Racial Profiling: Resource Of Prejudice

Racial profiling to some people is a “requirement” and should be handled with extreme caution, but to others, racial profiling is severely unjust and should be handled as a case of prejudice. According to the article “Racial Profiling,” racial profiling can occur when someone is accused or assumed to be related to a crime because of race, religion, or ethnicity. The United States in particular has unreasonably targeted people of color, most of all black residents, which has subsequently dwindled the trust in law enforcement in regard to communities of color. Not only has racial profiling been used throughout law enforcement, but it has also been used by average citizens of today’s America.

Racial profiling in America is considered a major problem in the twenty-first century. According to “Public Opinion on Racial Profiling, by Race,” a bar chart is representing the percentage of how many individuals (by race) are agreeing to the saying “yes, racial profiling is widespread” in certain hypothetical situations. When motorists are stopped on roads and highways, 50 percent of Whites agree to the saying of “yes, racial profiling is widespread” while 17 percent more of Blacks and 13 percent more of Hispanics agree to be stopped by law enforcement. 20 percent more black shoppers compared to 45 percent of white shoppers are stopped and questioned of possible theft at malls and stores along with 56 percent of Hispanic shoppers. Taking the lead in being stopped at security checkpoints in airports is 54 percent of Hispanics following closely behind is 48 percent of Blacks, and taking last once again is 40 percent of Whites. “70% of Blacks surveyed by the Pew Research Center say that Blacks in their communities were treated less fairly than Whites when dealing with the police” (Public Opinion). A poll created and taken by NBC News shows statistics that 64 percent of citizens in America say Racism remains a major problem. Alongside the 64 percent is 30 percent of American citizens agreeing that racism exists in today’s society, but is not considered a major problem. In February 2018, 26 percent of individuals believe that America’s biggest source of division is race. Only three months later, that percentage went up by four in May of 2018. 40 percent of black shoppers have stated that they have been treated unfairly in stores which are 33 percent more than white shoppers. 26 percent of Hispanic shoppers being the median. Almost 100 percent of white shoppers said they were not treated unfairly in stores compared to 57 percent of black shoppers agreeing to that statement. 14 percent of white employees say they have felt discriminated against in the workplace based on their race while 48 percent of African Americans felt this way. Only 12 percent less of Hispanics from black employees agreed. Almost three-fourths of American citizens believe that a serious problem in this country is racial discrimination against blacks. 89 percent of blacks and 81 percent of Hispanics share this belief while only 68 percent of whites believe it is a serious problem in today’s America and 30 percent believe otherwise. 84 percent of blacks and 71 percent of Hispanics believe white people benefit from advantages, and while half of the white people “don’t enjoy any advantages,” 47 percent of white people do in fact enjoy these benefits (Arrange). Although 56 percent of whites surveyed being involved in social activities with multiple races of people, 39 percent said they mostly interact with whites only. This is compared to 23 percent of blacks interacting with their own race and 21 percent of Hispanics. Unbelievably, but not shockingly only 51 percent of Americans speak of race relations among friends and family while 47 percent do not (Arrange).

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To introduce the opposing viewpoint of being against racial profiling is for racial profiling. In regards to the incidents involving Rodney King (1991) and Abner Louima (1997), many supporters of law enforcement have said an exaggeration of the problem pertaining to police brutality is caused by the news media, and the relevance of isolated incidents is overemphasized. It is stated that the entertainment industry and the news media enforce damaging stereotypes. White American citizens conclude from their own personal experiences that police officers enforce the law without bias of opinions and feelings. “The vast majority of police officers, they maintain, are well-intentioned professionals who do not act with abusive intolerance” (Williams 22). As sources of information, many Americans rely on mainstream news magazines and television for the latest and current news which causes media stereotyping to be cunning and sneaky (Williams 28). This creates a problem of often assuming a criminal is black and sometimes Hispanic because Americans are relying on being told rather than researching facts and statistics for themselves.

However, racial profiling is still considered a major problem and statistics prove just so. Information was collected on the likelihood that black drivers or their cars were searched, compared with white drivers based on “Racial Profiling by the Largest Police Agencies in the Four Selected States.” In Torrington, Connecticut, black drivers were five times more likely to be searched. Black drivers in Chicago, Illinois, were five-point two times more likely. In Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina, black drivers were two point eight times more likely, and the Rhode Island State Highway Patrol stopped black drivers two point five times more than white drivers. Comparing to the times more likely black drivers were searched is the likelihood that black drivers had contraband, compared with white drivers. In Torrington, Connecticut, point eight of black drivers were more likely to be traveling with contraband than white drivers. Now Chicago, Illinois is notorious for crime and rundown neighborhoods, but only point seven of black drivers were more likely than whites to be in possession of contraband. Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina well was point seven times more likely, but shockingly the Rhode Island State Highway Patrol has searched black drivers and found contraband making them one point seven times more likely to be in possession than white drivers (Largest Police Agencies). Not only are there statistics of wrongdoings pertaining to racial profiling, but are many stories and cases of racial profiling that support these statistics and stereotypes. One event is of a mom who was attending a college tour who called the police on two Native American teens because they made her “nervous.”