Racial Profiling Essay, Research Paper
Rahsaan DeLain Senior Paper
Mrs. Carlo
The issue of racial profiling in America is one of great
importance to the future of American society. This issue fairly new,
in terms of being recognized is old in its ways. Racism and
stereotyping are issues that date back to many years ago. Racial
profiling in America is on that needs to be addressed by the
government and society if we ever want America to truly be, ?The
Land of The Free.?
One of the main examples of racial profiling is called DWB
(Driving While Black). This is a term starting to show itself a lot
in cases of racial profiling. This name is meant to be a shot at he
already known DWI (Driving While Intoxicated). In today?s
society the perception is that most drug traffickers are minorities.
This is very untrue. Racial profiling is based on the premise that
most drug offenses are committed by minorities. Because police
look for drugs primarily among African Americans and Latinos,
they find a uneven number of them actually in possession of
contraband. Therefore these people are arrested, reinforcing the
idea that drug trafficking is primarily an Latino or African
American thing. At the same time white drivers receive far less
police attention, many of the drug dealers and users among them
get away. This just feeds to the perception that whites commit
fewer drug offenses than minorities. This often results in the
persecution of innocent people based on skin color. This also
causes a huge distrust and minorities are less willing to
cooperate.
Driving While Black is not an issue that just arose its just now
gaining a name. The practice of racial profiling by our nations
police is the consequence of the rising concern about the war on
drugs. Drug use and drug selling are not limited to minorities in
the US , in fact five times as many whites use drugs. This war on
drugs since it began targeted minorities. According to the
governments own reports 80 percent of the country?s cocaine
users are white and the ?typical cocaine user is a white middle
class suburbanite.?(Harris 7) But law enforcement tactics are
concentrated in the inner city. This continues to feed the
perception that most drug dealers and users are black. This
prompted the ?drug courier profile,?(Harris 7) with racial
overtones to take hold.
Media coverage of this issue has begun to increase in the last
couple of years or so. In the past year , front page stories and
editorials have appeared in every major national newspaper and
many local papers. Even though media fascination with a
problem doesn?t make it real or lack of media coverage doesn?t
make a problem nonexistent. But because of the many stories
and statistical reports, the lawsuits and even recent action by the
government, make a good argument that , ?driving while black,?
is not just an occasional problem. Some of these stories are
absolutely ridiculous there are so many cases its crazy.
Racial profiling believe it or not is a big problem among the
news media itself. When the media covers a story about drugs
they often show the black drug dealer , abuser , criminal or the
undeserving affirmative action recipient. When we look at the
ways the national media has covered or failed to cover recent
stories or studies we get a better understanding of the practice or
racial profiling in the media. In a recent poll taken by the child
advocay group Children Now the children included said
that,?the news media tends to portray African American and
Latino people more negatively than white and Asian people.
Most of the major news media did not cover this story and the
ones that did said,? that the children were influenced by
television news.? (qtd in media blackface 4)
On of the major and most well known cases of racial profiling
is the case of Amadou Diallo. Four white officers members of
the anti street crime unit fired 41 shots at Diallo hitting him 19
times. The officers contended that they they fired in self defense.
On Feb 4, 199, after Diallo,22, reached for an object they though
was a gun while he was standing in the vestibule of his
apartment. The object turned out to be his wallet. All four
officers were charged with second degree murder as suspended
from there jobs. The officers said that Diallo darted into the
entrance of his building and took a combat stance. He pulled out
what they perceived as a weapon and opened fire on him. The
officers contended that Diallo?s death was a tragic case of self
defense. Charges against them said that they violated department
policies could still result in the
and eight whites deliberated for more than 20 hours over three
days before returning the verdict. Not guilty on all counts, 24 in
all, from murder to reckless endangerment.(associated press 1)
This case, when I heard about it and heard the facts I thought for
sure that justice would be served. They shot an unarmed man 19
times and it just seemed to me like that was way too many times.
He didn?t fire back and didn?t charge at them. It seems that they
could have shot him once or twice to wound him and take him
in. They found bullet wounds at the bottom of his feet so he
must have been lying down. This whole case really disturbs me
because the officers could have taken a different action and this
man would still be alive today. The punishment I think should
have been would be for them to be fired and spend some time in
jail. Diallo was just another black man that fit the profile of a
drug dealer simply because he was black.
There was also another case that caught my eye. In
Pennsylvania Johnny Gammage was pulled over while driving
his cousins Jaguar. As Gammage pulled over five police cars
arrived on the scene. One of the officers said that Gammage ran
three red lights before stopping after the officer flashed his lights
at him. The officer told Gammage out of the car and saw him
grab something was reportedly a weapon, but was his cell phone.
The officer knocked the phone out of Gammage?s hand and they
scuffled. The other officers beat Gammage with a flashlight, a
collapsible baton and a blackjack as one put his foot on
Gammage?s neck. Johnny Gammage died , handcuffed , ankles
bound , facedown on the pavement shortly after the incident
began. Again this man was unarmed.
This issue has also been addressed by President Clinton. On
June 9, 1999, he ordered federal law enforcement officials to
collect data on the the race and gender of the people they stop to
question or arrest. President Clinton called racial profiling by
police a , morally indefensible deeply corrosive practice.?(Clinton
associated press 1) He also said that , ? people of color continue
to have less confidence and less trust , and believe they are
targeted for action.?(Clinton associated press 1) Clinton
recounted that he once asked a group of black journalists if they
had ever been stopped by the police and they all raised there
hands.
Racial Profiling is a problem that needs to be addressed by the
government and the people of America. I believe that there are
certain steps that should be taken in order to move toward a
better nation. I feel that law enforcement should stop stopping
people on hunches and use evidence to base a stop on. The are
stopping people because of there skin color and that is not right.
For example in 1997 on a California highway out of 34,000 cars
stopped only two percent were found with drugs. The Traffic
Stops Statistics Act needs to be passed because it will require that
all law enforcement collect data on there traffic stops, including
race of the driver. This will give concrete proof that the
percentage of people being stopped are minorities and they are
not the majority carrying the drugs. I also believe that more
training is needed for law enforcement officials. There obviously
is a problem with the current procedures that police officers are
taking. Better or more training should be given to better educate
police officers on how and what to do when they are suspicious.
Many of the cases I read it seems that the officers did not act with
training but with suspicion and that has caused the deaths of
many innocent people. The last step I think is to for law
enforcement to gain the trust of the community. Without this the
will never feel like they can go to the police or feel that justice
will be served when they have been wronged. Innocent people
ared being arrested and even killed on suspicions and because
they fit the profile. While this is going on average white guys like
Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris walk the streets about to kill
somebody and they are never suspected because they are white.
In conclusion, racial profiling is a national problem that is
lessening the trust in the people who are supposed to protect us.
Everyday people of color are scared to do what most people do without
a second thought, drive to wherever they need to go. Our country can
no longer remain the leader of the world in freedom and democracy
when its people are identified as criminals simply because of there skin
color. We cannot afford to ignore this issue any further we must take
action to ensure that this country is truly a free one.