiling punishes innocent individuals for the past actions of those who look and sound like them. It misdirects crucial resources and undercuts the trust needed between law enforcement and the communities they serve.”(Jealous, 2015). I couldn’t agree more with him. In today’s society more and more Black men and women suffer from police bias. Police is a powerful organization that was meant to serve and protect. Enforce laws and keeping communities safe. The problem is we fail to acknowledge that police are humans with real life bias. The problem with police is how much racial profiling is going up,

Although racial profiling has many negative effects on society as a whole, may would argue that racial profiling is an important aspect of policing and needs to be a part of a police culture. According to Sunil Dutta who is an LAPD lieutenant and reported to the Los Angeles Times, cites “We have to acknowledge that there is a place for race and ethnicity in police work.” Dutta goes on to explain that it is important to take ethnicity into account as it can aide in locating a possible suspect. Dutta further explains that officers are trained to use all the data available to them in apprehending criminals. In addition, he adds that when officers follow leads and stop people, they do use profiling, but it is profiling based on all actionable intelligence, which includes race as one of many criteria (Dutta, 2010). Alexis Warthol, a former police psychologist and consultant to the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association, agrees with Duttal. She argues that in a cop’s world it’s killed or be killed. Artwohl who co-wrote, Deadly world encounters: what a cop needs to know, suggests that a police officer’s duties are extremely dangerous and police officers have a great responsibility in protecting the public. Artwhol contends that 25 years ago an officer rarely drew his or her weapon. According to Artwhol, in recent times officers draw their weapons once per month or twice per week. She attributes

Police officer should be trained to avoid racial profiling, which means that people should not be targeted by their race, gender, religion, and ethnicity; which in many cases is the factor that lead to police brutality. Studies have shown that there is implicit bias, which refers to the attitude or stereotypes that affect our understanding, action, and decision in an unconscious manner. In this case, when the police officer decide to shoot a suspect. According to “The World Is not Black and White: Racial Bias in the Decision to shoot in a Multiethnic Context,’’ it says, “ When we asked to press a button labeled “shoot” or “ don't shoot,” Police officers were “uniformly faster to press the “ don’t shoot’ button to an white unarmed target, relatively to an unarmed black target” (Sadler et al.).