Racial Profiling Issues - Article Example

Racial Profiling Racial profiling is an act from the side of police (or a private security practice) through which a person is unnecessarily suspected because of the inferior nature of his/her race, nationality, ethnicity or religion. Police officers often stop, check, and examine the vehicles of their victims (by force also) without any reason or proof about the misbehavior or criminality of the person. Other types of racial profiling involve bicycle stops, using police attack dogs, unnecessarily suspecting and checking shops and marts, immigration worksite raids, and stopping pedestrians without any reason. African-Americans and Latinos are the victims of racial profiling in most cases. 1 Certain officials like customs officials and airport officials also do racial profiling, disturbing the passengers. Racial profiling is widespread. Thousands of complaints from the victims of various ethnic groups have proved that racial profiling is a real happening. Victims of racial profiling are not only common people but also famous and rich people, celebrities, sports stars and people from all walks of life. There were cases when respected members of the society, like judges, lawyers, state legislators, and even representatives claimed that they were victims of racial profiling. This discriminatory stopping and checking by the police is disturbing thousands of pedestrians, innocent drivers, and shoppers and other helpless people across the nation. ‘War on Drugs’ as well as ‘War on Terror’ have given the police an excuse to suspect and check people whom they doubt as a terrorist or drug courier. This has resulted in several racial profiling issues. People will get humiliated and will lose their valuable time when they are unnecessarily stopped and checked by the police. Police has got a general belief that non-white people are mostly drug users and sellers. But studies (reports regarding police stops and checking) have revealed that people who are considered to be racially inferior are less likely to be having drugs or weapons with them compared to whites. 2 Law enforcement agents are people who are having the policing authority for private or public purposes. Security guards at main offices or private institutions, police officers, and officers like airport security agents are having policing right which they misuse to create yet another racial discrimination issue. There were cases when airline pilots demanded people to disembark from the flights, as they suspected passengers because of their ethnicity. Nearly 10 million Asians (4 percent of the population) have already been victims of racial profiling according to reports. Indians in America also had testified their complaints about stops and searches of local police. They complained about the vehicle check, (demanding license and registrations) and other checks done by police without any reasonable suspicion. Blacks as well as Latino pedestrians are stopped, questioned and checked without any reason. Non-white youths traveling in bikes are simply stopped and questioned for doing nothing wrong. There were incidents in which police dogs attacked non white civil rights protesters. Highway patrol canine units unnecessarily stop the vehicles claiming that they carry drugs. There exists a practice of threatening people of color by releasing dogs. Dogs are trained to attack and maul and are sent to attack people. Several hundreds of blacks and Latinos were attacked in different incidents. The most common example of racial profiling is DWB or ‘driving while black’. This is an act of police haunting African-Americans for traffic stops as they think they are likely to be indulged in criminal activities. Even though racial profiling is illegal, Supreme Court (according to a decision taken in 1996) permits police to stop and examine motorists (their vehicles) to see whether they have weapons or illegal drugs with them. Stopping these people frequently will result in large number of arrests, which can further affect the racial profiling statistics concerning African Americans. It has been found out that African Americans are the most frequently stopped people. Here the question is that, are these people committing crimes? Or are they simply been disturbed by police? Even though the law enforcement department is very well aware of the unfairness of this practice, still they continue this practice of unnecessarily stopping inferior race people (non-white). It is absolutely hurting when security officers at shops particularly target people of color for checking shop lifting. Many celebrities also had testified their bad experiences concerning racial profiling. An Olympic medalist, basketball player had a painful experience of waiting in a restaurant for an hour to get a seat, when the whites who came after her were given seats. African-Americans have to face unwanted questioning, harassment, and false arrest from various places. People of inferior ethnic groups are falsely doubted and accused for undocumented labor violations in immigration and naturalization services. They are recognized by their color, slang, dress and by their foreign sounding names. Several complaints about the police harassment at polling booths (harassing voters) have come up from the African-American people. Non-white Airline passengers also have submitted various complaints on racial profiling. Various organizations have come up with tips and advices to fight racial profiling. ‘Campaign against racial profiling’ by ACLU offers various useful advices and steps to eradicate racial profiling. Campaign has taken the initiative to end unnecessary police stops and checking of inferior people. It is a web-based program to create awareness among public and to prepare public in order to fight against racial profiling in United States. There are certain advices given by Civil rights attorneys that can be followed if police unnecessarily doubts and tries to examine the vehicle. Everybody should be very well aware of their rights. One need not permit the checking of his private vehicle always. The owner of the vehicle has got every rights to deny the demand of the police to check his vehicle; it should be done in a polite way. 3 It is always better not to argue with police even if police brings up the argument; never irritate them being argumentative. Collect the name of the police officer, his badge number, car number, and license plate number. Remember the time and location. One can file a complaint if he is of the opinion that he was unnecessarily caught and mistreated. It is better to approach civil rights organizations or ACLU for necessary legal advices about the case. Racial profiling is that pervasive that nearly 32 million people of America have been impacted in this issue. Discrimination on the basis of skin color, ethnicity, race and religion or nationality will weaken the basic human rights that a person is entitled to. When law enforcement department officials consider ethnic background, color, race and nationality for criminal suspicion, security of the nation is brought to danger. Racial profiling is an ineffective policing tool which will aggravates the ethnic discrimination problem. Racial policing will hinder effective policing also as it will divert the investigation to wrong suspect. The equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment prohibits discriminated treatment. Racial profile is a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts (1964) also. Racial profiling will wear down the trust of public on police and also will estrange minority communities. Racial profiling will lead to the maltreatment of innocent people. Guidelines published by the justice department are not sufficient to limit or decrease racial profile in United States. They are not applicable in state and local level where majority of racial profiling issue arises. Racial profiling will continue in its wildest form unless government makes attempts to make racial profiling illegal. Proper action should be taken on the complaints of racial profiling so that no officer will dare to practice racial profile ever. Bibliography Harris, David. “Flying While Arab: Lessons from the Racial Profiling Controversy.” Civil Rights Journal 6.1 (2002): 8-12. Harris, David. “The Reality of Racial Disparity in Criminal Justice: The Significance of Data Collection.” Law and Contemporary Problems 66.3 (2003): 71. Trende, Sean P. “Why Modest Proposals Offer the Best Solution for Combating Racial Profiling.” Duke Law Journal 50.1 (2000): 331. Footnotes 1 Juan Antonio Juarez, Brotherhood of Corruption: A Cop Breaks the Silence on Police Abuse, Brutality, and Racial Profiling (Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2004). 2 Katheryn Russell Brown Underground Codes: Race, Crime, and Related Fires (New York, NY: NYU Press, 2003). 3 Marcos Pizarro, Chicanas And Chicanos In School: Racial Profiling, Identity Battles, and Empowerment (Texas: University of Texas, 2005). Read More