Shopping While Black Shopping while black (SWB) is also known as consumer racial profiling. This commonly involves a black customer being closely monitored or watched by an employee or security guard who believes that they are stealing. SWB also involves being denied store access, being refused service, use of ethnic slurs, being searched, having purchases limit, being charged a higher price, or being asked more hard questions on applications. Consumer racial profiling occurs in many retail environments including grocery stores, clothing shops, department stores and office supply shops, and companies accused of consumer racial profiling have included Eddie Bauer, Office Max, Wal-Mart, Sears, Dillard's, Macy's and Home Depot. Is this a problem? …show more content…
Are people really harmed by consumer racial profiling? I believe that SWB harms everyone that is victim of this racism.
It is definitely a problem in America. Me being not only a woman but a black women in this society I see this kind of racism on daily. It is a sign of disrespect to ever it happens to. When you racial profile someone you are basically telling them they are not worthy enough to be in that store or cannot afford to be there. According to legal scholar, Regina Austin: “There can hardly be a black person in America who has not been denied entry to a store closely watched snubbed questioned about her or his ability to pay for an item or stopped and detained for shoplifting.”[“A Nation of Thieves:” Securing Black People’s Right to Shop and to Sell in White America, Utah Law Review, 1994]. Ms. Austin has some truth to her words because majority of non-Caucasian people have never been racially profiled before in any way. Whereas in 2013 Oprah Winfrey one of the most known African American women was told by a white clerk that she could not afford a $38,000 Tom Ford purse. Apparently she was SWB so the lady did not see that she was a millionaire talk show hostess, but some random black lady that looked like she couldn’t afford anything in their store. I have firsthand experienced consumer racial profiling in my local Dillard’s where I was shopping for a gift to give myself for a graduation gift. I noticed after five minutes of walking around and looking at clothing that there was a lady falling me, and at first I thought nothing of it but then every time I turned around she was right there. It was when I see a Michael Kors purse and picked it up to purchase the same lady that had been following me tells me that I cannot touch the merchandise. I thought nothing of it at first because I thought that maybe you had to tell the sell clerk that you wanted to purchase the item then they would get it for you, but then I notcice that a older lady is picking up and replacing purses back onto the
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In the United States of America today, racial profiling is a deeply troubling national problem. Many people, usually minorities, experience it every day, as they suffer the humiliation of being stopped by police while driving, flying, or even walking for no other reason than their color, religion, or ethnicity. Racial profiling is a law enforcement practice steeped in racial stereotypes and different assumptions about the inclination of African-American, Latino, Asian, Native American or Arab people to commit particular types of crimes. The idea that people stay silent because they live in fear of being judged based on their race, allows racial profiling to live on.
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.
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.
Racial profiling in the dictionary is “the assumption of criminality among ethnic groups: the alleged policy of some police to attribute criminal intentions to members of some ethnic groups and to stop and question them in disproportionate numbers without probable cause (“Racial Profiling”).” In other words racial profiling is making assumptions that certain individuals are more likely to be involved in misconduct or criminal activity based on that individual’s race or ethnicity. Racial profiling propels a brutalizing message to citizens of the United States that they are pre-judged by the color of their skin rather than who they are and this then leads to assumptions of ruthlessness inside the American criminal justice system. With race-based assumptions in the law enforcement system a “lose-lose” situation is created due to America’s diverse democracy and destroys the ability to keep the criminal justice system just and fair. Although most police officers perform their duties with fairness, honor, and dedication, the few officers who portray to be biased then harm the whole justice system resulting in the general public stereotyping every law enforcement officer as a racial profiler (Fact Sheet Racial Profiling). When thinking about racial profiling many people automatically think it happens only to blacks but sadly this is mistaken for far more ethnic groups and races such as Jews, Muslims, Mexicans, Native Americans, and many more are racially profiled on a day to day basis. Many people believe racial profiling to be a myth because they see it as police officers merely taking precautions of preventing a crime before it happens, but in reality racial profiling has just become an approved term for discrimination and unjust actio...
Racial profiling is the most idiotic and arrogant thing you can ever do as a person. Usually the people who are affected by racial profiling are minorities, however, any person can be a victim of racial profiling. Some may think that racial profiling is non-existent, however, I would like to bring the situation into focus and show that it is still in existence and has been observed in the past and now in the current year. Although, more than fifty percent of the time racial profiling is conducted it is against a man or woman of color; an African-American in other words. There are instances where a white person can be a victim as well. Trying not to say that there isn't any person out there that is exempted from racial profiling, because there isn't a single person who is just exempted from this cruel method of decision making. In my essay I will talk about racial profiling and what it is, however, you can't forget about where it happens and of course why. Several resolutions will be discussed in this essay to alleviate this problem.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
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
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
There has always been racial profiling in our history. The problem here is that at some point the ones who are oppressed and discriminated sooner o later will claim why they are treated unequally. There are many examples around the world, but one only has to take a look at how the American society has been designed to realize the great difference between individuals. It was even normal and acceptable to see these differences during the creation of this nation because the ones who supposedly had the power and knowledge of conquering made sure to create a huge division between leaders and subordinates.
Every day you see and hear about minorities groups complain about cops and their tactics against them stopping them while in traffic taking them in to custody or even getting kill over nothing. Racial Profiling is a common thing in this community and it is causing a lot of trouble. According to Minnesota House of Representatives analyst Jim Cleary, "there appear to be at least two clearly distinguishable definitions of the term 'racial profiling ': a narrow definition and a broad definition... Under the narrow definition, racial profiling occurs when a police officer stops, questions, arrests, and/or searches someone solely on the basis of the person 's race or ethnicity... Some ways to stop it is find out who is guilty of it, look at their
Overall, racial profiling is bad for the economy, unconstitutional, and sets borderlines for different races. Bad economic results can occur when racial profiling is accepted and urged to be used. Matthew Rothschild states, “Better to take nonviolent action and press our case with boycott”(3). Rothschild is referring to Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law that allows local law enforcement the power to ask any suspect for proof of citizenship. This law outraged many people and the city also took offense to this new law.
How often have you witnessed the targeting of African Americans in our current society? Records have shown that the incarceration of black young adults in the United States of America has increased at an alarming rate over the last few decades. Through the use of racial profiling, African American males are less likely to succeed socially, educationally and economically.
Racial profiling occurs when a police officer uses a “profile” as reasonable suspicion to stop a person with the intent to obtain consent to search their belongings (Pollock, 2010). These stops are usually traffic stops and the officer is looking to obtain consent to search the individual’s automobile. The “profile” used is based on race. In these cases, an officer is using their discretion to target minority groups because they believe they are involved in criminal activities...
Have you ever been followed by store officials or security while shopping in a department store? At first, all of the attention can be flattering but quickly becomes insulting once you realize they’re not following you to offer any assistance. Instead because of how you look you fit a certain profile that causes store officials to think you’ve come to their store to steal. This type of behavior is called racial profiling. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, racial profiling refers to the discrimination practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. Citizens need to be more aware of racial profiling and make laws that racial profiling should be illegal. Racial profiling is carried out by law enforcement airport security, and other security personnel that look to profile the minorities for no reason. Heather Sally Newton Driscoll ebscohost.com stated “The practice of profiling is rooted in centuries of discrimination and is based on stereotypes that have long been disproved. Profiling holds on entire population accountable for the committed by a small minority”.
In the world of business, retail profiling is a tool many corporations use to prevent crime. In other words, an employee of a business may focus on certain characteristics of an consumer, such as race, to help them find people whom may be stealing or partaking in other various forms of fraud. Retail profiling is socially unacceptable because it is a form of racism or stereotyping. It is a very common practice and it is hard to find a resolution because most workers may not even notice they are profiling during a shift.