Wednesday, January 26, 2005

THOUGHTS ON RACIAL PROFILING

As I watch yet another PBS story about racial profiling, I have some questions. Have the people complaining about profiling of blacks ever had a problem with police targeting whites who come into black neighborhoods to buy drugs? I distinctly remember an episode of COPS where the cop tells a white guy "you're the wrong color to be in this neighborhood". More than a few times, I have been stopped, though only once searched, for nothing more than walking or riding my bike down the street, as far as I could tell. Each time, I cooperated with them, and had my ID on me. Each time I found that they were looking for someone that fit my general description, and let me go on my way. I actually found these incidents bothered me less than when people locked their doors as I walked by their cars at a light, another favorite "humiliation" cited by the "racial profiling" protest crowd.
This is not to deny racism exists. It exists both inside and outside police departments. Is it not racist to attribute someone else's actions to racism without even talking to them, or looking at all the facts of the incident? This is my big problem with accusations of "racial profiling", that it is actually just a tool for "RACE BAITING" politicians and activists. The worst part is that their blanket accusations make it harder to find the true racists in law enforcement. If you label all white cops racists, why would they do anything about getting rid of the real racists that they work with? It just breeds racial comtempt both ways. Let's not forget that racism is the enemy, and it can be harbored in hearts of every color.

1 comment:

Nick said...

I'm a white guy in a very white town and I always lock my car doors when people are walking by. I just don't like strange people near my car.

A year or two ago I was stopped by a police officer as I walked home from school on a dark winter evening. He said they were looking for a reported peeper/trespasser, looked at the bottoms of my shoes, and let me go on my way. I had to wonder how many "profiling" incidents are really indistinguishable from that.