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Targeting Muslims and people
of color: racial profiling
Questions about racism within the police force are not at all new for most Americans. Throughout American history the police have acted in ways that have earned them distrust and derision among communities color and all those who believe in the ideals of equality. During the civil rights protests in America over 30 years ago, images on television of police water canons and police dogs attacking peaceful citizens horrified people across the country and around the world. Today's new civil rights struggle: racial profiling Even though things have changed, they have not changed substantially enough. Police in the United States now use racial profiling to target African-Americans and other people of color. In practical terms it means they are disproportionately being stopped on roads and highways and their cars and bodies searched. When no clear reason to believe they are involved in any crime is found, they are often charged with petty vehicular offenses. What is of specific interest to Muslims is that that new targets of racial profiling are not just those with darker skinned. They are also those who look "Middle Eastern" not just in color or features, but dress as well. That means a Muslim man with a beard and a Muslim woman wearing Hijab and/or Niqab (the face veil) may also automatically become the target of racial profiling. This is a new addition to this phenomenon and U.S. law on terrorism allows this. In popular discourse, racial profiling has come to be known as the offense of "driving while black" or DWB. One family's ordeal with racial profiling In the summer of 1998, an African-American family's vacation got off to a bad start when two officers from the Nassau County Sheriff's Department in Florida pulled them over. The officers refused to tell John Tolbert why his family was pulled over. The Tolberts stood on the side of the highway as the officers, "searched the inside (of) the car, they took all of our luggage out of the trunk placing it on the highway and search(ed) every piece. They open(ed) the hood of the car, search(ed) under the hood. They looked inside the filter under the hood. They searched the trunk, they took the back lights out (of) the car inside the trunk and search(ed) it." The officers called in another officer with a K-9 unit. No drugs were found. The officers continued to humiliate the Tolberts by searching them and making Mrs. Tolbert lift her t-shirt. Finally, after enduring this two-hour stop, the officers issued John Tolbert a warning for weaving. Tolbert later told the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that, "If I was a white man with his family, and said I was going on vacation as I told the officer, they never would have searched the car for two hours and embarrass and humiliate me and my family. I felt like we were not citizens of the United States." Racial profiling statistics While this is a practice that has been documented around the country, in some areas the statistics are unbelievable. In Florida 80 percent of all motorists that were stopped and searched, were African-American or Hispanic, while they consisted of only five percent of all drivers. In fact, nationwide, African-Americans are 75 percent more likely to be stopped while driving and searched than white Americans. The ACLU's anti-racial profiling campaign The ACLU has launched an extensive campaign to combat what it describes as the "epidemic proportions" of racial profiling. On their website readers can report incidents of racial profiling and join in the campaign to expose police departments who engage in this racist and unjust practice. "It is time for our national leaders to realize that this is not about a few 'bad apples.' It's about the whole tree, right down to the roots. Enough information has come to light now to suggest that a black person to whom this hasn't happened might be an aberration," says Ira Glasser, National ACLU Executive Director. The flaw in the police's response to racial profiling In response to recent allegations, many police departments around the country have been launching internal investigations to determine whether or not their departments have institutionalized the practice of racial profiling. The obvious flaw in this method is that it is not an independent process. However, this issue has been in the media spotlight and the resulting public outrage and debate has produced some changes. Missouri's anti-racial profiling law For example, the state of Missouri has passed a law combating racial profiling by law enforcement officers. This law is seen to be the toughest in the country and advocacy groups, like the ACLU, hope that it will set the standard for other state legislatures to follow. Under this new law every police agency in Missouri will track up to 14 categories of information after every traffic stop. This includes the race and age of the driver, the violation leading to the stop, whether a search was conducted, the legal basis for the search, the result and duration of the search and whether any citation was issued. The collection of such data will, it is presumed, deter
police officers from the harassment of people of color and will hold them
accountable for their actions. What you can do about racial profiling While laws can be passed and cases fought, the most important first step you can take as an individual is to report incidents of racial profiling and police harassment. This information is power. It is from there that we can and must demand that the basic concepts of law and justice be applied to all individuals.
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