The Pros And Cons Of Racial Profiling

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Racial profiling is defined as the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Racial profiling encourages the perpetuation of racial stereotypes therefore it will lead to an estrangement of the races. Unless you are a minority, you most likely have never experienced racial profiling. Since the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States, Americans have fallen into a state of delusional thinking by which they believe his being elected eradicated racism as well as prejudices and unfair treatment of minorities. It is not my purpose to accuse all white people of being racist or bigoted, but it would be foolish to assume that these attitudes do not exist or that they are not more prevalent than many people would like to admit. When it comes to talking about racial issues, such as racial profiling, some people will accuse you of trying to start a race war or segregate the …show more content…
However, statistics show that profiling in fact does nothing to alleviate crime because when you profile an innocent citizen you are wasting time, money, and resources that could have been used on preventing actual crime. For example, black and Hispanic motorists are pulled over at a significantly higher rate than white motorists. The ACLU found that, blacks were twice as likely to be arrested and blacks were nearly four times as likely to experience the threat or use of force during interactions with the police (Harris 68). Kenneth Meeks in his book, Driving While Black, addresses this issue and how “cases where victims find themselves looking down the barrel of a policeman 's gun make the six o 'clock news, dozens of less extreme, yet troubling, examples occur every day” (Meeks 14). Profiling, no matter the form, is wrong and only helps to sully the relationship between the races and law

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