Racial Profiling in America

Racial Profiling against Minorities in America

Racial Profiling is an arbitrary action initiated by an authority based on race, ethnicity or national origin rather than on a person’s behavior. Discrimination is when you are denied opportunities and equal rights because of prejudice or other arbitrary reasons. (Schaefer, 2013: 233) There is no secret that racial profiling and discrimination still takes place in America today. With Racial profiling also comes stereotypes. Racial Profiling and stereotyping is something that happens very often in America especially against minority groups such as Blacks, Hispanics, and Muslims.

( Schaefer, 2013: 238) In fact, there were several experiments that proved such to be true (Schaefer as well as a tv show called what would you do?! (Schaefer, 2013:239) (abc news Alley, Healy 2010).

Whether it be a Muslim passenger being removed from a flight because their presence alarming other passengers (NPR Staff 2016), a Hispanic male being pulled over for driving a crown Victoria in a fairly decent neighborhood, or a young black woman entering into a relatively expensive store to purchase an item, but she is followed around by the staff, it happens and has become a normal thing. Racial profiling in America continues to compromise the future of America. Unfortunately, racial profiling victims pay the price majorly because it can affect them emotionally, mentally, and sometimes even physically and financially. Ultimately It is a very dangerous and a harmful practice that is highly ineffective.

From the conflict perspective Conflict theorist agree with Arnold Rose that racial prejudice and discrimination have many harmful consequences for our society. (Schaffer, 2013) Although racial prejudice and racial discrimination are both different from racial profiling, they all bring about harmful consequences. Some racial profiling incidents have ended in death. For example, the shooting death of Philando Castile by a police officer. According to Wikipedia the police officer patrolling the area where Castile and his girlfriend were stopped radioed a nearby squad saying that he planned to stop the vehicle because “The two occupants just look people that were involved in a robbery.

The driver looks like one of the suspects because of the wide-set nose.” Later it was determined that the car was stopped because of him being a black man driving car with dreadlocks and having a wide set nose. There was a previous robbery in the area, but the police had no other evidence on how the two robbers looked except that one had dreadlocks and a wide set nose. This is a tragedy of one instance of racial profiling. Mr. Castile was in his own neighborhood driving his normal car, that just so happened to be a 1997 Oldsmobile. (Wikipedia 2016)

He may not have been shot because he was black, but he was definitely profiled by the officer because he was black. The term driving while black comes to mind. (Wikipedia) His mother lost a son, his girlfriend lost her lover, his coworkers and students definitely lost someone who inspired them. This incident as many others has cause so much hurt and unsettling in the black community. This and other incidents like it have cause for many people to form groups to stand against racial profiling, racial inequalities, and other injustices in America

Despite research being done to show how ineffective racial profiling is in America authorities continue to use profiling. A recent study was proven that blacks are still more likely than whites to be frisked. After the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. more Muslims and Arabs have been racially profiled and sadly this has also become a normal thing.

(Schaefer, 2013: 239) There have been instances where a Muslim passenger was removed from a flight just because he spoke Arabic and another passenger felt uncomfortable with how he was speaking it. This isn’t the only incident to where someone was removed from a flight for looking too Muslim or looking or sounding Middle Eastern. (NPR Staff, 2016)

Society is affected mightily by racial profiling. It harms the future of growth in this country. Individuals may racial trauma that stems from cases to where discrimination and racial profiling were involved they could feel depression, anxiety that the incident may happen again, low self-esteem, they may feel humiliated, and irritable.

(Richardson, Turner 2016). It can ruin the trust between citizens and law officials. For instance, if a black man and his son were walking home from playing basketball at a nearby park and they get stopped and frisked by a white cop for no apparent reason in their minds they may never trust any cop or law official ever again. This could lead them to believe that all cops are this way as well. Racial profiling could cause some mental and emotional stress on both the father and the son. The shootings of unarmed blacks in America has caused a very real, very systemic societal problem. As a result, a lot of black Americans, regardless of class, regardless of context, and circumstance, feel the effects of these shootings. It causes us to wonder if they are happening because of black individuals being racial profiled. It is also affecting different Americans with their trust in the American government as a whole. There are barriers that were being broken down and now they are being built again.

My opinion on this social problem is that racial profiling is an act against basic human rights. It is an upsetting thing to know that because of your ethnicity people (especially the authorities) can make an assumption about you and act on that assumption on that alone rather than your own individual behavior. I have personally dealt with racial profiling in a clothing store in the lake park area. The thing about this is that I worked at a clothing store in the same plaza. The lady that was the manager of the store didn’t think I could afford to purchase items in the store because she kept asking me what I was looking for and hinting that certain things were expensive and then she would say the price and look at me to affirm that I knew I was somewhere that she felt I didn’t belong. When I realized what was happening it made me never want to shop at the store again and also let everyone that I knew not to shop there because of the treatment I received.

Being a person who had worked in retail you cannot ever know who is going to come into the store and you cannot judge a person based on looks but by how they behave. It certainly makes a huge difference. It makes me feel hurt for all individuals that encounter being racially profiled. With all that is going on in our nation it crazy to me that this is something that we as a nation have to deal with. Middle Eastern people should not have to always wonder if they may get kicked off of a plane because they are speaking in their native tongue.

Blacks should feel safe enough to drive home at night or even just being pulled over they shouldn’t have to wonder if this will be the time they don’t make it home. Hispanics shouldn’t feel that when they go into a store to purchase something they are being followed by the stores staff to see if they are stealing. It’s such a bad thing and causes stress and all other kinds of health problems. I feel as if we are to be judged, judge us individually based on our actions not any other reason.

Did you like this example?

601

25