African-American Males: Prime Targets for Racial Profiling

Written by: Kelly L. Hunter

Many individuals in today’s society wonder whether or not racial profiling does in fact exist here in the United States. Some people believe that it does; while others argue that such a thing is preposterous and is not an issue in the U.S. Many African-Americans feel differently and believe that racial profiling does exist and many will tell you that they bare witness to these kinds of events daily. The ones who argue that racial profiling does not exist, might also argue that African-Americans are simply looking for one more thing to complain about. If racial profiling does indeed exist, then why are the very people who are supposed to be protecting and serving our communities able to hide behind the law and protect their own modern day “lynch mobs”?
Robin Engel (2008) states in her article that “Current racial profiling litigation is often based on claims of selective enforcement, which are litigated as equal protection cases under the 5th and 14th Amendments (p. 3). Engel (2008) goes on to say that “To be successful in claiming selective enforcement, the plaintiff needs to show “discriminatory purpose” and “discriminatory effect” (p. 3). Simply put, this means that the plaintiff must prove that the police officer’s actions were intentional and based on racial or ethnic biases, this would be the purpose. The effect would be when racial and/or ethnic biases are experienced due to the fact that persons in similar situations are treated differently than other groups or individuals regardless of the officer’s intentions.
To prove that racial profiling does exist here in the United States, a study was conducted in 2000 to test this theory. This particular study focused on 2,600 traffic stops in the Richmond area of Virginia, using the data from a 1990 census report as a guide (Vito and Walsh, 2008). According to this study and as stated by Vito and Walsh (2008), “the study concluded that African-Americans were disproportionately stopped (¶ 1). However, in this particular case, although African-Americans were more likely to be stopped by police, Whites were more likely to be ticketed and arrested. Does this mean that the police were unable to find any justifiable reason for pulling over the African-American drivers and due to the overwhelming media exposure had no choice but to let the drivers go? And if there were no justifiable reasons for issuing a ticket or arrest, then why were these people pulled over to begin with?
A similar study was conducted in Wichita, Kansas where it was proven that black residents were most likely to be pulled over, searched, and then arrested no matter what type of neighborhood they were in (their own or others) (Vito and Walsh, 2008). In Missouri, it was proven that African-Americans were 17% more likely to be pulled over than Whites and an astonishing 55% more likely to be pulled over than Hispanics. Some reports indicate that this is due to the possibility of minorities having more outstanding warrants which would lead to a higher rate of search and arrest tactics than with White drivers. This statement may raise a few questions of its own. For instance, “Are the police profiling drivers and running their tag numbers in order to have a reason to pull them over?”
No one is arguing that a police officer’s job is hard and often times grueling as well as coming with a low wage attached. Not to mention that these men and women are putting their lives on the line on a daily basis. And no one is saying that all police officers go to work everyday with ill intentions. We know that this is not the case and in fact most officers are here to serve, protect, and help in any way that they can. However, there are those individuals out there that are corrupt and who do have other agendas. There are officers who take their badge and their oath to mean that they are above the law and are more powerful than certain persons in society.
We hear the stories on the news and read them in our local news papers making it hard to not question certain tactics being used on civilians. It is alarming to learn how high the numbers are of African-American males who have been falsely accused and convicted of crimes. In fact the numbers are so high; most of us do not want to believe it to be true. It has been said that “Black men are more likely to be falsely convicted of rape than are white men, particularly if the victim is white” (Counting the Innocent, ¶ 6). It has also been said that juveniles are more likely to confess to a crime that they did not commit due to pressure from the police for a confession.
“The fact that false charges of rape are still more likely to be leveled at black men suggests the strength and persistence of racial stereotypes that date back hundreds of years” (Counting the Innocent, ¶ 7). Over the past 25 or more years, at least 74 men have been falsely convicted of a crime and later exonerated for that crime. In nearly every case studied over the years, each individual spent no less than 10 years of his life behind bars for crimes he did not commit. What does that tell you about our police departments and our court systems? These were men who
were sitting on death row waiting for the day that their lives would wrongfully be taken away. That is, in my opinion, a very scary thought.
I have experienced racial profiling in my own life, well actually not me personally but my husband has. This incident took place about a decade ago in New Orleans, Louisiana on a dark winter’s night. My husband, who is a tall thin black man, was walking home with a friend after work one night. To his surprise, the police pulled up to he and his friend; they did not ask them any questions, they instead got out of their squad car with guns drawn and yelled for the two men to get on the ground. My husband and his friend did as they were told and were not only charged with resisting arrest with violence (which they swear that they did not do), were arrested and charged with three counts of armed robbery.
Keeping in mind that there were no guns found on either of these men, they were charged with carrying a concealed weapon on top of the armed robbery charges. My husband and his friend were facing three life sentences if convicted and both spent over two months in jail waiting for their court dates. My husband’s mother had to take out a loan in order to afford him a good attorney and thankfully after two months of false imprisonment was released due to lack of evidence. On that night, my husband was arrested because the witness to the burglary (an elderly White man) described two boys, one of which was tall, thin, black, and wearing dark jeans, a white t-shirt, sneakers, and a puffy jacket.
My husband had on all of the clothes described and fit the description of the assailant. However, so did the majority of the African-American male population in New Orleans. Had the officers asked the two men where they had been and where they were going, none of this would have happened. They would have been able to provide the necessary information that would have proved them to have been at work during the time of the alleged robbery. To date, the real criminals have never been caught and the case is still open. Things like this happen every day, especially in more southern states like Louisiana.
There are opposing sides on the issue of racial profiling and it is an issue that is hard to control let alone stop. As long as there is ignorance being past down from generation to generation, there will be prejudice, racism, and discrimination. Police are only police when they are wearing their badge; otherwise they are as human as the next person. Unfortunately, not all of human kind views life in the same way as those who are open minded and not racist in thought or action. With the law and their fellow officers backing them up, paper work lost, evidence planted or tampered with, some cases become hard to prove.
All of these factors make it hard to prove that an individual has been falsely accused, convicted, or been a subject of racism and racial profiling. What can we do as a society to teach our children and other loved ones that racism should be left in the past in order for us to productively move forward as one? Personally, I think that we will see less and less of these types of situations and circumstances as our future generations take political office, become police officers, attorneys, or judges and view everyone in society as diversely beautiful and equal at least as far as rights are concerned.
Until that day comes, we need to figure out a way to deal with these types of human injustices. We need to hold police officers and other officials accountable when they engage in such unlawful acts of criminal behavior. We need to change some of our policies so that they will hold harsher punishment for those individuals who are found guilty of racial profiling; making an example out of these officers will hopefully discourage others from committing similar acts. We also need do more extensive psychological profiling and interviews with individuals who are joining the academy in order to weed out people with this kind of mentality.
It is hard enough to teach our children about self-respect and the respect for authority when they see police officers who are committing crimes and not being punished for them. It is also hard for police officers to gain the trust of adolescents when they see things like racial profiling and police violence in the news media on a regular basis. When I was growing up, I was always taught that if I need help, I could go to a police officer. This is not always the case in today’s current society and that is a sad thing that needs to change.
More importantly is the impact that racial profiling has on the African-American community. This type of racism will only ignite tensions between the black community and police which could bring about rioting like we saw in South Central, L.A. in the early 90’s. For people who have been wrongfully convicted, the effects are felt on an entirely different level. Jobs are lost creating financial burdens, not to mention the loss of a father and the break down of a support system for families with children. This causes embarrassment as well as the years lost in one’s life, and adds stress and worry for family members of the victim that are not necessary.
Racism in this form also sends a very negative message about African-Americans to society giving fuel to the fire of existing stereotypes and prejudicial discrimination. On top of all of that, this kind of behavior wastes the American tax dollars on feeding, clothing, housing innocent people as well as unnecessary expenditures for trials. If that is not enough, the worst part of this all is that it sends the message to the African-American community that society does not care about them and in fact we think that they are inferior to the rest of us. Clearly this is a message that I do not want to send nor do I want my children to believe considering that they are black.

Reference(s)

Counting the Innocent Among the Incarcerated. Too Sense. (2008). Retrieved April 5, 2008.
http://halfricanrevolution.blogspot.com

Engel, R. A Critique of the “Outcome Test” in Racial Profiling Research, Justice Quarterly, (2008), Vol. 25 Issue 1, p1-36. Retrieved April 5, 2008.

Vito, G. and Walsh, W. Suspicion and traffic stops: crime control or racial profiling. International Journal of Police Science and Management, (2008), Vol. 10 Issue 1, p89-100. Retrieved April 5, 2008.