Persuasive Speech about Racial Profiling

Introduction

The definition for racial profiling is the following; “the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense.” Believe it or not majority of us have been a part of stereotyping but when it is done through power and authority of each state that is where it crosses the line. Today I am going to be talking about the hard, but the truth of racial profiling done through law enforcement.

You be asking yourself in reality who those this affect or does it even concern anyone in this room well according to my audience analysis 100% have gone or witness someone being discriminated by the law enforcement.

This just makes you look around and take to encounter that at least one person in this room has been racial profiled. I will be discussing stories of people who have gone through racial profiling, the causes of it and the solution to fix discrimination within the law enforcement.

Body

Racial profiling is not something that is easy to talk about as many people in this room have dealt with problems within the law enforcement. We all had those days where you wake up late whether if it is for work or school; but even though knowing that you have to be there at a certain time you still keep pressing the snooze button. Until you are rushing late, and everything is not going your way. There you are on your way to your destination into you see those lovely but bright blue and red lights from your rear veer mirror. At that moment it is not that sunny anymore all you were speeding 5 miles above the speed limit. Now there are two outcomes to this scenario having a speed ticket or getting attacked by the police because of your skin color. Asking you to step out of your car and heading to the police department. Do not get me wrong they both do not sound great, but I rather chose the latter.

Subpoint 1: A lot of people think this is just happening now but that is not the case. According to the senior Vox reporter Dara Lind from Vox media, racial profiling has been happening since the 1950s. We all remember Rosa Park story she did not want to get up because she was tired which ended up leading to boycotting. While they were out boycotting their rights; guess who was the one that attacked and bomb people’s home? You guessed right the law enforcement. This followed up with the beating of a young black man in Rochester 1964 or the pregnant women killed in Philadelphia in 1964. (Lind, 2016) Years later nothing has changed. We have had developments with the new touch screen phone rather than having block big antenna mobile phones. Everything has changed but the only thing that has stick around is discrimination based on skin color.

Subpoint 2: Not so long ago we heard the story of Trayvon Martin and for those who have not according to biography.com where his story was published on A&E Television Networks; he was a young 17-year-old killed by the police. He was a young kid like many of us sitting down in this room he had a bright future ahead of him, he wanted to study for aviation and become the next pilot. Although that all changed on February 26 where he was staying over his father and step mothers house. He was that kid in the block that stood out from the rest as he was an African American kid that was tall and had tattoos which does not seem rare but the only thing that made him stand out was that the house was in a gated community in Florida. That night, he was on the phone with his girlfriend while he was walking to the closes gasoline station to buy some chips. Where he felt like someone was watching him, so what did he do? He ran because he was afraid and the only reason why Zimmerman the neighborhood watch police was following him because he seemed suspicious just because of his skin color. The story sadly ended up leading to his death with a gunshot to his chest. (Biography, 2019)

Cause

Subpoint 1: According to Crystal Ayres the editor for Vittana Personal finance stated the following “Blacks/African-Americans are 3 times more likely to be searched during a police stop as a motorist compared to Whites/Caucasians. Hispanics are 2.5 times more likely to be searched during a police stop compared to Whites/Caucasians.” (Ayres 2016) This goes to show that when an individual does get stopped it just depends on your ethnicity on the measurements the police will go. All across 50 states the police have taken a turn in the community attacking people who have not done nothing to harm others while those who are harming are getting away with it. North Carolina has recently done a statistical test in 2016 according to Professor Andrews from Stanford News. The statically data results were people who were black, or Hispanic were thoroughly search while white and Asian were not. (Stanford University, 2017) At the end they realized the ones who were searched were less likely to have an illegal item while those who were not.

Subpoint 2: As you can see from the graph above from Contact Between Police and the Public you can clearly see the percentage and the big difference between ethnicities.(Jones, 2018) This just goes to show that police officers do more harm to those who look like they are the danger to the community, but we should never judge someone by the way someone looks or dresses.

Subpoint 1: Do not get me wrong in order to want something to happen there has to be changes. With that being said you cannot change a person’s point of view. We all have different minds for reason. But as civilians we do not want the so-called people that protect us from harm judge us. Yes, I do not want the police officers to be like robots and not have in mind but the moment they put the uniform they should be able to stand in anyone’s shoes no matter their skin color. To make change happen within the law enforcement there has to be workshops done before an individual wants to become an officer and during the time you are employed as a law enforcement. This workshop will help us ensure they do not discriminate no one for who they are. But before doing these workshops guess what we need money. And how do we get this money by funding. Funding that is needed through our government we already pay taxes. I suggest that some of the money should be dedicated to the law enforcement workshops where it will benefit them and us from racial profiling.

Conclusion

Restate thesis & review main points: With all of this being said I state that we need the correct funding measures given by the government. Where that money will not go to waste with the fantastic workshops that will come to play for our law enforcement. With these workshops we will not have to fear getting stopped by the police next time.

References

1. Ayres, C. (n.d.). 24 Frightening Racial Profiling Statistics. Retrieved from https://vittana.org/24-
   frightening-racial-profiling-statistics
2. Brewster, Z. W., Lynn, M., & Cocroft, S. (2014, June 02). Consumer Racial Profiling in U.S.
3. Restaurants: Exploring Subtle Forms of Service Discrimination against Black Diners. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/socf.12093
4. Jones, A. (2018, October 12). Police stops are still marred by racial discrimination, new data
   shows. Retrieved from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2018/10/12/policing/
5. Stanford University. (2017, September 08). Stanford researchers develop new statistical test that
   shows racial profiling in police traffic stops. Retrieved from
   https://news.stanford.edu/2016/06/28/stanford-researchers-develop-new-statistical-test-shows-racial-profiling-police-traffic-stops/
6. Trayvon Martin. (2019, April 16). Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/crime-
   figure/trayvon-martin

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