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opinion
Court aiding racial
profiling
The Supreme Court
has recently given the police the authority to use traffic stops
as ways to gather evidence. In the attempt to catch criminals,
they are aiding racial profiling.
For those of you who have not been profiled racially, you may
not see it as a problem or even existent. Despite the hardships
of past ancestors, today skin color is still an issue.
"Driving while black or brown" is the term used for
one type of racial profiling. It occurs when the police target
an individual for minor or major infractions based on race.
Police stops have reached an ultimate high in people of color.
Driven by the war on drugs, racial profiling is fueled by the
assumption that most drug offenders are minorities. The color
of a person's skin can make them vulnerable to being stopped,
searched, and at greater lengths incarcerated.
According to the Washington Post, more than half of all African
Americans reported that they have undergone racial profiling
at some point. In Ventura County, public defender Michael Neary
analyzed 304 misdemeanor criminal or traffic cases and has found
that 292 involved African Americans and Latinos.
In contrast, whites consisted only of 4 percent, or the equivalence
of 12 individuals. The number of stops are ridiculous, considering
that Ventura County contains 61 percent Caucasian, 30 percent
Latino, and 2 percent African-American.
With the limited number of people of color and the vast number
of whites, there is major suspicion as to why so few Caucasians
are being stopped.
In a recent case, Robert Lee Jones vs. Oxnard Police, Jones,
a 23-year-old black male had previously experienced racial profiling
before his slaying committed by Oxnard police.
Jones' first encounter with racial profiling took part when
he was arrested by the same police in March while walking to
a nearby park. With no evidence he was let out on charges of
interfering with police.
In July, Jones was pulled over for not wearing a seat belt,
then later arrested for the possession of a gun.
Lastly, in the May 1999 case of Sgt. Rossano Gerald and Gregory
Gerald vs. Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Gerald and his young son,
both of Panamanian origins, were flagged down by the Highway
Patrol.
Being held for more than two hours without air conditioning,
they were told a police dog would chase them in any attempt
to escape. Officers broke their Fourth Amendment rights by invading
their belongings without reasonable cause.
In closing, skin may forever be an issue but we can not let
it happen without a fight. What is the solution?
Reporting the issue is one step, but it is a long and tedious
process. Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Rep.
John Conyers, D-Mich., presented companion bills to the House
and Senate in which they would suppress funds to agencies that
support racial filing. Only time will tell if these bills will
be accepted or even effective.
Leiloni De Gruy is a journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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