Racial Profiling in America.

Essay by Smooth32cat April 2003

download word file, 7 pages 3.4

Racial Profiling in America

The issue of racial profiling in America is one of great importance to the future of American society. This issue fairly new, in terms of being recognized is old in its ways. Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping someone because of the color of his or her skin and fleeting suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal behavior. Racism and stereotyping are issues that date back to many years ago. Racial profiling in America is on that needs to be addressed by the government and society if we ever want America to truly be, "The Land of The Free." One of the main examples of racial profiling is called DWB (Driving While Black). This is a term starting to show itself a lot in cases of racial profiling. This name is meant to be a shot at the already known DWI (Driving While Intoxicated).

In today's society the perception is that most drug traffickers are minorities. This is very untrue. Racial profiling is based on the premise that most drug offenses are committed by minorities. Because police look for drugs primarily among African Americans and Latinos, they find an uneven number of them actually in possession of contraband. Therefore these people are arrested; reinforcing the idea that drug trafficking is primarily a Latino or African American thing. At the same time white drivers receive far less police attention, many of the drug dealers and users among them get away. This just feeds to the perception that whites commit fewer drug offenses than minorities. This often results in the persecution of innocent people based on skin color. This also causes a huge distrust and minorities are less willing to cooperate. Driving While Black is not an issue that just arose its just now...