Racial Profiling Essay

Racial profiling is one of the most accurate problems going on in modern society. Racial profiling is caused when there are arrests, frisks, or others based only by the race of the suspect instead of any suspicion of their behavior. Quite a few police officers and people in power feel that racial profiling is a smart choice and continue to do so. Having safety and knowing police officers are arresting criminals is a great thing. However, police officers are only targeting people with dark skin the most. Dan White argues that since Blacks and Hispanics are the two top races shown in arrest statistics and targeting them is a smart business move. Whites assertion that racial profiling is a smart thing to do is unacceptable because some Hispanics and Blacks are being frisked and arrested when they are innocent people, they get judged by their skin color, and police have no right to keep a better watch on these two races than any other race. Racial profiling is wrong because Hispanics and Blacks are getting frisked and arrested when some are innocent and didn’t do anything wrong. According to Ayres, â€Å"†¦They were 42.3% less likely to be found with a weapon after they were frisked† (1). African Americans who have been frisked are less likely to have a weapon. Police officers are doing a poor job by only targeting Blacks because of their skin color. Therefore, police officers are proving that they only frisking innocent people because they have darker skin. Police officers are pulling over Hispanics and Blacks because they are judging them by their skin color. Bob Herbert stated, â€Å"No people of color are safe from this treatment anywhere, regardless of their obedience to the law, their age, they type of care they drive, or their situation in life† (2). People who are dark skinned have no way out of suspicion to police officers no matter if they look wealthy, young, or old. Police would atomically think a Black or Hispanic person will intend to commit a crime instead of a Caucasian person. It’s a shame how this goes on because it’s not right that they have to be judged to be the bad person because they are darker. Racial profiling is violating human rights. Everyone has their basic rights and need to be treated equal, but officers who are racist don’t let that happen. John Kifner mentioned, â€Å"It is so commonplace for Black men to be pulled over in their vehicles that this practice has acquired its own acronym: D.W.B. (Driving While Black)† (2). Black people get pulled over constantly it has its own descriptor as D.W.B. This is ridiculous how it has its own word form. Skin color has become evidence ability to commit crime. Police use this â€Å"evidence† against minority drivers on the road all the time. Police should not be allowed to only keep a good eye out on Hispanics and Blacks. Ayres asserted, â€Å"Stopped Blacks are 76% more likely to be searched, and stopped Latinos are 32% more likely to be searched than stopped whites† (1). African Americans and Latinos are more likely to be searched than white people. Officers are only looking for these two ethnic groups because to them they are officially the â€Å"bad guys†. In their eyes they are the criminals and are asking for trouble. As a result, people with power have proven that they want racial profiling to continue happening. Racial profiling should be unsupportable because these two ethnic groups get frisked and arrested when they are above suspicion, they are getting judged by their skin color, and police shouldn’t only watch them more carefully than any other race. It’s not right for a Black or Hispanic person to get blamed in a serious situation of something they might not been involved with in the first place. Everyone should be treated the same, no one has the right to think lower of a person because they have darker skin. Race and location are the foremost characteristic authorities look at when they are engaging this type of profiling. Police officers need to do their job appropriately and lookout for the people that are actually committing a crime or disobeying a law. Racial profiling has been going on for such a long time and it will always be wrong. People with power could deny the reality of racial profiling but they know that they are being racist and keep on doing it. They could be missing out on genuinely catching a criminal from another race because sadly they have their attention on a Hispanic or Black people.