Racial Profiling: Separating America
In the past 65 years our country has gone through many changes. We have ended segregation between minorities and Whites. We have even elected an African American president. We have supported several African American Secretaries of State. However, our law enforcement still believes it is ok to judge a person by the color of his or her skin. What gives a police officer the right to pull over an African American based on what he is driving? Also having the idea that he is probably doing something illegal? Jesse Jackson calls this “Driving while Black, (DWB)” (Nelson, Paul, Block Jr. & Brown-Dean). Another issue is the preferred drugs of different races are being used against minorities because of harsher penalty for the same offense. Racial profiling should never be used. In this paper I will address the issues of harsher drug charges, “Driving while Black,” and carrying concealed weapons without a license.
Normative Principal
In the Declaration of Independence that freed us from the tyranny of the English, it says that all men have “certain unalienable rights” that no one can take from us. We all share these rights as Americans. John Locke, a philosopher, said that all people have certain rights that no one can take from you. Some of these rights are “that men are naturally free and equal” (Tuckness). If we are all supposed to be treated as equals then racial profiling would never exist.
Our forefathers built our government wanting everything to be fair and equal, but the government goes against this by allowing police officers to racial profile. “Racial profiling occurs when a police officer stops, questions, arrests, and/or searches someone solely on the basis of the person’s race or ethnicity.”(Cleary). While most minority groups are subjected to the troubles of racial profiling, this paper will focus solely on the issues affecting African Americans. My effort in this paper is to persuade you to think that racial...