The Pros And Cons Of Racial Profiling

Racial profiling is a controversial issue that still occurs in today’s society. For some time, policemen have used racial profiling to determine those at fault during criminal activity. However, racial profiling must be stopped because it shows ineffectiveness and is embarrassing for the victims. Law enforcement should not be allowed to be discriminative towards a race solely because of their appearance and instincts. Minorities must be protected at all costs in order to have all the American values be fulfilled. Therefore, we need to have more people realize that racial profiling is not an effective system and instead demoralizes people of color. While some believe racial profiling can help stop crime, criminal behavior cannot be determined
through the process of racial profiling; therefore, we must gain awareness to help put the end to this major issue. The one thing that civilians and policemen both have in common is stopping crime. However, the methods policemen use to determine criminal behavior is a controversial issue that needs to be addressed and stopped. In a groundbreaking article, Bob Herbert’s, “Jim Crow Policing,” states that, “An overwhelming 84 percent of the stops in the first three quarters of 2009 were of black and Hispanic New Yorkers. It is incredible how few of the stops yielded any law enforcement benefit. Contraband, which usually means drugs, was found in only 1.6 percent of the stops of black New Yorkers. For Hispanics, it was just 1.5 percent. For whites, who are stopped far less frequently, contraband was found 2.2 percent of the time,” (Herbert par 3). Herbert displays the ineffective method of racial profiling where the police of New York still believes it is a strong indicator to fighting crime. The statistics in this essay prove the argument that racial profiling is not an accurate method to determine criminals. Minorities are always being harassed because of the stereotypes of them being criminals and having no goals be given to them. Through the statistics, people are able to see that people who are usually stopped, blacks and Hispanics, actually do not follow the stereotypes and are not always doing illegal activities. Ironically, the civilians who were rarely ever stopped, “contraband was found 2.2 percent of the time.” Though some researchers may disagree, American society today creates an expectation to see whites as innocent and harmless, whereas the blacks and Hispanics are referred as dangerous and threatening. Herbert found that “eighty-four percent of the stops were only towards the black and Hispanic New Yorkers” which shows that law enforcement are being unconstitutional. His article connects with the argument that racial profiling must be stopped because it gives clear evidence that police officers feel more of a need to stop and frisk minorities rather than the whites. People of New York must use this essay as a wake up call and gain awareness of the immoralities through these actions because physical appearance is not a good enough reason to harass an individual. Another way racial profiling is shown is through an essay discussing the blacks being targeted for criminal activities. Aside from Herbert’s argument that racial profiling is ineffective, the Washington Post reveals events that depict racial profiling towards blacks.
In Terrence McCoy’s, “The Secret Surveillance of ‘suspicious’ blacks in one of the nation’s poshest neighborhoods,” he addresses the issue that many people are targeting blacks when reporting criminal activity on a new phone application. According to McCoy, he talks about the application uploading, “hundreds of pictures to the chatroom, many of which they took clandestinely. Since March last year, the images have shown more than 230 shoppers, more than 90 percent of whom are African American,” (McCoy par 10). With a quick and easy application to help report crime, people are prone to use this to their advantage by stating false accusations of innocent black people. This then leads black people to be under suspicion by the police, even though they do nothing illegal to begin with. Because of this, minorities are becoming angry that people are able to get away with reporting false crimes based on racial profiling. This allows them to feel harassed and violated because they are not able to live freely without the fear of being arrested over wrong accusations. This connects with the argument that racial profiling must gain notice and be stopped because people believe it is okay for them to take advantage of people. This shows how society creates an image that black people are aggressive and commit crimes. People should realize this
major issue because of the emotional damage it brings to many minorities. The significance this issue brought to American society is that people believe it is okay to judge black individuals because of their skin, and assume that they are always doing illegal acts. Another way racial profiling is shown is through an essay discussing about discriminative police. Through Jeffrey Toobin’s essay, he reveals the issue that racial profiling is constantly being used by several people such as police without consequences.
Even with discriminative police realizing that racial profiling is wrong, they still continue to follow this method because they know they are able to get away with it by lying. Toobin’s, “Rights and Wrongs,” expresses how policemen judge people based on their skin and are able to lie when they are facing lawsuits. Toobin believes that judges occasionally do not believe the cops’ claims because of them lying in the past court cases. Noted researcher Jeffrey Toobin argues that, “In decision after decision, she has found that cops have lied, discriminated against people of color, and violated the rights of citizens,” (Toobin par 4). What Toobin is trying to say is that police have constantly violated people’s rights because they constantly criticize minorities based on their skin tone. Once they realize that they are in trouble, they lie to protect themselves when they should not have violated the citizen’s rights in the first place. The stereotypes that are given to black people and Hispanic people are discriminative and immoral. This is because society has shaped people to believe that they are more dangerous than the other races. This quote shows that American society continuously discriminates other races because of suspicion and no evidence when stopping and frisking citizens. This issue must be noticed because it is
unfair to the minorities that are frequently having their rights violated with unlawful stop and frisks along with no consequences to the policemen. The overall impact this issue will have on American society is that it will gain notice and create a major debate on whether or not it is right to stop citizens just over suspicion. This issue will constantly be debated on whether or not actions of change should be made because of the disputable arguments. Although there are reasons as to why people believe racial profiling is wrong, this issue can be seen in several different perspectives. Many people, such as the law enforcement and police, believe that appearance and race are a major factor in determining criminal behavior. According to researcher David Rubinstein, he argues that not using racial profiling to prevent crime is foolish and dangerous. He claims that the use of racial profiling is needed in order for authorities to find criminals, even though, “Profiling is unavoidably unfair to individuals. But those so targeted should understand it is a fact of life that those who resemble those who threaten will be viewed with suspicion” (Rubinstein par 4). Rubinstein’s assertion is invalid because the actions done by a small group cannot speak solely for their entire race. Minorities who are abused to this day should not easily accept this as “a fact of life” because they would be agreeing to losing their rights as they conform to live, as well as be treated worse than others. Similarly, this depicts monarchy and should not be easily excused. Therefore, we must bring attention towards this issue to finally prove to the law enforcement, police, and authorities that criminal behavior cannot be shown through just appearance and race. While the law enforcement, police, and authority presume that racial profiling can help fight crime, criminal behavior cannot be determined through the process of racial profiling; therefore, we must gain notice to help put an end to this major issue. Racial profiling has been a major issue that is impacted today because it targets minorities due to racial stereotypes. Law enforcement should not be able to demean the minorities by taking away their constitutional rights. Although there are disputes about whether or not racial profiling is a potent method, both views can agree that crime must be gone to protect the safety of others and the community as well. Consequently, this issue needs to gain recognition and be addressed because racial profiling has created tension within minorities and is ineffective in determining criminal behavior. We must prevent racial profiling from taking away more rights from citizens for the future of Americans depends on it.