Racial Profiling

11 Pages 2664 Words

Racial Profiling:
“Its Time to Put an End to this Unjust Practice”
It has happened to actors such as Wesley Snipes, Will Smith, Blair Underwood and LeVar Burton. It has happened to football player Marcus Allen, Olympic athletes Al Joyner and Edwin Moses, and it has happened to attorney Johnnie Cochran. Police officers stop, question and even search black drivers who have committed no crime, based on the excuse that a traffic offense has occurred. The term black Americans use for these stops are “Driving while Black” or DWB. Driving while black is a prime example of racial profiling. The issue of racial profiling in America is one of great importance to the future of American society, and regrettably, is not a new issue. For decades black Americans have complained about this practice. Law enforcement officials across our great nation deny that racial profiling occurs, but an over whelming majority of the black community believes that racial profiling is practiced on a daily basis. During the Civil Rights Era, racial profiling was a major issue, thousands of black Americans were unnecessarily stopped and arrested based on their skin color alone. Yet, after all of our progress

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since that torrid period of our past, we continue to fight for the stoppage of racial profiling in the year 2000. This issue screams to be addressed by the government and abolished in American society if we truly desire our country to be “The Land of the Free,” that we all know and love.
Racism, and stereotyping in general, are issues that date back many centuries. It would seem that skin color alone may very well make you a suspect in America, and more likely to be stopped by our law enforcement personnel. The war on drugs has given police a license to target those people who they believe fit the “profile” of a drug dealer or a gang member. The prevailing perception in American society today is that most drug trafficke...