...Rather, they are experiences that can wound the soul and cause psychological scar tissue to form. And the statistics show that these experiences are not simply disconnected anecdotes or exaggerated versions of personal experiences, but rather established and persistent patterns of law enforcement conduct. It may be that these stops do not spring from racism on the part of individual officers, or even from the official policies of the police departments for which they work. Nevertheless, the statistics leave little doubt that, whatever the source of this conduct by police, it has a disparate and degrading impact on blacks. But racial profiling is important not only because of the damage it does, but also because of the connections between stops of minority drivers and other, larger issues of criminal justice and race. Put another way, "driving while black" reflects, illustrates, and aggravates some of the most important problems we face today when we debate issues involving race, the police, the courts, punishment, crime control, criminal justice, and constitutional law. A. The Impact on the Innocent The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures, and specifies some of the requirements to be met in order to procure a warrant for a search. Since 1961--and earlier in the federal court system--the Supreme Court has required the exclusion of any evidence obtained through an unconstitutional search or seizure. From...
Words: 3764 - Pages: 16
...Shopping while black, Driving while black, and Stop-and-Frisk are commonly used phrases and laws that are associated with racial profiling that have recently made headlines on multiple occasions in the past year. Shopping while black is the racial profiling term used when an individual is accused of shoplifting or other unlawful act while in a marketplace. There have been two major stories in the headlines recently involving racial profiling. The first incident involves Rob Brown the star of HBO’s “Treme” is filing a class action lawsuit against Macy’s for accusing him of providing a fake credit card to make a purchase and detaining him in a cell for 45 minutes. The other incident involves Barneys’ New York an American chain of luxury department stores headquartered in New York City. In this particular incident an 18 year old college student was arrested for allegedly providing a fake debit card when purchasing a $349.00 belt. This story has managed to get extended time in the headlines because Barneys is currently endorsed by renowned hip-hop, business mogul Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter. While these are not the only two racial profiling incidences that have occurred, they have gained mainstream media attention because they involve celebrities which shines a bright light on this type of discrimination that many don’t believe still exist. “The legal definition for “Driving While Black” is used in contemporary U.S. vernacular. It refers to the criminalization of black drivers. Driving...
Words: 774 - Pages: 4
...work. Things being what they are, the estimations leave little instability that, whatever the wellspring of this conduct by police, it has a disparate and corrupting influence on blacks....
Words: 1535 - Pages: 7
...limited number of openings in our driver training school. You are a candidate until you are invited to attend Driving School as a Phase II Student. You become a Greyhound employee when you have successfully completed all Phase III requirements. On the average training takes a minimum of 5-weeks. Experienced Motorcoach Operators may be eligible for an individualized training plan that fast track you to quicker earnings and an exciting career with Greyhound. Professional Dress and Grooming Standards The uniform standards for all Students in phases II and III are: · White collared shirts, long black pants (no jeans or dungarees) · Black tie, black socks, black shoes (no loafers, sneakers, sandals) · No hats allowed. No coats while driving · A watch, pen and name tag are required The grooming standards for Men are: · No beards (mustaches above the lip-line) · Hair above the collar · Sideburns above the earlobe · Fingernails trimmed neatly · No earrings The grooming standards for Women are: · Hairstyle must be conservative (cannot block any side of the face) · Fingernails trimmed neatly · Excessive jewelry is not permitted (no large earrings) Phase I Qualifying In Phase I Students obtain their CDL permit, DOT card and pass an alcohol/drug screen. Your ten hours of computer based training in this phase prepares you to successfully complete Driving School. To pass each module you must score 80% or higher on all testing. Candidates have three chances...
Words: 731 - Pages: 3
...While on patrol I observed the listed vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on US HWY 231 in the south bound lane. As I was attempting to catch up to the vehicle, Sgt. Rodgers also observed the vehicle and intiated a traffic stop. As I made my approach on the passenger side of the vehicle, I made contact with the driver and only occupant, Nathan Black. As Sgt. Rodgers asked for his license, I saw that Black attempted to hand him a key card to a hotel room. As I walked around the the drivers door, I could smell a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Black's expelled breath. I also observed that his speech was very slurred and his eyes were glassy and blood shot. When I asked Black if he had consumed any alcohol, he advised that he drank 4 beers and 3 gin drinks. He also agreed to perform a series of Field Sobriety Tests. The first test I administered was the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus Test. During this test I observed that Black lacked smooth and equal tracking in both his right and left eye. Black also had distinct and sustained nystagmus at maximum deviation in both eyes as well as the onset of nytagmus in his left eye prior to...
Words: 541 - Pages: 3
...The Test The Test by Angelica Gibbs, is a short story about how white people treats black people. The story is most about one woman called Marian. She is in a situation where the issue of power abuse turns up. The Test is about a black woman, Marian. She just graduated from college, and she wants her driver’s license. She has failed before, and fears that it will happen again. But Mrs Ericson is with her, as support. Marian is Mrs Ericson’s household, and she needs her driver’s license in order to drive Mrs Ericson’s children to school. She failed the first driver’s license test, because the white inspector made up mistakes she had made while she was driving. This time the inspector is also white and he keeps flatten her about her race while she is trying to pass. He calls her Mandy or Mandy-Lou, and acts surprised when she says she graduated last year. But in the end Marian talks back and says, “Damn you!”. And she fails the test. The Main theme in The Test is racism, which fit perfectly with the settings. The setting is in The United States of America, where racism is a big part of their past. In the beginning, we as a reader cannot be sure that the text is about a black and white woman, but in the first page, line 5, there is a confirmation. “They probably do like it better if a white person shows up with you”. Already in this sentence there is a principle, for the racist attitude in the American population. Another sentence that is characterized by racism is in page...
Words: 682 - Pages: 3
...Critical Deconstruction This advertisement used the gender roles of marriage at the time to encourage the use of Black Label beer. The wife is shown as a “busy bee,” running around the house and doing all types of work. Yet, when the man comes home from his day on the job, it is expected that she wait on her husband by bringing him a beer and encouraging him to relax. Black Label created a commercial that appealed to the public at large because the American ideal was a career husband and housewife. The norms and common goals of society were depicted in the husband-wife relationship shown by Carling in this ad. Creative Deconstruction Carling Black Label beer had a jingle that greatly represents the assumed roles of gender in marriage during the 1950’s. It was assumed that a man served as the financial provider and maintained a work day, typically of a 9-5 white collar position (as signified by his collared shirt and carrying a newspaper). Men are shown later in the...
Words: 2074 - Pages: 9
...right to tell me what to do," said Barry Graham, a white man who was pulled over because he had tattoos and body piercings, but was eventually let go after the police ran a quick background check on him (Driving While Black par. 1-3). From an outsider’s point of view, one would expect the police to detain Graham because Graham possessed characteristics that suggested he could be involved in some illegal activities, and because he was rude to the police officer. Nonetheless, the reality was the opposite. Graham was neither detained nor did he receive any ticket or citation for his...
Words: 2097 - Pages: 9
...Dance Project” a collaboration between ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov and the modern dancer Mark Morris. This was a project done in black and white, and it was drastically different from her glitzy fashion and commercial advertising style. Leibovitz said, “I was doing work that was not necessarily to be published, so it was really shooting from the soul.” Leibovitz also took photographs of HIV-Positive subjects in San Francisco. In 1992, together with writer Susan Sontag, Leibovitz visited the war torn city of Sarajevo in Bosnia. One day while Annie was driving through the city streets, a mortar shell exploded next to her car and it a young boy; he died in her car on the way to the hospital. Leibovitz photographed the fallen bike and the blood smeared pavement, a unforgettable image. On the more personal, serious, and artistic side of her work as a photographer, she set time aside in 1990 to shoot the White Oak...
Words: 463 - Pages: 2
...corrected" (http://www.yourdictionary.com/social-problem). To make your subject manageable, narrow your topic or focus as you locate information. Abortion Affirmative Action Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) Ageism / Age Discrimination Airport Screening Procedures Airport Security Alcoholism Animal Rights Anorexia Nervosa Anti-Muslim Discrimination Binge Drinking Birth Control Bulimia Nervosa Bullying Campus Crime Capital Punishment / Death Penalty Chemical Weapons Child Abuse Child Labor Classism Climate Change Cloning Colorisim Cloud Hacking Computer Hacking Corporal Punishment Corporate Downsizing Cyber Bullying (Cyberbullying) Date Rape Disaster Relief Domestic Violence Dream Act Drinking and Driving Driving While Black Drug Abuse / Drug Addiction Eating Disorders Ebola Virus Disease Embryonic Stem Cell Research Environmental Pollution Environmental Racism Equal Pay Euthanasia / Mercy Killing / Assisted Suicide Excessive Force By Law Enforcement Felony Disenfranchisement Gang Violence Gay Rights Genetic Engineering Genetically Modified Food Gentrification Global Warming Gun Control Gun Rights Hate Crimes Hazing Health Care Disparities Health Care Reform HIV / AIDS Home Forclosures Homelessness Honor Killings Human Trafficking Hunger Identify Theft Illegal Immigration Legalization of Marijuana Legalization of Prostitution Mall Shootings Mass Murder Meth Labs (Methamphetamine Laboratories) Militarization of Police ...
Words: 337 - Pages: 2
...Song Black Bird - Beatles How can the text be read and interpreted by two different readers? One text can be developed and interpreted in various ways with different perspectives. Blackbird by the Beatles is a song written by Paul McCartney, credited to Lennon-McCartney. One of the ways this song can be interpreted is with its literal reading a story of a blackbird with broken wings and "Blackbird" is a Beatles song from the double-disc album The Beatles (known as the White Album). The song was written by Paul McCartney, though credited to Lennon–McCartney. McCartney was inspired to write it while in Scotland as a reaction to racial tensions escalating in the United States in the spring of 1968.[2] In May 2002, during a show at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas as part of the Driving USA Tour supporting the Driving Rain album, McCartney spoke on stage about the meaning of the song. KCRW DJ Chris Douridas interviewed McCartney backstage afterwards for his radio show New Ground, and the meaning of the song was discussed.[3] This interview aired on KCRW on 25 May 2002. I had been doing poetry readings. I had been doing some in the last year or so because I've got a poetry book out called Blackbird Singing, and when I would read "Blackbird", I would always try and think of some explanation to tell the people, 'cause there's not a lot you can do except just read the poem, you know, you read 10 poems that takes about 10 minutes, almost. It's like, you've got to, just...
Words: 605 - Pages: 3
...Muslims or people of Mid Eastern descent, since 9/11, have been racially profiled, and looked at as terrorist. 2. African Americans, are racially profiled DWB (Driving while black). African Americans are also racially profiled based on what type of clothing they have on. Driving while black is a term that refers to criminalization of African Americans. Driving Dishmon 3 while black occurs when police use traffic offenses as an excuse for stopping African Americans, who have not committed any offense, questioning them, searching them and their vehicles. In some cases, police stop African American drivers without usual requirement of probable cause or reasonable suspicion. Why is racial profiling wrong? Racial profiling is wrong because when you look for a certain race, or group of people as the suspect, the person who committed the crime may remain free based on this stereotyping...
Words: 758 - Pages: 4
...Imagine yourself driving along on the freeway with your twelve year old son, on are hot Oklahoma day. As the two of you are driving you are stopped by local police, and soon allowed to continue on. But soon thereafter the two of you are stopped again, this time the stop is not so short. The officer asks you to step out of the vehicle so that he may search it for drugs. While your car is being searched you and your son are forced to sit in an extremely hot squad car and wait for two hours until the officers finished searching. The only reason it seemed for the stop was because you were black. If this were you, you are Sergeant First Class Rossano V. Gerald, and were just a victim of what is known as “racial profiling.” Some may not be aware of this, but Sergeant First Class Gerald and his son’s Fourth Amendment Rights were violated. In the United States Bill of Rights, the Fourth Amendment is “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized,” (Gaines,). Racial profiling occurs whenever a law enforcement officer questions, stops, arrests, searches, or otherwise investigates a person because the officer believes that members of that person’s racial or ethnic group are more likely to commit the sort...
Words: 1623 - Pages: 7
...usually, as performed by police, is the deduction on a group of characteristics they consider to be connected with crime. An example of racial profiling is the use of race to conclude which motorists to stop for minor traffic violations (usually referred to as "driving while black” or “driving while brown"). The use of race to conclude which individuals to search for illegal paraphernalia is another example of racial profiling. This practice, however, can result contra productive, as highlighted in the following cases. Racial Profiling Gone Wrong Poor judgment calls based on racial profiling have been made by law enforcement officials, where racism and discrimination has taken over violating individuals’ civil rights, creating friction with the community and the public. NYC Cop Testifies to Targeting Young Black Men As hearings began to examine New York City’s stop and frisk policy, one police officer testified that he was instructed by superiors to target young Black men between the ages of 14 and 21. In 2011 alone, New York City police executed 685,724 stops as part of the stop and frisk policy. In total, they had carried out over 5 million traffic stops, and 85 percent of those stopped were black or Latino (Strasser, 2013). Officer Pedro Serrano, the testifying officer, presented a concealed recording he had attained of a conversation with his superior where he was instructed the race of people to target, although not that he should stop everyone of...
Words: 884 - Pages: 4
...to handle emergencies, so most people are aware of the closest major hospital in their community. While there are offices that provide testing they are not easily identified or readily found in the community. With the understanding that we live in a technology based society it is often assumed that if a person needs to find something they will be able to refer to the internet and find the location of a testing facility. The problem with this logic is there appears to be a shift towards leaving the responsibility of public health totally in the hands of the public and not offering as much information on preventative measures as well as the importance of getting tested and what steps to take after receiving a positive test result. The city of Long Beach is well known for being a laid back beach town that is comprised of a mix of single family housing and apartment complexes with the former outnumbering the latter. There is a great mix of eateries, both large chain and local exclusives. There are also a number of literary stores, stage play theaters, and shopping boutiques. The city makes for a great date night, with varying types of cuisine and a broad range of entertainment, while offering family friendly fun with arts and craft shops, children self defense classes, and children’s gyms. According to the United States Census Bureau, Long Beach is comprised of majority black, white, and Hispanic people. With the percentage of white persons being below the...
Words: 1611 - Pages: 7
