RACIAL STEREOTYPING

Racial stereotyping

Racial stereotyping

Thesis Statement

Racial stereotyping is influencing the mind of our American men, women, and children and it seems like it is here to stay.

Introduction

Racial Profiling is any police or private security practice in which a person is treated as a suspect because of his or her race, ethnicity, nationality or religion. This occurs when police investigate, stop, frisk, search or use force against a person based on such characteristics instead of evidence of a person's criminal behavior. It often involves the stopping and searching of people of color for traffic violations, known as "DWB" or "driving while black or brown."

History

After 9/11, racial profiling has become widely accepted as an appropriate form of crime prevention. People were sought after based solely on the fact that they were of Arab decent. But racial profiling did not start with September 11th - racial profiling has been around for ages. Tracy Maclin, a professor at Boston University School of Law, says that racial profiling "can trace its historical roots [back] to a time in early American society when court officials in cities like Philadelphia permitted constables and ordinary citizens the right to 'take up' all black persons seen 'gadding abroad' without their master's permission." (Meeks, 2000).

The term "profiling" first became associated with law enforcement's interference in drug trafficking during the late 1970s. In 1985, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) instituted Operation Pipeline, an intelligence-based assessment of the method by which drug networks transported bulk drugs to drug markets, and began training local and state police in applying a drug courier profile as part of highway drug interdiction techniques. Under Operation Pipeline, police were trained to apply a profile that included evidence of concealment in the vehicle, indications of fast, point-to-point driving, as well as the age- and race characteristics of the probable drivers. In some cases, the profiling technique was distorted, so that officers began targeting black and Hispanic male drivers by stopping them for technical traffic violations as a pretext for determining whether or not drivers were carrying drugs. A 1998 U.S. Department of Justice investigation of activities of the New Jersey State Police raised awareness of the issue and defined racial profiling in the public eye as the practice of singling out members of racial or ethnic groups for relatively minor traffic or petty criminal offenses in order to question and/or search them for drugs, guns, or other contraband. (www.racialprofilinganalysis.neu.edu, 2005)

Efforts and Legislation

In 1999, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) launched a nationwide campaign against racial profiling, entitled "Arrest the Racism: Racial Profiling in America." This campaign included research, phone hotlines to report incidents, online complaint forms, advertising campaigns that included radio, television, print and billboards, advocacy for legislation, and a communications program synchronised with litigation efforts across the country. This campaign has inspired a movement against racial profiling by local, state and national organisations. Community organisations have been involved in advocating for legislation, increasing visibility of their racial profiling concerns, and encouraging police departments to begin data ...