Racial Profiling : Black And Ficer Essay

There are many types of racism in America that cause people to make accusations against law enforcement for discrimination. One type of racism is racial profiling. It is a strategy that encourages police officers to stop and question minorities only because of their race. It takes place in a variety of routine police encounters. Unmotivated searches occur everyday among the minority groups. Could you imagine waking up and being scared to walk outside your house because of the color of your skin? This is a fear of almost everyone belonging to a minority group. This continues to be a widespread problem throughout the country.

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.

For the past few years there has been an ongoing debate surrounding the issue of racial profiling. The act of racial profiling may rest on the assumption that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to commit crimes than any individual of other races or ethnicities. Both David Cole in the article "The Color of Justice" and William in the article "Road Rage" take stance on this issue and argue against it in order to make humanity aware of how erroneous it is to judge people without evidence. Although Cole and William were very successful in matters of showing situations and qualitative information about racial profiling in their articles, both of them fail at some points.

The concept of racial profiling has its wide range of definitions. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, racial profiling means “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.” In other words, racial profiling has its assumptions that particular individuals are more likely to be involved in transgression or unlawful activities based on individual’s race or background. Racial profiling does not just exist today; it thrives and mostly propels a brutalizing message and inhuman misconception to citizens of the United States whom they are pre-judged by the color of their skin. The primary cause of profiling is racism or race-related discrimination. Unfortunately, this unwarranted approach is now commonly used by law enforcement officers, even though it could be both unjust and unconstitutional. Not only does it violate the core principles of this country, but it can be dangerous and deadly because it threatens our privacy and security. It is also a threat to racial equality, where many influential and prominent people have fought for to accomplish. Although many heroic activist leaders have ended racial division to its certain extent, yet many African-Americans all over America still face the rigid unequal world because of unjustifiable race-related tragedies that tremendously affects African-Americans.

Racial profiling is a wide spread term in the American justice system today, but what does it really mean? Is racial profiling just a term cooked up by criminals looking for a way to get out of trouble and have a scapegoat for their crimes? Is it really occurring in our justice system, and if so is it done intentionally? Most importantly, if racial profiling exists what steps do we take to correct it? The answer to these questions are almost impossible to find, racial profiling is one of many things within our justice system that can be disputed from any angle and has no clear cut answers. All that can be done is to study it from different views and sources and come up with one’s own conclusion on the issue.

Racial profiling is a tool used to pull over blacks and for reasons other than what the traffic stop should be. To the average person who does not experience this will view as a non-issue or not a big deal. But having an experience as a victim of racial profiling can leave a psychological scar for many years, depending on the severity of the traffic stop. The statistics show that these incidents are not random but shows a systematic pattern of law enforcement misconduct rather it’s coming from the individual officer or the police department, it’s clear that racial profiling has a disparate and degrading impact on blacks.

Racial profiling is the most idiotic and arrogant thing you can ever do as a person. Usually the people who are affected by racial profiling are minorities, however, any person can be a victim of racial profiling. Some may think that racial profiling is non-existent, however, I would like to bring the situation into focus and show that it is still in existence and has been observed in the past and now in the current year. Although, more than fifty percent of the time racial profiling is conducted it is against a man or woman of color; an African-American in other words. There are instances where a white person can be a victim as well. Trying not to say that there isn't any person out there that is exempted from racial profiling,

The National Institute of Justice defines ‘racial profiling’ as “a practice that targets people for suspicion of crime based on their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” It creates a link between certain crimes and certain races which effectively creates stereotypes, and it tends to fail to consider non-Hispanic and non-Arab whites. While it targets many racial and ethnic groups, it greatly affects African Americans’ rights and their everyday lives. Racial Profiling, largely criticized within and outside the United States, is perpetuated by stereotypes, social bias, and fear and used largely against African Americans by figures of authority as an underlying justification for use of force, search, and suspicion.

Racial profiling is an example of police brutality, which is defined by Gross and Livingston (2002) as “the practice of some officers of stopping motorists of certain racial or ethnic groups because the officer believe that these groups are more likely than others to commit certain types of crimes” (p.1413). Therefore, individuals are treated unfairly by law enforcement solely based on their race. This type of mistreatment is unmerited and ultimately a violation of an individual’s rights. However, in many instances the courts do not find it a violation of their civil rights based on the fact that racial profiling is difficult to prove. Often, prosecutors are disinclined in bringing forth a case against officers on this particular matter. Officers are permitted to stop and search individuals and their vehicles whenever there is reasonable suspicion, however, there has been studies that prove that some law enforcement officers restrict these rights primarily to minority groups. Bowling and Phillips found that although there was no formal monitoring of use of these powers, it was concluded that it was particularly heavy use of these powers against ethnic minorities, largely of young black people (as cited in Sharp & Atherton, 2007, p. 747) . In several cases, officers argue that they reasonably pulled an individual over for other probable grounds such as: traffic violations, suspicious behavior, etc., with race never being an

Back in 2000, the New York City council held a series of meetings in the Bronx after the shooting of Amandou Diallo. Their goal was to address as well as repair the relationships between police officers and city residents. However the first meeting did not go as the suspected, over two hundred of the attendees accused police officers of mistreating African-Americans. One after another shared their humiliating encounters with the police. This all occurred almost sixteen years ago, and the most upsetting part is that not a thing has changed. These actions have only alienated communities from law enforcement. Racial profiling is patently illegal and violates the U.S. Constitutions core promises of equal protection under the law.

Racial profiling, according to The Leadership Conference, “refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.” This is a troubling pressing issue in the United States till this day. Racial profiling is patently illegal and violates the U.S. Constitution’s core promises of equal protection under the law to all and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. Moreover, racial profiling is ineffective. Although people assume and stereotype others thinking that it would benefit them in certain situations, race will always play prominent a role in America through racial and police encounters with African Americans and Latinos in an unfavorable aspect.

Many People presume racial profiling is a recent phenomenon that occurred in the 80s as the news about African Americans being pulled over for “driving while black” made national headlines. “Racial Profiling,” however, has endured in various forms for decades in black communities from the slave trade, Jim Crow laws and in its most recent form as discriminatory conduct from Police Department personnel to the Criminal Justice System. Three Hundred years of unfair racialized practices that date back to the 1700s in the United States for people of African descent (1).

It is frequently said that the way you approach someone is the way that they get their first impression of you. So if you come off negatively at first, that lessens the chances of a person liking you. This can also relate to the way someone perceives what type of person you are, dependending upon looks, clothes, and of course race.

A major issue that has been at the forefront of the topic of race in America is racial profiling. This practice of targeting individuals based on the individual’s race is not new and has been in use for many many years. However it has recently come to national attention with the killing of unarmed black teenagers by police officers. The issue of racial profiling not only highlights the lack of equality in America but the issue of policemen using excessive force when dealing with criminal activity.

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.