Racial profiling is the use of race as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense. It has, tragically, become such an occurrence that it is second nature. The harmful effects of racial profiling are very lethal. Racial profiling is dangerous because it leads to stress, harassment, and in some cases, death.
There is an alarming amount of headlines about people of color going about their daily business, only for the police to be called on them. From moving into their homes, buying groceries, airport travel, or even walking across the street, people of color are targeted and harassed. “Everyday racial profiling is one indignity piled atop another”(yan). Racial profiling isn’t just calling the cops. It’s also when a black man is walking by and women pull their purses closer to them or when an Arab or Muslim man/woman climbs onto your plane and you are suddenly ‘uncomfortable’. It’s also when a person of color goes grocery shopping and is asked to turn around and to show his pockets and ‘proof of his purchases’. These acts are dehumanizing to people who have the same blood running through their veins as everyone else in the world. It’s scary that in the world that we live in people don’t know if they're coming home that night. What’s scarier, is that people of color don’t know if they're going to be harassed or shot at because of what they look like. “racial profiling fails all of us...” (bastian) because consequences of racial profiling can be and are dangerous. Racial profiling consequences can end up with someone killed. People of color being killed in their own home just because their neighbor didn’t think they lived there or thought they were breaking in isa headline that is repeated way too much. Being detained at the airport just because you came back from visiting an Arab country and what you look like. In most cases of racial profiling, the police is called. “This kind of racial bias wastes officers' time and resources, which could be spent actually protecting communities.” The waste of time used to call these officers, for a person of color walking down the street, is a waste of someone who could have been saved.
Some people were taught this bias and can’t really be blamed for something that happened before kindergarten. Bias like this is taught from a young age. “Since biases start early, it's important for parents to help young children get on the right track.” (yan). It’s time to make a conscious effort to stop racial profiling or people of color not live as freely as they deserve because it is their right as human beings to walk with their head held high and not in a cloud of unnecessary suspicion. “Sentiments that glorify humanity know no racial distinction."
MLA citations
Yan, Holly. “This is why everyday racial profiling is dangerous”. Cnn.com. Turner broadcasting system, inc. may ll, 2018; web. December 4, 2018.
Bastian, alex. “seeing danger in a face.” nytimes.com. The new york times company. October 27, 2017. Web. December 4 , 2018.
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