Eradicating terror in America has been, and should remain on the agenda as one of the main efforts of the United States government. Post 9/11, there has been a wide amount of change seen in security, particularly in airports around the country. Speaking with people about the differences of security in airports before and after 9/11, makes it obvious that the United States has made it a priority to minimize threats to public safety. Along with increased security in airports, there has been a surge of racial profiling of Muslims in America. Subsequent to the San Bernardino attacks in California, the issue of racial profiling as being effective and politically correct has been a topic of controversy. The term racial profiling, has recently been …show more content…
In Kamalakar Duvvuru’s article titled, Muslims Should Not Be Profiled in the War on Terror, he tells multiple stories, about seemingly innocent Muslims being held up in airports because of their race and or religion. In one story in particular, the author reports how, “[s]ix Muslim imams were lead away in handcuffs from a US Airways flight after passengers complained that they were praying in the terminal before boarding the plane” (Duvvuru). I would like to first say, that there are many other religions where people pray, and might I add that many people are fearful of flying and might decide to pray before getting on an airplane. I cannot say for sure, but identifying these men as being Muslim, while also praying before getting onto the plane is most likely what prompted the individuals on the plain to complain. In airports, Americans have the right to say something if they do not feel comfortable about flying for whatever reason. It is legal to tell authorities at an airport if you do not feel comfortable, and there is also the notion, “If you see something, say something.” The wrong in this situation, though, is that the flight was cancelled after the situation, and the men were taken into custody. A simple fix to this situation would be asking the people to switch their flights, for example. From a legal stand point, there may be some instances where a …show more content…
Just like, many people today say they do not trust the government, the Muslims in America feel they are under extreme prejudice everywhere they go. In Kamalaker Duvvuru’s article, he writes about a few scenarios, one of which includes someone who was in the National Guard, where the individuals and their families experienced discrimination (Duvvuru). Since this religion is widely practiced among individuals, even in America, there is no doubt that there are service members in America who are Muslim. That being said, this connects to my aforementioned thoughts about people not being profiled because they are Muslim, but being profiled because of the countries that they have come from or traveled to. While there are programs in place to foster more communication with American Muslims, the government is still secretly profiling and tracking these individuals. In the beginning of Duvvuru’s essay, he talks about a group of 2000 immigrants singled out and questioned in 2004 about the activates taking place in their mosques, and, “None of those interrogated were charged with national security offense” (Duvvuru). Although this article was written a few years ago, I would assume that the same practices are still being implemented
Introduction Terrorism and racial profiling is nothing new in our society. Although some people would like to believe that it is nonexistent, it is still a major issue in today’s world. With that being said, my view on the subject is that racial profiling is going to continue to happen, whether we like it or not. I believe profiling isn’t necessarily meant to intentionally harm anyone, but is used as a tool to prevent terrorism. Past terroristic attacks have led to the many stereotypes and prejudices that our country has today.
For example in WWI, the Germans were put in internment camps and put under constant watch as the Americans were scared they would turn on them in the war because they would be loyal to their origin country of Germany. Germans who were citizens of other countries than the US were classified as aliens by the US government. About 250, 000 were to register at their local post office. They had to carry the registration card at all times and to report any change of address or employment. About 6, 300 aliens were arrested while many of them were interrogated and investigated. 2,048 were incarcerated. After 9/11, anyone who looked Arab or had the same skin color as them were suspicious to the US government. Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South-Asian Americans have been a target of that. Like the Germans, they were thoroughly more investigated at the airport than say a non-muslim caucasian and of African origin. They were kept longer at the airports and many have been interrogated and arrested. In 2006, six Muslim priests were ordered to leave their flight after flight attendants and passengers reported they were doing suspicious
Racial profiling is the tactic of stopping someone because of the color of his or her skin and a fleeting suspicion that the person is engaging in criminal behavior (Meeks, p. 4-5). This practice can be conducted with routine traffic stops, or can be completely random based on the car that is driven, the number of people in the car and the race of the driver and passengers. The practice of racial profiling may seem more prevalent in today’s society, but in reality has been a part of American culture since the days of slavery. According to Tracey Maclin, a professor at the Boston University School of Law, racial profiling is an old concept. The historical roots “can be traced to a time in early American society when court officials permitted constables and ordinary citizens the right to ‘take up’ all black persons seen ‘gadding abroad’ without their master’s permission” (Meeks, p. 5). Although slavery is long since gone, the frequency in which racial profiling takes place remains the same. However, because of our advanced electronic media, this issue has been brought to the American public’s attention.
Hijacked planes were purposely flown into the twin towers in New York and killed about 3,000 innocent people. This was one of the most disastrous incident to ever occur during the era. After the release of who caused the attack, lots of people from the Islamic culture were the center of attention right after the event. They were falsely accused of being called terrorists without little to any evidence. It was mainly because of their appearance and beliefs. It was more like racism and stereotypes towards them. Society has painted them to be these terrorists because they were feared and immediately got the wrong idea when they approach them. The day the terrorist attack happened, it sparked a new beginning for their culture. They not only felt scared when they were around them, but they felt like they were going to become a part of a violent attack that they’re going to cause without them acknowledging it. It can be disrespectful and rude to assume they’re terrorist but they didn’t care. It was “[society] [who] feared what [they] don't understand. In a frenzied state of irrational behavior [they] will point fingers and name names and accuse the innocent because [they] are afraid” (Garcia). Society was terrified for their lives. They made them feel unwelcomed and unwanted. The fear exponentially rose and became a problem when they wanted to fly to a destination. Lots of “Americans became paranoid
For the past few years there has been an ongoing debate surrounding the issue of racial profiling. The act of racial profiling may rest on the assumption that African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to commit crimes than any individual of other races or ethnicities. Both David Cole in the article "The Color of Justice" and William in the article "Road Rage" take stance on this issue and argue against it in order to make humanity aware of how erroneous it is to judge people without evidence. Although Cole and William were very successful in matters of showing situations and qualitative information about racial profiling in their articles, both of them fail at some points.
Racial profiling is the most idiotic and arrogant thing you can ever do as a person. Usually the people who are affected by racial profiling are minorities, however, any person can be a victim of racial profiling. Some may think that racial profiling is non-existent, however, I would like to bring the situation into focus and show that it is still in existence and has been observed in the past and now in the current year. Although, more than fifty percent of the time racial profiling is conducted it is against a man or woman of color; an African-American in other words. There are instances where a white person can be a victim as well. Trying not to say that there isn't any person out there that is exempted from racial profiling, because there isn't a single person who is just exempted from this cruel method of decision making. In my essay I will talk about racial profiling and what it is, however, you can't forget about where it happens and of course why. Several resolutions will be discussed in this essay to alleviate this problem.
Have you ever been followed by store officials or security while shopping in a department store? At first, all of the attention can be flattering but quickly becomes insulting once you realize they’re not following you to offer any assistance. Instead because of how you look you fit a certain profile that causes store officials to think you’ve come to their store to steal. This type of behavior is called racial profiling. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, racial profiling refers to the discrimination practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion, or national origin. Citizens need to be more aware of racial profiling and make laws that racial profiling should be illegal. Racial profiling is carried out by law enforcement airport security, and other security personnel that look to profile the minorities for no reason. Heather Sally Newton Driscoll ebscohost.com stated “The practice of profiling is rooted in centuries of discrimination and is based on stereotypes that have long been disproved. Profiling holds on entire population accountable for the committed by a small minority”.
Racial Profiling can happen to anyone, anywhere such as the streets, in the airports, or even just walking home. Racial profiling and the media influence an individual’s perspective on a trial. Racial Profiling is using someone’s race or ethnic background as suspicion for committing a crime. Evidence from past trials dating back to 1920s Sacco and Vanzetti trial to George Zimmerman’s trial in 2013 prove that racial profiling has existed for nearly a century. According to the article “The Quiet Racism in the Zimmerman Trial” by Steven Mazie, he states
Targets of suspicion: the impact of post-9/11 policies on Muslims, Arabs and South Asians in the US. (2004, May 1). Retrieved from http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/special-reports/targets-suspicion-impact-post-911-policies-muslims-arabs-and-south-asians-us
Before any argument can be made against racial profiling, it is important to understand what racial profiling is. The American Civil Liberties Union, defines racial profiling as "the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for suspicion of crime based on the individual's race, ethnicity, religion or national origin"(Racial Profiling: Definition). Using this definition we can determine that racial profiling excludes any evidence of wrong-doing and relies solely on the characteristics listed above. We can also see that racial profiling is different from criminal profiling, which uses evidence of wrong-doing and facts which can include information obtained from outside sources and evidence gathered from investigation. Based on these definitions, I will show that racial profiling is unfair and ineffective because it relies on stereotyping, encourages discrimination, and in many cases can be circumvented.
Every day you see and hear about minorities groups complain about cops and their tactics against them stopping them while in traffic taking them in to custody or even getting kill over nothing. Racial Profiling is a common thing in this community and it is causing a lot of trouble. According to Minnesota House of Representatives analyst Jim Cleary, "there appear to be at least two clearly distinguishable definitions of the term 'racial profiling ': a narrow definition and a broad definition... Under the narrow definition, racial profiling occurs when a police officer stops, questions, arrests, and/or searches someone solely on the basis of the person 's race or ethnicity... Some ways to stop it is find out who is guilty of it, look at their
There has always been racial profiling in our history. The problem here is that at some point the ones who are oppressed and discriminated sooner o later will claim why they are treated unequally. There are many examples around the world, but one only has to take a look at how the American society has been designed to realize the great difference between individuals. It was even normal and acceptable to see these differences during the creation of this nation because the ones who supposedly had the power and knowledge of conquering made sure to create a huge division between leaders and subordinates.
Racial profiling in America, as evidenced by recent events, has reached a critical breaking point. No longer can an African American, male or female, walk into a store, school, or any public place without fear of being stereotyped as a person of suspicion. Society constantly portrays the African American
In the past few years, racial profiling has become a very prominent issue in American society. In “Racial Profiling,” “Racial Profiling is a controversial and illegal discriminatory practice in which individuals are targeted for suspicion of crimes based on their ethnicity, race, or religion rather than on evidence-based suspicious behavior” (Para. 11). Many people are wronged because of this phenomenon and effects many of them in multiple ways. Racial profiling is effecting many people and it needs to be addressed.
According to the Encarta Dictionary, Racial Profiling is the assumption of criminality among ethnic groups without probable cause. Since the September 11, 2001, Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center, racial profiling has been the temporary tactic used to stop terrorism. After more than ten years since implementing this practice, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has made little progress. Some American citizens are still skeptical of Middle Eastern and Muslim people even though TSA has caught no terrorists through racial profiling. Although racial profiling has the potential to catch terrorists, it should not be used because racial profiling can justify terrorist acts, it will not improve airport and airline security, and it is discrimination.