Examples Of Racial Profiling

Racial Profiling
One might think of slavery or segregation and happily claim racism no longer exists. However, racism is flourishing as much as it was during the civil rights movement as it is today, but through much more subtle and as equally harmful manners. A most prominent example is racial profiling, a common police practice that aids in the mass incarceration of minorities using racial stereotypes and inaccurate information to arrest selected individuals. Racial profiling is not a necessary police practice as it violates the fourth amendment, can often take the life of an innocent person, and is a significant tool in imprisoning marginalized groups. A well known facet of racial profiling is called, "Stop and Frisk". A needless yet conventional …show more content…
Stated in an article written by Huffington Post, "White Americans use and sell drugs in close proportion to their percentage in society, yet Black and Latino males are the primary persons apprehended by law enforcement on suspicion of drug related activity." (Walid.) From major crimes like possession of contraband to minor ones such as loitering or a failed turn signal. Not only does this practice aid in detaining minorities, but it targets them especially and frequently, cops carry hopes of money as a large reward. A relevant example is of a speeding case that occurred in 1998. Local New Jersey officers had confessed to purposefully pulling over a car of speeding men, who happened to be three black men and a Hispanic male, as their supervisor had instructed to target those specific groups. He claimed it was justified as minorities were more likely than whites to be transporting drugs (“Racial Profiling”). A large influence in people of color being so heavily demonized is the special targeting they receive from law enforcement officials. In a study commenced by USA Today, out of 3,538 police departments, only 173 arrested black people at a rate equal to or lower than other racial groups (“FBI Data”). So this is not occurring in a single area, but it is rampaging throughout the nation. An attack on marginalized groups for unknown reasons. They’re being thrown in jail, stopped and frisked, arrested for the most miniscule of crimes while their white counterparts are freely roaming the same country, committing the exact same

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