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Racial Profiling Thesis

Decent Essays

Nia Clavelle
Mrs. Grice
Comp. 2
Nov. 26, 2017 On February 26th, 2012 a young, unarmed African American man from Sanford, Florida was fatally shot by a neighborhood watchman, because he claimed that he saw the young man as a threat. He was simply walking down the street with a hoodie on and a snack in his hand. This young man was Trayvon Martin. This is the first case of racial profiling that I, as an 18 year old can vividly remember. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Most people believe that the only group that can be subject to racial profiling is African Americans but any race can and will be profiled, even Caucasian people. Of course, in most cases, no group is profiled to the degree of African American people are but it is very possible. Racial profiling is and always will be a problem in our lives but we have to know what it is and where it comes from in order to try to put an end to it. Your first question should be, “Well, what is racial profiling.” Racial profiling is defined as using race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Profiling is a troubling problem no matter how law enforcement, the media, or even our justice system tries to downplay it. Profiling happens everyday, more times a day than we can count. However, because we don’t hear about every case doesn’t mean it does not happen which is what the powers that be want us to believe. A

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