The Negative Effects Of Racial Profiling

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The Unnecessary Shadow of Suspicion
Racial Profiling has been prominent since the 1700’s when innocent African Americans were presumed to be escaped slaves. Centuries later, racial profiling is still practiced today and is affecting many people’s lives. Some examples of present day racial profiling is when African Americans are targeted as gang members, Latin Americans being stigmatized as illegal immigrants and Muslims being subjected to an accusation on terrorism. Racial profiling is the unlawful and unjust act of assuming that an individual has a relation to crime because of their race, ethnicity, or religion, without any evidential confirmation (Opposing Viewpoints). Racial profiling is a negative law enforcement tactic that makes minorities
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“As a result of this racial profiling by their teachers and police... students lives are changed forever. Labeling them falsely... stigmatizes them in the eyes of others. More importantly assuming that they are gang members solely because of their race or ethnicity changes their view of themselves and their role in society… It only discourages students of color from seeing the school house as a place of learning and reminds them that they were born to be suspects rather than students” (Bowie “Racial Profiling Targets Innocent Children”). According to the American Psychological Association, racial profiling can cause post traumatic stress disorder and other types of stress related disorders. Although racial profiling is harmful to everyone who is affected by it, it is most damaging to colored youth. When a child is brought up in an environment where people who look just like them are constantly ridiculed for their darker complexion, they cannot help but feel like there is something wrong with them. Young African American kids are taught from day one that they need to be extra cautious around police. “Every black male I've ever met has had this talk, and it's likely that I'll have to give it one day too. There are so many things I need to tell my future son, already, before I've birthed him; so many innocuous, trite thoughts that may not …show more content…
“There is no credible evidence that racial profiling exists, yet the crusade to abolish it threatens a decades worth of crime-fighting success” (City Journal “The Myth of Racial Profiling). Racial profiling undoubtedly exists and there is evidence to prove it, yet some choose to not believe in it because they simply haven’t been affected by it. A strong example of how racial profiling is present and affects the amount of police arrests, is in Dearborn. Only four percent of citizens living in Dearborn are black but over half of the arrests between 2011 and 2012 were black people. Along with that, there were “4,500 Black arrests… reported—500 more than the amount of Black people who actually reside in Dearborn” (FBI Data: Racial Profiling Is Real). Minorities aren’t asking for people to live in a monochrome world where color doesn’t exist, they’re asking for acceptance and equal treatment, despite the amount of melanin in their skin. A strong percentage of the time, minorities are singled out, even though they are innocent. “Frisked Blacks were 42.3 percent less likely to be found with a weapon than frisked Whites, and frisked Hispanics were 31.8 percent less likely to have a weapon than frisked Whites” (The Leadership Conference on Civil and