The Pros And Cons Of Racial Profiling

Racial profiling is an unacceptable and inhumane issue facing society today since early America. It is considered the worst kind of harassment committed by United States officials and authorities, such as the police force. Racial profiling is often practiced in the forms of arrest, criminal charges, court cases, segregation, authority encounters, and interrogation solely because of appearance or race.

` In his article Jim Crow Policing, Bob Herbert describes the numerous 2009 stops made by the New York City Police Department,” Rather than a legitimate crime-fighting tool,…”, they are,”…a despicable racially oriented tool of harassment.”[Herbert]. With most stops being of Hispanic or black ethnicity, Herbert argues that this profiling of

Keeping a close, but stable, profile people of other race is a more effective way to identify true criminals. In her article Everything Isn’t Racial Profiling, Linda Chavez argues that she is,”…not opposed to allowing- no, requiring- airlines to pay closer attention to passengers who fit a terrorist profile.”[Chavez]. Interrogation may not always be a violation of privacy so long as officials are not constantly pulling random people from different races for questioning. This form of security is only to ensure the safety of those around the suspect, thus it is not always considered bad racial profiling. There are still, however, other certain forms of racial profiling such as oppression. In her article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh claims that the individuals of the white race,”…like the privilege to ignore less powerful people, distort the humanity of the holders as well as the ignored groups.”[McIntosh] The “ignored groups”, in this case, are the non-white races, otherwise known as the minority/inferior groups. Because whites possess more privilege than other groups of different race, there is the presence of oppression on those of other race. These races can include black, Muslim, and Mexican. This separation of power is unacceptable as it contributes to racial profiling by creating mistreatment by whites. For example, whites are given more voting privileges than people of noon-white