That is why any profiling other than behavioral profiling should be a crime.
I will go further; I believe that when people have these prejudices, and preconceptions, they are more likely - either cop or civilian gun owner / carrier - to see a person they think of as 'other' instead of 'like themselves' as a threat. And if they are more likely to see someone as a threat, they are more likely to shoot them, their preconceptions and misconceptions color their judgment, sometimes lethally.
We have less institutionalized racism, like that legalized under Jim Crow laws and segregation, but we still have it. It is just less obvious, like the assumptions made about people as a group identified by race in the highly offensive comments made by Nut Gingrich, comments which appeal to his predominantly white, conservative, and gun-toting base.
Assumptions made about people, where a group is identified on the basis of their race, of the color of their skin, is racism. It is racist politics, it is racist policing in the following story. It appeals to conservatives, whether the targeted group is blacks or hispanic. It appeals to an us-versus-them mentality, it appeals to fear. It is predicated on treating people as stereotypes, instead of as individual human beings. It is the antithesis of thinking people are good; it only believes people like ourselves are good and that people who are different are bad - or at least are more likely to be bad.
From MSNBC.com :
FBI arrests 4 Conn. cops for alleged racial profiling
The FBI arrested three police officers and one sergeant in Connecticut for allegedly mistreating Hispanic suspects and residents while on patrol, law enforcement officials said.Three East Haven police officers and the sergeant were taken into custody early Tuesday and are expected to be arraigned in federal court in Bridgeport later on the civil rights-related charges, the officials said.The officers were identified as Dennis Spaulding, David Cari, Jason Zullo and Sgt. John Miller.
Connecticut U.S. Attorney spokesman Tom Carson confirmed the arrests and said the charges would be outlined at a news conference in Bridgeport later Tuesday morning.
The East Haven Police Department has been under scrutiny for months amid allegations some officers mistreat people of color.The arrests come weeks after the Justice Department issued a report saying some members of the department intentionally targeted Latinos for enforcement and traffic stops, and that there may have been efforts to cover up the alleged misconduct.
The Justice Department also found "serious deficiencies" in how the department is managed, officials told NBC New York.Rev. James Manship is among those who worked to document what he said was harassment of Latino businesses by police for no apparent reason. Manship was arrested and locked up while videotaping one arrest. He was later released.Click here to read the original story on NBCNewYork.com
The former chief of the East Haven Police has denied his department systematically engaged in any wrongdoing. But he acknowledged certain members of the department were being investigated.The New York FBI joined in the investigation to avoid any appearance of a conflict by the FBI Connecticut, which works closely with local police departments. An FBI New York spokesman declined to comment.There was no immediate comment from an East Haven police department spokesperson either.Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy commented on the allegations of racial profiling last week, saying, "As governor, I will continue to insist that every effort is taken to protect individual rights in every community,and that racial profiling is eliminated.”Some residents and civil rights groups have held vigils and rallies to protest the alleged police misconduct. Previous news reports suggested as many as 15 officers were under scrutiny for alleged misconduct.Connecticut U.S. Attorney spokesman Tom Carson confirmed the arrests and said the charges would be outlined at a news conference in Bridgeport later Tuesday morning.
So Dog Gone, when are you going to reevaluate your prejudiced attitude toward gun owners? You see us as dangerous and insane. In other words, we are the Other for you.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile back on planet Earth my whole race has been "profiled" for extinction:
ReplyDeleteAfrica for the Africans,Asia for the Asians,white countries for EVERYBODY!
Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
The Netherlands and Belgium are just as crowded as Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to “assimilate,” i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
How long would it take anyone to realize I’m not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn’t object to this?
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteWe can't determine a person's behavior by looking at the person's skin color. From the perspective of genetics, race is mostly a meaningless word. To judge people by their ancestory is ridiculous. I welcome anyone to the United States who wants to be a productive member of society and wants to enjoy our freedoms, regardless of the person's race.
But more than that, you do realize that "white" isn't a monolithic group, right? Caucasian can describe anyone from Iceland to Siberia to parts of India, and white covers a whole long list of ethnic groups, many of which have been discriminated against by other white people.