Quote:
Originally posted by Kimmie1913
" think its stupid to not pull a car over on the NJ TPK if (hypothetically) 95% of the drug trafficers are black males driving certain cars from certain states...."
Here's the thing- there is no criminal profile that is that dead on. Ther is no crime being committed solely by people fitting one description. The statistics do not demonstrate that the actual number of Black people committing crime is substantially higher than the actual number(not percent) of others committing crime. While the number may be disproportionate to our percent of the population, the raw number still is not in our favor. Second, even if 95% of all drug traffickers were Black males (which they are not) that is not the same thing as 95% of Black males being drug traffickers. Racial profiling,, however acts as if the latter statement is the case. I will never concede that law abiding citizens should forgo their rights because they are Black.
Where I live, the Black men in my life are routinley stopped by the police. They are not criminals and are involved in criminal activity in no way whatsoever. What are they? Relatively young (27-35) year old Black men who are successful professionals. They drive nice, late model cars, some expensive. Baltimore City is the "hood"- if they choose to drive through the city to get to work, or to put on a sweatsuit to run errands on a Saturday, I do not find it acceptable that they should be subjected to stops. I simply don't. Growing up, one of my brother's friends was stopped by police once a week. After seeing the documentation of the stops, the police commander from his district (who could probably feel the law suit headed his way) had to intervene and order the patrol men to get it together. He knew ir was nothing more than a racial profile. They were harassing him for being a Black, 17 year old whose parents let him borrow the car on weekends. No other reason to suspect him of doing anything.
It has never been demonstrated to me that racial profiling is the great police tool some like to think it is. And here is why- if you only stop Black people you will only catch Black criminals. If you begin with the ASSumption that Black people commit all the crime and do not look for anyone else to do it, you will find what you are looking for. Doggy's shoplifting example rings so true for me. In college, my girl friends and I drove to Syracuse to go to a real mall. ( Ithaca had none.) In the department store, the sales woman followed us and watched our every move. I am sure she was certain that these four Black girls were there to steal not shop. It would never enter her mind that we could possibly be anything but criminals. Meanwhile, also in her section, a white woman was robbing them blind. We watched her steal 6 articles of clothing. The saleswoman never noticed or thought to notice because to her, we were the"profile." And like Ladygrrek’s story, My cousin was subjected to strip searching when returning to BWI on a class trip to Hong Kong with her MBA program. She was the only Black person on the trip and the only one even questioned, none the less detained and violated. That is more than a mere inconvenience. That was humiliating for her, both the experience and being singled out in front of her classmates as though she had done something wrong. There is a stigma that comes with having been detained by the police, even when they wrong. I have so many anecdotal examples of people being falsely arrested (and in one case convicted) from people I know it is mind blowing.
Of course anyone may be stopped inadvertently but on the basis of a legitimate reason. If all you have is the description of a vehicle like mine, you might stop me. That is perfect logical and good police work. I do believe sometimes people are stopped in this way. Unfortunately, when someone is stopped over and over again and not issued tickets, not found to have done anything at all, not even resembling a wanted person, just being "checked out" for being Black, I think that is a problem.
Some of you posts suggest that you feel our people are truly the criminal element around here, enough so we all are deservedly inconvenienced or harassed. Do you agree with the Black criminal stereotype that is pumped into all of our homes?
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Like I said..its easier to point out whats wrong with something...but not so easy I guess to come up with a solution...we all know people who have been stopped unjustly, yada, yada, yada,,, and we can all provide countless examples of that... but now what? What solutions can u bring to the table??
And to address your assumption about me believing our people are truly the criminal element....I'm just not going to "act" as if MANY of our people aren't caught up in the "lifestyle" that leads to a lot of foolish behavior... I live in the #3 murder capital in the US...we had more crimes here than Manhattan last year.... and our city is less than half the size of Manhattan...however most if not ALL the shootings occur in the same areas, among our people that know each other...so I guess a police officer is out of line to search more aggressively in these crime ridden areas??
What I'm saying has nothing to do with saying all black people should be stopped and harassed because they fit the profile....what i am saying is that one is blind if they ignore the fact that many times our people are caught up in situations that are criminal...
Again...what are the solutions??
OH YEA....don't u think its funny that the title of this thread is "Al Gore's endoresement speech" LOL
