Staples Arguments Against Racial Profiling

Superior Essays
Equal rights for people of different races have come a long way since the civil rights movements in 1954 but we are still a long way from truly all having equal rights. Throughout all of history people of color have been treated poorly by the white man ,whether it 's slavery and genocide or just not giving people of color the ability to speak or live for themselves. Over the past 60 years we have come a very long way but racial profiling is keeping us from continuing the progression towards equality.

Racial profiling is common in law enforcement, whether its pulling over a person of color because they just seem more suspicious or if its shooting and attacking a colored person based off of stereotype based suspicions. Many people believe that
…show more content…
When a black or hispanic man walks into a store its not uncommon for a store clerk to follow him through the aisles to make sure that they dont steal anything. When a black man walks down the street people in cars will lock their doors or move away from him as far as possible as he walks.In his article “Black Men and Public Space” Staples illustrates what his life was like within his first year of living in a city as ablack man “ I was to become thoroughly familiar with the language of fear. At dark, shadowy intersections, I could cross in front of a car stopped at a traffic light and elicit the thunk, thunk, thunk of the driver – black, white, male, or female – hammering down the door locks.”(Staples 395) If a black man is wearing a large jacket its instantly assumed by law enforcers that he is holding some form of weapon. In the book “Everyday Bias” that is mentioned in the article by Gettys it talks about a social study that was done where people involved had to look between two pictures. In the first picture there were two men fighting , both of them were white, one man was holding a knife while the other was not. The second photo was the same scenario but in this photo it was a white man and a black man and the white man was holding the knife.They asked the participants who was holding the knife in each picture. For the first photo everyone answered correctly. Whereas for the second photo most people incorrectly said that the black man was the one with the knife.

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Racial Profiling Lately in the news and media, there have been many cases of racial profiling and police shootings. This topic seems to be increasing throughout the media and it is getting out of hand. An example of this is when Trayvon Martin suffered a fatal tragedy when he was racially profiled by an on duty police officer. The victim was completely innocent, and he was coming back from the store at night time with possession of skittles and his hoodie was on. In the article, “Jim Crow Policing,” Bob Herbert provides statistics about Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites stopped and frisked by racial profiling.…

    • 560 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Over the years he took note that many black journalists were having the same trouble as he did. Staples says “A black journalist went nearby Waukegan, Illinois a couple of summers ago to work on a story about a murderer who was born there” (296-297) he explained that the police mistaken the reporter as a criminal. Police thought the African American reporter was a killer due to skin color and held him at gunpoint. The public targets African American due to the color of their skin when in fact Caucasian can be just as dangerous. People in society make situations worse than it should be.…

    • 775 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cops are exploiting our weak laws against it. The #BlackLivesMatter movement has sparked nationwide protests and has raised awareness worldwide about the unequal treatment of black people by police in the United States. “ Racial profiling — as well as profiling based on religion, ethnicity and national origin — continues to plague our nation despite the constitutional guarantee of equal treatment under the law”("Racial…

    • 588 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    From what I have witnessed government in some aspects are the ones who do actually impede our progressive actions towards equality. If we were to harness the power of government involvement and get support by the government , we would be able to reach equality more effective and efficient than we are now. If we take a look at ¨There Is a Need to End Racial Profiling Act¨ which was posted on the opposing viewpoints database , we see that governmental action in stopping racial profiling is beginning to rise. The End Racial Profiling Act if passed will greatly help out those who have become victims of racial profiling and I believe will help out society as a whole making equality the base of our everyday lives. The aspects of the End Racial Profiling act is that 1st it will abolish the use & practice of racial profiling in law enforcement and national security conflicts , 2nd training on racial profiling will be given in places such as schools , & law enforcement training 3rd elimination of current practices 4th funds allocated to the justice department to discourage racial profiling and help towards progressive equality movements , 5th National Guard will inspect those that have been accused in the past of racial profiling.…

    • 2726 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial Profiling Cons

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages

    This concept of racial profiling has been around for long time already, and the people that can do something about this just let it pass like it’s not important. There are many cons to the racial profiling for example: racism, unethical, racial tension, statistically. These cons cause many problems in our society around any neighborhood. Then we have racial profiling by law enforcement officers , or “using race as a factor in conducting stop, searches, and other investigative produces”( Bush 2001). This major problem in the united states and possible the whole world has cause this sensitive subject to become a worldwide attracted.…

    • 1045 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We are all humans and have the right to be treated the same by the law. The government and the states need to come together and figure out a plan to solve the problem that is going on with racial profiling. Laws and policies need to be put in place so this can stop happening. It has been happening for a while and an officer’s job is to serve and protect the citizens, not kill them. Instead of pulling the trigger just because of a skin color, police officers need to remember what their job is.…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In modern times, racial profiling is recognized as an important public matter that has drawn and continues to draw the attention of many people, governments, and the world as a whole. Some consider the practice of racial profiling as morally wrong as the division of races and ethnicities seemingly promote racism and supremacy sentiments. Some promoters believe that racial profiling is a healthy contributor to public safety. Others promote its use in all levels of security and law enforcement throughout the entire societal structure. Law enforcement and security agencies are constantly called into question due to their use of racial profiling or suggestive use of it.…

    • 365 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Racial profiling has connections in law enforcement and the community causing biased factors in which can result in problematic factors on both sides. In law enforcement each individual officer to have their own part of racism. There has been arguments throughout the media and articles complaining their own side of the story of how an individual being the opposite race to the officer has been treated poorly and severely. Racial profiling is not something new that is happening now thus, it has been around since the early 1700s. Not only is this making law enforcement look bad but, for a community to not have a relationship to an officer again within the help for a community.…

    • 1607 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The article, “Race, Street Life, and Policing: Implications for Racial Profiling” explains how some of the police’s attention is triggered by criminal behavior or by a biased outlook (Hayle, Wortley, & Tanner, 2016). There was a research that was done that examined two populations. These populations were street youth and black high school students. From these two populations, the black high school students were disproportionate stopped and searched by the police (Hayle, Wortley, & Tanner, 2016). This is overall imperative because it clarifies how there is a greater importance in minority rather than criminal behavior itself.…

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial profiling has been a huge controversy in the 21st century. This topic is so controversial because in this day in age, race has been a touchy subject for a lot of people. Many different races have been affected by racial profiling from the government, the police, and even strangers. Although there have been many situations where racial profiling has backfired, there are also many people have thought that racial profiling is beneficial to finding suspects for police. Racial profiling isn’t justified in searching for suspects.…

    • 692 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial profiling is a racist tactic of people, not just by police who label others, but everyone as a whole. It is based on the attitude that consists of false and derogatory beliefs about the group that is being racially profiled (Bou-Habib 34). It is wrong by claiming that certain racial groups are responsible for all crimes and are less able to comply with laws and we have reason to reject racial profiling if its use is accompanied by a harassing manner on part of public officials towards those investigated (Bou-Habib 34). If you look at racial profiling from a conflict perspective, those with power and money define what is normal in our society. Law enforcement often penalizes those without power which usually involves lower class poverty families, and benefits those with power who have a lot of…

    • 1660 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Racial Profiling Essay

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Mainghor Tang Mrs. Daniels ERCW. 5 7 Oct. 2016 Who We Truly Are Is Not Skin Deep With the recent shootings of African Americans by white police officers, the topic of racial profiling is once again reignited. The issue is especially prevalent and controversial in the United States, chiefly due to the fact that America is a diverse country with many ethnic groups.…

    • 1451 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial Profiling Argument

    • 1813 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Racial Profiling goes against this right and should be banned, or have harsher punishments when is displayed. Furthermore, cops are taking it upon themselves to kill many innocent people, there needs to be a better way to protect themselves without having to resort into taking someone’s life. As John F. Kennedy states “The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty and all forms of human lives…” (Kennedy pg1. 1961).…

    • 1813 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Racial Profiling Problem

    • 1775 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Racial profiling is a problem that has been going on in the United States for far too long. Everyday, people are being pulled over and searched just because of their race or their ethnic background. This leads to many problems, such as the accused becoming upset, feeling he/she is being wronged because of race. These feelings may cause the accused to become uncooperative or hostile. When this happens, the officer is then more likely to act aggressively in the situation, which can very easily turn into a slippery slope of unfortunate events.…

    • 1775 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    No Need To Profile Racial profiling has always been a serious issue throughout the years and just when things seem to calm down, something always happens. Racial profiling is the use of race or ethnicity as ground for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. Throughout a time in one 's life, they will be a victim of racial profiling.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays