RACIAL PROFILING
Racial profiling means using the race or ethnicity of an individual to decide whether to enforce a law or not. Racial profiling may include various kinds of actions such as “racially-biased stop and frisk,” using race to make a traffic stop and ethnic discrimination. Racial profiling in the United States dates back to the 17th century when police officials were allowed to stop and detain Negroes. The practice has continued since that time despite the abolishment of slavery and American ideology of liberty and equal rights. In the modern age, several ethnic minority groups are victims of racial profiling including African Americans and Latinos. However, the latest and currently the biggest victims of racial profiling are the Middle-Easterners/Muslims. In the post 9/11 era, the word Muslim has become synonymous with terrorism/violence. As a result, they have been subject to various forms governmental and social retaliation despite having no relations with terrorism in any way.
The 9/11 incident led to the racialization of Islam or Muslims where Arabs, Middle-Easterners, Iranians and South Asians were all consolidated in to a single race. They became victims of hate crimes, public discrimination and governmental prejudice. On the public level, numerous Muslims or people who appeared to be Muslims were murdered or harassed by public, religious places such as mosques were vandalized and copies of Holy Quran were desecrated. On the state side, Muslims have bene subjected to increased surveillance and forced registration by legal authorities. The people of the United States and state authorities see any and all Muslims as a threat similar to how Negroes were treated in the past. The government has been especially guilty because of the policies and laws that were enacted in name of national security specifically targeted Muslims. The Patriots Act I and II and the National Security Entry and Exit Registry (NSEER) are all examples of racial profiling where Muslims are targeted for specifically for their ethnicity. ETHICAL AND LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS OF RACIAL PROFILING The Patriots Act I and II grant the government significant powers that can be used to monitor or even detain American citizens for the sake of national security. Unfortunately the act has been selectively applied on Muslims. The NSEER system is another such example of racial profiling. Today the system has been replaced by the US-VISIT program and expanded to most of the visitors to the US but in the early days it was limited to specifically Muslims. The above mentioned state decrees and various other such laws are applicable on all people but they have been specifically applied on Muslims. Even today Muslims at airports may be stopped and frisked in the name of random searches. As a result, the Muslims in the United States feel anxious and worried about their security and future in the country. The selective application of government laws or racial profiling has considerable ethical and legal considerations and conflicts with the US constitution and idea of civil liberties. The first major issue with racial profiling is legal. Racial profiling is illegal according to the United States law and unconstitutional according to the Fourth and the Fourteenth amendments of the US constitution. The US Department of Justice specifically forbade racial profiling by federal officials in 2003. Several states have illegalized racial profiling as well and require law enforcement authorities to submit periodical reports on incidents of racial profiling. Moreover, the Fourth Amendment guarantees citizens that they will not be searched without a warrant and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that all citizens of the US will have equal rights regardless of race, religion or language. Therefore, racial profiling by the government authorities goes against its own laws and rules. The second major issue with …show more content…
It is a defensive counterterrorism measure that seeks to reduce the likelihood of future terrorist attack on American soil by Muslim extremists. Many people support it and consider it right while others consider it a breach of civil rights of American Muslims. However, there is no empirical evidence of the effectiveness of such a defensive measure. Furthermore, defensive counterterrorism measures are tricky to implement and are known to backfire. Therefore, there is big question mark on the effectiveness of racial profiling even though a large group of people have to give up their
Racial profiling means using the race or ethnicity of an individual to decide whether to enforce a law or not. Racial profiling may include various kinds of actions such as “racially-biased stop and frisk,” using race to make a traffic stop and ethnic discrimination. Racial profiling in the United States dates back to the 17th century when police officials were allowed to stop and detain Negroes. The practice has continued since that time despite the abolishment of slavery and American ideology of liberty and equal rights. In the modern age, several ethnic minority groups are victims of racial profiling including African Americans and Latinos. However, the latest and currently the biggest victims of racial profiling are the Middle-Easterners/Muslims. In the post 9/11 era, the word Muslim has become synonymous with terrorism/violence. As a result, they have been subject to various forms governmental and social retaliation despite having no relations with terrorism in any way.
The 9/11 incident led to the racialization of Islam or Muslims where Arabs, Middle-Easterners, Iranians and South Asians were all consolidated in to a single race. They became victims of hate crimes, public discrimination and governmental prejudice. On the public level, numerous Muslims or people who appeared to be Muslims were murdered or harassed by public, religious places such as mosques were vandalized and copies of Holy Quran were desecrated. On the state side, Muslims have bene subjected to increased surveillance and forced registration by legal authorities. The people of the United States and state authorities see any and all Muslims as a threat similar to how Negroes were treated in the past. The government has been especially guilty because of the policies and laws that were enacted in name of national security specifically targeted Muslims. The Patriots Act I and II and the National Security Entry and Exit Registry (NSEER) are all examples of racial profiling where Muslims are targeted for specifically for their ethnicity. ETHICAL AND LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS OF RACIAL PROFILING The Patriots Act I and II grant the government significant powers that can be used to monitor or even detain American citizens for the sake of national security. Unfortunately the act has been selectively applied on Muslims. The NSEER system is another such example of racial profiling. Today the system has been replaced by the US-VISIT program and expanded to most of the visitors to the US but in the early days it was limited to specifically Muslims. The above mentioned state decrees and various other such laws are applicable on all people but they have been specifically applied on Muslims. Even today Muslims at airports may be stopped and frisked in the name of random searches. As a result, the Muslims in the United States feel anxious and worried about their security and future in the country. The selective application of government laws or racial profiling has considerable ethical and legal considerations and conflicts with the US constitution and idea of civil liberties. The first major issue with racial profiling is legal. Racial profiling is illegal according to the United States law and unconstitutional according to the Fourth and the Fourteenth amendments of the US constitution. The US Department of Justice specifically forbade racial profiling by federal officials in 2003. Several states have illegalized racial profiling as well and require law enforcement authorities to submit periodical reports on incidents of racial profiling. Moreover, the Fourth Amendment guarantees citizens that they will not be searched without a warrant and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees that all citizens of the US will have equal rights regardless of race, religion or language. Therefore, racial profiling by the government authorities goes against its own laws and rules. The second major issue with …show more content…
It is a defensive counterterrorism measure that seeks to reduce the likelihood of future terrorist attack on American soil by Muslim extremists. Many people support it and consider it right while others consider it a breach of civil rights of American Muslims. However, there is no empirical evidence of the effectiveness of such a defensive measure. Furthermore, defensive counterterrorism measures are tricky to implement and are known to backfire. Therefore, there is big question mark on the effectiveness of racial profiling even though a large group of people have to give up their