Imagine driving home from a long day, minding your own business, when all of a sudden, you notice a state trooper running towards you. He tackles you down to the ground, handcuffs you, and tells you that you are under arrest. What do you do? Do you panic, or act natural? In today's time, it doesn't matter if you do anything wrong or not. It could be the color of your skin, the way you act, or the way you move. One wrong move could be the difference life or death. Racial profiling incidents are seen as unfair and illegitimate, which in turn, has made people distrust law enforcers.
Racial profiling is defined as "the use of personal characteristics or behavior to make generalizations about a person" (Racial profiling, 2017). Racial stereotyping happens more commonly than we think. Is it a crime to not be white? Race should not be used to determine whether a person looks like they are going to commit a crime or possibly break the law. According to Shoshanna, assumptions are made that people who have darker skin tones are criminals (Niraj, Detroit Free Press, 2013). …show more content…
Take a homeless person for example, standing on the street holding a cardboard sign, we assume they are lazy and just don't want to work. The media re-emphasize a description of a man resembling the homeless man we seen prior robbing bank, now every time you see a look-a-like, you feel nervous and anxious causing anxiety. According to (Cooper, 2001) this is called racial anxiety. Without knowing influential behaviors and judgements can affect us in ways that can lead to racial