NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Racial Profiling in America The contemporary understanding of the concept of race by scientists and other intellectuals is very vague. Nowadays it is argued that race is an artificial category, although there still exist attempts to classify people according to categories: for instance, such categories as class, race, and gender; these categories are proved to have no scientific basis. The term "race" is a modern concept that has adopted a whole new meaning, over the past few centuries, from the initial one. Now the only meaning of the word race is to classify people into certain groups. The radical change to the meaning of the word race can be seen through the change of the definition of the word in the past couple of centuries. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term "race" in 1512 was "a group or class of persons, animals, or things, having some common feature or features. " Today, Oxford's definition is completely different: "a local geographic or global human population distinguished by genetically transmitted characteristics and / or any of the major biological definitions of man distinguished by physically evident features, for example, Caucasian, Negroid, and Mongoloid. " White (adj. ) - very lightest color, like snow or common salt, colorless.
Black (adj. ) - like coal or soot, dismal, sullen, hostile, evil, wicked; soiled with dirt. (9) These two words can be viewed from two perspectives. One - is the definition of these words as colors, and the other is the meaning to the race to which a person belongs. From the beginning of time these two colors have determined your life and what you are able to achieve. It is widely believed that the times when people were not treated equally are long gone and forgotten, but every day there are people that feel the evidence of racism more that present and alive in their lives. These people live in the free country of United States of America, although they do not feel being free at all, every day they are made to believe that the black man are inferior to the white. Racism has become one of the most significant burdens in such a culturally diverse world like the United States of America.
Racism is a part of each and every one of us; this word is used too freely in schools, on the streets and on the T. V. It is portrayed as an every day occurrence and the state of norm for the society; it has been raised to such an extent that it could be a reason for war, a symbol of terrorism. Today in America there are many who assume that racism does not exist as it did in the forties, fifties, and sixties...
There are many who believe whole-heartedly that we have solved all of our racial problems and that African Americans live freely in the free country of opportunities. Nowadays racism took a completely different turn. Now racism has such a branch of conduct as racial profiling. "Racial profiling" occurs when the police target someone for investigation on the basis of that person's race, national origin, or ethnicity. Examples of profiling are the use of race to determine which drivers to stop for minor traffic violations ("driving while black") and the use of race to determine which motorists or pedestrians to search for contraband. (3) Although racial profiling is illegal, it takes place abundantly because of the 1996 Supreme Court decision, which allows police to stop drivers and search their vehicles if they believe to be trafficking illegal drugs or weapons. Most of the stops take place on the African Americans, they are arrested more, and this is a chain that doesnt seem to have a beginning or an end chain of racial profiling. Studies have shown that African Americans are far more likely to be stopped and searched.
Is this really so true? Is race the biggest determinant of the fact that you can or cannot cause a certain crime? As Michael Moore says in Brian Anthony Harris is Not Wanted", Brian is a young African American male who has been pulled over by the police somewhere between twenty and thirty times and accused of committing a crime. The only problem is, he's never so much as jaywalked across a street.
Brian is a hardworking, church-going man who is director of lighting at Black Entertainment Television in Washington, D. C. He has a spotless record. That matters little to the D. C. police.
Time after time, the cops would pull Brian over to interrogate him for a recent murder, robbery, or assault. He would be yanked out of his car (a shiny BMW -- - a clear indication of his criminal activity), thrown to the ground, and held until one of them figured out he was the wrong guy. (8) Racial profiling is very much alive in America. Despite all the attempts that were taken and the civil rights victories of 30 years ago, official racial prejudice is still very much obvious throughout the criminal justice system towards people of color in all the cities, despite their size or location. (6) To become a suspect number one in America, all you need is to have a different shade of skin. If you happen to have a wrong shade it makes you more likely to be stopped, more likely to be searched, and more likely to be arrested and imprisoned.
Thousands of innocent drivers on highways across the country are victims of racial profiling. These discriminatory police stops at the present time are reaching epidemic proportions. Having a cover-up of the "War on Drugs", police are able to target people who are believed to bet a "drug courier" or "gang member. New Jersey officials first admitted to racial profiling on the New Jersey Turnpike in a report released on April 20, 1999. The report showed that racial profiling practices in New Jersey are not just a perception. "The evidence we have compiled clearly shows that the problem is real, " officials acknowledged in the report.
The report attributed the targeting of African American and Latino drivers to troopers who abused their positions by disregarding the rights of minority motorists. The lawsuit White v. Williams, involves minority motorists who were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike based on racial profiling practices by the state police. Some people who file the lawsuit include Dr. Elmo Randolph, a dentist who drives a luxury car and has been stopped by police approximately 100 times without ever receiving a ticket. Dr.
Randolph was subjected to searches of his car and interrogations about his profession and how and where he bought his car on numerous occasions. Although there were no obvious or hidden reasons for this to take place, because Dr. Elmo never brakes law, he never exceed the speed limit, or causes any accident prone situations on the road. The only problem that Dr. Elmo causes is being African American. (1) There are even schemes of behavior made up by civil rights attorneys for the people that are being racially profiled. What more proof is needed that racial profiling is one of the problems of grave importance?
Civil rights attorneys advise the following: Know your rights: you are not required to give permission to police officer to search your car. You can deny the request - but do so politely. Don't argue: the police may try to intimidate you. Do not be confrontational and provoke an argument.
Get the names of the officers: be sure to get their badge numbers, squad car number, license plate number, and make a note of the location and time of day. File a complaint if you feel you have been mistreated: contact the ACLU or other civil rights organizations for legal advice. (3) African Americans are not the only ones who are being racially profiled. Islamic race is also under constant investigation and pressure. The number of reported anti-Islamic crimes increased from 28 in 1999 to 481 in 2000. According to the FBI, the overall number of hate crimes increased dramatically from 8, 063 in 2000 to 9, 726 in 2001, signalling an increase of 20. 6 %. (2) The mentioned data is history, but currently the numbers are growing not declining and this is the scary reality. There should be some actions taken to stop the racial profiling.
These actions should be taken fast, before the whole aspect of rational profiling starts a Second Civil War in America. Racial profiling by police officers would make more sense if whites were targeted instead of African Americans, according to the author of the new book Race and Justice (10). In the book, author Rudolph Alexander, Jr. , 1999 U. S. crime statistics for the eight most serious crimes, called index crimes. In these categories, whites were more likely to be arrested for six of the eight crimes (rape, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson).
African Americans were more likely to be arrested for two of these serious crimes: murder and robbery. "Without a doubt, African Americans are involved in crimes higher than their population rate, " Alexander said. "But racial profiling is based on the faulty assumption that all Blacks should be considered criminal suspects. " In Race and Justice, Alexander said that racial profiling is just one example of how African Americans still are the victims of unequal justice in the United States from a variety of institutions, from schools to courts to law enforcement. (7) The problem is being constantly multiplied because of disagreements about the state of race relations in the United States. People are afraid of the unknown, and it is this difference amongst people that spread rumors and distrust amongst people. Corrupting our thought and reasons, we get accustomed to thinking differences are omens (4). To get the smaller kids to all play together there is no difficulty at all, but as the process of growing up continues their knowledge of the world increases immensely. They start to be taught and thus realize the racial aspects of life. When this knowledge reaches a certain point, the child begins to understand the term racism and is encouraged to use it in outside, at home, with the people that he used to call friends.
This whole chain leads to only one resolution when one walks around the school ground, you wouldn't see children from different ethnic groups playing together. They have become insoluble to each other and will never then mix again. Interaction between each other thus terminates. (4) Nobody benefits from this kind of behavior. The long history of racism has put on us is the made up causes for distrust, disloyalty, and discrimination in every part of our daily lives.
It is obvious that in order to abolish racism you have to change the whole history and understanding of people. From the moment of birth, a child has to be taught that all man are created equal. Race and color do not matter, most important they do not exist! At the beginning of professor Joseph Graves work The Emperors New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium (2002) he writes, our society cannot progress toward true justice and equality until we exorcise racism from our collective consciousness (5). Graves emphasizes that erasing the idea of race, as a biological determinant is an essential first step to eliminating racism. Very important is that the teachers in school are also taking care of the understanding of children about the term racism.
If in school the children will not be confronted with the fact that there is racial discrimination in their classroom, they will not see the justified reason for discrimination to take place in their future life. If a child who grows in a racism free environment, becomes a police officer; this child will never think that it is just to perform racial profiling and will never do so. For the teacher it is more than enough to read the Bible, where it is clearly written that all man are created equal in the name of Lord, thus a teacher has no write to convey the aspects of discrimination in the classroom. Even before stating the fact that race doesnt matter, there should be put an end to the terror that is taking place on the highways. There finally should be made commissions or voluntary organizations that will supervise the actions of the police and take actions if the people are being wronged unjustly. It should be obvious that investigations, stops of traffic, arrests, searches, and property seizures by officers should be based on standards of suspicion or probable cause in accordance with the Fourth Amendment of the U.
S. Constitution and not the color of the persons skin or being a representative of any race. Officers must be able to state the reasons for the above-mentioned actions. Race or ethnicity can never be used as the sole basis for probable cause or reasonable suspicion. (1) America is maybe the most multicultural country in the world. The country that is called the land of opportunities maybe now the time has for this great land to justify its name? Maybe it is time to actually give equality to all of the people, no matter the color of their skin, or their religious beliefs?
That Blacks have achieved equal justice in the United States. "There's still a long way to go, " Alexander said. This is America, home of the free. Here "law and order" is kept by a vigilant police force armed with semi-automatics and nightsticks. (10). The time for a change has come, and it is now! In his 1963 document, "Letter From Birmingham Jail", Martin Luther King Jr. prayed "in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty. " (7) To date, his prayers remain unanswered!
Bibliography. American Civil Liberties Union, home page. web Bar, Pinar; Feagin, Joe R. ; Vera Hernan. White Racism: The Basics. New York: Routledge. 2001. Ethnic Majority, home page.
web Feagin Joe R. , Racist America: Roots, Current Realities, and Future Reparations. New York: Routledge, 2001. Graves, Joseph L. (2002). The Emperors New Clothes: Biological Theories of Race at the Millennium. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. Henslin, James M. "Theories of Prejudice." Essentials of Sociology- 3 rd ed. 214 - 215.
Allyn & Bacon, Massachusetts, 2000 King, Martin Luther Jr. , Letter From Birmingham Jail, Apr, 1963. The Afro American Almanac, 1996. web Moore, Michael (& Kathleen Glynn) Adventures in a TV Nation, "Brian Anthony Harris is Not Wanted." 69 - 73 New York: HarperCollins, 1998. Oxford English Dictionary, online. web Rudolph Alexander, Jr... Race and Justice.
Nova Science Publishers, 2000
Free research essays on topics related to: biological theories, racial profiling, letter from birmingham jail, oxford english dictionary, african americans
Research essay sample on Racial Profiling In America
