Racial Profiling and Male African Americans

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

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.

Racial profiling occurs when authority uses someone’s race or ethnicity to decide whether or not to use enforcement. This controversial act is highly illegal and is mostly caused by stereotypes of certain races and ethnicities. Black males are mostly targeted due to the color of their skin, the type of car they drive, the genre of music they are listening to and how they are dressed. Some call this act DWB, driving while black. Black males are stopped and searched constantly with no probable cause just because of their race and gender. If a group of black males are riding in a car with hats on, and loud music they are more likely to get stopped than a group of white males doing the same thing. It is

Legewie, Joscha. "Racial Profiling and Use of Force in Police Stops: How Local Events Trigger Periods of Increased Discrimination." American Journal of Sociology, vol. 122, no. 2, Sept. 2016, pp. 379-424. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.uno.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=118161270&site=eds-live&scope=site.

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.

With so many news stories and incidents surrounding the topic of race and the police these days, it is not surprising for people to come to the conclusion that racism may exist within the criminal justice system. We will be taking a deeper look into the problem to find out what other possible determinants may play a role in deciding how an officer makes an arrest or stop and continue to analyze what is happening in those contexts. The issues surrounding the topic of race is like the two faces of the same coin as there are usually two sides that we have to consider: reality and media portrayals. The reality side of situations is always there at the time, but it is so subtly hidden from society that nobody understands it unless they witness it firsthand and with the media spreading filtered information, it becomes even harder for us to identify the key issue; this is especially the case when dealing with the police and racial profiling. If you turn on the news and flip to a channel where it is reporting on the police and their arrests, you will most likely see more arrests pertaining to minorities than other ethnicities. In the news, we can often see a misrepresentation of ethnic minorities, usually African-Americans, being arrested when compared to others and this has caused problems around societies countless times. For this essay topic, I will be discussing the different issues surrounding race within the parameters of criminal justice and inequality; furthermore I will be

Racial profiling is simply, “the unlawful police practice of using race, color, or ethnic background, as the reason for conducting a traffic stop on an individual.” (Michigan Civil Rights Commission) This definition can be extended to any kind of discrimination mainly based on myths and stereotypes towards a certain race or ethnicity. However, the term racial profiling is commonly used when a police officer or any other law enforcer stops, questions, searches or arrests an individual purely on the basis of their race. African Americans or simply blacks have been the major racial group that has suffered much of racial profiling. Much of this is based on the stereotypes against the blacks are perceived as more likely to engage in criminal activities. For instance, in a 2013 Racial Profiling Data from Ferguson Police Department, out of 5384 police stops, 4632 were against blacks. (Ferguson Police Dept. 1) Despite the low population of blacks in U.S. compared to other races, the former continues being subjected to more racial profiling. Racial profiling against African Americans continues to expose the blacks to humiliation and racial injustices, as this paper will expose, thereby calling for the responsible authorities to address and find solutions for the problem.

Racial profiling has become one of the most problematic practices in police departments. According to Bier, there are more than 900,000 officers in the U.S. In this country alone, there have been numerous incidents where people have been arrested and detained because of their ethnicity. A satisfactory example is an incident that happened right after

What comes to your mind when you think of an interaction an authoritative figure (police, teacher, principal)? In the African American community it is usually fear and anxiety of the motive of the authoritative figure, especially if you are a male. The intersection of race and gender for the African American male provides a basis for premature judgment by many authoritative figures in their lives. African American males deserve the same equality to succeed in life as any other human being without the threat of the damned if you do, damned if you don’t moniker that defines the functional ability

Racial profiling has gotten worse over the last decade. The issue of racial profiling has been one of the most important, if not the most important issue for a number of years throughout the U.S. Racial profiling has spread throughout the U.S. fast and it is still spreading as we speak. Evidence shows that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to be stopped and searched by police, even though they are less likely to be found possessing contraband or committing a criminal act(Natarajan). The police’s use of excessive force is a national and systematic problem. They need to put all of the officers into a class which shows them that racial profiling is bad, considering how often it happens and how worse its getting. Racial profiling

The word "nigger"is the most inapporiate racial slur according to dictionary.com, which has meant to belittle African Americans. Leaving many individuals to be beat, lynched, or even the victim of arson based upon racially motivated attacks within black communities; for instance “the reaction towards the news of Booker T. Washington dining in White House, Senator Benjamin Tillman of South Carolina predicted (Kennedy, pg 15), “The action of President Roosevelt in entertaining that nigger will necessitate our killing a thousand niggers in the South before they will learn their place again”(Kennedy, pg 77). Allowing countless features of the slur within countless jokes, cartoons, and the performing arts; which reflects stereotypes and encourages the downing of Afro-Americans. Essentially the signature phrase of racial prejudice, specifically in racial identified court cases of black individuals. Leaving the United States to accept the public display of inhumane actions and verbal usage; for instance, Supreme Court in Dred Scott v. Sandford, which ruled “that African Americans were permanently ineligible for federal citizenship”(Kenned, pg 63). These decisions and lack of appeals surrounding the cases allowed for racial insult and oppression of a national policy that make a specific race “inferior”. However, like most words the context for the derogatory word is in the moment of reclaimed by the black community and beyond. Although, the lack of evidence when the itself term

Imagine walking down the street one day with your friends, minding your own business when a police car pulls up next to you. As the car comes to a stop, a police officer rushes out with a gun in hand pointed at you. You are thrown to the ground, pinned under the officer, questioning what you did wrong. As you look around for help you realize that you have become the next victim of racial profiling. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnic background to suspect someone of committing an offence. This problem has been going on for centuries and not only needs to be recognized, but also needs to be solved. Racial profiling in the United States must be addressed through an examination

African-American males have fallen victim to law enforcement organizations, as they use racial profiling as a tactic to discriminatively enforce laws and regulations.

Racial profiling has become a major topic of debate between politicians, journalists, and even the public themselves. Some define this act of the police as a justifiable response of observing a suspicious character, but others see racial profiling as a way to discriminate against ethnic minorities. While racial profiling is highly favored by law enforcement to reduce crime, it accomplishes very little in the world of crime, and it conflicts with the relationship between the police and the community; therefore, the community must work together to put an end to racial profiling.

The excessive use of force and racial profiling by police are amongst the top controversial issues in politics and cultural studies. Racial profiling by the police is not a recent phenomenon. Urban ethnographies have been describing vividly the extent in which the police target most of the young black men, particularly in the poor urban centers. In the United States, racial profiling has been prevalent, with practitioners providing different explanations on the prevalence of racial profiling. Evidently, minority groups such as the African Americans are likely to be victims of police frisking and consequent arrests as compared to their white counterparts.