On the other hand, so too are concepts of equality, tolerance, and the freedom to pursue happiness despite one’s spiritual beliefs, sexual orientation, and national heritage, a part of American society that holds true today within the Latino population. Latinos are told that all citizens are equal under the law and hold the same fundamental civil rights. However, if this is true, why are we disproportionally convicted of crimes based upon our ethnicity? According to the ACLU, racial profiling can be defined as “ the discriminatory practice by law enforcement officials of targeting individuals for the suspicion of crime based on the individual’s race, ethnicity, religion or national origin." Within nearly all diverse communities incidences of racial profiling have become routine. For example, in New York city there is a fear of walking while “Brown" (this might happen, see right). The police department has a reputation for enforcing tactics they commonly refer to as “stop and frisk” based solely on the color of one’s skin. The practice is indisputable and it is unfortunately a reality for the city's residents. While Blacks comprise 25.6 percent of the City’s population they represent approximately 50 percent of all traffic stops. Hispanics account for 23.7 percent of the population, yet constitute 33 percent of all cars pulled-over within NYC. This argument is only bolstered when one considers that although 43.4% of the city is Caucasian, they constitute only 12% of all traffic investigations. The type of tactics employed by the NYPD are not isolated to the East Coast, but can also be seen here in Los Angeles. Regardless of location, racial profiling is a common form of discrimination and police misconduct. Although serving as a law enforcement officer in a diverse population is extremely difficult, the presence and tolerance of racial profiling across America is unacceptable and preventive means must be adopted to curb this discriminatory practice.Police stations all over the country are being accused of some form of racial profiling, in a recent article, it was reported that the ACLU held the LAPD responsible for more than 810,000 field stops between 2003 and 2004, with most of the stops consisting of either the black or Latino population. As stated by Amnesty International USA, the truth about racial profiling is that approximately "32 million people in all" are exposed to this type of discrimination. What is more astonishing is the spectrum of ethnicities that are subjected to racial profiling, which include, Hispanic Americans, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, an many more people of ethnic backgrounds including immigrants and visitors to this country. Racial profiling allows for the the harass
ed to be victimized by the system twice. They first must endure the initial questioning of the officers and prove their right to be in the U.S. and secondly, their treatment by the officers that will likely lead to being physically brutalized. In the end this ever- growing disconnect between the community and law enforcement agencies that are there to protect them. Another realm in which racial profiling can clearly be seen involves our borders. Border Patrol agents in Lake Elsinore are pressured into reaching their arrest quotas, and are therefore encouraged to single-out Latino men. They often harass and interrogate the individual while assuming that he or she is an “illegal,” convicting them based upon their ethnicity. What ever happened to “innocent until proven guilty”? One particularly revealing incident can be found at PE.com where Luis Espinoza, a U.S. citizen, was randomly puled over for not yielding at a stop sign. After confirming his citizenship, he was let go without any further incident or explanation regarding why he had been pulled over in the first place. These allegations come not only from within the community, but from ex-border patrol agents themselves. In one interview, former patrol agent Tony Plattel was quoted as saying that, “pressure to increase arrests that started in December of 2007 caused agents to randomly question Latinos who they believed (see left) looked like recently arrived immigrants." Further, he went on to say that, “he never saw an agent question non-Latinos.”More and more Hispanic males are being harassed under false "pretenses.” For instance, they might “fit the description” of the suspects. These occurrences are only encouraged through the use of “special” gang units in Los Angels entrusted to “protect and serve” the communities. In reality they do more harm than good and alienate the population. Ultimately, police officers are more likely to stop Hispanic and Black residents than they are white residents. As a consequence of this are invoked personal memories of “driving while brown,” as I myself have been witness to this type of racial profiling. When confronted with the issue of the rise in racial profiling cases, an LAPD spokesman, “had no immediate comment."To every side of a story there is a counter story, and the LAPD rejects any and all findings of racial profiling by officers. In an article in the L.A. Times, high ranking LAPD officials dispute the study and instead confirm that more Latinos were being stopped and searched but in no way was this racial profiling. Police Chief William J. Bratton was quoted as saying, “We live in am imperfect world. There are many issues and questions for which unfortunately there are no perfect answers. This issue of bias and racial profiling is one of those issues”. He went on to state, “I have a lot of concerns about their conclusions. This department does not engage in racial profiling”. One of the main problems that Police Chief Bratton had with the Ayres’ report is that it did not take into consideration all the circumstances that come into play when an officer executes a routine stop. The ACLU countered that argument by pointing out that the Ayres’ report did in fact take this into account.
Although I would love to say that New York and Los Angeles are the only major cities where racial profiling is out of control, this of course would be untrue. As recently as February 10, 2009, both San Francisco immigrants and legal residents claimed that racial profiling and police brutality were occurring without any supervision by high standing officials in the SFPD. There are allegations that people are getting pulled over, handcuffed, and humiliated in front of their loves only to be let go if they can prove that they have legal residency. Although the SFPD claims that they spend countless hours training their police officers on the proper way to pull over and stop individuals, one can not help but think if it is time to stop counting the hours dedicated to these programs and actually start supervising them with some form of community based organizations. Whether in the East or West Coast, racial profiling is a problem that law enforcement has long tried to ignore. Throughout this post I have indicated the negative impact discriminatory practices have on the relationships between citizens and officers. One of the solutions that may help relations between the two parties involved may be to integrate new training programs assisting our police officers in becoming more sensitive and better equipped to deal with the communities in which they work. If this does not work, we could enact harsher penalties for those who are found guilty of denying civil rights regardless of citizenship and or immigration status. Overall we need to have independent agencies (watch dog groups) investigating allegations of racial profiling and at the same time we must police law enforcement not only as communities but as individuals too.
I really enjoyed reading your post this week and learning more about the disturbing but important issue of racial profiling in America. Your title and subtitle effectively capture the topic of your post, and your wordplay on the phrase “walking while Brown” created a nice transition from heading to your subject. I commend the fact that you were able to extend your post to include examples not only from New York and Los Angeles but also from San Francisco. I wasn’t aware that the latter city, known for its liberal and democratic history, is having an issue with police brutality. That being said, it would be interesting to learn more about the issue of racial profiling in other major cities across America. For example, I have often heard about the prominence of racial tensions in places such as Philadelphia and Detroit, and perhaps in providing more information pertaining to other regions in the United States a valuable depth would be added to your argument. You may also want to consider providing more background about where you gathered your support, specifically the statistics in your opening paragraph about how often different racial groups are stopped in New York City.
ReplyDeleteIt was very interesting to learn that racial profiling is also an issue around the border areas (in your post you talk specifically about Lake Elsinore), a fact of which I was not aware before reading your post. I especially found your anecdote to be a useful way of demonstrating a case of racial profiling, while it also acted as an interesting transition to the reactions of the border patrol and police forces working in the area. I would in the future, however, consider elaborating on the findings provided by your outside sources, especially Amnesty International. As a well-known and respected human rights organization, this would provide a highly beneficial sense of expertise to your topic. While overall I found your post to be very informative and captivating, I suggest that by performing a grammar/spelling check in a processing application such as Microsoft Word, you may be able to avoid some mistakes which could hinder your academic voice.