Although it's been a couple of weeks since we discussed racial profiling, the subject was just talked about in my criminal justice class (and let's be honest, racial profiling is constantly present and therefore will always be current until we see change). My CLJ professor touched on the relationship between profiling and racial inequality and policing.
The professor mentioned that everybody–Whites, Blacks, Latinos, etc. all use marijuana at approximately the same levels. Blacks and Latinos, however, are more likely to getting arrested for the possession of it by a significant difference. He mentioned that in Illinois, African-Americans make up 15% of the population, but account for about 60% of the marijuana-possession arrests.
I found it rather interesting how racism is constantly present in everyday topics because I don't necessarily have to be in my Minorities and Communication class to discuss racial inequalities, but the subject comes up because it is real.
I recently read an article for class, which discusses racial profiling. In his essay Law Enforcement by stereotypes and serendipity: Racial Profiling and Stops and Searches without Cause Rudovsky (1999) discusses an experience of 4 African Americans who were stopped by a police officer. After being asked out of their vehicle, and being searched thoroughly–both the men and the car with the help of a narcotics-trained police dog, one of the men asked why they had been stopped. The police officer's response was, "because you are young, black and in a high drug trafficking area driving a nice car" (p. 296).
This reminds me of the incident that Tim Wise describes in his video of the Pathology of Privilege when he mentioned that he asked a police officer what he would think when seeing a young black man driving a nice sports car and the police officer replied, "I would think that he was a drug dealer." Yet when asked the same question, but if the driver was a young white man, the officer said he would think he was a spoiled kid, whose dad bought him his car.
See below to see the racial disparities among the 25 most populous counties in the U.S.
The numbers don't lie, and therefore it is obvious that racial profiling continues.
Who is to blame for racial profiling and stereotypes? Is it the media, which over represents African Americans and Latinos as perpetrators, while the Whites are depicted as victims? Is it the t.v. news that we watch, which shows yet another African American suspect on the murder of a white person? What should America do to reduce the racial disparities that are still present today?
For more statistics on the significant difference of racial disparities throughout the U.S., read The Washington's post article on the black/white marijuana arrest gap.
My uncle is a police officer for the 10th district which covers mostly black and Latino areas, and from the stories I have herd I feel like the media does play a certain role in racial profiling when it comes to average citizens but for police officers profiling can be the difference between life and death. The 10th district has one of the highest crime rates in the city and the police at times may act unfairly by pulling over a black or Latino kid with a nice car because of the areas demographics and there are times when they are right and times when they are wrong. Unfortunately many times they are not wrong and it builds these schemas in their heads about what someone who is dealing drugs or is a member of a gang looks like and behaves and they tend to act on those schemas to protect themselves and the public. Now my uncle did tell me that when they see white kids in the neighborhood though they are immediately targeted because it is suspicious to see a white kid driving a nice car or walking around in certain areas. He explained to me that more often than not, unless that kid is a social worker or is doing some volunteer work in the community, they are there to buy drugs or weapons. Racial profiling to average citizens may appear wrong and while I do not personally believe it to be appropriate I am sure that if I was a police officer I would do it because for them it is always better to be safe than sorry. They can deal with paperwork and the slap on the wrist for wrongful arrests but if they don’t act at times they could be endangering their own lives and the lives of others.
ReplyDeleteI think the media does play a role in profiling and stereotyping blacks and latinos are criminals. That is all what we hear in the news and it is nothing about them being the hero. Instead we hear that they come from a low income neighborhood. What the news needs to do is show blacks and latinos as heros. It will then cause these stereotypes to slowly disappear. I feel like televisions shows are trying to portray latinos and blacks as successful people that can become part of the upper class system and achieve the American Dream. Although they only portray their professional life and not their personal life in these television shows. Which is a problem.
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ReplyDeleteEmiliano, I agree that at times police officers are right--after all, we have all heard that one saying that goes "follow your instincts because you are probably right."
ReplyDeleteHowever, like my CLJ professor explained, and like you also indirectly stated (because like you said, your uncle works in a neighborhood that is mostly Latino and African-American--and therefore most arrests and people with deviant and criminal behaviors will probably indeed be Latinos or African-American), statistics are a little misleading when it comes to misrepresentations.
For instance, if 7 out of 10 African-Americans are stopped and frisked, and 6 out of those 7 (or approximately 86%) are drug dealers, compared to say 4 out of 10 Whites who are stopped and only 2 of them are drug dealers, then the statistics are more favorable towards African-Americans being portrayed as more likely to be drug dealers than Whites.
However, as I described, these results are skewed because the same number of Whites and African-Americans (or Latinos) are not stopped and frisked.
My conclusion is therefore that yes--your uncle's judgment is probably correct when he identifies a possible suspect, who turns out to be carrying drugs, but I also think that we have to look at the bigger picture.
If a neighborhood was half Whites and half Latinos, would Whites be getting stopped at the same rate than Latinos are? Based on research, no, and that's where I believe the system is flawed. I believe that if you will be stopping a Latino because he is driving a nice car in a bad neighborhood, then you should also be stopping a white person who is in the same situation at the same rate.
I do not necessarily blame police officers because media does a fantastic job in portraying the African-American and Latino characters as criminals).
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Liz, I agree with you on the fact that Blacks and Latinos' personal lives are not being portrayed in these television shows. We both did the coding for the proffesor, and that is one key aspect that I noted.
I noticed that while African-Americans might have been portrayed as a detective or an FBI agent (and therefore a successful professional), the story line never revolved around them as the main protagonist--not to mention that for every "X" amount of white primary characters, there was only one (in my case) African-American primary character, who's personal life was never touched upon.