Racial profiling Essay

Imagine driving home from school to go put on your uniform to go to work. You are driving the posted speed limit, obeying all traffic laws, and you car is in perfect working condition. All of a sudden, flashing red and blue lights behind you and you’re being pulled over. The officer treats you as a suspect right off the bat, smothering you with questions concerning what you’re doing, where you’re going; yet never really telling you why you’ve been pulled over. Without any warranted reason the officer wants to search your car. After much hassle you are finally free to go, yet still have no explanation as to why you were pulled over to begin with. Well that happened to me one year ago after being pulled over three hours earlier. Later on i learned that there were a Mercedes Benz that was stolen in the neighborhood, and i was a black women driving a Mercedes Benz fitting the description of the one that were being stolen. But there were other Mercedes car in t he street that day. Why didn’t he stooped them. Guess what the officer was a white man, this prove that i was subject to racial profiling. Still today many people don’t know the definition of racial profiling. What does it means? According to Kenneth Jost, author of the â€Å"racial profiling ;Are minority unfairly targeted by police† stated that Racial Profiling is any police or private security practice in which a person is treated as a suspect because of his or her race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. This occurs when police investigate, stop, frisk, search or use force against a person based on such characteristics instead of evidence of a person’s criminal behavior. It often involves the stopping and searching of people of color for traffic violations, known as â€Å"DWB† or â€Å"driving while black or brown.† Is racial profiling helps or huts community/America? In my opinion i think that racial profiling is a detriment to our soc iety, because it is a form of discrimination, it is unconstitutional, and its violates humans right. Should there be something done to stop this growing madness? Racial Discrimination is a serious problem in the world today. Race remains a significant social issue because people use racial differences as the basis for discrimination. Racism is a clear reality in our society, and it is continues to shatter and destroy lives. Racial discrimination is an  ongoing human judgment that U.S. citizens can’t really stop. Let’s take a look at one example on how racism is a problem â€Å"New York City college student Trayon Christian, 19, filed a civil rights suit against Barneys after he was stopped, handcuffed and taken to a police station after buying a $349 belt at the upscale department store.† Why did that happen ,well because he was black. The life chances and opportunities of people of color in the United States are limited as compared to whites. The legacy of historic discrimination continues to weigh on the present; and current day discrimination persists throughout American life in access to healthcare, educational serv ices, employment opportunities, wage levels, capital, the criminal justice system, and media employment. Racism, is difference plus power. All forms of racism suppose,on Paul Bou-Habib’s conception,author of the†Racial profiling and background injustice†say that â€Å"the differences between races mean that they cannot coexist in one society on terms of equality. This information is important because it allows us to further understand the history of racial discrimination. In the United States Bill of Rights, the Fourth Amendment is â€Å"the right of the people to be secure in their houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized,†(qtd.in Saeed). Racial profiling is a clear violation of the bills of rights in the United States citizens. New measures must be taken in conjunction with current measures to curb racial profiling. A strict federal program to monitor and survey our nation’s police officers is needed. The public also needs to become more involved in efforts to stop racial profiling. Until these measures are taken, racial profiling will continue to eat away at the heart of our nation. Being frisked, arrested, or incarcerated is often a humiliating and degrading process in violates human rights. Many police officers have also been known to abuse their authority. Take for instance. In 2009, police in Detroit, Michigan, conducted a stop and- frisk of Elvis Ware. While in a public parking lot, one officer shoved his bare hand down Ware’s pants and  squeezed his genitals and then attempted to stick a bare finger into Ware’s anus. Other young men of African descent report that the same two officers who stopped Ware conducted similar outrageous and inappropriate searches on them without warrants, probable cause, or reasonable suspicion.’ Such â€Å"encounters can result in negative behavioral changes†(Jost). Minorities, even those who are innocent, may feel pressured to dress in a particular way to avoid drawing attention to themselves, or to stop traveling certain routes in order to avoid interacting with the police. Additionally, exposure to racial profiling may be psychological detrimental, possibly resulting in lowered self-confidence and dignity. Based on these, as well as others, it can be effectively argued that racial profiling is not, in and of itself, an unethical practice. However, it must be used in a precise manner in order to be morally sound. This method includes using it as a tool in the investigative process and not before it has been determined that a crime has been committed. It must also be used in a specific way: to describe an individual suspect and not a group of people who are suspected of possibly committing one crime or another. The witness’s background and bias must be taken into account, and racial profiling must be done equally and without favor to one racial group. After these steps are taken into account, racial profiling cannot be considered â€Å"unethical†(Saeed). WORKS CITED Bou-Habib, Paul. â€Å"Racial Profiling And Background Injustice.† Journal Of Ethics 15.1/2 (2011): 33-46. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. Jost, Kenneth. â€Å"CQ Researcher.† CQ Researcher. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. Shabazz, Saeed. â€Å"U.S. Supreme Court says no to new hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal.† New York Amsterdam News 09 Apr. 2009: 4. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.