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Edith Barcenas
Professor Rust
Composition 100s
5 November 2015
Racial Profiling, an issue throughout Society
Racial profiling occurs in our everyday life, whether we witness it or not. It’s a common
situation throughout society and communities. It’s a problematic situation that causes riots,
tension, and death even when innocent; for example, the case of Trayvon Martin. Racial
profiling has become part of our lives that one does not seem to realize when it occurs. It comes
naturally based on one’s bias or even when frightened or feeling threatened. Brent Staples argues
in his article, “Just Walk on By”, that racial profiling happens between women and men like
himself. He mentions this situation being a “hazard in itself”, a difficult situation to live with.
We rely on law enforcement to protect us from harm and to promote equality and justice in our
society. Racial profiling; however, has led people to live in fear, categorizing one another to be a
criminal or dangerous simply because of where they come from and look like. We have police
officers thinking they’re doing their job and doing the right thing by raising suspicions that can
be and in times are inaccurate and deadly. Supporters for racial profiling thus argue that racial
profiling is a good way to detect criminals and stop crime. However, skin color or where you
come from is not of a good enough reason to raise suspicion towards another. Labeling one
another to be what they are not has caused people to live in fear and change how they look and
act just to be viewed unharmful; moreover, racial profiling is how people end up dead.
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The consequences of racial profiling are evident as the relationships between minorities
and law enforcement becomes a constant battle. In “Just Walk on By”, Staples claims racial
profiling being dangerous as one is perceived “to alter public space in ugly ways”. The effects of
being perceived for someone you are not have created barriers between humanity and law
enforcement. The world blames it on racism and the system to be racist. Others blame it on
having no type of respect towards the law and the rights of the people. The people are demanding
for justice, equality, and fairness for all; but to end situations like the “rioting and looting in
Ferguson” (Bloomberg Business), one must realize that we are to blame when we categorize
each other base on our bias and it will only stop if we change our perception towards others.
Moreover, one needs to realize that rioting and causing more damage will not stop and solve the
situation. People want action and feel justified with their bitter and wrongful assumptions and
actions.
After the protests began in the summer in Ferguson due to the “unequal treatment of
blacks by local police” (Washington Post), racial profiling data made by the Missouri attorney
general discovered that black drivers were targeted by 86% of traffic stops in the city for the past
year. Moreover, 93% of those traffic stops has resulted in arrest. This has proven that racial
profiling results in law enforcement to stop minorities who have committed no crime, leaving
black men in particular risk to deadly encounters. In addition, a 2011 report conducted by the
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights found evidence of boundless racial profiling
demonstrating that, aside from African Americans being stopped, Hispanics are also
disproportionally likely to be stopped and searched by policemen. Change needs to be made,
people need to change their way of perceiving others; otherwise there will be death within the
innocent and angrier mobs in the communities demanding for justice and change.
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Everywhere you go people are being categorized, just like Brent Staples. Staples
mentions that after frequently being a victim of racial profiling he has been a “survivor” by
taking precautions of looking as a threat. “I began to take precautions to make myself look less
threatening… I [moved] about with care...” (Staples). Staples has changed his way of living; to
the fact where he has moved from Chicago to New York, where he states that no matter where
you go, racial profiling is always present. Staples mentions that just like people take precautions
when they’re around him, he also has to be careful to not draw unwanted attention towards him
by policemen or others. Thus, he “whistles melodies from Beethoven and Vivaldi” to appear
friendly and relax those who are around him and perceive him as a dangerous individual. It has
taken Staples to transition in order to survive racial profiling and to prevent being stop by
policemen. Moreover, it has cost him to get use to people viewing him as a dangerous persona. It
is a melancholy thing to know and see that people are not comfortable, let alone, don’t feel safe
around you and reject you just by your looks and background. It is also a bitter situation to
change the ways you dress, act or walk in public just so you can make others feel safe around
you. Although racial profiling affects the majority of races, black communities are affected the
most.
We currently see in the news how African Americans are frequently hurt or in most
occasions killed by police officers and by others that are bias and blinded by their inaccurate
assumptions. “Then there were the standard unpleasantries with police, doormen, bouncers, cab
drivers, and others whose business it is to screen out troublesome individuals before there is any
nastiness” (Staples). Staples have had bitter experiences where he was racially profiled. For
instance, when he waits for the traffic lights he hears cars around him lock their cars doors.
Police officers have profiled African Americans since September 2001 (American Civil Liberties
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Union) and Staples acknowledges this by mentioning, “Such episodes are not uncommon. Black
men are trade talks all the time” (2). A Civil Liberties Union research analysis made of “stopand-frisk” data from the NYPD in 2011 found that young black men are stopped by policemen
25.65% of the time, young Latino men are stopped 16.0%, and young white men are only
stopped 3.8%.
Law enforcement has abused their power and has committed distasteful acts. Whether it’s
searching another individual without a reason, or attacking an individual by looking “suspicious”
and beating them for refusing to cooperate. Police officers claim it to be criminal profiling and
have used this term as a justification for racial profiling. This has led for the public to distrust
police officers. Profiling treats minorities as potential criminals and it breaks the trust,
threatening the ability to defeat crime in the community policing’s best efforts. Nevertheless, its
not only police officers, but also people from the communities that are also committing the same
mistakes as law enforcement and this is demonstrated and proved in the Trayvon Martin’s case.
Trayvon Martin is now dead due to the following reason that he was racial profiled by
George Zimmerman. Trayvon Martin’s case is proof that assumptions made according to a
persona’s appearance and background causes chaos; nonetheless, dead within the innocent. But
in reality who is the victim in this case? Trayvon Martin or George Zimmerman? According to
William Saletan, Trayvon’s death was not about race or guns. Trayvon’s death was caused by the
overreaction of the misjudgments made by the verdict, George Zimmerman. Thus, Saletan makes
it clear that both Zimmerman and Martin are the victims. They are victims of racial profiling, for
they both raised misconceptions and perceived each other as dangerous individuals. “The
problem was assumption, misperception, and overreaction” (Saletan). Martin perceived
Zimmerman as a “creepy-ass cracker” or pervert; Zimmerman viewed Martin as a dangerous
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burglar who was armed. Zimmerman is guilty of taking action and confronting Martin that led to
his death. These misconceptions have led to the death of an innocent individual. This happened
and could happen again if people keep misjudging others, clouding their minds with stereotypes
and act in incautiousness, just like Zimmerman did. Saletan makes it clear that it is not okay to
put labels on people based on their appearances without knowing the person or their intentions.
He claims these actions to be dangerous and stupid. This type of thinking leads people to die or
be injured and causes chaos within communities.
Supporters of racial profiling claim that racial profiling is “nothing more than rational
law enforcement” (Harris 11). They believe that if racial profiling is what makes law
enforcement to suspect minorities and take action by doing investigations and catching criminals
then it should be considered as a high-discretion police tactic. However, profiling pedestrians
often result in faulty judgments, for these views are assumptions and not facts. David A. Harris, a
law professor, has analyzed and concluded that racial profiling in reality makes police less
accurate in catching criminal activity (Washington Post). And this is because law enforcement is
wasting time and resources on false assumptions among the people that police officers wouldn’t
usually stop; for example, black lawyers on their way to work (Washington Post). "If you want
to know if somebody is involved in, say, transporting drugs on a highway, if you want to know
whether somebody might be up to no good in an airport, you should watch with unrelenting
intensity what they are doing, not what they look like — because that’s the only good predictor,"
says Harris (1).
Learning from the deaths of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and other deaths of
unarmed black men it is clear that two issues need to be addressed, racial profiling and the use of
excessive force by the law enforcement. Racial profiling is a common practice through out
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society and communities, which often results with tragic outcomes. In Trayvon Martin’s case, for
example, Zimmerman perceived Martin as a dangerous individual and then followed him without
any actual proof. Nonetheless, he followed him without thinking what Martin perceived him as
and now Martin is dead. These tragedies that racial profiling has brought among us has made it
clear that racial profiling is continuously plaguing our nation despite the constitutional guarantee
of equal treatment for all citizens (Washington Post). 85% of the time police officials are
targeting blacks and Latinos and almost nine out 10 of those searches, policemen find nothing to
criminate these individuals.
Racial profiling threatens public safety and weakens police community trust. When law
enforcement target and profile residents based on their background, race, and appearances rather
than on their behavior, crime is not being fought effectively. A study of Los Angeles Police
Department demonstrated that as minority communities keep getting unfairly profiled, they
experience greater mistrust and fear local police officers (Washington Post). So the question is,
what are we going to do about racial profiling? To end this ineffective “tactic”, as the supporters
of racial profiling like to call it, we need stronger policies against racial profiling. Excessive
profiling and force shown by policemen, leads to the killings of unarmed individuals and chaos
within the living. Therefore, one must think before taking action and criminalizing an individual
based on their appearances. Putting a stop to racial profiling will reduce the candles and will lift
the barriers between policemen and residents.
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Works Cited
Badger, Emily. "The Long, Halting, Still-unfinished Fight to End Racial Profiling in America."
Washington Post. The Washington Post, 05 Dec. 2014. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.
Christensen, Kim, and Matt Hamilton. "California's Racial Profiling Law." Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times, 04 Oct. 2015. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.
Coy, Peter. "Ferguson: Economic, Political Conditions Fuel Protest Fury." Bloomberg.com.
Bloomberg, 21 Aug. 2014. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.
Harris, David A. "Profiles in Injustice." Google Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.
Natarajan, Ranjana. "Racial Profiling Has Destroyed Public Trust in Police. Cops Are Exploiting
Our Weak Laws against It." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 15 Dec. 2014. Web.
05 Nov. 2015.
"Racial Profiling." American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.
Saletan, William. "Misjudgment and Overreaction Killed Trayvon Martin. Now They’re Driving
Our Response to the Verdict." Slate. The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company,
1515 July 2013. Web. 05 Nov. 2015.
Staples, Brent. "Just Walk on By." (n.d.): n. pag. Web.