The Devastaing Effects of Racial Profiling

1058 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effects of racial profiling

Have you ever been racially profiled while driving, shopping or while just walking in a particular neighborhood? Personally I have never been a victim of racial profiling, but I will be 16-years old this summer and able to drive to school, to a friends house or to shop at the mall. I realize that it is a possibility that I could be racially profiled at some point. There have been recent incidents that made racial profiling a very controversial issue. On February 26, 2012 in Sanford, Florida, Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, 17-year old African-American high school student walked through a gated community and was fatally shot after an altercation. Trayvon Martin’s parents strongly believed he was racially profiled, as stated in a news article (Brown, Deseret News). According to the American Civil Liberties Union (“Racial Profiling”), ”racial profiling refers to the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on an individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.”
This paper will focus on racial profiling of African Americans. African Americans are racially profiled more than any other racial group and this should not be tolerated in our society.

Racial profiling has been around for many years and has had devastating effects on our society. It is still a serious problem today. Anita L. Willis has noted "that although racial profiling is not backed by written statutes, its roots are in the laws enacted during colonial times. Racial profiling for want of a better term, is a Gateway Act -- an excuse used to approach citizens assumed to be criminals" (“The Roots”) In an article written by Alejandro del Carmen, he discusses the history of racial profiling and its h...

... middle of paper ...

... a gated community where his father lived. He was shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a Hispanic neighborhood watch volunteer. Madeleine Brown wrote in her article that his parents said “Zimmerman racially profiled their son and that the investigation was stalling because Martin was black (Brown, Deseret News).
My family once lived in a gated community and I am a African-American teenager, and I wear a hoodie practically everyday. Racial profiling doesn’t just affect me or others like me it affects our whole society, I agree with Trayvon’s mother, Sabrina Fulton’s comment “I think, at the end of the day, it’s not about Trayvon. It’s about the person who thought he was suspicious (Brown, Deseret News)
The trayvon martin case like so many cases involving race seem to always divide people. It causes some people to take sides, and therefore should not be tolerated.

Show More
Related

  • Trayvon Martin vs George Zimmerman

    1409 Words  | 3 Pages

    Trayvon Martin was killed by a neighborhood watchman, George Zimmerman. He says that it was self defense, but after the tragic phone call was released to the media everything took a huge turn questioning if it was a hate crime. If Zimmerman would have stayed in his car that night then Trayvon would still be alive. It could not be self-defense if all Travon had in his hand were skittles and some tea. The whole thing blew up right after it was released to the news. Then when it was time for the trial it was live on television. During the trial and after the verdict is when the social media started to go crazy.

    Read More

  • George Zimmerman vs. Trayvon Martin Trial

    2187 Words  | 5 Pages

    ... Till, Evers, King and Martin all seem to be cases of stereotyping and racial profiling. These cases make it seem as if justice was not served and that the wrong verdict was rendered initially. That is the same situation with the Zimmerman vs. Martin case. . Hopefully justice will prevail, in time, just as in the cases cited and George Zimmerman will be placed behind bars for a long time; the place where he belongs. If history repeats itself, a wrong verdict will be overturned.

    Read More

  • Racial Profiling In Bob Herbert's Hounding The Innocent

    378 Words  | 1 Pages

    People of color are being pursued on the highways in the land of the free. In Bob Herbert’s “Hounding the innocent” acts of racial profiling are displayed flagrantly. Racial profiling should be illegal, since it is unfair to its victims, demoralizing, and it breaks the trust between the public and the police.

    Read More

  • How Racial Profiling Led to the Death of Trayvon Martin

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    Young Trayvon Martin was killed because of racial profiling. Due to the way he was dressed, in all black with a hoodie, he was seen as a threat. Trayvon had no intentions to hurt anyone, he carried no weapon, but just because the way he looked he was murdered. Racial profiling is wrong in many ways. The history of racial profiling and the psychology proves that racial profiling is nothing but an excuse for blatant racism. Humans are not put on this earth to be wrongly accused simply by the way that they look. How a person lives or dies should not be based on racial profiling which is an immoral and unethical tactic.

    Read More

  • The Trayvon Martin Case

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    My mother had always maintained that he was initially arrested due to racial profiling, as there was no sufficient evidence to warrant the police to search his car. Despite this information being told to me as a child, I remained blind to the effects that such a system of injustice could have on your economic status, mental health, etc. However, I believe that the outcome of the Zimmerman trial opened my eyes to this effect. I believe that Trayvon Martin's family most likely received the same financial and emotional stress due to the racial injustice associated with their experience. However, they had lost their son.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Racial Profiling

    1433 Words  | 3 Pages

    Introduction Terrorism and racial profiling is nothing new in our society. Although some people would like to believe that it is nonexistent, it is still a major issue in today’s world. With that being said, my view on the subject is that racial profiling is going to continue to happen, whether we like it or not. I believe profiling isn’t necessarily meant to intentionally harm anyone, but is used as a tool to prevent terrorism. Past terroristic attacks have led to the many stereotypes and prejudices that our country has today.

    Read More

  • Racial Profiling in Today's Society

    1740 Words  | 4 Pages

    Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping someone because of the color of his or her skin and a fleeting suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal behavior (Meeks, p. 4-5). This practice can be conducted with routine traffic stops, or can be completely random based on the car that is driven, the number of people in the car and the race of the driver and passengers. The practice of racial profiling may seem more prevalent in today’s society, but in reality has been a part of American culture since the days of slavery. According to Tracey Maclin, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, racial profiling is an old concept. The historical roots “can be traced to a time in early American society when court officials permitted constables and ordinary citizens the right to ‘take up’ all black persons seen ‘gadding abroad’ without their master’s permission” (Meeks, p. 5). Although slavery is long since gone, the frequency in which racial profiling takes place remains the same. However, because of our advanced electronic media, this issue has been brought to the American public’s attention.

    Read More

  • Racial Profiling: The Color of Justice in America

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    For the past few years there has been an ongoing debate surrounding the issue of racial profiling. The act of racial profiling may rest on the assumption that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to commit crimes than any individual of other races or ethnicities. Both David Cole in the article "The Color of Justice" and William in the article "Road Rage" take stance on this issue and argue against it in order to make humanity aware of how erroneous it is to judge people without evidence. Although Cole and William were very successful in matters of showing situations and qualitative information about racial profiling in their articles, both of them fail at some points.

    Read More

  • racial profiling

    1016 Words  | 3 Pages

    Racial Profiling can happen to anyone, anywhere such as the streets, in the airports, or even just walking home. Racial profiling and the media influence an individual’s perspective on a trial. Racial Profiling is using someone’s race or ethnic background as suspicion for committing a crime. Evidence from past trials dating back to 1920s Sacco and Vanzetti trial to George Zimmerman’s trial in 2013 prove that racial profiling has existed for nearly a century. According to the article “The Quiet Racism in the Zimmerman Trial” by Steven Mazie, he states

    Read More

  • An Argument Against Racial Profiling

    1120 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before any argument can be made against racial profiling, it is important to understand what racial profiling is. The American Civil Liberties Union, defines racial profiling as "the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin"(Racial Profiling: Definition). Using this definition we can determine that racial profiling excludes any evidence of wrong-doing and relies solely on the characteristics listed above. We can also see that racial profiling is different from criminal profiling, which uses evidence of wrong-doing and facts which can include information obtained from outside sources and evidence gathered from investigation. Based on these definitions, I will show that racial profiling is unfair and ineffective because it relies on stereotyping, encourages discrimination, and in many cases can be circumvented.

    Read More

  • Racial Profiling Is Unfair

    600 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although some would believe that racial profiling does not occur and if it does it is used to keep the society safe, it is more correct to say that it disrespects and mistreats innocent citizens. More and more people are being stopped each year for crimes they did not commit and being singled out because of their race. Being racially profiled, harassed and mistreated is something that Latinos, Asians and African Americans go through every day. I believe that people should not be stopped and judged because of physical appearance. This is something that takes away ones individual’s rights and is very disrespectful.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Racial Profiling

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    Racial Profiling usually occurs when a combination of safety, public protection and stereotype are involve to judge a person. Racial profiling needs to be separated from criminal profiling which is based on actual behavior by a person and not a stereotype. The thing about stereotypes is that anyone can do it even people who are good and not bias. When examining ourselves and really look at our first judgment of people, it is noticed that our own assumptions and biases would lead many of us to realize that we have stereotyped people m...

    Read More

  • An Argument Against Racial Profiling by Police

    831 Words  | 2 Pages

    Despite the fact racism has been around for hundreds of years, upcoming generations are becoming more open minded and less likely to publicly berate minorities; racial profiling, however, is the one loophole of racism America overlooks. Police officials often use the practices of racial profiling to discretely single out minority races. A common approach to this is through traffic patrols. According to a statistic based in San Jose, CA, nearly 100,000 drivers were stopped; during the year ending in June 2000; and of these drivers less than 32% were white, the remaining 68% of drivers were a... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

  • Racial Profiling Thesis Statement

    1640 Words  | 4 Pages

    Racial profiling in America, as evidenced by recent events, has reached a critical breaking point. No longer can an African American, male or female, walk into a store, school, or any public place without fear of being stereotyped as a person of suspicion. Society constantly portrays the African American

    Read More

  • Is Our Justice System Fair to All?

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    Was justice really served in the “State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman” case? Is our justice system fair to all races? This case is about a 16 year old kid from Miami named Trayvon Martin. On the night of February 26th, Trayvon walked from his father's house in a gated community to a nearby store. When walking back he was spotted by George Zimmerman, a 28-year-old neighborhood watch volunteer. There had been a number of break-ins in the neighborhood over the last few weeks and Zimmerman though that a young black man walking in the rain and wearing a hooded sweatshirt looked suspicious. Zimmerman then called 911 to report this person who "might be on drugs." He then got out of his car and...

    Read More

More about The Devastaing Effects of Racial Profiling

Open Document