Racial Profiling

Introduction

Racial profiling can be described as any subjective action done by an authority based on ethnicity, race, or nationalized foundation more than on anyone's individual behavior. Few concepts in the context of either domestic or international politics are capable of generating as much symbolic and emotional appeal as that of equality. Traceable in some form as far back as the concept of justice, its roots precede Plato. The term equality is certainly a familiar and recurring one in the history of Western thought.

Thesis Statement: The U.S. Constitution states all citizens should be treated equally, however our legal system has proved otherwise. Race has become a significant factor in the judicial process. Law enforcement uses general characteristics such as race rather than an individuals behavior.

Discussion

Racial profiling distorts Asian American's character to little or no value so as to ease the guilt when committing hate-related offenses. Usually the motive for racial profiling grows out of mis-perception and conspiracy from narrow minds, a warped culture, and biased media. (HARRIS 265-326)

The Past

A lie, or racial profiling, repeated a thousand times, can become a truth by self-deception, especially when targeted victims have no public voice. Racial profiling happened once before in the United States(1882-88) when all kinds of slanders and innuendos, through mass media, were brought against Chinese laborers. The laborers were alleged to have robbed white worker's jobs by working hard and accepting low wages. The fact that laborers couldn't speak English meant that they were not heard. To say that they were evil by race, one only need to learn about Chinese civilization which gave these laborers their culture. Yet, racial profiling, repeated over and over, became the only "truth", and justified all hate-related offenses, including mass murders, inflicted on Chinese laborers, even though the laborers risked their lives in helping build the trans-continental railroads in the West. Later, the same "truth" was the reason for passing Chinese Exclusion Laws[a] in the U.S. Congress. Those laws stripped these laborers of individual rights that were solemnly declared inalienable for all men in the declaration of Independence of the United States. Eventually these Exclusion Laws were repealed in the United States Congress in 1943. (HARRIS 25-30)

The Present

In the 1990s, some mass media and some political groups combine their forces to paint an unpatriotic, untrustworthy stereotyping image on Chinese Americans even after all the contributions they have made to the United States, prior, during and after the Chinese Exclusion Laws era. Could it be that the Chinese culture teaches too much tolerance? So much so that Chinese Americans are considered expendible at other people's convenience since there will be little or no consequences? This could be indeed the primary reason why over the years Chinese and Asian Americans have suffered injustices that other people simply will not tolerate. More of that later, but first recents events on profiling against Chinese and Asian Americans. (Fredrickson 45)

First, there is Dr. Wen Ho Lee who was wrongly accused of espionage for China (for ...