Racial Profiling is a form of discrimination by which an individual’s race or cultural background is used as the primary reason to suspect that the individual has broken the law.
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 While Black occurs when policemen use traffic offenses as an excuse for stopping African-Americans who have not committed any offense, questioning them, and searching them and their vehicles. In such cases, police stop black drivers without the usual requirement of ‘probable cause’ or ‘reasonable suspicion.’ The term is often abbreviated as DWB” (http://definitions.uslegal.com/d/driving-while-black/).
The Stop and Frisk Law allowed law enforcement officers to temporarily detain an individual upon the officers reasonable suspicion up until 1968 when the law was revaluated by the Supreme Court where it was determined that an officer had to have probable cause to stop and conduct a search. Once the officer detains the individual they are allowed to run their hands lightly over the outer garment to determine if the individual is in possession of a concealed weapon. This type of stop is called and “Investigatory detention” or a “Terry stop” which get its name from the Terry vs. Ohio case in 1968 where a police officer noticed 3 gentleman repeatedly walking back and forth past a store and peering through the window. Once the officer concluded that the individuals were planning on robbing the store he approached the men and identified himself as a police officer and began to question the individuals. When he was not satisfied with the response of one of the men (Terry), he conducted a search which produced a gun that did not have a permit. The defense argued that the officer did not have a warrant or probable cause to search, however the court rejected the argument saying that it is in the interest of officer safety to not wait until probable cause is present to confront an individual. The fourth amendment law which protects from unreasonable search and seizure is very flexible on this issue and allows the officer to “investigate the issue” as he or she sees fit. The law itself is not the issue, however, the abuse of authority by law enforcement officers using racial profiling has raised public concerns.
Racial profiling has been an issue ever since there has been an American justice system. It is unjust, irrational and degrading to those on the receiving end of the act. Based on the culture theory evidence suggest that prejudice is rooted in culture. We live in a “culture of prejudice” that has taught us all to view certain categories of people as “better or “worse”. In relation to this theory and racial profiling, because of the way that people are raised, they may actually be unaware that they are committing this act of racism until it is pointed out to them. However, there are also the individuals that project prejudice due to a bad experience with a particular race that causes them to consciously assume that all members of that race are the same, therefore display the same behavior. The lack of education and or ignorance are the blame for racial profiling however they are not acceptable excuses.