Racial Profiling: Protocol or Prejudice Essay Example

ineffective law enforcement tool that in fact does not eliminate terrorism and violence in society. Associating certain races with certain behavior due to prejudice is not factual reasoning to suspect someone of a crime. There has been no proof of racial profiling limiting violence, in fact it turns people against each other, creates hate, and discredits law enforcement. As of October 15, 2016, the National Registry of Exonerations listed 1,900 defendants who were convicted of crimes and later exonerated because they were innocent; 47% of them were African Americans, three times their rate in the population (Gross, Possley, Stephens, 1). These wrongful convictions against minorities, in this case African Americans, are unjust and unnecessary. The police force abusing their authority and power to discriminate against innocent people with no probable cause is illegal. People do not realize that these discriminatory events occur every day and have resulted in many lost innocent lives. Arguing that racial profiling decreases terrorism is purely racist. Behavior analysis is much more effective in identifying criminals, psychopaths, and the mentally ill, however, basing it on their race has no correlation to their actions. Quite frankly it is ironic how their main priority is to limit terrorism coming from minorities such as, African Americans, Muslims, Latinos, etc. while the most hate crimes committed in the US were caused by Caucasians. In the last decade, police brutality has divided people more than ever and is the main reason certain races do not trust the law enforcement or feel safe on their watch.

The biggest misconception is that behavior is based on race, that said, resulting in many stereotypes in society today. Racial profiling mainly

relies on stereotyping; however, all the factors, racism, discrimination, or prejudice, influence each other. It is safe to say every race has certain stereotypes attached to it that are seen as facts. All types of media such as, TV, social media, news, etc. feed onto the stereotypes and brainwash people’s opinions of others. The problem with people who stereotype is that they do not know anything about the other person’s culture, nor have they tried to know it, which is why it is easy for them to believe anything they hear. According to the Pew Research Center, nearly half of Americans report not knowing anyone Muslim (McCollum, 18). Worldwide news channels such as, Fox News, have evidently fed their prejudice towards different races to their loyal viewers. They have made it their mission to single out Muslims and blame terrorist attacks on them. However, after 9/11 islamophobia increased significantly around the world, and hate crimes against Muslims were the most common. That being said, stereotyping that a Muslim or Arab has some relation to a terrorist group is extremely common nowadays. 20% of Muslim students said they had experienced discrimination by school staff (McCollum, 15). It is unjust blaming innocent people, especially children for something out of their control. People seem to only think of Muslims as terrorists, but Muslims are getting stabbed, their jaws spun, hijabs ripped off their heads, pushed into oncoming trains, their mosques lit on fire, and they do not blame other religions. Attacking innocent Muslims for someone else's wrong doings is also terrorism. Racial profiling during airport security is something every Muslim or Arab expects to go through when travelling,

it is extremely degrading and unjust. It is extremely tragic the rhetoric of hate that is rapidly killing everyone’s humanity.

The most frustrating issue about racial profiling is that it is time and resources wasted on innocent people. There is evidence to show, “that the probability of being black, unarmed, and shot by police is about 3.49 times the probability of being white, unarmed, and shot by police on average” (Vanity Fair). The law enforcement abuses their white privilege and truly reveal that they are the terrorists by singling out African Americans for no reason. Then they do the utmost to hide it, for example, it took 16 bullets, 400 days, 5-million-dollar settlement, Burger King exposing that the police erased security cameras, and a public video release to prove Laquan McDonald was murdered by the police. How many other people have police in the US killed and attempted to cover up? How many more names do we not yet know? However, in the decade 2002–12 there were 4.4 million stop-and-frisk incidents in New York City, and half of those stopped were black (Gowans, 1133). Overall, 2.2 million black people were stopped by police in that decade and 90% of them were innocent (Gowans, 1133). It is evident that African Americans are targeted by the law enforcement compared to white men, who are responsible for most mass shootings in the US. The law enforcement using their time and resources targeting innocent people such as, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and Sandra Bland for doing daily things instead of convicting real criminals such as, Brock Turner and Dylann Roof, who are a prime example of white privilege. Many African

American families went through tragic loss because of something as idiotic and avoidable as police brutality in the US.

Racial profiling is a clear violation of basic human rights. Realistically, it could occur to anyone, anywhere, it is up to the consequences taken as a result to determine the fate of our society. At a time where a rhetoric of hate is taking over society, it is important to pay attention to an issue as significant as racial profiling. It is completely ignorant and has shown no evidence to limit violence in the world. Using this ineffective tool to catch criminals has divided society more than ever, it created a barrier between the people and the leaders. Having an abstract idea such as, stereotyping someone with no actual evidence is extremely dangerous and allows real criminals to get away with brutal crimes. We should be focusing on creating a safer place for future generations not the opposite. Racial profiling is illegal so it should be treated like it is by forcing the proper consequences upon racist leaders in society. It is counterproductive due to the statistics, unjust, and avoidable at all costs. It is important to get rid of the fear of different people, explore different cultures, and educate yourself to get rid of stereotypes embedded in us, and protect future generations.