Right To Remain A Target Of Racial Profiling By Eugene Robinson
Summary and Strong Response
Summary
In Eugene Robinson’s essay “You Have the Right to Remain a Target of Racial Profiling,” Robinson argues that police officers still racially profile when pulling over people for traffic offenses. He uses a Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics report that states that white, African-American and Hispanic drivers are equally likely to be pulled over by the police in a traffic stop. He doesn’t believe this to be true and delves deeper into the findings. Robinson notes that African-Americans and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched and be the subject of “police use of force”. Black drivers were also twice as likely to be arrested as white drivers, and Hispanics were more likely to receive a ticket. Whites were more likely to receive written or verbal warnings that blacks or …show more content…
Hispanics. Next he believes that blacks have become cynical after dealing with this issue for so long using the fact that 67 percent of blacks, as opposed to 90 percent of whites, believe that being allegedly pulled over for running a stop sign to be legitimate. He uses the aforementioned statistics to prove that racial profiling is still being used in America. Strong Response To: The Washington Post
From: Seth Dryer
Subject: “You Have the Right to Remain a Target of Racial Profiling”
To Whom It May Concern, I am writing you concerning an essay in last week’s editorial section. While I agree with Mr. Robinson on a few of his points, I disagree with the essay as a whole. Robinson’s view of the situation is that driving while ethnic is basically a crime in itself and you better watch out or you’re going to be pulled over for no reason.
He uses some very convincing statistics to back up his theory. I do agree with him that it seems strange that blacks and Hispanics would be searched more and are the subject to police violence more often. He does use the numbers to skew a couple of facts though. At one point in the essay he only compares Hispanics to whites, about receiving a written warning, and then only blacks with whites, about receiving a verbal warning. Why did he leave the other ethnic group out during those instances? Is it because if included it wouldn’t help his cause? Also at the beginning of the essay Robinson states that black drivers were less likely to be pulled over than whites “by a tiny margin”. Why doesn’t he use a number? Maybe it is only a few percentage points, which is what the differences are between many of the subjects that he brings up during this discussion. Robinson never lets the numbers paint a full picture for the reader. He paints with only the colors that he wants the reader to
see. Like I said before, I agree that it seems strange that blacks and Hispanics are targeted for searches more and I would definitely like that to be examined further but as a whole I don’t believe this country has grown beyond racially profiling. Sincerely, Seth Dryer
Summary
In Eugene Robinson’s essay “You Have the Right to Remain a Target of Racial Profiling,” Robinson argues that police officers still racially profile when pulling over people for traffic offenses. He uses a Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics report that states that white, African-American and Hispanic drivers are equally likely to be pulled over by the police in a traffic stop. He doesn’t believe this to be true and delves deeper into the findings. Robinson notes that African-Americans and Hispanics are much more likely to be searched and be the subject of “police use of force”. Black drivers were also twice as likely to be arrested as white drivers, and Hispanics were more likely to receive a ticket. Whites were more likely to receive written or verbal warnings that blacks or …show more content…
Hispanics. Next he believes that blacks have become cynical after dealing with this issue for so long using the fact that 67 percent of blacks, as opposed to 90 percent of whites, believe that being allegedly pulled over for running a stop sign to be legitimate. He uses the aforementioned statistics to prove that racial profiling is still being used in America. Strong Response To: The Washington Post
From: Seth Dryer
Subject: “You Have the Right to Remain a Target of Racial Profiling”
To Whom It May Concern, I am writing you concerning an essay in last week’s editorial section. While I agree with Mr. Robinson on a few of his points, I disagree with the essay as a whole. Robinson’s view of the situation is that driving while ethnic is basically a crime in itself and you better watch out or you’re going to be pulled over for no reason.
He uses some very convincing statistics to back up his theory. I do agree with him that it seems strange that blacks and Hispanics would be searched more and are the subject to police violence more often. He does use the numbers to skew a couple of facts though. At one point in the essay he only compares Hispanics to whites, about receiving a written warning, and then only blacks with whites, about receiving a verbal warning. Why did he leave the other ethnic group out during those instances? Is it because if included it wouldn’t help his cause? Also at the beginning of the essay Robinson states that black drivers were less likely to be pulled over than whites “by a tiny margin”. Why doesn’t he use a number? Maybe it is only a few percentage points, which is what the differences are between many of the subjects that he brings up during this discussion. Robinson never lets the numbers paint a full picture for the reader. He paints with only the colors that he wants the reader to
see. Like I said before, I agree that it seems strange that blacks and Hispanics are targeted for searches more and I would definitely like that to be examined further but as a whole I don’t believe this country has grown beyond racially profiling. Sincerely, Seth Dryer